Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-09
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
A REAL sPoTLEss TOWN

A REAL SPOTLESS TOWN
A strike in Curacao, in the West
Indies, won first page mention 1or
that quaint Dutch colony of n Car
ibbean a few days g even In the
midst of our own industrial troubles.
1t was news because the cool. stable
government Of this little island, set
down in the midst of somewhat tenn
peramental Latin republics has made
it a synonym for peaceful efficiency.
The island and Willemstad, Its
capital, the "Spotless Town" of the
Caribbean, are described in a re-
cent bulletin from the Washington.
= ID. c., headquarters of the National!
Geographic Society.
Fragment OF Holland i'm America
1.-THE traditions and customs ana
language of Spain are written large
over the entire mainland border OF
the Caribbean, the famous and III
famous Spanish Main" says the bull
letin. but a bare 40 miles off the
coast of typically Spanish Venezuela
lies as true a fragment OF old Hol-
land as was Manhattan's New Am
sterdam in the days of its Dutch
burgomasters. When your s1lp
loses into the narrow channel that
leads into Willemstad's harbor You
| itlusl pllCn yOuIScil III hSSp So"N
attention conferred on the desert
background rather than on the arch
itecture. fest you think you are skirt
ing the coast of the Zuyder Zee. for
more than three centuries the Hol-
landers have maintained this spot
surrounded on all sides by strong
alien influences, and to all outward
appearance it is still as Dutch as
| when its first families were planted
by the old Dutch West India COM
pany.
Curacao is some 40 miles long
and 8 to Z miles wide, and practi-
cally a desert. If its value were de-
termined by its products 1t would
never be of much worth; aloes and
cacti are about its only growing
things; phosphate rock and ostrich
feathers from a few desert ranches,
its only original exports. But loca-
ton, the possession of what has ie-
peatedly been called the best mar
Dor in the Caribbean, and ownership
by a nation of traders have made
Curacao (and to foreigners that
name usually goes for both Willem-
stad and the island) the Hong Kong
of the West. Just as the far east
ern British island ports, free from
Chinese restrictions, has built up IA
great trade between China and the
rest of the world, so Curacao, in a
more modest way has built up trade
between the northern tier of South
American countries on the n hand
and North America and Europe on
the other.
Haven of Ex-Dictators
"One opera bouffe phase Of life in
Curacao, which Is less marked now
that government is becoming more
stable in the Latin American repun-
lies, has to do with political fugi-
tives. The town is the particular
haven and heaven Of ex-dictators. 1t
used to be a poor day in Curacao
when one could not find his half
dozen or so Generals and Doctors
who had just been on the wrong side
of a revolution and were leading
Micawber-like e~xistences under the
Dutch flag, waiting for something to
urn up
1.-THE newly e%nsconced dictators
back on the mainland always sent
a batch of spies to Curacao to watch
their predecessors, and in most cases
there we're other agents to spy on
the spies. So in this serene, calm,
non-political island, alien politics al
ways simmered under the surface.
The most famous political refugee to
seek safety in Curacao was Simon
Bolivar, who after a poor start at
freeing Venezuela from the Span
Dutch island until conditions were
ripe, and hen won the liberty of all
northwestern South America.
A Linguistic Potpourri
"Willemstad, with its 10000 liz
habitants is situated on the shores
of Curacao's most valuable posses
sion-its land-locked, clover leaf
shaped harbor, so deep that ocean
liners can anchor close to shore.
Some of the streets are wide. but
many are narrow, tortuous lanes:
and from all rise a welter Of gable
ends and dormers that proclaim this
Enthusiastically a Dutch town. The
houses are pink, yellow, green and
red with red tile roofs, and from a
distance look like toy houses set
down in the careless disarray of the
nursery.
zone thing the traveller in search
OF atmosphere resents: There are
many Hollanders but few of them
have retained the baggy trousers anc
the wooden shoes of the homeland.
About half the inhabitants are ne
L SIOSS VI lIuldIlOcSs AuHs ulSLlCdsly
the place is something of a Babel.
Dutch Is the official language, Eng
lish is generally spoken, and the he
groes speak a lingo which Is a mix
ture of those two tongues and
French, Spanish. Portuguese. In
dian and Hebrew as we'll.
This linguistic potpourri Is called
Papiamento.
They Import Their Water
Obtaining fresh water is a SER
ious problem in Curacao. Water
from the few rains is caught in els
terms, but those who are able import
their drinking water along with their
meat from the South American
mainland: and ice Is brought fro:.
the United States. The dryness VI
its climate is a blessing to the island.
though. little less valuable than its
matches harbor. Damp Puerto
Cabello a few miles away on the
mainland Is nj of the unhealthiest
places washed by the Caribbean;
while desert Curacao Is one of the
healthiest. Neither malaria nor the
dreaded yellow jack the twin
scourges of the tropics, has ever been
| able to get q foothold there.
I'm spite Of an annual loss in ad-
ministering Curacao, Holland holds
on to IT.; largely because she cannot