The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-07-13

banners, No crime on the Beautiful !
leland of Ruatan-Great Sharks of
Those Waters.
"On our island" said Lemuel Cooper
NJ Ruatan to New Orleans Times
man "a man may live very cOmforta-
blv all his life and without doing a
single lick Of work. To starve there
would be simply impossible; it would
be ike trying TO drown fish. We
nave 10 beggars and no pauper class
10 maintain. There has never been
murder. theft is unknown and locks
are unnecessary. Some go so far as to
claim that people don't die there. but
hat is an exaggeration. They occa-
sioually expire of extreme old age
Last year our actual mortality was
one-fourth of l per cent
The lazy mans paradise thus sketch
iv described is a corner of the world
about which curiOusly little is known
Ruatan is the largest of the five Bay
islands" a little chain or key lying
some thirty miles on the coast of Span
isb Honduras, southeast of Port Cor
tez. and only four days travel from
New Orleans. Their one industry is
the raising of cocoanuts, and altogether
fhev form a domain that Is absolutely
unique in the western hemisphere. Mr..
Cooper is the most important citizen
of Ruatan. He was born there. and
with his brothers he now conducts a
very considerable business. In CONVEX
sation with a reporter he told an inter
esting story Of his island home.
"Ruatan, where live" said Cooper,
sis some forty miles long and three
miles wide. 1t has a population Of
about 5000 people, mostly Carib lndi-
ans. and l doubt whether there is in
all the world a more beautiful and pro-
lihc spot. The people are lazy simply
because they don't have to work. Co
coanuts form their mainstay. and there
is nothing easier to grow. To start a
grove one merely burns off a piece OF
land and plants the nuts in rows TWEEN
ty feet apart. In from four to five
years time the trees are a dozen feet
high and are beginning to bear. and
after that the planter is fixed for life
He may bid adieu TO care. The nut,
are never picked. but as they mature
they drop off, and this shower of trui'
goes Oh steadily month after month al
the year around. How long tree vii
bear nobody can say. but there are
some on the island that are known Il
be over a half century old and are still
dropping their harvest of nuts.
when the native needs something a
the store" continued Mr.. Cooper al
he has to do is to gather together som'
nuts and trade them for what he wish
es. He hulls them by striking them OF
stake driven in the ground. and
man can easily hull 1900 a day in tina
manner Roses and flowers of almos
every imaginable variety run wild IRON
one end of Ruatan to the other.
should add. too. that other fruits grow
just as easily as the cocoanut, and tn
only reason why that especially !
grown is because it furnishes an cas-
crop, for which there is always a read
market. We have plenty Of bananas
oranges, mangoes. plums and pine
apples, and they are all delicious. The
grow wild without the slightest cult
walton. and all one has to do is to PIC
lhem Vegetables are equally prolific
and our native yams easily averag
forty or fifty pounds in weight
piece of cane stuck in the ground take
root and renews itself perennially Il
years. \ stranger who comes TO III
islands is invariably amazed at II
prodigality of nature and the apatn
of the natives-that is, before the iaz
feeling gets into his blood. Why don
You grow thisT and Why don't yc
cultivate thatT he asks. The nati'
simply smiles Why not take thln!
easy and be happy they say.
Any description Of Bay islan'
would be Incomplete" said Mr.. Coope
in conclusion. without reference
our enormous tiger sharks. They a
found three or four miles out from u
coast and frequently grow to be nj
feet long. l know that sounds IKE
pretty tishy story, but 1t is the plal
uuvarniShed truth. They are referr,
20 in the coast survey reports oil u
United States government, and are 81
To be the largest sharks in the Woti
As far as l know. they are not fouhu
any other waters"