The evening times., 1899-02-06

time to time. They are young volcanoes
due 10 the gas produced by the fermenting
matter in the mud, (which forces up the
mud IN the form of cones ABOVE the sea
level.
The mud is baked hard in the tropical
sun and a few reeds or a little marsh
grass grow on it-and il is then dubbed
an island. But il is a most dangerous ISL
and. Sometime il Is called prairie trem-
blante With the water still lying beneath
it, IL is mere superstructure of debris.
wood, canes. etc. upon which the earth
rests. floating raft. as it were. anchored
by the roots of the marsh grass. Some
times il is q mere quicksand, sometimes
pile of sticky mud. giving out foul, intoXi-
eating gases. To be lost on one of these
islands means death. not the death that
threatens a castaway from starvation, but
death from being swallowed up in the
quicksands or poisoned by the gases. And
even boat will avail little The land is
too soft to walk on, the water too shallow
10 row in. More than one amateur fisher
man who has been caught in his boat in
the chaotic land has had 10 wait hours for
| a fayoring tide 10 enable him TO escape
He dared not leave his boat and the water
was too shallow 10 allow the skiff to move.
TrenchcrouS Sea Maze
Then. too. no maze was ever invented
more labyrinthian than the bayous and ISL
ands of the St. Bernard coast. All the ISL
ands are identical-mud and sand spits
with saw grass growing on them. All the
bayous are as much alike as TWO peas
You may wander for weeks and never get
out of the labyrinth unless some fisherman
| gives you the clew. Many have been the
| lives lost in this swamp; many the people
who have gone into il with confidence
never 10 find their way out
The story that castaway from the Paul
Jones was seen on one of these islands is
generally credited. He was seen by two
fishermen al different times and his foot
prints were clearly traced by the officers
OF the relief boat Zeta. but neither the
man nor his body could be found when
the island was searched. The verdict is
/ that he was swallowed up in one of the
many quagmires or quicksands.
Such Is the condition of the country un-
| der the most favorable conditions. 1t ap-
pears at its worst when a gulf hurricane
blows from the southeast. Then the wa
! ters of the gulf are piled up, and all the
| land disappears completely from yieW--it
| is the gulf then. and most rempestuous
| gulf. in which no ordinary vessel can live.
| How many vessels have been wrecked off
| the coast of the Chandelier Islands, the
outer islands of the group. it is impossi-
| BILE TO say. In a single storm that of
| were stranded, wrecked or destroyed there
| This feet of wrecks is being constantly
| added TO.
Harvest for the Wreckers
| The fishermen and trappers who live in
that region, or rather who visit it, for no
one lives there, have become so accustom-
4 ID
natural and utilize them like the wreckers
! of the Bahamas.
They are quiet. taciturn people living
away from the world and having little to
| do with il. seeing no papers, knowing alb
solutely nothing of what is going on In the
world-Arabs of the marshes Those OF
! the ST. Bernard swamp. which is nearest
New Orleans, are Filipinos, Manilamen. as
| as they are called here, of nearly pure
! Malay origin. and speaking Spanish OF
Tagal. Those of the Plaquemines swamp
| further south, where the Paul Jones was
lost, are "Austrians,' that is, Slavs, from
| the Dalmatian coast of Austria, speaking
| Italian, lingua Franca-the pigeon Eng
lish of the Levant or some Slavonic dialect
| They visit the coast in luggers of levan-
| tine build and shape, with sails stained
red and brown, and are as piratical-l look
ing as they well can be, but they are quiet
| peaceable fishermen. seldom getting into
| trouble. They live under a patriarchal
| form of government, the affairs of the com
munity and the administration of justly
| being given over to the elders They know
nothing Of this country, seldom vote, and
| 1t is doubtful whether many of them are
even included in the census They dig
oysters and catch fish, which they sell to
| the New Orleans dealers, but they go very
seldom TO the city, although they are with
| in sight of il.
Both in its scant, wild population and its
still wilder land the region is an ocean
| waste where there is neither food to eat
nor water to drink, and where anyone lost
in its wildernesses has as little hope of
escape as he would have in the heart of
| the Sahara. The passengers of the Paul
Jones had no idea Of what a risk they were
taking on this voyage, ard how small was
| there chance of escape if anything hap
pened TO their yacht.