The Republican journal., 1902-03-27

ote on the plains of La Mancha. The
mills remain, and the wind still whirls
them; but alas. The sound OF their
grinding is low"
one of the most delightful expert
ences of my not uneventful life, was a
recent visit to Danish sugar planta-
ton midway between Christianstoed
and Frederickstoed. The way thereto
led over one of the excellent roads for
which the island is famous. bordered on
both sides by a tangle of gorgeous mas
turtlums, tall spires of organ cactus
and giant century, plants, (Agave
Americana fragrant white jasmine
rloting over every wall and hedge-row,
and frangipani, common as cowslips in
marshy meadows at home, pertaining
the air. Diverging from the road are
many green valleys, which we long to
explore, where a world of strange flow
ers ailured us and shade was offered by
dellcate-leaved tamarind trees and the
silk cottonwoods with their enormous
misshapen roots writhing about like
colossal serpents turned to stone, and
their long, horizontal branches. each
UNFOLDING multitudes of air-plants. The
last half mile to the plantation gate was
magniticently bordered by double rows
OF cocoa-palmS, impressive as the pill
Jared arches OF some ancient temple
This particular plantation is now de-
voted largely to the manufacture of
Santa Cruz rum, instead of the former
saccharlne product. Since time out of
mind this island has been famous for
Its rum, you know, and it is still profit
able Industry. There is hardly any tale
of piratical days without some aliusion
to it, and if half the stories are true
one must believe that the old bucca-
neers disdained to get drunk on any
thing else. They used to put into the
now choked-up harbor of Christianstoed
for the sole purpose of loading up
with rum-both themselves and their
ships-and any one who is at all familiar
with the powerful qualities of the rum
can readily understand the subsequent
ferocity of those sad dogs.
Our Danish host informed me that he
pays his negro laborers an average of
twenty cents a day for the men, and
twelve cents for the women, who appear
to do the most work. But none over |
tax themselves, you may be sure, and
there seemed to be grinning darkey to
every square inch-mostly resting on
their hoes and chattering like flock !
of black birds. | counted forty-seven
women pretending to be at work III one
two-acre lot, besides few men and |
troops of children, They use gigantic
hoes of different sizes, the smallest be-
ing bigger than half dozen of ours;
and the clumsy implements are evident
ly effective, for not weed is to be seen. |
The very old negroes, male and female, |
who are too decrepid for anything else,
feed the huge boiling watts through the
hopper. Now that the days of compul-
sorry labor are over the negroes indulge |
their prejudices to the full, and while a |
a few planters can always secure plenty |
of laborers, nothing will induce the |
blacks to do stroke of work for others. !
On the favored plantations all is hustle |
and hurry for few weeks, with an i'm
mense amount of noise and fuss to help |
the work along: the rest of the year |
idleness. One wonders how the swarm
ing black population manages to live on |
the small, bare island. The secret of it |
is in the genial weather, the bounty of |
nature and their simple habits. Any
West India darkey can fare sumptuous-
ly every day on a banana and a flying
fish, and those edibles cost nothing
here; or in default of these, - draws |
my belt one hole tighter, ma,am," ex-
planned an old negro with whom | dis
cussed the problem. A common saying
in these islands to indicate extraord- |
nary plumpness is ''As fat as a darkey
in cane time" Every colored person of
the lower class whom you meet any
where, big or little, old and young, is
sure to be sucking or chewing a section
of cane-stalk, and the babies appear to
be literally raised on it. No matter
how hot it is, or what work they pre-
tend to be doing, there is always leisure
enough to munich the sweet morsel,
much as cows half-unconsciously chew
their cud
The combination of modern machin- |
cry with old-fashioned methods employ
ed upon some of these estates forms an |
odd commingling of the past and pres
ent. Side by side you see wheeling