Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09
New Sights for Globe Trotters in the
Lesser Antilles.
LUNCHING:5i NEAR The old BLAZES
Well-FiI|ed Hamper, but Station
airy Punch Bowl.
ASCENT OF MOUNT MISERY

| brought the West Indies into prominence.
The field Is not new one, certainly. having
| been reconnoitered by such navigators as
Columbus Raleigh. Drake. Hawkins, Gill
bert and host Of navigators. but they
| merely skirted its shores and left the inte-
| rior of this insular region practically I'M
| known.
| There are lofty mountains in Cuba and
Santo Domingo which have scarce been
| climbed; in Jamaica the Blue mountains,
above 1000 feet, and in our own Porto Rico
peaks of not much lesser altitude. AL
| though the Island of Haiti Santo Domingo
| (anciently known as Hispanoa). was dis
| covered in 1892, and the first American
| cities of European foundation were at
| tempted on its shores, yet the mountainous
| interior contains submits never scaled and
| valleys which have been invaded only by
| Indians and fugitive blacks.
Christopher, Diego and Bartholomew CO.
| lumbus led expeditions through the noun
| tain passes IN search of gold; the Vahaht
| Ojeda captured the Carib cacique Caonabo
| in valley on the southern slope of the
| Cibao cordillera and carried him prlS-
| oner to Isabella, on the islands northern
| shore, but the region he traVersed 4oo
| years ago is still wilderness.
| Mountains there are, scores OF them, above
| 5000 feet in height, awaiting the coming
| OF the intrepid explorer; but the true vol
| canoes lie eastward of the Greater An
| TILES in the chain of the Caribbees. These
! islands are known as the Lesser Antilles,
| and have been arbitrarily divided into the
| "Windward' and ''Leeward' isles; but as
| a group they have always retained the
! name they derived from the cannlbal Ca
| ribs by whom they were occupied when
discovered.
| Inclusive of the Virgin Islands, just east
| of Porto Rico, between latitude Is and ID
| north and the Island Of Trinidad, 10 de-
| grees from the equator and off the Orinoco
| delta. these Caribbees describe a perfect
| for rh
| ailine, loW-iying ana featureeSS, but shell
| tered within this great barrier chain lie the
, true Carbbees. an archipelago of sea-Sur-
| rounded volcanoes, extending over SIX de-
| grees of latitude and ranging in height
| from 1000 to 1000 feet and over.
| The northernmost of these is Saba, the
| peak of which is $500 feet above the sea,
| and next south lies St. EuStatius, perfect
| cone with crater brim 800 feet in the air.
| Both these islands l have had the honor of
| describing to readers of The Star; now, IL
they will kindly accompany me in imagi-
| nation to5f he next island in the chain, some
| twenty miles southeasterly of 'Statia, l
| will give my experience in ascending one
| of the highest volcanoes in the archipelago.
Mt. Misery Well Named.
| l never knew until | had tried to gain it's
| summit why the great central mountain of
| Saint Kits was called Mount Misery"
| Then | understood: for, although the hos
| pitable planter with whom L was tempo
=, rarily residing made most elaborate prepa-
| rations for me, yet the discomforts of the
| ascent were mtkltitudinouS. The same old
| negro who had guided me in search of mon
| keys, and who was the Waterman of the
! estate detailed to accompany me up
| the Volcano He called me at in the
| morning. but L was already awake, having
been kept nearly all the night through
! by the ''bete rouge" or minute red bugs
| that infest the forests and cling to the
| limbs of intrusive strangers. An hour later
| We off, and, after riding about five
| miles. far the pony could carry me,
| L dismounted, and the beast was turned
| loose in the mountain pasture. where he
| browsed about until our return in the after
| noon.
We were Joined here by two men who
| pretended to be more familiar with the
| mountain trail than old Tucker-black Jim
Bass and "Yaller Charlie"-and the former
| marched ahead to "cutlass OUT a path,
| while the latter divided with my old man
| the transportation of the provisions The
commissariat, by the way. is the most i'm
| portant feature of a West Indian eXpedi-
| ton, and no generous host like my dear
| friend Mercer would allow a guest to set
| forth without ample stock of provend Hav-
| ing to it that his cook had filled a
| huge hamper with cold fowls, cassava
| bread, crackers, etc, with an imposing ar
| ray of bottles containing various liquors.
| such as gin, native rum and beer or
| Bass ale, he even followed me out to the
| garden gate as We rode away and shouted ::
| Have you got a corkscrew?' l had a
| corkscrew, having been In the islands long
| enough to know the Importance of such an
| article, and he went back contented.
| Hard Trail to Follow.
| 1t was three years since anybody had
been over the trail to the mountain top
| and jim Bass had hard work cutlassing
out path through the ferns and the razor
grass. which latter Is here known as cut
| mamie ard infiicts terrible gashes upon
| unprotected limbs. 1t took an hour to rise
| clear of the wild pasture and reach
| lateral knife-edge ridge of the mountain
| just wide enough for the trail.
Soon after reaching it we passed through
| a natural opening in a giant fig tree which
| straddled the path. leaving a portal higher
| than our heads. hung with vines and plas-
tered with air plants, and which my guides
| called the gate. Beyond the gate the vari-
| Gus earthquakes with which the island has
| often been visited had shaken the earth
| away from the ridge until in spots only a
| narrow blade was left, with deep ravines
| on either side. filled with dense vegetation
| CT gommiers and mountain palms. Across
the ridge also hurricanes had felled great
| II ees through which we had to scramble
| as best we could after Bass had hewn away
the clinging lianas and the smaller
| branches.
The upper edge Of the forest was reach
| ed an hour before noon, and, as they had
had nothing to eat or drink since their
morning coffee. six hours before. my men
unanimously declared that We must halt
| ana DTedhldSt MUS leeQ de ole man In
ma belly said Bass
Ma belly tech. ma back: him mus tink
ma t'roat cut" added Tucker.
You t ink yo' mos dar," said Yaller
Charlie to me, but lemme tell yo', we on'y
begun de climb. Dem climbin' ferns yam
der de wus things in de wuld fer get t'ro'.
When l make de fus' track L hab on pair
new briches. and when come back dey
mash to cuss."
The peak was then in sight, 1t seemed
to me, and 1 wished to push on and break
fast the summit, but my men were OBJ
durate. The huge basket, nearly three feet
across, and which Yaller Charlie had car
ried on his head over places where 1 had
to cling with both hands to ferns and trees.
and SO carefully balanced that not a glass
was broken or a bottle disturbed, was let
down to the ground and our break fast
spread out on wild banana leaves.
The Native Punch Bowl.
Upon examining the hamper 1 found that
while three kinds of liquor had been pro-
vided. there was not sign of water
Neither was there any spring or stream
within a mile or more. But while I was
debating with myself what 1 should do old
Tucker took cutlass, and, stepping to the
nearest tree, severed from one its hori-
zOntal limbs a great wild pspa x.,biol, 60