The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-04-13
A STRANGE ISLAND.
Americans Should Be Interested in
This Place.


search Of novelty. exploring the ma
Iarial jungles Of Africa and the frozen
regions Of the north, looking for
strange peoples and customs. they
have overlooked a very. strange coun- I
try close al hand The island Of /
Anegada is one Of the strangest Of all I
the strange places in the world
First Of all. where is Anegada? 1t f
Is one OF the Virgin islands, and It +
lies northeast Of Porto Rico, one Of
the Great Antilles. and its first pc
culiarity is that it Is fiat and low, the 4
neighbOring isles all being steep and /
mountainous. 1t is nine miles long
and two miles across. and lies so low
that in heavy gales the sea makes a
clean breach over the lower portions
Of it. whence its name-for anegada
is the Spanish for drowned island"
Next We come to its strange history. /
In 1881 it had only 719 inhabitants. Of
whom but three we're white people.
It's population is noted for idleness. /
and the main occupation for many
years was wrecking-foF an extensive /
and very dangerous coral reef sur
rounds the island and once gave it /
very melancholy notoriety But since
the establishment Of the lighthouse on /
the island Of Sombrero (47 miles to
the eastward), there have been few,
If any, wrecks on Anegada since the
main cause Of the shipwrecks was the /
constant and swift current which sets
upon the island from the east.
Accordingly the natives are now
not often aroused by the cry of "a
vessel on the reef'-the only AL III /
the old days which would arouse mem
from their almost perpetual inactivity
In fact, they are about the LATEST peo-
pie in the West Indies, although that
is saying great deal
Anegada used to be covered with
extraordinarily Of the kind called
seaside grape, which here is particu.
larly rich in the valuable gum known
as Jamaica kino. Anegada Is the home
Of very numerous and singular tropical
plants, but it is perhaps rather more
noteworthy for its immense numbers Of /
mosquitoes, gallinippers and scorpions,
not to speak Of venomous and other
reptiles. The surrounding seas are
rich in scale and shell fish OF many
kinds
Among its singular birds the fla
mirgo Is one Of the most numerous
species, and most Of the ponds are the
abode OF ducks which, on the approach
of man, rise and fill the air with their
dangerous cries.
It is not an easy matter to reach the
Island, A few years ago an attempt
was made to open mines upon it, but
nothing came of the effort but disap-
pointment and loss Among the many
disagreeable features Of life in this hot
and steaming climate is the presence
Of large salt ponds, which in the dry
season give out an intolerable stencil,
and the same ponds in the wet season
fill up with singular rapidity and food
considerable portion Of the island.
AS we may infer from the name,
Anegada Is pretty frequently flooded.
Whenever a hurricane comes sweep
Ing along the waves roll completely
over the island. and the people have
to look out for their safety.
When Schomburgh, a German tray
veler was in Anegada many years ago
there was one morning a great outcry
that all the north part of the island
was flooded and so to all appearance
IT, was; but on examination 1t was
found that the supposed waves of the
sea we're in reality only low-lying
fog which was rapidly sweeping along.
Another curious thing is the aerial
refracion, and this often brings into
view other islands which lie below the
horizon and which, according to the
ordinary operations of nature, ought to
be invisible.
A part of the surface is composed Of
sand dunes, but there Is a considerable
proportion OF calcareous, or coral land.
with belts of fertile loan, and II the
soil were intelllgently and faithfully
cultivated it would no doubt yield
good returns.
In ordinary seasons the fresh water
supply appears to be ample. On the
/ northeast side of the island there is a
singular succession of very deep
: natural wells of fresh water some Of
/. them 25 feet across the top.
It would be hard to find anywhere a
5 hotter. wetter, worse-smelling, or more
generally disagreeable place to live
: than Anegada. but, singularly enough,
It appears to be for the most part a
+ pretty healthy place-at least for the
4 natives, of whom nearly all are black
Or colored.
; In the antecolonial days, the In
dlans used to come hither in their
canoes; but no Indian could ever
l. bring himself to make permanent
home in Anegada. wiki It's steamlng
fogs, It's squalls, It's sea floods, its
fresh-water lnundations, It's strong
smells and its dense swarms of in.