Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-28

American as English. The fruit com
panies control about all the banana land,
and an American concern alone has moro
than $4,000 acres under cultivation. The
enormous number Of punches Of this favor
lite fruit shipped is astonishing. Vessels
may fly the English nag and the ubiqui-
tous Scandinavian may be seen at any OF
the banana ports, but the fruit goes most
ly to the United States to be absorbed
throughout the country.
Nearly all the northern ports OF ia
maica are useless for hsrbors. They open
narrowly and suddenly, with plenty Of
coral reefs to make them diflcult Of navi-
cation, and those OF the less protected
variety are simply ugly anchorages at
which a large vessel cannot lie without
being moored both tow and stern. Their
existence lie due TO the banana trade.
The entire population engaged in tho
fruit trade is black. Not an ordinary black.
but a real deep Congo tinge such as is
found on the west coast Of Africa, and It
is only among the clerks. shippers and Of
fee men one finds the color tightening a
little. Shoes are almost unknown. and a
tourist who lately entered a house Of the
better kind found a pair of corsets caro-
fully rolled up and tied with a ribbon, and
set upon a table In the parlor. They were
exhibited as a strange freak Of American
and English fashions.
Jamaican Morals Lax.
Az might be supposed, the morals Of
these primitive people in regard to ser
are not conventional. Marriage is consid-
cred an evil. The woman has to work as
hard as the man, and she finds herself
handicapped under the English law hen
tied to a lazy buck. who sits around and
allows her to support him. 1t works bet
ter when she can give him q shift when
he gets tired, and take up with some more
energetic fellow, who can support herself
and children. This puts a premium upon
thrift. The worthless man cannot even have
a home to shelter him. In spite Of these
peculiarities Of temperament, there Is sell
dom much quarrelling over domestic rights.
Missionaries have looked upon this condi-
tion as almost hopeless, but the people
thrive and are happy. and while the East
Indian coolie looks down with scorn upon
the great black man, the latter holds the
coolie in disdain as a mere pigmy of the
human race, and one whose opinion Is not
worth considering. They seldom II ever
mix, coolies living on the plantations or in
villages of their own.
To these black people the demonstration
Of the naval force in their waters will be
a revelation. Brought up to believe that
England alone has sea power. the battle
ships and cruisers will give them to under
stand that protection may be had under
the striped ensign. Accustomed as they
are to English ships Of war, they cannot
fail to be impressed by the magnificent
vessels Of the heavier class flying the
American flag. They will be more willing
a.. 49,. tharraaIvaa NTH fha VaNRaa an tina
isthmus.
When It is understood that Of all the
20, 1000 Chinese who were shipped to work
on the canal under the French system, very
few remain, and that there is a we'll known
saying that every tie in the Panama road
bed could have been built OF human bones
from lives sacrificed upon the work, the
Important part these islanders will play In
the canals future may be understood.
To the naval officer who has never been
ashore on the island of Jamaica the place
will be a revelation of beauty. This, Of
course, lies in the scenery and not In the
productions of man. The towns are like
most of those seen In the American tropics
and are simply picturesque and differ from
those along the Caribbean coast principally
In regard to cleanliness. The fruit, which
should be the principal Diet, Is OF many
varieties, and a person may indulge in a
dozen different kinds at one meal and be
no worse for 1t. The dyspeptic may eat Of
the papiae, the peculiar melon containing
vegetable pepsin which, somehow, digests
itself, and he may eat until he can swallow
no more. He will be all the more pleased
with himself afterwards, and this at a very
small cost. the fruit selling from two to
three for a shilling. 1t is impossible to
send the fruit north, and he must content
himself with a mere glimpse Of paradise,
going out under the trees where the pc
culiar melon grows, hanging like a great
pear to tempt him to renounce his birth
right and become a native.
Jamaica itself is not more than usually
unhealthy. In fact, It is just the opposite,
but some of the outlying islands are not
exactly health resorts. 1t is probably due
to this circumstance that the islanders
became popular for contractors OUTFITS.
Being an English speaking race also aids
materially, for there are not many
island negroes capable of valuable work
who have a working" acquaintance
with the language.
The heavy drafts must be made on
these people for the work along the owe
levels of the Panama cut. At Colon the
climate may be withstood by a white
man for many years, but upon the Cha
gres river and along the swampy districts
the fever is deadly. Yellow fever is bad
enough, but the peculiar variety developed
in the waters of this 'sickly stream ID
even worse, for men who have recovered
from its fierce heat will often remain as
yellow as the rind OF a dried lemon for
years afterwards. The Colombian negro
apparently cannot stand the climate, al
though he is much more impervious
than the Chinaman or American black
man. 1t has been found that the ia
maican is the only human creature who
can safely risk the exposure, and even
among these islanders the death rate
must not be expected to remain small.
Long, lean, muscular and lazy, the ia
maican, with his musical speech, win be
the man behind the shovel when the ditch
is started under American direction. It
will do him good to see the white ships
that he loves come slowly in behind the
land at Kingston. 1t will awaken dreams
Of future wealth, and his tax-ridden
fruit garden will seem more hopeful of
unburdening itself with the aid Of the
good American silver. He will look for
ward to the days when he may sit at ease
under his luxuriant bread fruit trees and
smoke the pipe OF peace and plenty. with
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