The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-07
AFFAIRS OF TODAY
IN THE DANISH WEST IN-
 DIES.
Chances for the Investment of Amerl-

and Courier)
 Charlotte Amalia, St. Thomas Island.
 Feb. 6, 1902.
 One of your first surprises on landing at this port is the cab system. The ve- hicles are not of the ehowy order and the horses might be valuable as speci- mems Of anatomy; but the price is in keeping with the outfit. Ten cents mile is the regular tariff-and nowhere else are miles so short as in the eye measurement of these St. Thomas Je- hus, Up hill and down dale you are rattled regardless of bumps and bruis- es, at the utmost speed the salf-strayed animals can make under the incentive of cruel lashings. Whenever we find ourselves compelled to patronize this mode of ocomotion we hire the drivers, at double fare, to put by the whip-and then, of course, the miles are shorter than ever. Most tourists prefer to travel about the country on the little island ponies, which scamper over the mountains sure footed as goats. The hot, moist atmosphere is not conducive to pedestrianism, and the most 1nVete- rate walkers, who have climbed the Alps and tramped over half the world on foot, here grow lazy as the laZlest and are willing to ride in any fashion,
 Though the islands themselves are beautiful beyond compare, their prlncl- pal city, Charlotte Amalia, has no at fractions to boast of. The walls and roofs of it's insignificant houses are mostly a hap-h hazard tumble of sheet coip n the narrowest streets the loW-ceilinged habitations have oVerhanging balconies that almost touch those on the opposite side-thus forming tunnel-like alley ways, through which perspiring black crowds push and surge, each individual unit apparently trying to make the most noise Ladies of color sit in these balconies all day long, gossiping With friends across the way, often eXchang- ing neighborly courtesies by tossing things over, or even leaning out of the window to hand their babies across. The windows are generally without glass being closed at night with blinds of solid wood. if closed at all. Both doors and windows stand wide open all day long, affording free views Of do- nestle operations and scantily fuf- njshed interiors. Another pecullarity or West India houses is the absence or chimneys. Of course no fires are need ed for heating purposes In this region of eternal summer The kitchens are detached from the better houses. and ..all outdoors" serves the purpose among the lowly, whose cooking is done over a little pile of sticks in the open or clav not containing a handful of charcoal.
 As for sights" the round of them IS soon made There is a big, new hospI- taI which looks as clean as if freshly scrubbed and sand papered every day. and a quarantine lazeretto on Mullen ], feldt point. around the curve of the bay whose hospitalities may the good Lord deliver us. There are several well kept squares, each little open garden, beautifully kept theater public libra ry, reading room, half dozen churches, including a Roman Catholic cathedral and a Jewish synagogue, college supported by the Danish gov ernment, and fine MoraVlan school' About two- thirds of the population are Catholics, and the rest,-Engllsh Epls- copalians, Lutherans, Reformed Dutch and Moravians-have church for each sect Heavy, cumbrous carts each pulled by a string of from four to eight ponies rumble through the crowded streets to and from the wharves, to the perjl of lives and limbs. The drivers, shouting with all the power of their practiced lungs, have reins to the wheelers, and boy runs alongside on the right, guiding the leaders with a single rope line--a survival of the pos tiIIion but dismounted Cows are rare in the islands. the milk of goats being generally used. Early in the morning the milk vendors go their rounds, driv- ing the goats from house to house. A customer selects the most likely LOOK ing goat and has 1t milked in his door way-and meantime group Of mlc- chievous children tease the herd By this primitive method one may be sure of unwatered milk. but there is little danger of that in any event. since water is ecarcer than milk in St. Thomas Even water for drinking purposes has aften to be brought from some other is land especially near the close of the dry season; and you may be sure that among hoi palloi very little of it Is souandered in bathing or the washing of clothes.
 Among the sights of Charlotte Anna lia is reckoned "Bluebeard's Cave"--a deep, dark hollow running back under the cliffs that environ the harbor-1r which, it is said the notorious bucca- neer buried much of his treasure. It is doubtful, however if any of the pirates who frequented these parts in the sev- enteenth century ever saw the cavern At any rate, no treasure has been founo in it through two hundred years of dil- igent search, aided by the divining-rods of the negroes. But odd lots of the freebooters' hidings have come to light in other places from time to time Many copper pot and iron chest, filled with golden doubloons has been un- earthed in the neighborhood of ancient landmarks, and scores of lazy negroes have been ruined for life by the finding of Spanish pieces of eight" such as every school-boy has read about -ir .'The Pirates Own Book and Clark RusselPs sea-stores. By the way the Island of Aves-the very last strong hold of those a-faring folk of preda- tory propensities, where Rev. Charles Kingsley wrote his pathetic Lay of the Last Buccaneer," is some distance far ther down, near the South American