Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-15

and stones and pile them in heaps before
they could get any garden spaces. Each
little garden is inclosed within walls so
high that the one street and the bypaths
wind between artificial cliffs over which
hang vines and prickly pears. the haunts Of
yellow warblers and giit-crested humming
birds. The street and the lanes wind in and
out, here and there, but never following q
straight line SO that stranger without a
guide or chart is in danger of losing his
way within those wall-inclosed pathWays
Even in the outlying country up on the
sizes OF the volcano, the fertile washings
from the peak are inciosed within small
pockets and planted as carefully as the
SOIL In a window garden. The upper val
leys are apportioned among the inhat-
itants, every available inch of earth being
planted, some Enclosures holding edible
Faiiadiums, others small patches of sweet
potato, with its convolvus-like flower, 9TH
ers still having cow and calf or a goat
impounded.
Like the Temperate Zone
At this elevation of more than thousand
feet' and right out at sea, as it were, the
fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone
all flourish exceedingly, and. as in the Blue
mountains of Jamaica, 1 have picked wild
strawberries and eaten white potatoes here
which cannot be raised in the heated zone
OF the coast And the people are more
IKE those OF the northern zone, for, living
here so far above the sea, they have pre-
served the fair skins and red cheeks of their
Dutch ancestors. Nearly all the children
not jet black have flaxen hair freckled
faces, wide mouths and sky-blue eyes; in
fact, it is a tow-headed, Dutch-built popuIa-
ton, with the whites in greater proportion
| to the blacks than in any other island of
the West Indies. In most of the islands the
proportion of blacks to whites is as forty
to one-that is about the average in ia
maica; bat here it is the other way, which
is most refreshing to observe
Owing to the ventureSome natures of the
men and boys, who take to the as ducks
to water, there is always a great disparity
between the number of males and females,
the women and girls being much in excess
OF their brothers, husbands and fathers.
And they are the prettiest specimens of
female kind to be found in these parts, to
wed whom the boys of Danish St. Thomas,
French Guadeioupe, English St. Kits and
Spanish Porto Rico often risk the dangers
of the deep and assail the sleeps of the port
and the ladder.
Birds and blossoms.
The town in the crater is not bower of
tropical loneliness, as the vegetation has
not true tropic aspect, lacking palms and
bananas, and such like products of the tor
rid zone, owing to the exposure of the wind
swept crater bed. The houses are pretty
and neat, painted white with red-tiled
roofs, and the gardens-as has been said
are most attraC tive, owing to their careful
cultivation.
But If you would see what nature in the
tropics is capable of, then climb the sides
of the sky-reaching volcano the highest
peak of which is $3.50 feet above the SHIN
n,ering sea at its base. Whichever way
you walk you have either to climb or de-
scend, for there is hardly a foot of level
going. Rapidly rising from the bottom the
surface slopes to a narrow gulch, which is
the bed of a stream in the rainy season,
ard which, as the mountain Sleeps are
gained, is literally choked with wonders of
tfopic growth. Such a gulch is that called
AI lrft ,tftlrn
the upper provision grounds of the ma
tfves, where great trumpet trees spread
broad, palHate leaves, their trunks draped
in air plants and lianas. among which dis
port the various birds peculiar to the
island. Saba, as the most northern of the
true volcanic islands, is the home of some
birds not to be found anywhere nearer the
temperate zone than here. It was the
Eorthernmost habitat, | ascertained, of
the beautiful humming bird known as the
garnet throat. which is ere of the largest
found in the West Indies. and has plumage
like velvet shot with iridescent and metal
lie hues of deep wine or garnet. Another
bird to be found only farther southwark is
the "wedrigo," or devil bird which in
habits the mountain peaks of Dominica.
Ascending the Peak.
AS the ascent is made above the ravines
the tree ferns and mountain palms grow
very numerous, the wild plantains with
golden and crimson cups, hang athwart the
path hewn by the cutlass and a wilderness
of orchideous plants cover the trees. There
is no trail above the provision grounds for
the natives of Saba, though the men make
voyages round the world, and are con-
stantly at sea, yet have no love for noun
tain climbing. AS for the women, If they
get from one door to another. and once
year or so make the trip of forty miles to
ST. Kits, they think they have done Won
ders.
But the view from the peak is worth
voyagfng far and climbing high to see en-
bracing, as it does a wide seascape dotted
with the islands of St. Barts, ST Martins
and Angulla to the east; st. Thomas Santa
Cruz, st. Johns and the Virgin group to
the north; st. Eustatius, St, kits, Nevis
and MontSerrat to the south-all historic
islands, and every one gem.
The Sulphur Deposit.
Being a volcano, though quiescent, Saba
yields of course the natural concomitant
of lava and scorae-sulphur and in a very
pure state. 1t was claimed for the vast
deposit Of sulphur, which was then being
exploited toward the heart of the volcano,
that 1t was the only mine of pure, cool sui
phur in this hemisphere-the only one out
side of Sicily, in fact. I have seen the sui
phur of Popocatapetl, Mexico in stu and
1t was to crafty my desire to see that of
Saba that, one very hot day, I descended
the eastern cliffs. nine hundred feet below
the heights. There found the black miners
working heartily, in temperature too hot
to mention in polite society, at level
about two hundred feet above the sea- The
great cliffs were scanned with veins ap-
parently ineXhaustible, and owing to the
purity of the crude sulphur. ii is blasted
from their faces and shot down a wire
tram to the holds of vessels anchored near
the shore. Only in good weather is this
possible, and even in the smoothest sea
there is some danger for the trades blow
straight against the cliffs, and there is no
shelter nearer than the west shore Of Sta
tia, fifteen or twenty miles away.
How Freight is Carried.
The highest point in the island occupied
by dwellings is 1,400 feet above the sea,
ard, as there are no horses or other beasts
of burden capable of climbing the steep
paths leading thereto, everything is trans
ported from the shore the heads of the
people. The cargo of every coasting yes
sci that arrives with freight for the hamlet
is first unladen under the cliffs and then
taken UP by the men, hundred pounds to
man. A barrel of flour is divided, by one
half being put into a sack, and two men
carry 1t up, each one with his load bal
anced airily on his head as though but a
feather-weight. In this manner two great
trunks OF mine were taken up the ladder
over sleeps so nearly perpendicular that