Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-02

store" continued Mr. Cooper, ".all he has
to do is to gather together some nuts and
trade them for what he wishes. He hulls
them by striking them on a stake driven In
the ground and a man can easily hull 5000
a day In that manner Roses and flowers
of almost every imaginable variety run
wild from one end of Ruatan to the other.
l should add, too, that other fruits grow
just as easily as the cocoanut, and the only
reason why that especially is grown is be-
cause it furnishes an easy crop, for which
there is always a ready market. We have
plenty of bananas. oranges, mangoes. plums
and pineapples. and they @are all delicious.
They grow wild. without the slightest cul-
tivation. and all one has to do is to pick
them. Vegetables are equally prolific. and
our native vans easily average forty or
fifty pounds in weight. piece of cane
stuck in the ground takes root and renews
itself perennially for years. A stranger
who comes to the island Is invariably
amazed at the prodigality of nature and the
apathy of the natives-that Is. before the
lazy feeling gets into his blood Why
don't you grow this?' and Why don't you
cultivate that?' he asks The natives simply
happy?' they say.
THE next island to Ruatan is Utilla.
which has population of about 800, and
is touched by several steamship lines We
regard the people of Utilla as quite citifed
and feverishly progressive. They have sew
eral stores and a distinct social set, to
move In which one must be well vouched
for. There is a good deal of trading from
the island along the Honduranan coast
and the owners of the larger sloops and
Schooners make considerable money that
way, but the main business is in cocoanuts
The first island of the chain is called Bo-
naceo, and has about the same populat ton
as Gtilla. Then there are two very small
isiands-Barbarat and Morat. Barbarat
which is some three miles long is owned
outright by my two brothers-in-law T. and
A. Morgan, who live at Utila. 1t is q
charming spot, and years ago was simply
taken possession of by an old Englishman
a 1-arI
little is known He held it by right of oc-
cupation. and his title was conceded by the
Honduranian government Later on he
wanted some money. borrowed it of the
Morgan brothers, and gave this island in
pawn. He never paid the debt, and at his
death the property passed into their pos
session As l said before, it is beautiful
place. and several capitalists from the north
have tried to buy 1t, but my brothers-in-
law prefer to keep it for their children. I
dare say it will be very valuable one of
these days; At present they leep hum
dred or so head of stock on the island and
grow few cocoanuts. Nobody lives there
except the laborers who work in the groves
The strangers who occasionally drift to
the Bay Islands. through one chance and
another, rarely leave. They are like the
lotus eaters in Tennysons poem. The
American consul at present IS Mr.. johnson,
who comes, l believe, from Wisconsin. He
was delighted with the spot and sent at
once for his wife and daughter. They
all there together now, and insist that they
will never leave The climate by the way
is singularly equable. The thermometer has
never been known to fall below 66 or rise
to above SIS. Being part of Spanish Hon
duras. We are, of course. under the gov
eminent of that republic, but we are too
far away to ever be disturbed by the
storms of revolution, and at present things
are peculiarly serene. The Honduranian
government is represented by an admins-
traitor, a communicate and a governor
There is never any friction and their SIM
pie duties confined chiefly to the collec-
ton of customs. There is no military es-
tablishment, and the only Jail the island
is a small one-room hut in which plain
drunk occasionally sleeps off too much ma
tive brandy. Theft and other crimes are
entirely unknown and doors are never
locked at night.
ANY description of Bay Islands would be
incomplete" said Mr. Cooper, in conclu-
sion. without reference to our enormous
tiger sharks. They are found three or four
miles out from the coast, and frequently
grow to be fifty feet long. 1 know that
sounds like pretty fishy story, but it is
the plain, unvarnished truth. They are re-
ferred to in the coast survey reports of
the United States government, and are said
to be the largest sharks in the world. AS
far as l know, they are not found in any
other waters"