Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-05-19

Martinique and Its
Awful Tragedy.


visited, calls the visitor back, put SClll
it is the land of the fer-de-lance the
most pernicious Of snakes; the abode
Of ants, spiders and other tropical
plaques; the scene of the hurricane,
the earthquake and the volcano, and
the home of superstition.
The one great memory of the land
is that it was the birthplace OF the
Empress Josephine. Statues and
pictures of her abound, and because
she was of the family of Tascher de
Ia Pagerie, the aristocrats OF Mar
Unique today hold to the affection OF
the "Tncropables" of France OF not
pronouncing the letter ''r' in words,
saying "amou' for amour and
evolution" for revolution"
Natives of st. Pierre.
st. Pierre, Martinique, was a
favorite stopping place for tourists in
the West Indies and few of the winter
voyages which have become so pop
ular in the last decade among the
Windward islands we're made without
stop of several days at the quaint
tropical town which has just been
obliterated by the eruption of Mont
Pelee.
AS there is practically no harbor at
st. Pierre ships of any size could not
approach close to the fiat, stony
beach; they were therefore compelled
to anchor out in the open roadstead,
some distance off shore. No sooner
did steamer drop anchor than the
passengers witnessed one Of the most
unique sights to be seen in the West
| Indies. This was the native diving
| boy, who surrounded every ship i'm
mediately after it's arrival, having
padded out from the shore in the
most absurd looking craft imagin-
able.
These boats were mostly recon
structed soap and packing boxes,
which had two blunt ends and made
no pretense of being watertight. A
small native lad anywheres from to
IL years old and perfectly naked sat
il each and padded vigorously with
single IN each hand. The feet
generally contained one or two large
boats with older natives in them,
! but the majority were youngsters.
Cupants Of the homemade canoes set
up an unintelligible clamor in the
native French patois of the island,
! asking that money be thrown them.
| A coin tossed from the ship by a
| passenger was the signal for great
! splashing and uproar as each boy
made a dive in the direction of the
prize The boats were all overturned
and floated bottom upwards, but the
penny never reached the bottom
Often several of the divers would
grasp at it at the same moment when
! ten or fifteen feet below the surface
and a fight under water would ersue.
The water was always very clear
and the course of the coin was easily
followed as it slowly sank. When it
was captured by one of the divers he
would place it in his mouth and all
would again seek their craft, swim
ming up underneath and lifting them
! above the surface to empty out the
water. They then would Chamber in
again and wait for the next copper.
Hour after hour the fleet would
EngeT around the vessels side, the
boys seeming tireless as long as any
coins were forthcoming, Probably
nowhere in the world could be found
more expert swimmers and divers
than these native youngsters. Often
for an extra prize a black 1O-year-old
would dive on one side of a big
steamship and swim under and secure
a copper thrown over the other side
OF the ship, coming to the surface
and waving it triumphantly every
time. In each cockeshell boat was a.