The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-24

| is scarcer. There is not a single run
ming stream anywhere in the island,
nor even a stagnant brook. There are
wells. il is true, and plenty Of water
may be found by digging. but IL is all
so salt that it is no more nit to drink
than the sea water that surrounds the
island.
How. then. do you manage to nve?'
an English merchant resident in VIII
lemstad was asked.
We'll" he replied. I'VE are some
what in the position OF those French
peasants who complained to Marie An
toinette that they were starving be-
cause they could get no bread to eat.
You remember. the Queen told them 70
go and eat cake. We can't get water
to drink but we can get any amount
Of whisky and seltzer by importation.
ard the Dutchmen receive all the gin
they want from Holland.
II is not really so bad AS that, how
ever Most houses have a cistern or
water tank. which is filled periodically
with water imported. at considerable
expense. from the Venezuelan coast. II
goes without saying that the precious
fluid IS used most economically. The
Curacaons, like the inhabitants Of their
mother country. are models Of cleanli-
ness in their persons and their houses,
but exceedingly few of them own BATH
rooms They do not battle; they wash.
A daily tub bath would be the widest
kind Of extravaganza in this queer 1T
tie community.
Ice, which seems such a necessary
luxury in the tropics. is even rarer
than water. It has TO be brought all
the way from Boston or New YORK
and the retail price is terrible. Often
there IS no ice 10 be had for love or
money. The starting of an ice-maklng
plant has been often mooted. but the
scarcity of water has rendered 1t i'm
possible.
Il might be supposed that this ex-
traordinary lack Of water would serl-
ously affect the health Of the people
but it does not. On the contrary they
assert that IL makes them much
healthier.
The atmosphere IS 50 dry and the
climate is so arid" said Dutch Off
cial to the writer. that We never suf-
fer from neuralgia. rheumatism. ague,
consumption and other diseases COM
mon in the damp countries OF the
north. AS a matter of fact. Curacao
is one vast sanitarium-the healthiest
place on earth. Doctors say that our
climate is the best on earth for cases
Of nervous dyspepsia. People have
come down here from America per-
feet physical wrecks, and become as
well as ever they were in the course
OF few weeks"
The curacao" of commerce Is really
made in Curacao. The principal ele-
ment in its manufacture is a tiny sour
orange indigenous to the island, and
said TO grow nowhere else. There are
two or three manufactures of this
cordial in the island. but the bulk of
the curacao" sold in the worlds mar
kets is made in Amsterdam from or
anges imported from Curacao. Ex-
perts say that the locally manufactur-
ed article is far superior. which is like
" enough. as the oranges would nat
urally be fresher.
Hardly anything grows on the is
land. except this orange and a fruit
called the "nispera.'' The soil is main
" of coral. dry and arid.
Some of the Dutch women struggle
heroically to make gardens and grow
tulips. as they used TO do in Holland.
but they never seem to have any luck.
Even fiower-pot cultivation is usually
a failure. What can be expected when
the soil, as we'll as the water has TO
be imported from Venezuela? And
II scenes a crime TO use water merely
10 crafty the lust of the eye