The morning news., 1899-12-31

Islands In the Caribbean Sea Where
One May Live without working.


One May Live without working.
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.
"On our island" said Mr.. Lemuel Cooper
of Ruatan, "a man may live very COM
fortably all his life and without doing a
single lick of work. To starve there
would be simply impossible; it would be
like trying to drown a fish. We have no
beggars and no pauper class to maintain,
There has never been a murder, theft is
unknown, and locks are unnecessary.
Some go so far as to claim that people
don't die there, but that is an exaggera-
ton. They occasionally expire of ex-
treme old age. Last year our actual NOR
talty was one-fourh of l per cent"
The lazy mans paradise thus sketchily
described is a corner of the world about
which curiously little is known. Ruatan
is the largest of the five bay Islands, a
little chain or key lying some thirty miles
off the coast of Spanish Honduras, south
east of Port Cortez, and only four days
travel from New Orleans. Their one in
dustry is the raising of cOcoanuts, and al
together they form a domain that is abso-
lutely unique in the western hemisphere
Mr.. Cooper is the most important citizen
of Ruatan. He was born there, and with
his brothers he now conducts a very con-
siderable business. Several times a year
he comes to the United States for recrea-
ton and diversion, and he is a present in
New Orleans on one of these periodical
iaunts. In conversation with reporter
he told an interesting story of his island
home.
"Ruatan where I live" said Mr.. Cooper
''is some forty miles long and three miles
wide. 1t has a population of about 5000
people, mostly Carib Indians, and I doubt
whether there is in all the world more
beautiful and prolific spot. The people are
laZy, simply because they don't have to
work. Cocoanuts form their mainstay,
and there is nothing easier to grow. To
start a grove one merely burns off a piece
of land and plants he nuts in rows twenty
feet apart In four or five years time
the trees are a 6ozen feet high and are
beginning to bear, and after that the
planter is fixed for life. He may bid adieu
10 care. The nuts are never picked, but
as they mature they drop off. and this
shower of fruit goes on steadily month
after month all the year round. How long
a tree will bear nobody can say, but there
are some on the island that are known to
be over half century old and are still
dropping their harvest of nuts.
when the native needs something at
the store" continued M. Cooper. "all he
has 10 do is 20 gather together some nuts
and trade them for what he wishes He
hulls them by striking them on a stake
driven in the ground, aud a man can cas-
lily hull 5000 a day in that manner. Roses
and flowers Of almost every ime g'nab'e
variety run wild from one end of Ruat-
an to the other. I should add. toe. thqt
other fruits grow just as easily as the CO.
coanut, and the only reason why that es-
pecially is grown is becauee 1t furnls es
an easy croD, for which there is a'ways
a ready market. We have p'elty Of banan-
as, oranges, mangoes, plums and niueap-
DlpS. and thew n HnliOi0tte
wild, without the slightest cultivation. and
al one has 10 do is 10 pick them Vegata-
bles are equally prolific and cur native
vans easily average forty or fifty pounFs
in weight. A piece OF cane stuck IN In.
ground takes root ard renews itse'f ner-
ennially for years "a stranger who comes
to the Islands is invariably amazed at
the prodigaHty Of nature and the apathy
Of the natives-that is before the lazy feel
ing gets into his blood. WHY dom YOU
grow this? and Why don't you cut,v7te
that" he asks The ma ives s'mrlv smile
they say
THE next island to Ruatan Is IJfrua
which has population Of about so ana
is touched by several steamship lines We
regard the people of Utilla as quite citi0el |
ana teverishly progressive. They haze
several stores and a distinct social set "a l
move in which one must be well voucbed
Tor. There is a good deal Of trading from
the island along the Honduranian coasf. |
and the owners OF che larger sloops ani |
schoooners make considerable m MY th7t |
way but the main business is In coca /
nuts. The first island of the chain a. an, /
Bonaceo and has about the same popu.a- |
ton as utilla. Then there are two vsr,,
small islands-Barbarat and Mcrat. Rsr- |
barat, which Is some three miles long a. /
owned outright by my two brothers-in- /
,am y, : an =, morgan, who live at u na
IL is charming spot and years AGO was
Simply taken possession of by an old Fog
hshman an educated Rentlcm n. sbomt
whom very hiue is known. he heid ID bv
,'i t,sh, o, oe upAl 3n' and his tiile was ccn-
ceded ny the H0ndufaulrn royorn,,.,'t
Laiei oh ne wanted some money. horroVef
y y ne morgan brothers ana gave M ln.
iaAa lp pawn. De- never paid the debt ,ni
a, pc ael p. he BDgWig pafsoi mo
t.a.,,,,Is,., s.lpiF - faiq b,forc. IL b. a
s'''''''' h'@'" ana several calitallris