The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-16

Mines.
 l Especial Correspondence ot the Jourhal
 and Courier).
 St. Austatius, Dutch West Indies,
 April 18th, 1902.
 Resides Curacao, the big island OH
 the north coast of Venezuela, Holland
 claims several other West India 1sl-
 ands-incIuding Saba, St. Eustatius' st.
 Martin. Bonaire and Aruba. Their area,
 all told is not much more than four
 hundred miles; Arube seventy; St.
 Martin seventeen, St. Austatius seVen'
 and queer little Saba has to US cfeult
 only about five square miles. The lat"
 fer is nothing but the peak of stupen-
 duous mountain, rising from the bottom
 If the ocean to the height of about two
 thousand feet above it. It is the north-
 ernmost volcano of the Carribbee ISL lands, and, happily, has been totally ex- tinct for many centuries. or course all these tiny Dutch dependcies have thelr
 general seat of government at Curacdo' while each island-colony is under the
 direct rule of an officer appointed by
 Queen Wilhelmina, who reJolceS unuer
 the euphomious title of "Gezaghebber."
 Think of spending ones life away
 down the depths of Volcano-for that
 is exactly what the two or three thou sand people, who do make up the popu- lation of Saba The island used to be known as "Napoleon's Cooked Hat be- cause in contour it very much resem- bles that obsolete article of head-gear.
 At first view you think there is no land- ]. ing place at all-only a solid wall of 1lnscalable cliffs, against which the sea beats with resistless fury. Around lon the leeward side of the bald cone you discern a tiny break in the cliffs above which hangs suspended what looks like a couple of grey threads or part of the web of some gigantic spider It is a staircase, the only entrance to the city of Saba-a thousand feet al- most straight up in the air, and then down again to the bottom of the old volcano Your steamer approaches With extraordinary care, feeling her way very slowly. When so near that the stairway is well defined against the dark mountain side and you can dis tinctly hear the roar of surf against the base of the cliffs, you are still wonder ing how landing is to be made where there is no such thing as a hrbor, nor rod of level ground. Anchor is cast three miles from shore-if one can prop ierly call the perpendicular height shore-at the mercy of every sportive hurricane that so frequently sweeps these waters. Finally boat is let down from the davits and word goes forth that passengers who desire to land are requested to be quick about it. for there is no knowing what an hour may bring forth in this tempestuous latitude. It requires some courage to obey the or der. All who have tried it wil agree that 1t is neither the easiest nor the safest thing in the world to scramble down the swinging stairs outside ship at sea. and to drop therefrom into lit- tie boat that comes dancing along on the waves, coquettishly advancing and recedingr-now pumping against the vessels side, now waltzing far away leaving between stretch of bottomless ocean which yawns to receive you if any miscalculation is made as to the precise second of letting go the stairs
 Arrived within hailing distance of the 5, visible and not the slightest traco of human habit itation-nothing but gray rock and black forest, brooded over by silence as profound as if no man had set foot here since the foundation of the world; the whole encompassed by raging seas The boatmen rest upon their oars and make the the welkin ring with cries of 'come down." apparently addressed to denizens of the skies. Af- ter a long hours waiting, during which | you are buffeted by surges and beaten | about by trade winds-a welcome shout | is heard inland and you see men run ming to and fro upon narrow shelf Of rock near the base of the cone, beckon- | ing and gesticulating. The boat shoots | ahead, through foaming breakers and | between huge boulders, aiming straight | for the ledgew ith a force that threat ems destruction. In two minutes you | are wet to the skin with spray, and | just as the terrific shock of the impact | with those rocks knocks the last breath | out of you, friendly (though black) | hands seize you, wipe the salt water | from your eyes and set your feet on terra firma. Other hands haul the boat up to safety and rescue your luggage which is all af1oat in the pounding surf, k md presently you are ascending the so- called "Ladder'' up the face of Saba's precipice.
 It is well that stalwart negro walks ,n either side of you-unless you have been bred to such gentle exercises as scaling church steeples and climbing | telegraph poles, for the narrow trial is " no means so reassuring to the nerves as a flight of stairs, with West India gales doing their worst to blow you off, Into that horrible surf raging directly below. Your sable guides, climbing like goats and never making mis-step, be- guile the time with cheerful conversa- ion, concerning accidents that have oc- ,urred here, allowing you to sit down at every frequent platform, to rest and re- cover breath. They tell you that this Is the best landing place on the island | very good one as landing places go in 5aba-much better and easier than the ,ne on the western side. When the wind blows west they use the east ward landing, called "the Fort; and when it blows east, they use this one, Ii the Ladder; but wha the wealth 1T, the wind is always high upon this solated peak and the seas that encOm- lass it arc rough as the toughest, They !