The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-19
ANTIGUA ANDlTS NEIGRBORS
SOME OF THE FLOCRISHING 
 COLONIES
In the West Indies of Which Inc World Knows Very LittIe-Mont- serrat-EngIish Harbor at Antigua Water Scarce Sometimes.

Water Scarce Sometimes.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier),
 Antigua, British ". l.,
 June 15. 1902
 One who has not spent considerable time cruising in these islands can have no idea of the vast extent of the archipelago. We speak of the West Indies with perhaps a score of islands in mind-when in reality there are thousands of them. No two are alike; most of them are comparatively un- known to the world at large. and each is a little world in itself, with it's own peculiar beauties, interests and attrac- tions. You might cruise for years about these bluest of waters. where en- chanting islands float like mirage of fairyland-some huddled close together. as the uncOunted swarm of Virgin" islands, or marshalled at an average distance of twenty miles apart, as the Leeward Antilles. or curving in majes- tic sweep around the Southern border of the Caribbean Sea. at the Greater Antilles-and always new island is just ahead, like the beads of an endless rosary. First a cloUd-bank seems to spring up out of the ocean, gradually turning into a mountain, dim and gray Presently it changes to purple; then to golden green. Tall palms appear upon it, and steeples and red-tiled roofs. Surf gleams white around a silver beach, and the sea is smooth as glass though of unfathomable depth. And just beyond rises another bank Of cloud which you know will presently turn into diTn grey mountain; and an- other and another; phantom islands, 5cowled in mist and cloud, crowding close on every side. The people, too. are a perpetual surprise, being of slight similarity to one another, and Of none at all to any other civilization. Eight European governments you know, are represented in West Indian possessions: and their subjects, though mostly of African descent, include mixtures of blood from every race under heaven. And such is the magic of the soft, warm air and sleepy trade winds, eternal sum- shine by day and blazing skies by night. calm tranquility of life, unruff1ed by hurry and hustle of business. or even by news from the forgotten world. that you sink deeper and deeper into dream-land and lose all desire to tear yourself away.
 One of these sea -girt communities of which the world seldom hears is Mont between Guadeloupe. St. Kitts and Antigua, and about twen- ty miles from either It is another VOL car1ic mass, covered with green hills, in one of which Columbus saw so close resemblance to the ragged mountain, Montserrat, in Catalonia, that he gave it's name to the island. It is ten or twelve miles long by perhaps seven wide, with two-thirds of it's area stand ing on end and the rest devoted mainly to the cultivation of cane and cotton. Its negro population, which numbers ten thousand, to less than one hundred whites-speaks Irish in it's purity" with as round and rich a brogue as ever came out of Dublin. The story is that many years ago British cruiser cap tured an African slave-ship in the Spanish Main and the slaves were laud- ed on this island in charge of the mas ter-at-arms, who happened to be an Irishman. He taught the blacks his na- tive tongue so thoroughly that to this day their descendants resist with stub born pertinacity any English lingual invasion. We thought it funny enough to hear exiles from Africa jabhering French on some of the other islands. but this broad Irish accent grafted on English h-negro idioms is the most divert ing jargon ever listened to. While the British master of this island are protes- tants. and powerful though in so small a minority, the blacks are all Roman Catholics and under the control of an Irish priest, who rules them more rig orously than King Edward. M0nteerrat is famous for several things. First for being the healthiest island in the An titles and one of the most beautiful: second for it's enormous turtles, good rum and fine fruits, and third for the most extensive lime-p plantation, and lime juice manufactory in the world. The latter is owned by New England Quaker, named Surge, and al arge for tune he has made. The product finds a ready market, both in Europe and America. The one plantation, (and there are several smaller lirne-groves in the interior valley), sends out every year an average of seven hundred puncheons of raw lime juice. three hun- dred hogshead of concentrated lime and "a large quantity of fresh lines. Though by no means rich colony, Montserrat's commercial products are greater than many of it's more extensive neighbors- chiefly sugar, rum, molasses, cotton, wool and the Times aforesaid Plymouth, its port, Capital and only town, con- tains nothing of special interest. It's dwelling house, public buildings and two churches are all substantially built of grey stone from the nearby moun- tains. Being under the general govern ment of Antigua, the local affairs of the island are administered by legisla tive council, whose eleven members are mostly appointed by the crown. The in- iterior of Montserrat must be very beau tiful. There is the inevitable Soufriere, found in all these volcanic islands with the accompanying hot springs and gey- sers; and broken hill-chain, threaded by thickly-wooded gorges, lead up to the three-headed central mountain which, like q crouching Cerberus, guards the fruitful lemon groves far be- low. I remember reading, long ago. in an old book published in London. this bit of good advice regarding Montser- rat;
 Should you ever visit the island, my