Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-22
LATEST FROM
JAMAICA
Weather Bureau Has Been
Abolished There.
THE BRAZILIAN TROUBLE
was Grossly Exaggerated by the
indians Who Brought in the
Reports to Cayenne.

"a NidICIl It.-NoOIlc
spondence of the Associated Press).-The
government of this island has Just de-
clded upon the extinction of the colony's
meteorological service which it has MAIN
tanned at great cost in line with the re-
trenchmsnt schemes reducing the appro-
priation to a small grant. All the obser-
Vatories will be closed and the instru-
ments disposed of to the best advant-
age The United States has recently cs-
tablished q branch meteorological bureau
near Kingston. The officers in charge
nave been instructed to furnish to the
government and to the public all the in
formation in their line. Under such cir
cumstances the government has con-
cluded that its own service might well be
done away with and that of the United
States used instead. This is Via has
been decided upon n Jamaica, and
through it, the British West Indies gener-
ally, will have to depend henceforth for
warnings as to the approach of hurri-
canes, ETC., on the generosity of a foreign
government. The people of Jamaica feel
more hurt over this aspect of retrench-
ment than over any other as it is looked
upon as the taking of an unWarranted
advantage of American enterprise.
The latest advices to hand from Cay
enne, capital of French Guiana, Indicate
that the previous intelligence about a col
lislon having occurred between the
French and Brazilian delimitation COM
missions were somewhat grossly, but I'M
der the circumstances, eXcusably, eXag-
gerated by the would-be fugitives. Inso-
far as the facts were exaggerated, the
Indians of Counani appear to have been
responsible for the ex~aggeration and it
is probable that they were themselves de-
ceived by one or two designing chiefs Who
sought to fright away the foreign settlers.
The circumstances appear that a dispute
arose between the Brazilian and French
commissioners. 1t was therefore decided
to suspend the delimitation proceedings
until the matter could be laid before the
respective governments. Meanwhile some
quite personal unp~leasantness arose be-
tween the French S~enegalese troops and
the BrazilianS, which eventually led to
an encounter, in which a few on each side
were hurt. The commissioners. then de-
cided to move from the vicinity of each
other until operations were resumed so
as to avoid further trouble. This, the In
dams seemed to have interpreted as a
quarrel between their masters and ac-
cordingly they set about preparing for
war. The news was spread among the
settlers and miners and many of them,
recOllecting the troubles of 1896, retired,
some to Anapa, and some to Cayenne. 1t
is believed at Cayenne that the original
dispute between the commissioners is
capable of easy adjustment and much
! public anxiety would have been avoided
had the local authorities made public the
facts in their possession. The "reinforce-
| ments'' Of French and Brazilian troops,
the sending up of which gave color to the
sensational stories, turns out to have been
nothing more significant thar the
changing of the guards accompanying
the commissioners and which was prob
ably fastened by the official reports of
the uuarrels between the original guards.
That the commissioners will continue the
delimitation work without interruption
is proved by the fact that the new COVER
nor Of French Guiana, MOntet, has sent
UP a large number of light iron frame
houses which he brought out with him
for the purpose.
The Cayenne correspondent of the De-
| merara Argosy is responsible for the
statement that a strong English
feeling exists there, which has resulted
in insults of the British residents. who
| are unable to obtain redress. According
| to the courts, they have no right in the
country and the ooner they clear out the
better for them The British consul is
said to be a Frenchman who cannot
speak a dozen words Of English.