The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-06
AMONG THE CARlBBEES.
GRENADA AND THE LITTLE
 GRENADINES.
Tradition of the BIackbirdS-"Bequta Sweet"-How the Islanders Love IT heir Islands.
Especial Correspondence of the Jour nal and Courier).
 Grenada. British West Indies,

Grenada, British West Indies,
 May l. 1902
 Perhaps the most beautiful, as well as the most curious of all the Carihbees
 are those known as Grenada and the
 Grenadines" Stretching almost due north and south, over little more than one degree of latitude, they number up-
 wards of three hundred. Grenada, the largest and most southerly island of the group, lies only about hundred miles northwest from the Venezuelan coast, while Bequia, the last little Grenadine, is barely ten miles below St. Vincent, They all belong to Great Britain, though bearing such French names as Mastique, Isle de Rhone, Balliceaux, Carricou, etc.; and are mostly populat- ed by blacks if populated at all. Except Grenada, which has an area of one hundred and thirty-five square miles, none of them contains more than a few hundred acres, while many are bare rocks or small green mounds. Their appearance is that of nearly submerged mountain range-as perhaps they are. Sometimes an entire ridge is exposed; sometimes an isolated peak pokes it's baldhead above the sea, Again whole chains of ridges can be traced below, as between Union Island and Carriacou, which stand five miles apart, separated by a few water-sur- rounded hillocks. The yet unsOlved question is, were these mountains up- heaved from the bottom of the sea by some prehistoric volcanic eruption; or ha1; raI belong to the Southern continent and form a part of it's littoral chain? Or were they part of the lost Atlantis, which Plato declared once extended over the vast space now occupied by the Caribbean Sea and across the At lantic to the far-off coast of Africa?
 To pursue the subject little farther, Humboldt says: "The supposition of an organic eruption has been the source of other hypothesis on the origin of the smaller West India islands. Some geolo- gists admit that the uninterrupted chain of islands from Trinidad to Flor ida exhibits the remains of an ancient range of mountains. They connect this chain sometimes with the granite of French Guiana, and sometimes with the calcareous mountains of Parisa. Others, struck with the difference of geological construction, between the primitive mountains and the Greater Antilles and the volcanic cones of the Lesser, con- slider the latter as having risen from the bottom of the sea. In opposing the objections of some celebrated natural ists. I am far from maintaining the an- cient contiguity of all these smaller i,,p tn consider them as islands heaved up by fire and ranged in that regular line of which we find striking examples in so many volcanic mountains in Mexico and Peru The geological constitution of this archipelago appears to be very similar to that of the Azores and the Canary Islands Primitive formations are mo- where seen above ground, we find only what belongs unquestionably to vol canoes"
 Yet in direct opposition to this verdict of the great naturalist, later scientists have almost unanimously concluded that the islands present the remains of sunken continent and that as Wal dace says: "They originally formed part of Central America and may have been united with Yucatan and Honduras in an extensive tropical land" Perhaps both theories are in a measure true. We know beyond doubting that islands have been born and others have disap- peared, within the memory of men now living. In this region of earthquakes, and tidal waves, where sea and land have many times changed places, nobody knows what stupendous alterations may any day occur. Allan tas may really have sunk beneath the sea, with all it's inhabitants and at subsequent periods other islands may have been thrown up by the same all- powerful forces.
 To return from the limtless realm of speculation to the little Grenadines Many of these tiny islands-like Bal liceux and Battouei-are each owned by a single individual, or by company which raises sheep and cattle. Others are occupied by quiet and prosperous race of farmers who have converted l their sea-girt hermitages into market gardens and carry vegetables--in coast ingships of their own building-to their lazier neighbors. But the majority of the Grenadines are sWarmed with idle negroes. who have no need to labor. for money would be useless to them if they possessed it. and the sea brings to their | feet food enough for every day in the | year, eked out with fruits growing wild in abundance and a little cotton or su- garcane, grown in just sufficient quan titles to supply imported luxuries. No | can be greater than between | these silent sleepy islands, where the | black man has things all his own way, | and the neighboring islands dominated | by Anglo-Saxons, where the negro must | work or starve. l
 Canouas island, about midway in the | line of Grenadines, looks very small, l dry and comfortless, with it's single | group of white houses perched on a | treeless hilltop in the glaring sun. The l curious thing about it is that this island | Is inhabited exclusively by the descend l ints of one man-an English missionary | by the name of Snagg, who came to | ~anouan many years ago, bringing a | lew slaves, and set up as patriarch, l He has certainly ut-done Abraham, | Isaac and Jacob in the extent of his 'anlily, if not Of his domain You cam not go ashore without striking snagg' at every turn. The present race if Snaggs are of all shades of complex on, from ebony to cafe au lait A well
 s.-..