The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-04-05
DUTCH GUIANA AND ITS MONGREI
NATIVES.


NATIVES.
special correspondence of The .ournal.1
PARAMARIBo, DUTCH GUIANA, Feb.
%, 1906. The last thing we did before
leaving the capital of British Guiana
was to drive out to the esplanade-a
sea-wall which extends two miles along
the coast, its top cemented and proyid-
| ed with benches, where one may prone
made or sit at ease enjoying the cool
! breezes At certain point on tins
esplanade a military band is stationed
| OF several afternoons of the Week-all
Sambos. black as the ace of spades,
who render enchanting music. Nearer
to GEORGETOWN is an extensive park
| known as the promenade Garden,
where another military band plays on
alternate afternoons. This garden is
laid out in beds, bordered by rough
stones and paths streWn with broken
shells, all radiating from central oc
| tagonal pavilion which serves as the
| bandstand Shrubs and flowers are so
closely set in the beds that, with the
luxuriance of tropical growth, little
can be distinguished but wild tangle
of yerdure, except the ever-strlklng
palms and orchids. The finest thing
about Georgetown is its Botanical Gar
den of $50 acres at the eastern end of
the citv But if wonderful flowers and
| foliage is what you care to see you Will
| find them at their best III one of ma
lures wild gardens. An hours drive
from the city is an old canal, long dis
used, which for three OF four miles is
completely filled up with gigantic
water-lilies of the victoria regia variety
Those famous lilies, you know, were
| first discovered in British Guiana, some
sixty years ago on the Berblce river
They created a furore among bOtanlstS
that has never subsidized. And, truly,
they are amazing. Without the slight
! est exaggeration the dark green leaves
tinted rosy wine-cOlor at the edges
average five feet across, with curling
rims four inches high; and many are
much larger. They are held down by
| knotty stalks thick as ships cable
and form an impenetrable carpet upon
which hundreds of birds trot at ease,
sure Of a firm foundation. And What
Shall we say of the splendid tioWers-
| the smallest not less than two feet in
diameter, weighing from three to four
pounds-shaped like a rose, the outside
petals creamy white, pale pink within,
shading to violet in the center.
Sailing from Georgetown late IN the
evening we found ourselves the follow
ing morning at anchor in front of Para
marble. Possibly a queerer town than
this may be hidden in some remote cor
ner of the globe, but if so | have not
found it. Thoroughly Dutch in archi-
lecture and general appearance, popu-
lated by the craziest looking ''people OF
color" to be encountered anywhere out
side of lunatic asylums, dominated so
cially and politically by German and
Portuguese Jews-you naturally meet
astonishing anomalies at every turn.
The streets, intersected by broad ca
nails, as in the towns of Holland, have
neither sidewalks nor pavements, but
are streWn with the broken shells and
white sand of the once ocean-cOvered
plain upon which the city is set, and at
night are feebly Illuminated by paratine
lamps. The wooden houseS-every one
painted white, tWo-storled, with us
gable end turned toward the street
are each surmounted by a queer little
attic with dormer windows, and topped
, by peaked slate-covered roof, so steep
pitched and slippery that even bird
fears to perch upon it.
All the great, square front doors
painted green to match the green jail
ouses-are provided with enormous
brass knockers, instead of bells, and all
are shaded by tiny, slate-roofed vesti-
bules exactly alike. There is not a
hotel in the town, nor tramway line.
Two or three private boarding houses
take the place of the former, and you
seek one of them on foot, followed by
your luggage in donkey-cart, after the
excessively suspicious customs officials
have vigorously examined every tooth
brush and handkerchief it contains.
FANNIE B. WARD.
Governor Cat the consul's party)-l re-
member your face perfectly, sir, but your
name for the moment has escaped me"
Stranger-I am delighted to meet you again,
your excellency. My name is lyap Petro-