The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-20


The spirit of Smite-Them-Hi p-an7-
Thigh Tompkins and his fellows stp
peryades the little commonwealth. bur
1t has its advantages. On the other
West Indian islands, from half to two
thirds of the children are born out of
Wedlock, and half the population steals
the other half's crop. On the Cavmans
the morals are OF the best, and neither
theft nor any other crime is practised
There is not a 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 than three
score years the Lord hath preserved us
from that calamity. 1 know not what
we would do. But such one could
not live among US thereafter"
DO ships often call here and bring
you news of the outside world?" he
was asked.
No" ne replied. "Once in three or
four years a British warship comes
hither, bringing the Governor of ia
maica on a tour of inspection. In my
life l have seen but three others.
There was a British steamer many
years ago which came here for sup-
plies, being out of her course and over
due. Soon afterward a timber schoon-
er, going to Jamaica, was blown hither
by a hurricane. The third was an
American steam yacht, a few years
ago. The owner was rich and great
in his own country, so they told ma,
but he liked our simple ways, and stay
ed among us for many months
But if the Caymanians do not get
many visitors, they do lot of visiting
themselves. One of their principal in
dustries is shipbuilding, in which they
are experts. Their schooners are the
staunchest and swiftest in the Carib-
bean Sea, and there are no harder or
more fearless sailors than they. Ship
pers in all the ports of the West In
dies and the Spanish Main are eager TO
give them charters.
They usually work for themselves
however, catching turtles on the Cen
trail American coast. They are the
turtle fishers-in-chie to the world.
The green turtle soup esteemed by the
Aldermen of London and by the pat
rons of the best restaurants in all che
cities of the United States is placed
upon the table through the energy and
daring of these simple. plain-living
Caymanians. Themselves the least
luxurious of people, they provide the
world with one of its greatest Injuries
Turtle fishing is no easy task. Squalls
and hurricanes are frequent in the
Caribbean, and many a Cayman sailor
has persisted with his schooner, or lin
gered miserably in an open boat under
the blazing tropical sky, until he died
of hunger and thirst. Innumerabl
coral reefs and sandbars add to the
dangers of navigation, especially along
the Nicaraguan coast, where the tur-
ties are caught as they bask upon the
beach.
The Nicaraguans are another peril.
They strongly object to the Cayman-
ians catching turtles on their territory
and try to mete out to them the pun
ishment awarded to seal ooachers in
Siberian waters. The Nicaraguan and
| British Governments are always nag
ging at one another on the subject.
and at the present moment they are
| engaged in a more than usually bitter
controversy over it,
But the Caymanians can generally
take good care of themselves. Seldom
a month passes without their having o
fight on the beach with Nicaraguan Of
ficials and soldiers. Nine times out of
ten the Caymanians win the battle and
carry off their turtles in triumph to
their schooner, leaving half a dozen
Nicarag uans stunned and senseless on
| the sand.
The Nicaragu Government does
not want to have any Caymanians kill
ed in these ARRAYS, lest the British
Government should take serious Of
fence, and the soldiers do not, there
fore, use their rifles. They try to ar
rest the Caymanians, whose oars and
boat stretchers are more than a match
for dubbed guns.
Lately the Nicaraguans have given
up their attempts to suppress the fish
cry, and now they are trying to collect
tax on each turtle caught. But the
| Caymanians send the tax collectors
limping home with bruised shins anl
| broken heads.
| After the turtles have been fought
| for and won, they are taken to ia
maica by the schooners and sold to
merchants there, who ship them in
ocean liners to New York. Boston
Philadelphia and London.
With the money obtained by the sale
of the turtles, the Caymanians buy
flour, rice, cloth. pork and other sup
plies for their families and neighbors
at home. Until few years ago they
never used money, but transacted al
their business by barter. The growth
of their turtle fishery compelled them
to adopt a currency. Cayman postage
stamps have only been used for a year
or two, and they are much priced by
collectors. The mails-a new institu-
tion-are carried at irregular intervals
| by the turtle schooners.
|