The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-15
IN THE DANISH WEST INDIES
4 yrSIT TO ST, GROIN LSLAND-THE
 CITIES
Of Christiansted and FredertcIsstoed- What Americans May Be Doing Here Within the Next Few Months

and Courier).
 Christiansted, St., Croix, D. w. l.
 Feb 10, 1902.
 It seems to me that nowhere this side of Paradise can such absolute pertee- ton of climate be found, such reStIul conditions and charming scenery as Ill this comparatively unknown island or the Danish group. St. Thomas is beau tiful, with an atmosphere like that which the old hymn attributes to Heaven-of High eternal noon'-and with unlimited possibilities in the way of commerce; St. Jan has capacities or immense value, in cattle-r&ising, to supply passing ships and the neighpof- ing islands with fresh meat but neither of them is to be compared With St' Croix as a desirable place of residence or as a winter resort for those Noflh Americans who annually flee to the ends of the earth to escape atroclous weather. It requires neither a pfophet HOT the son of a prophet to fofeteil that in the near future, when the ne" owners of these islands have mace few iudicious improvements the tlde or winter travel which now sets stfohgIy toward foreign parts, and the Solaeh streams of American wealth Whleh flow along with it, will be turned to our own far more beautiful island pos sessions of undying summer For the invalid, the angler the world-WeaFled seeker of rest, there is no more de- lightful spot where one may live for ever in the shade of palms, famed by fn6 hV trOnlCal fruits; surrounded by spicy woods. fields fragrant with flowers the year around, beeches of silvery sand ana waters of luminous blue that falfly swarm with fish of every variety; ana all the time the newcomer may see riches growing up around him, without labor on his own part if he cares to ln- vest in any of the multitudinous enter prises that now demand attention. A rosy picture, isn't it? And its princi- nal beauty is that fancy has not paint ed it regardless of fact, but that It IS true in every particular Of course thee are drawbacks, as even Eden had it's serpent The natives, though friendly and hospitable to degree, are mt always exactly those whom one would choose for exclusive society," there is no let-up in the High eternal noon'' of the coast regions and to keep comfortably cool one must seek the | hill-tops; yellow fever sometimes sweeps the West Indies of their sur plus population-bu is really no more i to be dreaded than our typhoid and pneumonia, and some Of these islands have never yet had a case of it; leprosy 1 is prevalent among the negroes, owing mainly to their filthy habits, but has | CT been known to touch foreigner. | As for that buga boo, the hurricanes though they may be expected at any | hour between June and November, re ports of the havoc they make have al ways been greatly exaggerated. There are so many land-locked harbors and signs of coming storms are so plainly written in the skies that. as rule, none but criminally careless naVfgators come to grief. Some eighteen years or so ago tidal wave upheaved to the 1 height of thirty feet and came rolling | like a solid wall into the harbor of l Charlotte eAmalia, breaking along shore and raging furiously among the the lower buildings of the town: but there are no more hurricanes and cy- clones here than in the southern part of our country, and never since time began. has there been any approach te the Galveston horror anywhere in the West Indies When 1t rains in the l tropics, the clouds simply throw wide their gates and falling ocean is loose upon the earth, accompanied by crash | iug thunder that sets the mountains atremble and fills the valleys with 3 | booming roar as if the very fabric of the earth was dissoving In the stress of elemental strife. But it is only for 8 flow hours each day, during seasor which can be calculated upon with un- erri,g accuracy No danger of beins caught in shower and running the feathers on your swellest hat, wher you may reckon to the winute wher rain will begin to fall and prepare yourself accordingly. Commencing witt light showers at night gradually in creasing in length and volume as thu season advances. until half the day i! also included in the dOWn-p pour, there i! never q morning. even after blackes night, riven by flames of lightning anC iarred by incessant pearls of thunder 
 over the rain washed earth. whicl looks clean and beautiful as if fresl from the hands of God. Evtry one t his taste: to mine the fiercest storn that ever swept the tropics is pre-
 ferable to the slow, disniriting. blod chilling drizzle of a northern autumn devoid of every element of grandeur 0
 beauty. ....
 St. Croix the largest of the Danisl group witli an erea of about eight, miles and population estimated be
 tween twenty-five and thirty thousand lies nearly fifty miles south of St Thomas and St. Jan, and has some er
 tirely different characteristics For eX z ample, while the other two islands ar
 comparatively barren and unproduc
 tive. their southernmost sister rejoice in unabra geous woodlands, am
 luxuriant verdure. wherever suga
 and coffee fields are not cultivated Al
 its people are devoted to agriculture
 in one form or another, and there ar
 now thirty-two prosperous suga
 estates on the island, By the way, tn
 product of these estates all goes to on
 concern in New York city In order | protect growers who are not in thi
 trust the Danish government has eS
 tablished sugar stations, to Whic
 planters may bring their cane for sale
 There the stalks are ground in mill 1 belonging to the government and tn
 producer receives pay based on Ne'