The sun., 1902-11-23

and those Of the lees protected variety
are simply ugly anchornges at which a
large vessel cannot lie without being moored
| both bow and stern. Their existence is
due TO the banana trade.
The entire population engaged In the
fruit trade is black Not an ordinary black,
but real deep Congo tinge such az IL found
ON the west coast Of Africa, and II u only
! among the clerks, shippers and Office men
one finds the color tightening little.
Shoes are almost unknoW n, and = tourist
who lately entered house Of the better
Kind found pair Of coIsets carefully rolled
up and tied with ribbon, and set upon the
table in the par or. They were exhibited
~ a strange freak Of American and English
fashions
A might be supposed, the morals Of
these primitive people are not conventional.
Marriage is considered an evil The woman
I has TO work Ms hard as the man. and she
ilnds herself handicapped under the English
la" when tied To a lazy husband who sits
around and allows her to support him.
II works better when she can give him a
shift when he gets tired, and take up with
some more energetic fellow, who can sup
port herself and children. This puts a
premium upon thrift The wort hlo,s man
cannot even have home TO shelter him.
In spite Of these peculiarities of temper
ameit, there is seldom much Quarrelling
over domceti crights
Missionaries have looked upon this con =
dnion as almost hopeless, but the people
thrive ard are happy, ard while the East
Irdian coolie looks down with scorn upon
| the great black man. the latter holds the
coolie in disdG in a. mere ygmy Of the
human race, and one whose opinion is not
worth considering. They seldom, il ever.
mix, coolies living on the plantations or In
Villages Of their own.
To these black people the demonstration
OF the naval force in their waters will be a
revelation. Brought up TO believe that
Engalnd alone has sea power, the bait leship
and cruisers will give them TO understand
that protection may lie had under the
striped ensign.
Accustomed as they are to English ships
Of war. they cannot fail to be impressed
by the magnificent vessels Of the hea vier
class flying the American flag. They will
he more willing to trust themselves wit
the Yankee on the Isthmus.
When II IL understood that of all the
ao,OO0 Chinese who were shipped to work
the canal under the French system, very
few remain and that there is n well-known
Swing that every tie in the Panama road
bed could have been built Of human bones
important part these islanders will play
in the canals future may he understood
To the naval officer who has never been
ashore on the island Of Jamaica, the place
will he revelation Of beauty. This of
course. lios in the scenery and not In the
productions Of man.
The towns are like most Of those seen IN
the American tropics. and are simr L.
picturesque, and differ from those along
the Carit bean coast principally In regard
to oleanliness The fruit, which should
and person may indu'g, in dozen differ
ent kinds at one meai and be no worse
for IT,
The dyspeptic may eat Of the papiae,
the peculiar melon containing vegetable
yrh ~.
and he may eat until he can swallow no
more He win he all the more pleased
with himself afterward, and this at q very
small cos; the fruit selling from two to three
for a shilling
II is impossible to eend the fruit north,
and he must content himself with q mere
glimpse Of paradise. going out under the
trees where the peculiar melon grows,
hanging like great pear to tempt him
to renounce HIS birthright and become a
native
Jamaica itself is not more than usually
unhealthful. In fact II IL lust the opposite,
but 80 m Of the outlying islands are not ex-
actly health resorts.
II il probably due to this circumstance
that the islanders become popular for
speaking race also aids materially, for
there are not many island negroes capable
of valuable work who have a working
acquaintance with the language.
Inc neaVy draIts must De mace on these
people for the work along the lower levels
OF the Panama cut. At Colon the climate
may be wthstood nv a white man for many
years. but upon the Chagres River and
along the swampy districts the fever Is
deadly.
Yellow fever is bad enough, but the
peculiar variety developed in the waters
Of this sickly stream is even worse, for
men who have recovered from its fierce
heat will often remain a. yellow as the
rind OF dried lemon for years afterw ard.
The Colombian negro apparently can
not stand the climate, although he Is much
more impervious than the Chinaman OF
American black man. II has been found that
tho Jamaican IL the only human creature