Evening star., 1903-08-29

vantages. On the other West Indian is
lands, from half to two-thirds of the chill
dren are born out of WedlCck and half
the population steals the other halrs crop.
On the CaymanS the morals are of the best
and neither theft nor any other crime il
pracuced. There is not a single policeman
in the archipelago and no need for one
What would you people do to OF
your number if he or she went wrong?' a
patriarchal Cayman Islander was once
asked
Verify" he replied, in the slow. grave.
archalc 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 calam-
lty. L know not what we would do But
such an one could not live among US there
after"
DO ships often call here and bring YOU
news of the outside world?' he was asked.
NO, he replied. once in three or four
years a British warship comes hither,
bringing the governor of Jamaica on a tour
OF inspection. In my life 1 have seen but
three others
There was British steamer many
years ago which came here for suuplies
being out of her course and overdue soon
a1terWard a timber schooner, going to Ia
maica, was blown hither by a hurricane
ne thrd was an American steam Yacht
a lew years ago. The owner was rich and
great IN his own country. they told me,
but he liked our simple ways and stayed
among US for many months"
The Perils of Turtle Fishing.
But if the Caymanians do not get MANY
visitors, they do a lot of visiting them-
selves. One of their principal industries is
shipbuilding. in which they are experts
Their schooners are the stanchest and
swiftest in the Caribbean sea, and there ara
no harder or more fearless sailors than
they. Shippers in all the ports of the West
indies and the Spanish Main are eager
to give them charters
They usually work for themselves how
ever, catching turtles on the Central Amerf-
can coast They are the turtle fishers-in-
chief to the world. The green turtle soup
esteemed by the aldermen of London, and
by the patrons of the best restaurants in all
the cities of the United States is placed
upon the table through the energy and dar-
ing of these simple, plain-living Cayman-
ians. Themselves the least luxurious OF
people, they provide the world with one OF
its greatest luxuries.
Turtle fishing is no easy task. Squalls and
hurricanes are frequent in the Caribbean,
and many a Cayman sailor has perished
with his schooner, or fingered miserably in
an open boat under the blazing tropical sky,
until he died of hunger and thirst. Innum-
cradle coral reefs and sandbars add to the
dangers OF navigation, especially along the
Nlcafaguan coast, where the turtles are
caught as they baSk upon the beach
The Nicaraguans are another peril. They
strongly object to the Caymanians catching
out to them the punishment awarded to
seal-poachers in Siberian waters The
Nfcaraguan and British governments are
always nagging at one another on the sub
Ject, ana at the present moment they are
engaged in a more than usually bitter con-
troversy over it.
But the Caymanians can generally take
good care of themselves Seldom a month
pa asses without their having a fight on the
beach with Nicaraguan officials and SOL
olers Nine times out of ten the Caymanans
win the battle and carry off their turtles in
triumph TO their schooner, leaving half a.
dozen Nicaraguan stunned and senseless on
the sand.
The Nicaraguan government does NOT
want to have any Caymanians killed in
these afrays, lest the British government
should take serious offense; and the SOL
ders do not, therefore, use their rifles Thew
try to arrest the Caymanians whose oars
and boat-Stretchers are more than q match
for dubbed guns.
Lately the Nicaraguans have given I'D
their attempts to suppress the fishery, and
now they are trying to collect a tax on
each turtle caught. But the Caymanians
send the tax collectors limpins home with
bruised shins and broken heads
They are sons of the devil said Mica
raguan commandante. who had had bitter
experience of their ways They rush
among us like fiends from the pit welding
those terrible oars If they were walking
canes How can l expect my men to face
them? They are twice our size and We
children in their hands. One of them,
all alone, would think nothing of charging
a SQUAD of soldi ars.''
The Aversion of Money.
After the turtles have been fought for
and won, they are taken to Jamaica by
the schooners and sold to merchants there,
who ship them in liners to New
York, Boston, Philadelphia and London.
With the money obtained by the sale
of the turtles the Caymanians buy -four,
rice, cloth, pork and other supplies for
their families and neighbors at home. Un-
til few years ago they never used money,
but transacted all their business by barter,
The growth of their turtle fishery COM
PEELED them at last to adopt currency.
Cayman postage stamps have only been
used for a year or two, and they are much
priced by collectors The mails-a new
inStitution-are carried at irregular inters
walls by the turtle schoonerS.