The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30


chored in the harbor of Kingston, ia
maica, West Indies.
Not one of them was less than six
feet tall, and two were vevitable
giants Well-built, tanned by the trop-
ical sun, brawny, handsome, frank of
countenance, and agile as cats, they
looked the popular ideal of the sailor.
In contrast with the black loafers on
the wharf and the understood, pasty-
face Creole clerk who was tallying
their cargo, they seemed like gods
among men.
Don't you know who they are?"
said a Jamaican friend to the tourist.
They are Cayman Islanders. No Won
der you admire them. l suppose that,
physically and morally, they are about
the finest race of men in the world"
The CayTnanians, tucked away and
isolated from the rest of the world on
tiny islands in the Caribbean sea, be-
tween Jamaica and Cuba, have sue
ceeded in establishing that ideal COM
monwealth of which philosophers and
statesmen have dreamed. Crime, i'm
morality and disease are unknown
among them; they have just as much
civilization as is good for them, and
no more; and they hold fast to print,
tive ideas of duty and religion, and
practice the oldfashioned virtues of a
bygone age.
The Cayman Islands are three in
number-Grand Cayman, Little Cay
man and Cayman Brae. On the first
over a thousand people dwell, and
they have even a couple of small
towns, called Georgetown and Bodden
Town. On the second there are about
a hundred residents; and on the third,
a rugged, barren rock jutting sharply
out of the placid blue surface of the
Caribbean, only couple of families
dwell.
Unlike the other islands of the West
Indies, there are inhabited mainly by
white people. There are no negroes
in the smaller Caymens, and only a
small minority of them in Grand Cay
man, and three recent arrivals. The
original settlers were some of Crom-
wells "Ironsides," and the manners
and virtues of that stern breed of men
survive in their descendants to this
day.
Defendants of CrOmweIIs "IrOn-
side"
When Cromwell had England and Eu-
rope under his heel, he sent out an ex-
petition which captured Jamaica from
the Spaniards. Some of the men in that
expedition were veterans of Naseby
and Marston Moor, and they were nat
urally advanced to the highest positions
in the new colony. But when Charles
II came to his own again, these men
found the times out of joint. They
were deprived of their offices. and
harshly treated by the Royalist author
tiles Unwilling to bow the knee TO
Baal" they sold their possessions,
bought a ship, and sailed away to col
onize the Caymans and live as they
pleased, unhindered by kings or COVER
nors. They were another shipload of
Pilgrim Fathers.
The Caymans were desert islands, &C.
casionally used by buccaneers for re-
fitting and provisioning their ships. The
"Ironsides" soon made short work of
those gentry, and had the islands to
themselves. They established a patri-
archial form of government, titled the
ground, built houses and villages. and
sailed the neighboring seas in ships of
their own construction. They hoisted
the British flag, but practically they
were an independent people.
Their descendants to-day are nomi-
nally subject to the Governor of ia
maica, but they make their own laws
and govern themselves through elected
overseers and vestrymen-an old paro-
chiaI form of government which pre-
vailed in England when the original
colonists left that country. All the
other colonies in the West Indies are
automatically ruled by officials sent
out from England, but the Cayman-
ians are as Independent as the Cana
dams or the Australians. They are
Englishmen of the sturdiest type, even
If they have been isolated on tropical
islets for a few hundred years, and
they would not stand for any other
kind of government.
Just as they have kept the old Eng
ish method of government, so they
nave kept the old English customs and
manners
Quaint Dress of the Women.
Even the women dress like the Puri-
tan maids of Oliver Cromwell's time.
That is because they never see for
elgn woman or a fashion paper
Daughters have dressed like their
mothers for generations. They have
mad no other way, and, even if they
had, new-fangled idea would have
peen frowned upon as a snare of the
EVIL One. The spirit of SmiteThem-
i1lp-and-Thigh Tompkins and his fell
lows still pervades the little common
wealth, but it has it's advantages. On
the other West Indian islands, from
half to two-thirds of the children are
born out Of wedlock, and half the pop
ulation steals the other halfs crop
On the Caymans, the morals are of the
best land neither theft nor any Other
crime is practised. There is not g
single policeman in the archipelago
and no need for one.
What would you people do to one
OF your number if he or she went
Wrong?" a patriarchal Cayman Island
er was once asked.
Verify" he replied, in the slow
grave, archaic speech of his people
the thought hath never been present
with me- In my life of more thai
three score years, the Lord hath pre-
served us from that calamity. know
not what we would do. But such al
one could not live among us there
after"
DO ships often call here and brint
you news Of the outside world?" N
was asked
No." he replied. "Once in three o.
iour years a British warship comes
hlther, bringing the Governor of ia
Ilalca on tour of inspection. In m!
ne have seen but three others.
There was British steamer man!
years ago which came here for sup
piles, being out of her course and over
uue Soon afterwards a timbe
schooner, going to Jamaica, wal
down hither by a hurricane. Thu
lhlrd was an American steam yacht
rev years ago. The owner was ricl
ma great in his own country, so the!
told me, but he liked our simple ways
ahd stayed among us for man!
MONTHS"
The PeriIs of Turtle Fishing.