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

From St. Vincent to Bequia is but a short row of a summers morning, the islands lying almost within hailing dis tance of each other. This northermost
 and largest of the Grenadines is only about six miles long by a mile wide,
 edged with gray cliffs and covered with dense woods, and with a range of hills, | a thousand feet high, running across the middle, Like the other islands of
 the group it is we'll stocked by nature | With wild doves, ploVer, and ducks in | their season, besides a multitude of song birds, while the rocky shores are the haunts of millions of sea- fowls. All through the Grenadines and especially
 in Bequia-but, strange to say, in no other islands, not even in nearby St, Vincent-there is a singular species of fat glossy black birds, which make the
 air res0und all day with plaintive cries that seem to say "Bequia Sweet" ! 'Bequia Sweet, Sweet!" Nothing would
 induce a native to kill or injure one of these birds, whose peculiar cry is ac- counted for in a tradition connected
 with the captivity of the aboriginal peo-
 pie and the cruel treatment they receiv- ed at the hands of the French. Ac- cording to the story. the little creature was like any other blackbird and sung
 like the rest of it's kind until near the middle of the Seventeenth century,
 when transformed by pity for the un- fortunate Carlos. The remnant of large
 and peaceful tribe had been driven out
 of their own Grenada and imprisoned
 on the bare little island of Balliceaux
 which is low and dry and had not tree
 to shade them from the burning sun,
 Within full sight of their place of cap
 tivity was Bequia, six times as large,
 with high hills and dense forests and
 little rivulets dancing downward to the
 sea. Of course the homesick Indians
 and breezy hills; but in vain. The
 heartless cOnquerOrs had destroyed
 their canoes as well as their homes, and
 left them weaponless and helpless.
 Without even implements for fishing
 and hunting, or material for construc-
 ing slight shelter. the poor Caribs
 lay starving and gasping under the
 tropic sun, dying by dozens; until sud-
 denly the blackbirds, into which per
 haps the soul of the dead were reincar-
 mated, began to sing "Bequia Sweet"
 "Bequia Sweet, Sweet" and have kept
 it up ever since.
 The present inhabitants of the Grena-
 dimes, degenerate descendants of the
 once numerous Carlos, mixed with the
 blood of all nations African predom-
 mating displayed a love for even the barest and tiniest of their islands which outcidarc cannot nop,Drat,apJ r., rooo r,l to their conquest Gin 1650) by the French Father du Teatro, one of the mission aries who took part in it, relates a mon strous mixture of knavery and religious fanaticism. It seems that Du Parquet, the governor of Martinico, although the greater portion of his own island was still uncultivated, cast covetous eyes upon beautiful Grenada. Finally he set out to acquire it by force, at the head of two hundred hardy rufians, to whom the beautiful consistency of the old missionaries-he administered the holy sacrament on starting After land ing at Grenada, the first thing this pious governor did was to erect a cross and compel his soldiers and the won- dering natives who gathered around to kneel and join in prayer for the success of his enterprise. The inoffensive Char ribees, Gas they were called by the early chronclers) received and enter tained the white strangers with kind ness ansd cordiality; and their chief, nothing of the French mems language was easily induced to sell his islands for ia few knives and quantity of glass beads and two bottles of brandy for himself"-so says the infamous record. Father du Tertre writes, And thus was Grenada fairly ceded to the French nation by the natives themselves in lawful purchaser
 After this pious transaction, it is not that du Parquet and his fel- low missionaries construed the refusal of the poor savages to confirm the agreement when it's true meaning dawned upon them into contumacy and rebellion. He built a fort and engaged | in a bloody war of eXtermination, mur- dering without mercy even the women | and children, and including the most 1 atrocious barbarities. A single incident as related by the reverend historian, | will serve as a sample of the manner in which the Charaibes were Chris | sldHlZeu' Du IeftES WI tSS that Cu Oll : | of his expeditions they met a fleeing | party of Indians-"Forty of whom were ma ssacred on the spot, About forty | others who had escaped the sword, ran toward high precipice from whence | they cast themselves healong into the | sea. and thus miserably perished. A beautiful girl, apparently about twelve | years of age, was taken alive and be- came the object of dispute between two | of our officers, each claiming her as his | lawful prize. A third officer coming up, put an end to the contest by shooting the girl through the head. Our people, having lost but one man in the eXpedi- ton, proceeded to set fire to the cot l tages, and having destroyed or taken