Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-06-17
A REAL TREASURE ISLAND
Romantic Spot of Unusual In
terest Which Is Located
Near Porto Rico.
THE HAUNT OF PIRATES.
An Ideal Spot for Freebooters to Hide
Their Booty-Caves Galore, In
tricate and Inaccessible.

Dolo 81 the Sayerns OF La Mona In the
Vicinity OF Cape Caigo Present still tho
Undoubted Traces of Pirates-Wails Are
Craven With sinister Designs Si2O, 900
in Coins and Jewels Unearthed.
At the centre OF the sea of the An
TILES, at the middle Of the passage
which separates ST. Domingo from
Porto Rico there raises itself above
the waves steep rock, to which the
ancient Spanish navigators gave the
name Of La Mona" or .'Monita," the
| Little Monkey. Among the sailors OF
I the Antilles, La Mona is always called
the Island Of Pirates. and 1t is thought
to conceal mysterious treasures.
II Is an immense challSy block. seven
/ kilometres long and four or five wide,
] rearing its summit, fiat as table. 10
thirty or forty metres above the sea.
Inc waves, always agitated in these
/ coasts, have shaped this block into a
| pedestal Of pointed cliffs, and, except
/ III TWO or three points, where narrow
! stretches of shore advance. the island
is almost inaccessible. Ships are kept
mt distance, as much by the violence
| OF the waves as by "A chain of rocks
which surround il, and where alone
| open few passages for small vessels.
| AT tue southern point of the island
an enormous rock seems miraculously
| suspended from the crest OF cliff. The
sailors have named ii "Caigo O no
| caigo," Which means. Shall | fall, or
shall | pot fall" In spite of its peril
Gus position the rock in equilibrium
has resisted for many ages the attacks
of storms and waves.
But one of the most curious particu-
lars of this island. so strange from
many points of view, is that its chalky
mass is throughout pierced by immense
caves, innumerable grottos, which ram
ify in all ways, aud, having their en-
trance under the face of the cliff, CON
duct by sinuous passages to the very
summit of the plateau. The grottos
inhabited by bands of seabirds, were
but lately in part INSTRUCTED by guano,
which has been nearly all taken away.
The adyenturer intrepid enough to
engage himself in this formidable
struggle soon finds himself arrested by
two very unexpected obstacles; in eff
feet, among the tangles of plants are
hidden swarms of immense wasps.
which, at the least rustling, precipitate
themselves on the intruder, and can by
their dangedous stings put his life in
danger: again, if he escapes from these
guardians of the jungle he has to
their dangerous stings put his life IN
dwarf cactus, which in many places
stud the earth, and the pricks of
| which, without being as dangerous as
those of the wasp. are very painful,
and cause a high fever.
| One can understand that this rocky
| isle, so well defended by the forces of
nature may have offered n refuge TO
1.-THE daring filibusters, who have been
during many centuries the terror of
the Antilles After having passed by
secret passages in the belt OF rocks
they sheltered their vessels in some in
| tricacy of the cliff and established
themselves in these grottos which
formed impregnable natural fortresses.
There no one could reach them,
and surprising that a daring assailant
| had succeeded in forcing an entrance
TO their haunt. the bandits would fly
! through the detours of the ineXtricable
| labyrinth and would gain the impene-
trable thicket of the upper plateau,
Where II would be impossible to track
them.
Some of these cayerns in the vicinity
| of Cape Caigo present still the I'M
doubted traces of pirates. One of
them called Cueva Negra-Black Cave
from the thick coat of SCOT which
covers it's vault. is vast chamber.
around which spreads network of
other chambers and passages. The
walls of this chamber are still craven
with sinister designs, representing gal
lows supporting rows of bodies and
above which are inscribed the names
of the victims. names where are found
represented all the nations among
which these rascals recruited their
band, and which are doubtless those
of traitors or rebels executed by their
companions. unless they We're the I'M
fortunate captives sacrificed by these
wretches Some cannon balls, still en-
crusted in the walls of the cliff, near
the entrance. also prove that the place
was besieged. without doubt. by some
war vessel sent in pursuit of the
lpirates.
These grottoS did not serve as places
IF refuge merely: the pirates used them
as storehouses and kept in them the
products of their captures. So, when
at the close of the last century, France
land England had succeeded in destroy
ling this breed. IL was thought that the
island must contain some of the i'm
mense treasures which the pirates had
Searches were made. but the extent OF
the caverns to be gone over was SC
} great that no result was obtained
However. about forty years ago, al
American. guided. it appears, by q
lnvsterious document, landed on tho
island with "A troop of negroes from
san Domingo and succeeded in un
earthing in one of the grottoes an iron
+ lbox containing 100000 in ancien
$ golden coins and jewels. Allured b,
}, this result an American company wa
: formed in 1880 ana undertook to searcl
Imethodically while taking up the thicl
@ bed of guano deposited by the seabird
d on the floor of the -grottoes; but out
r side the preclous guano no treasur'
II was gained.
The samoan at Home.
. When native Samoans are not at wa
. they seem TO foreigners to have yer.