The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-15

words of the ancient mariner came true:
 "The suns rim dips, the stars rush
 out.
 At one stride comes the dark,
 Some time during the night we ar rived outside the now dangerous choked-up harbor, and were obliged to wait for daybreall before Venturing De
 tween the two guarding reefs that LOOK like d pair wide-op jaws. Nothlns can be more delightful than thls trlp bv daylight, oyer tranquil seas a thou- sand fathoms deep, bluer than the buest skies and clearer than the clearest crystal The islanders thihk no more of it than New Workers do Of a morning jaunt from Hoboken to Broadway, or from Brooklyn to Jersey City; but to unacCustomed tfaNeiels from the colorless north it is the event of a lifetime How can one deScrlpe this region of terrestrial delight, or gloden suns and silver moons, eloudless skies and balmy breezes? Though St. Croix bears every evidence of volcamc origin, it is not so rugged and abrupt as most of the neighboring islands A range of hills runs parallel with the coast, but it's highest peak is hardly a thousand feet above the sea, cane fields sweep backward from the beach and up the hillsdes in waving mass of yellowish green, broken here ana there by planters houses and the matched cottages of their laborers' WlndmiIls swing their mighty arms as if challenging new Duixotes to mortal combat and along avenues Of cocoa palms, with trunks rising from ilfty to eighty feet. like shafts of smooth gray marble support a miracle or WaNlhs plumage. The omnipresent sugar cane the only crop worth mentioning oI the island, gives it so rich and llght tint oF green that it looks, the whole year through as if spring had just put on her freshest mantle, Though the soil is everywhere prodigiously produc- tive, except a few acres of salt marsh, at least two-thrds of the island is yet uncultivated, covered with scanty woodlands, the haunt of deer and snakes. There used to be many more plantations, as ruined and deserted | buildings in the midst of worthless scrub attest but there has been great falling off of the industry during 1 the last thirty years, owing to repeat | ed failure of the sugar crop, on account of drought. To diminished rainfall IS attributed the destruction of the for ests. Originally St Croix was covered l from end to end with stately trees, and l then rains were abundant; but the French, during their brief occupation wantonly burned the forests, with the result that destructive dry seasons 1 have ever since followed each other in quick succession. The emancipation or 1 slaves was another ruinous blow to the planters; and the present low price or i sugar, combined with vigorous compe- l tition in Cuba and Porto Rico, to say nothing of beet sugar has almost com pleted their undoing. The American l who comes here to-day with money in his pocket can buy the best plantation in St. Croix for half its value-and make a good thing out of it, with the exercise of little common sense and good deal of patient industry The greatest difficulty is with laborers. The emancipated negroes are unwilling to work on the plantations at any price and are not to be depended upon in emergencies-being just as likely to l troop off on a carouse to the last man, l woman and ckld, when the crop is half | harvested as at any other time.
 i Like St. Thomas this island shows no sign of belonging to Denmark, be- yond the jackets of it's small garrison and the flag that floats over them' Most of the people speak English and husiness is transacted in that language. There are only two towns on the IS and-ChristIansted and Frederick sted. the former with a population or about six thousand the latter with
 half that number Both are strongly fortified, after a queer old fashion that might have been useful a few centuries ago. Nowadays neither town is known by it's name, but one is called Bas- san" or Base End; the other West End" Christiansted was formerly a
 place of wealth and great resort, but
 visitors are now as rare that the tum- ble-down building near the wharf
 which bears tie sign board of a hotel
 has been long closed The great beauty
 of the antiquated town is it's ample fol
 iage all it's pink and yellow houses em-
 powered in splendid trees and it's gar
 den walls and hedse-rows over-run with
 roses, iesamine, honeysuckle and vine
 whose blossoms look like sprays of pink
 coral. The arcades which front the
 public buildings and give them such q
 stately aspect when seen from ship
 board in the harbor prove on close ln'
 spection to be shabby and crumblne tr
 decay: streets unpaved and irregular
 negro cabins squared and comfortless
 w hen you read in some northern
 newspaper that a fire. or a hurricane
 has swept away several hundred houses
 in West India town, you are liable tC
 receive a wrong impression about tho
 magnitude of the loss. The negro
 houses generally are the fiailest kinC
 of cane and wooden structures set uT
 on four posts. CT q few loose stones
 There is no floor but the earth, no glass
 in the windows, often opening in then
 but a door. and the roofs are a thatc|
 of dried grass or palm leaves that burr
 like finder when ignited. Each house
 has only one room, or two at the most
 but they are used merely to sleep in
 or as a shelter from the rain. A
 night so many persons huddle in tha
 the wonder is how all can find space t lie down. though packed head ant
 points" like sardines in box. By da,
 the family lives out of doors entirely cooking and eating in open air,
 , One of the most delightful features o