The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-07-31
CUBA, JAMAICA AND PANAMA
From New York to the lsthmus BY
the Ocean Pathway
j. e. JONES
Bond Building Washington, D. c.

| was a letter place to live IN than
the United States. ald they are re-
naming there from choice. AS an
excursion point Cuba is triumphant
success, but | have distressed from
the enthusiasm | have felt because
of the serious consideration of its
future, and these people who have
cost us SO dearly. Cuban people are
Disappointing because they are SO
slow to grasp the wonderful oppor-
tunites everywhere about them, in
a land that God has bes slowed with
the richest gifts of soil, scenery aud
climate.
There are tasks that require
special adaptability of a peculiar
nature, and [ would fain summon to
my aid the imagination of the poet,
or the enigmatic methods of i'm
pressionists and cubists, since | am
to undertake the gymnastic literary
endeavor of describing the indescrib-
able. Surely the sea has a color,
and imagine that when the clouds
obscure the sun that is an opaque
indigoe blue; but even now purple
lights playfully dance across the
way, leaving in the deeper shadows
lighter patches of purple.
An old sea dog who has sailed for
thirty years emphatically declares
that the sea is always blue, that it is
the color of the sky. and that all
over all seas come the same shades
yet saw no such green in the
northern waters as down near the
J equator. We land lubbers all agreed
! down there that the water was a
blush green, or a composite of
green tints' with dashes of blue
green = but this was the At
lantic, the water of the Caribbean
Sea. The same Afternoon we watch
! ed the Pacific race across the tide
| fats and splash against the sea
walls. falling back into the sea, NUT
: tering mild protests, all the time
/ apparently chattering pleasant
greetings to us. There was no
Z similar shadows or colors, in the
thousands of miles in which we
coursed the Atlantic. The Pacific
was gray green and the blue was
entirely missing. | have seen swar-
thy Latin Americans in these DAYS
whose pepper and salt clothing re-
minded me of this color chameleon
in the Hope Gardens of Kingston
reflected it. Surely the water is not
always blus-or the color of the sky,
or the reflection of the rays of the
trOpic sun. The puzzling complexity
of it all defeats the word picture.
! A fellow passenger, Miss Staveley
. has loaned me Hearns 1.-TWO Years
in the French West Indies" and
have enjoyed its beautiful descrip-
ton. Hearn says that the foam
that falls back from the side of the
ship looks like the suns rays falling
o1 a snow bank. At first [ was in
clined to agree-Hearn is so fascin
, ating and convincing. AT the par
ticular moment as ! am writing this
our ship is among the Bahama
Islands-the British flag is in sight
: over Fortune Island and the habita-
r ton Of several thousand of blacks,
with only half dozen official British
families, is the setting in tile back
ground. We are a pCetical crowd
this morning. and the sun dances
merrily on the blue. I grasp the
opportunity to jot down the opinions
of the passengers. A Virginia ma
iron declares: "Why It is as blue
as blueing." Her husband says it
ultra marine. though the Bahamas
calm it as their own particular
''Nassau Blue The foam from the
ships sides turkey trots with the
) back-swish of the coast and the
mornings sun dances merrily; a
thousand beautiful shades respond,
tor where as on the surface of the
deep can nature have so great play
The foam is an acqua marine, but
thirty feet farther away the water
is as blue as indigo; and there near
shore there is bright sparkling
green. A Thousand variations of