The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-25

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 the westward, we made board far st. Thomas in the Danish west Indies the Virgin fsiahas. This sfeAb was eail=
 ed the Virsin Islands by the great navi-
 gater as havina been discovered eh st Ursulas Day. | suppose seuf readers are familiar with the massacre by the Huns 0tuns under Attllal ef St. Ursula and her ie,oee virgins. 4 strange legend. as 1t is no small matter te get 1g,e00 vlr.
 gins willing te leave theif parents and sweethearts and fellow another virgin hs
 vhaperen. This Virgin sfeup Hes due east of. say 60 miles, Porte Rico,
 | The Lesser Antilles, or the Carihbee ls' lands proper, have been beautifully desis' mated as d 'neeklaee elasplns the soft throat of the Caribbean Sea" But south
 by southeast. of the Virgin group, and northwest by north of tho Carlbbees. Hes group of Islands which may meHt appro- priatoly be styled tho
 Brooch of This Necklace
 This brooch, is composed of number of small islands. or St. Bartholomew CSt' Barts). San Saba, st. Eustntlus. Barhuda'
 St. Christopher tst. Kitts) Nevis. An
 tigua and Montserrat Of this cluster the tiny island of Nevis possesses hlstor- ic interest as the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. and as the happy home Of England's great naval hero. Horatio Nei- son. ere there had entered into his brll- liant, feverish life the shadow of Laoy Hamilton From this brooch stretches away to the south the marvellously beaut- iful "Caribean Necklace" in curved line, it's convexlty Cor eastern border)' swept by the waves of the surly' lmpe-
 tuous, bottle-green Atlantic Ocean: us concavity Cor western lines). lapped oy
 the breakerless, tideless, indigo waters i of the Caribbean Sea. This group. styled the Lesser Antilles. is composed of the
 islands of Gaudaloupe, Dominica. Mar tlnique, St. Lucia. St. Vincent. the minla-
 ture fragmentary archipelago of the Grenadines, and the sweet, piquant' love ly little island of Grenada.
 It has been said that four islands in this incomparable necklace realize ones ideals, or Guadaoupe, Dominica. Martin ique and St. Vincent. The first Is vast, grand and gloomy the second sombre in its mountains. but breaking out Into smiling tracts of cultivated land; the third combines the features of the hrst with the addition of the element of large and a picturesque population;
 while St. Vincent has all the natural wonders and beauties of the other three
 combined with certain air of delicate culture which is entirely its own.
 Taking up Charles Kingsley. for one moment, to secure continuity, he tells
 us with these low cliffs (the southern
 end of Grenada) in strongest contrast to
 the stately and precipitous southern 1 point of St. Lucia, the southern point of | Grenada slides into the sea the last of
 the true Antilles For Tobago. Robin- l seen, to windward, is seemingly frag- ment of South America, like the island
 of Trinida to which the steamer now ran
 dead south for seventy miles. It was on St. Thomas Day, at in the morning when we became aware of the blue moun- | tains of North Trinidad ahead of us. to 1 the west of them the island of the Dra- | gon's Mouth. and westward. again.
 cloud among the clouds, the last spur
 of the Cordilleras of the Spanish Main.
 There was South America. at last; and
 as witness that this too was no dream, l the indigo-water of the Wndward Is-
 lands changed suddenly into a foul bot l tle-green. The yellow waters of the l Orinnoko. waters from the peaks of the Andes. far away. were staining the sea around us.
 Permit me to introduce a Caribbean photograph, or Robinson Crusoes de- scription of his devoted servant. Friday. He was a comedy. handsome fellow. perfectly well-made, with straight strong limbs. not too large, tall and well-shaped, %* He had a very good countenance. not a fierce and surly aspect. but seemed | to have something very manly in his face; and. yet. he had all the sweetness and softness of an European in his coun- l tenance. too. especially when he smiled.
 His hair was long and black. not curled | like wool; his forehead very high and
 large; and a great vvacity and spark i ling sharpness in his eyes. The color of
 his skin was not quite black. but very | tawny. and. yet not an ugly. yellow. nauseous tawny. as the Brazilians and l Virginians. and other natives of Ameri- i ca are. but of a bright kind of dun
 olive color that had In it something very | agreeable. though not very easy to de- | scribe. His face was round and plump; i his nose small, not flat like the negroes;
 very good mouth,. thin lips. and his
 fine teeth we'll set and as white as ivory" | This is no fancy sketch, for Defoe labor
 iously studied out his local coloring. Dur
 ing our stay in the harbor of St. Thomas.
 a group, identically. of such men manned
 one of the "con-diving boats." They
 looked unlike any other class of people.
 were the color of velvet mo,asses candy,
 and possessed magnificent physiuues. further. most intelligent faces high fore | heads. fire. straight black hair. piercing | eyes and dazzlingly white teeth. Un-
 occasionally men of Carib ancestry!
 l I have laboriousy mayhaps, clumsy. | gathered together mass of material to | faintly shadow forth what a world of | history and romance Is embodied in that vagne disembodied territory known as the West Indes,' the territory of Colum- bus. the land of Robinson Crusoe; the territory of the ferocious bucaneer. the haven of the truculent saver;a territory fought over by French and English com batants until both antagonists dotted the ravines with their bones. fertilized the uplands with their blood. A land lovely beyond the widest dreams of gifted land scape gardeners; a home wrested from the butchered Carib by Christian hu- manIties. who came carrying in one hand