Evening star., 1904-01-23
Curacao, a Little Dutch Col
ony in the Caribbean.
ITS MAIN INDUSTRIES
REVOLUTIONS Is AT
THE HEAD OF LIST.
Water is Scarce, but Bottled Fluids
From the Old Countries
is for Sale.

Written for The Evening Star by william Thorp.
Curacao is known to most Americans only
| as the name of an after-dinner cordial. but
to the travelled man 1t has different mean
ing. 1t brings to his mind a charming little
bit of Holland cut out from the mother
country and dumped down in the blue
waters Of the Caribbean, off the coast of
Venezuela.
Nowhere else in the world is there col
ony so much like miniature Of its mother
country When Englishmen, Americans and
other white men go to the tropics they
adapt their mode of living to the climate.
They live in different kind of house to
that which they would choose at home;
they wear different clothes. eat different
food and drink different drinks; they alter
their hours of work, and imperceptibly
change their habits in a thousand ways.
Not so the Dutchman who goes to live in
his West Indian colony of Curacao. When
he lands at WiIlemstad he is delighted to
| find himself N a small replica of old AM
sterdam. Blue tiles, yellow dormer win
dows, old-fashioned gables tiny fiat-roofed
shops and massive, gloomy warehouses are
to be seen on every hand, just as they
would be in a Dutch city. The people in
the streets wear blue smocks, wooden shoes
and other characteristic garments of old
Holland. They drink gin though it is very
bad for them in tropical climate, and they
smoke long Dutch pipes, while everybody
else In the West Indies smokes cigars. They
are slow and conservative in their business
affairs. conducting large commercial trans
actions according to the methods of the
burghers of Leyden in the days of William
the Silent. They have no use for such new
tangled things as the typewriter, the ste
nographer and the telephone. But they are
scTupulously honest and upright and so
shrewd that the most up-to-date drum
mer' fails to get to the weather side of
them.
Land of Revolutions
One of the industries of this tight little
island is the Matching of revolutions 1t
is convenient jumping-off place for the
exiled sons of Colombia and Venezula who
yearn to hberate their respective countries.
Nearly every Venezuelan revolution during
the past century has been Matched either
in Cuarcao in the neighboring British
island of Trinidad. Those islands were the
favorite resorts of Bolivar, Miranda and
other South American patriots before Co.
lombta and Venezuela broke the bar of
Spain" Today Willemstad is full of liberal
exiles who are out of favor with the ruling
powers at Bogota, and with the supporters
of Andrade and Matos, who failed in their
recent effort to overthrow President Castro
Of Venezuela.
When Venezuelan statesman is out of
job said w. L. Scruggs late United
States minister to Colombia and Venezuela,
''he goes to Willemstad to mature his plans
before deciding whether his country needs
his personal services, so that the hotels and
boarding houses of that place are usually
more or less crowded with generals out of
commission and doctors without patients,
all anxious to serve their country"
The shrewd Dutch merchants will often
do a good stroke of business with these
revolutionists, selling them arms. ammuni-
ton, SchoonerS and boats; and sometimes
even going the length of arranging little
flfbustering expedition on their behalf. But
the Dutchmen always insist on payment in
advance. Some of them have made consid-
cradle fortunes in this unorthodox line of
business. The Dutch officials wink at it;
they are more concerned about bringing
money into the colony than In strictly en-
forcing the neutrality laws
He Liked Spies.
When Guzman Blanco ruled Venezuela he
set the fashion of establishing spies in Will
lemstad to watch the revolutionists and de-
tect their plans. He had lived there him
self as refugee and Matched his plots so
he knew the ropes. Ever since then every
Venezuelan dictator has followed the eX
ample. When Guzman Blanco fell from
power he went back to Willemstad to live.
and he soon found that he was dogged by
spies wherever he went.
One day he turned around and seized
sneakng, hang-dog fellow. why, you
rascal!' 4e exclaimed. Il know your face.
Where have l seen you before? Why do
you follow me about everywhere!
Your eXcellency saw me at the Yellow
House in Curacao three years ago. the man
replied. You sent me here to watch Dr.
Rojas Paul. When he became president in
your place. DR.. Rojas Paul told me to stay
here and watch YOU
President Castro at present maintains sew
eral spies in WillemStad to watch the move
ment of the Matos and Andrade parties.
Andrade was the late president of Venezu-
ella, and wants to get back; Matos is the
man who desires to be president, but still
more keenly wishes for vengeance on Cas-
trO for having had him dragged from bed
one night and paraded through the streets
of Caracas dressed only in blanket
No Umbrellas.
Curacao is known throughout the West
Indies as the place where it never rains
In this respect it differs greatly from the