The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-28

1 ndVlHB promised lHS InO0kS Ol Ou
 Lady Of tuadeloupe, n' Estremadura
 to call some newly discovered place af | ter their convent"
 And right here, in front of you 1 looms up the same remarkable noun
 tain" with it's cataract apparently fall | ing from the sky, and the broad plain! and lofty heights of Tuluqueira, just a' i Columbus saw them, more than foul
 hundred years ago; only you do not set | much of it from the deck of the Pointe- 1 a-Pitre coaster, which arrives of | Basse- -Terre a little before daybreak Indeed, few are so fortunate as to taYt | ever seen Guadeloupe's mountain of La Souffriere entirely unveiled, even or brightest mondays. The lower and wider of it's two craters is often clearly visible, showing awful peaks and
 chasms hundreds of feet deep; but out of it rises a second cone. perpetually
 shrouded in clouds and mystery.
 At precisely a. m. a gun booms from
 the fort of Basse- -Terre; and smultane-
 ously the cathedral bell is beard sum-
 moning good citizens to prayer. The
 shore Is hidden by an impenetrable
 wall of fog, which seems to grow mo-
 mentarily thicker; but through it you
 can hear a perfect babel of tongues and
 know by that token that the market
 people are congregating on the beach,
 After an hour or two purple mountains
 emerge from the gloom backed by clear
 blue sky; and presently lower slopes of
 greenish-yellow cane appear; and final
 ly the town, embowered in amarind
 trees and tall palmistes, within a
 stones throw of the anchorage. The
 port fronts the roadstead on the open
 sea, for a row of trees stret ches the
 market place, with q crowd of canoes
 drawn up in front to be unloaded. In
 the center of the market is a fountain, fed from mountain streams, surround
 ed by circle of magnificent tamarlnds, To this fountain all the serving women of the place come to fill their jars with
 the pure cold water for household sup plies, and the scene is full of color and animation from gay petticoats of every hue, gorgeous bandana turbans and the noise of laughter and conversation
 Ones first impression of Guadeloupe women is that their heads are all set on sideways, from the queer fashion they have of put ting up their hair in Dob" over the left ear. The prospect is eminently cheerful but is marred by the consciousness of ever-present peril. Close by, on lonesome bluff, is the cholera cemetery, and to it's forest of black wooden crosses a great many ad- ditions are made every year; while the Souffrerie giant that frowns over all- though just now apparently asleep, has many times shown an alarmingly humor. Smoke by day and flames by night are frequently seen above it's upper crater, and the terrible earthquake of 1S43 proves that age has by no means abated his capacity fo mischief The grim fact is, the whole twin island is unsafe. for during the mentioned earthquake the other peninsula-fat sandy Grande- -Terre- fared even worse than this volcanic side, and Point-a-Pitre, on the farther edge of the other half, was completely destroyed
 Basse- Terre is the larger twin. and its port, of the same name, is the capi- tai of both, with fourteen thousand in- habitants It's substantial looking houses are all of stone, though neither large nor pretentious. it's wide, we'll paved streets running parallel with the shore, crossed at right angles by others that slant up into the hills. The gov srnment buildings are in the upper part of the town, with a massive stone 'ort in front and a river on either side They surround three sides of a ravine which Is bordered by mighty palmistes md has an elegant bronze fountain in he center A mile beyond and above hese picturesquely situated govern nent buildings stands the locally fa- nous convent of Versailles, where young ladies of this and the neighbor- ng islands receive their education. still higher in the hills, on a broad pla- eau two thousand feet above the sea, S the summer samp of the governor nd his troops. The spacious residence, hospital arsenal, etc, are lidden in groves of tamarinds and pal nistes, and a more delightful place on summers day can hardly be imag- | ned Several hundred feet higher yet | 5 another village, named Matouba, | whose matched cottages, overlooking a | vide expanse of the Caribbean sea- are | rowded during the fever season by the | realthy citizens of Basse-Terre.
 There are a few other hamlets or | as the French islanders all them, scattered among the hills, nd coffee plantations are everywhere, bove a certain elevation, the loWlands | cling devoted to sugar-cane. Here bouts coffee grows best at height of yo thousand feet and upwards, where le temperature never gets above eigh- 7 degrees Fahrenheit in the hottest avs of August Cane fourishes to per- .ction along the coast, where the ther- lometer seldom falls below one hun red degrees at any time of year here are at least a thousand planta- ons among the mountains of Guade- upe, and to encourage their increase le government has offered premium
 forty dollars for every new hectare bout two acres), planted to coffee. he berry was introduced into the is- l nds with the first colonists, and the lest India product is in great demand 1
 France especially an excellent varie-
 of Mocha, produced in Guadeloupe, hich commands from twenty five to irty cents per pound, on the planta-