Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-15

l
was through shipwreck, piracy and the
slave market that she fell finally into
the hands of the sultan's officers. Sh,
was the mother of Mahmoud H..
grandfather of the present sultan.
| Martinique lies in the Lesser An
| titles, about half way between Porte
Rico and the South American coast
1t is about 450 miles from San Juan
Porto Rico. and over 1000 miles from
New York.
Though it was discovered by Col
umbus in 1902. the island lay until
| 1865 in undisputed possession of the
Caribs, saving small French settle,
ment made at ST, Pierre in 1896
When Esnambus formally occupied 1t
in the name of France the extinction
of the natives began. and the importa-
tion of negroes from Africa. followed
later by the arrival of Asiatics, In
dian coolies and Chinese. gave 1t a
population of a peculiarly mixed char.
acter.
The English took possession of it
four times toward the end of the
eighteenth century. and not till 1916
did they finally restore It to France
A revolt of the blacks In 1858 was fol
lowed after some years by the extern
sion of the franchise to all Inhabitants
or free birth, regardless of color. and
result of this has been that the
white population has dwindled till it
is now not over 10000 in number, and
it seems doomed to disappearance as
separate class.
The island is under a governor. a
general council and elective munich
pal councils. 1t has very elaborate
provisions for popular education in
comparison with other West Indian
islands. There is a law school at
Fort de France with eighty.six stu
dents. and there are three secondary
schools, normal school 1852 primary
schools and seventy-five private
schools. Fort de France, now the
largest city of the island as well as
the capital. has about 1900 popula-
ton. little over half what was the pop
ulation OF st. Pierre.
Sugar. coffee, cotton and tobacco
are the chief products, in addition to
the food crops. There are twenty
sugar works and 11s rum distilleries
in 1889. and the figures of the year fol
lowing showed imports of about So
100000 and exports amounting to s5,-
100000. The local budget is some.
hing over 81 900. 900 year.
The record of disasters on a great
scale in the island is startling one.
and the destruction of St Pierre
stands only as the worst of long
series. Pestilence. fire, earthquakes
and hurricane have all contributed
their terrors. The hurricane is the
most dreaded of all, while the earth
quake Is so common that usually little
attention is paid to It.
The earthquakes seem to originate
beneath Mount Pelee and are suppos-
de to be due to the shifting of strata
of rock in that locality. There are
five volcanoes on the island, but all
like Mount Pelee. were supposed to
be extinct. as since 1851 they had
shown no activity
Fort de France, the capital, has
been three times damaged by earth
quake and once by hurricane. In
1889 it was half ruined by earthquake.
In 1883 its population was decimated
by smallpox and in 1890 fire de
stroyed half the buildings. The
record is simply a sample of what can
be shown by any town, village or coun-
try plantation on the island.
The great disasters of history due
to volcanic disturbances are as fol
lows:
Pompeii and Herculanium destroyed
by eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. d.
TO-
Earthquake in Constantinople
thousands killed; 557.
Catania, Sicily, $4,000 persons killed
by earthquake, 1877.
Syria, 10000 killed by earthquake,
1888.
SILICA, 10000 killed by earthquake;
1858.
Palermo earthquakes, 5000 lost;
l725.
Canton. China, 100000 lost by earth
quake, November 30, 1881.
Kuchan, North Persia. 10000 lost
by earthquake; 1855.
Lisbon City ruined by earthquake,
%, 900 killed; November, 1855.
Aleppo, destroyed by earthquake,
thousands killed; 1922.
Canton, earthquake, 10000 lost;
May 81, 1890
Calabria, earthquake, 10000 lost,
1857.
Island of Krakatoa, volcanic erup-
ton, 1880 lives lost; May q, 1888.
Isle of Ischia earthquake, 1000 lost
1888.
Eruption of Mauna Loa. Hawaii; ~
killed; 1880.
Bandaisan, volcanic eruption, 1000
killed; July, 1888.
Island of Hondo, Japan, earthquake
| 10000 killed. October, 1891.
| Venezuela. earthquake, 5000 killed;
| April "a, 1894.
Charleston, S. c., earthquake, Al
lives lost; August 30, 1886.
| Guatemala earthquake. loss OF life
not yet ascertained; April, 1902.
TELEGRAPH NEWS.
TOLEDO. o.. May 12y-War OF
weeds. the noxious things that ha,