The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-04-27

never ceaSeu 10 loss coin, until absolute |
ly coinless- When no more are forth
coming these amphibious beings
plunge for the fun of it, tnrn somer-
saults, wrestle and race each oteer un-
til one suspects they have gills as we'll
as lungs.
The islanders, of whom four-fifths
are negroes, are devoted subjects of
the queen, celebrate her birthday and
cry "God save her" as heartily as any
Englishman. Their town seems to be
we'll governed. The efficient police
are negroes, with white officers. Yet,
even in this peace-loving community,
the trail of the serpent is visible, and
we We're surprised to meet squad of
convicts, dressed in the peculiar garb
of half white and half brown, divided
lengthwise. They work the quarries
and keep roads in order.
Hotel Accommodations are not suffi-
cient for the increasing number of Wis
itors to Nassau. The Royal Victoria,
built by the English government, and
recently bought by Flagler, is to be
supplanted by building suited to the
climate.
Within a short walk from the Vic
toria is what is known as the "Queen's
Stairway" Of these sovereign steps
there are seventy, leading from Fort
Fincastle down towards the sea. From
the steps street has been cut through
walls of coraline rock, which from
height of seventy feet gradually slope
down to the town. The fort is now
used as signal station. Tradition
does not satisfactorily account for the
high-walled street, nor the steps; but
the commonly received opinion is that
they were made by Spaniards Of past
centuries to facilitate the safe ingress
or egress of troops from the fort to the
sea. One marvels at the labor involv
ed. Yet the stone is easily cut with
hand-saws, being soft at the first and
and gradually hardened on exposure
to air. Many of their streets are
walled with the same stone; roads
over the island are formed with nat
ural bed of coraline, and are unexcelled.
The coraline is very white, and so are
the walls, and most of the houses; and
painful to weak eyes. This is some
what relieved by the fine trees shading
street and sidewalk. None of these
are more foreign, or handsomer to A
merican eyes, than the silk cotton tree.
A fine specimen grows in the public
square, its immense trunk parted high
up, and coming to the ground in half
a dozen enormous roots like divisions,
spreading to a diameter of forty feet.
The wild fig is there also-one of the
banyan family-forming a whole COM
munity of trees in itself as the droop-
ing stems take root and also@grow up
again.
So far as we could learn, insects
have kindly absented themselves from
the island Neither flies nor mosqui-
toes disturb our repose, and our loqua-
cious driver reported one snake onl y
a harmeless species, seen at rare inter-
walls.
The most prosperous days Of New
Providence were during our Civil
war, when blocade runners made it
their headquarters. 1t was not a
stable prosperity, however, and passed
with the return of peace. There is
now little energy, little business, but a
large content Softest voices, gentle
manners, the entire absence of harsh
words, reminded one of the picture Of
Columbus gave of the amiable people
in past centuries. The English gov.
ernment has furnished schools and
compels attendance; they have churches
and good preachers; yet with it all
they have not advanced beyond linn
tied grade, and seem to have no fur
ther ambition. One can only hope
that the new hotel, and the new boats
which will add so much to the tourists
comfort, will also put new life into the
old town, even now surprisingly at
tractive.-N. Y Home journal.