The Republican journal., 1906-05-03
MRS WARDS LETTERS.
!, American France. Origin and Prog
SV'. At the Colony. Its Swell Society
,ossd Mostly of Ex-Convicts.

..t<NE, FRENCH GUIANA, March
os As intensely French as Para
II, IS Dutch or Georgetown Eng
As Frenchy as any e-draped
ID. in rural France-this EASTERN
5yiSion of the three Guianas is
more striking than either of its
,ors Sections dominated by
..nmen. where the English Ian
IS spoken and English methods
VI are common in South Ameri-
om the guano and nitrate fields
western coast, the great sheep
us pf the Falkland Islands, the
nuges of Uruguay, coffee and
uantations, manufacturing and
..ney-making centerS, railroads
.refous mining interests in the
.uuI. while the thrifty slow
ID. tch are found massed in con-
numbers at several points
.= is no other wholly French
IS on the continent. Only
... one line touch regularly at
French steamers, of course,
He which ply between st.
rance, and Martinique, the
~ st Indian Island, where at
rance connection is made
.-s a month with smaller
If the same line for French
lie whole colony is little
d penal settlement, to which
usigns her criminals-thou-
hem every year. Owing to
climate, the majority-for
rerhaps-go to their last &C
IN a few months; otherwise
el of South America would
.. ave been as crowded with the
IS of France as the Pacific
.l.d be with Chinese were it
exclusion laws.
uAe more than half century
rench government concely-
cht idea of making peniten-
MS conveniently remote pos
Itch, since the Portuguese
rcd it a hundred years ago, had
NE of any use to France ex-
leath trap to every agrlcul-
my that attempted its settle
il. 81 transportation to French
as first offered as a favor to
s -hen under sentences: and
thousand of them eagerly
.. It. Later on, the colonial
vas permitted, by special de-
sud- to Guiana any Africans or
ao were condemned to hard
solitary confinement. Since
of the European convlcts
lanished to New Caledonia
ual inhabitants of the peni-
Stricts are mostly negroes,
M Anamites, After two years
.Huuy, those prisoners whose
rs been satisfactory are al
md home for their families,
in Guiana, and the govern
-~tYws upon each piece of land
sion and the necessary out
ements. So far as reforma-
.cerned, the beneticent re-
s interesting colonial ex-
le said to have surpassed all
.4s Not only life prisoners
doomed to long terms of
hut hundreds of the lower
rance under simple arrest
.ed the privilege of Danish
liana, preferring 10 brave
If its climate to grinding
home. 1t is recorded that
Of the vast majority OF fe-
Jaers was child-murder, and
E en rewarded for good conduct
Tlng their time with little
. ~ marry other ex-convlcts
4lIy prove exemplary wives
rs.
.- the capital, is the most in
-e part of French Guiana. The
ement preferred by these
~ pioneers are those along
laroni, which forms the
ai. Inc between French and
ana and after course of
niles empties into the Allan
II mt Laurent, on the Maroni,
I- fusiderable town of eX-cOn-
H-p wooden houses are set up
a LEX pillars to keep them out
f. ".t. and whose Industrious in
e., AIRY on their several trades,
-.ea,-rs, masons, tanners, bakers,
F o.er principal establishments
tosr on the Kouran river, at
me- and the three small islands of
lhe little island called La Here
Served for aged, infirm and con-
vent criminals.
e French Guiana coast is low and
Elf 0ooded, with low mountains
Y arther inland. Passing numer-
Busters of small islands, all cover
I'll forest to the waters edge and
VI lem uninhabited, you cross
4oa'h Of the Maroni, and steam
s '.e three lies du Salut, plunge
'laugh great swells of thick,
Vi. "~trr to the island on which