The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-25
THE FASCINATING CHARM
 Of THE LESSER ANTILLES
In the Mystic Wes. Indies Lies an un- worked Mine of Romantic Fiction Awaiting the Touch of
 Literary Genius.

| AASdih anu NHdiits fAlHSicg anu OhANA
 word-painters. he throws a glamour around these mystic Islands. In today's
 article Colonel Patterson presents ma ! terial showing what a world of history 1 and romance is embodied in the territory known as the West Indies. Col. Patter- sons story follows:
 Not long ago a very complimentary al ! fusion was made to a series of articles
 upon the Lesser Antilles" compiled
 from memories of a West Indian cruisc
 made by the Hamburg American line l Steamship "Moltke." in the month of January of the present year In my feeble disjonted fashion, l endeavored to throw into print some information con- corning the West Indies in general; some sympathetic presentation of the Lesser | Antilles" in particular, of the Mystic West Indes,' mystic, indeed; possessing | natural charms approachable only with the photograph; beautiful beyond our ! widest dreams--yet. Clrce-like, masking under allurng charms under superb ter restrial loveiness; excavation, disease, death. Saturated with bloody history; fascinating romance and unique social evovement, yet as lttle-known practical ly to the average American as the Ant
 arctic continent.
 Michael Scott. in From Crlngle," has embalmed Jamaica of the old regime Lafcadio Hearn in Two Years in the French West Indies" has made live be- fore us the golden days of Martinique; | ChofIaS in I.aGt' has thrown a glamour around Trinidad and | the Spanish main We have the Greater l Antilles; the Lesser Antilles, the Span- | ish Main but the volume has yet to be
 written which presents the Mystic West 1 Indies," known as the Lesser Antilles. 1 As the child draws his wierd cat, his lm- possible dog, upon his battered slate, so
 does your correspondent. In uncertain trembling fashion, endeavor to lay before
 the readers of The Age-Herald these Mystic West Indies
 Mystic West Indies"
 | Not the land of sinuous politics, of mer- 1 cantile experiment, bututhe land of Co., lumbus and the Carib; the land Of Alex ander Hamilton and the Empress Jose phine; the land of the bloody buccaneer and the crafty shaver.
 Turn to your atlasses; you can hut fol- low me without them. Due east from troubled Hatteras, about 800 miles, lies the "vexed Bermoothes," or Sommers Islands, the scene of Shakespeare's ''Tem- pest" the home of Caliban. a supposabe Carib a iow-lying group of coral is- lands; inextricably mixed up in one mind with early potatoes. Nothing ro- mantle in this group. Directly east of Miami, Florida. at the distance of about | 100 miles. lies the Island cf New Provi' dence, whose capital. Nassau, became | great during the "unpleasantness" as the | center of blockade runners. This was l the last point touched at by the 'Moltke on her return to Hoboken. Here we | parted with one half of our passengers. the portion which dreaded the uncertain-
 ties of the gulf stream. which we plump ed into about four hours after leaving
 Nassau, and followed with many an ex-
 citing pitch and fascinating roll until
 abreast of the Delaware Capes. This ls-
 land of New Providence belongs to the Bahama group. or the Lucayos Islands
 the first landfall of Columbus. You will
 notice these Lucayos Islands are the out.
 lying barrier between the Greater An | titles and the vast Atlantic; a barrier, | forming a curve from northwest to south l east, the concavity towards the Atlantic. l South and west of them lie the Greater | Antilles or, rather the continental islands | of Cuba, Jamaica Gin Carib "Xamaicao, ), l St. Domingo Gin Carib. 'Haitio, and | Porto Rico. Jamaica lies south of Cuba.
 and Porto Rico appears east of St. Do-
 mngo. We here have the Bermuda and the Bahama Islands, and the semi-con-
 tinental islands forming the group of the
 Greater Antilles. Of San Domingo, noth- ing is known. For over a century. 1t has I t,x Of tlot
 curious blot on humanity. the freed col
 ored race; and Haiti tells us that the colored race, free and untrammeled, is
 capable of becoming hotbed of voodoo- ism and Obeah worship; a territory nc | white man dares to invade. We can send | ous missionaries to China. eXpend dozen | gallant soldier lives to enable them te | air their several dogmas. yet Haiti car | pursue her career of immortality. bru. 1 tality and savagery. in serpent worship l sacrifice infants under the name of Goats
 without Horns;" plunder. murder. and dis | pose of the luckless white man whc | crosses her borders without national in
 tervention or any display of missionary | foolishness. This seems a severe arraign.
 ment, yet ask any one who is familiar
 with the Island of Haiti q mean with the
 interior of the Island). and they will sti.
 fe particulars and suggest an utter ab. sence therefrom of your personality as
 the safest programme. One passes the is'
 land with shuddering awe, content with
 a view of the towering headlands of the
 Mole of St. Nicholas, for beyond lies things unspeakable
 The inspiration of the great navigator | was a deeply imbedded conviction that
 should he sail westwardly he would dis
 cover a sailing route to the Indies which | would render unnecessary the long crit ical voyage around Fl cabo del Buena Esperanza. Coming unexpectedly at Wal lings' Island not Cat Island. as usually supposed upon his landfall, he believed his dream to be realized believed he had reached reached the eastern confines of the East Indies and indicated his strange discoveries as the West Indies. and inci- dentally called the aboriginal (Carib) race Indians"
 When the "Moltke' entered the wierd Sargasso Sea, shortly after our emerg-
 ence from the Gulf Stream. at that mo- ment we had struck the trall' of Co., l l,,,,,hns Rut teavfnc the Tahamae to