Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-11-12

Spain its claim on the island which
it maintained, with small breaks, un-
til 1897 when a British fleet seized
it. 1t was formally annexed by Great
Britain in 1902 and has remained a
British possession ever since.
There was no great prosperity in
Trinidad under early Spanish rule but
about 1880, with marked influx of
French settlers, who fed from turbu-
lent conditions in Haiti, Martinique
and Guadalupe, the colony flourished.
The French greatly outnumbered the
Spanish from this time on, and French
became for time the prevailing lam
guage.
East Indians Are Numerous.
After the British assumed control
the population increased rapidly and
with it prosperity. The prosperity
was dependent, however, on sugar
and slavery. When emancipation
came in 1884, even though the gov
eminent reimbursed the slave owners
to the amount of nearly $100,000,000,
eminent began importing East Indian
coolies, a step which has restored
prosperity and vastly altered the pop
ulation of the island. These Orien-
tails have brought with them their
home customs, dress and religion. One
delights in studying them, since the
verdant isle seems a pleasing setting
for the grace and beauty of the dusky
women, the strength of feature and
dignity of bearing of the turbaned
men.
Perhaps 1t is by contrast with the
coarse Africans, who form the greater
portion Of the population of the West
Indies, that these people of an ancient
race stand out in the travellers re-
membrance as a more fitting type in
lands of such great natural beauty
During the Christmas holiday sea-
son the great Savannah, or park Of
the city, is thronged with the coolies"
as the East Indians are locally termed.
1t is brilliant picture-the dark-eyed,
dark-haired women, draped in their
brightly colored scarfs, their plump
arms covered with heavy silver brace
lets, their ears, noses, necks and an
kles decorated with gold and silver or
Daments; the men in somber shades,
but equally picturesque in their huge
white turbans and abbreviated loin.
cloths, their thin legs bare. Tempo
rary booths are erected under the
Urpot cproodinO coroop +raoC xpboro
brass ornaments from Benares are dis
played, while, as another reminder of
faraway India, zebus, or sacred oxen,
Craze nearby.
The coolies" who are employed on
plantations scattered over the island,
meet in town on such holidays to greet
friends and relatives, to gossip and to
trade. At other seasons one may see
them throughout the country, laboring
in the cane fields, bearing burdens
along the well-kept roads, or busily
employed in or about their matched
cabins.
Their activity is a decided contrast
to the idleness of the blacks and, in
deed, to the Incidence of the Africans
may be traced the cause Of "coolie"
immigration to this portion of the New
World.
Customs of the Coolies.
Incomprehensible to the western
mind are the ways of these people.
The husband not only owns the jew
elry with which he decks his wife, but
appoints himself judge of her right to
live. Defying the law, he chops off
her head if she proves unfaithful, or
resorts to the more refined method of
sprinkling powdered glass in her food
Mysterious deaths are of frequent oc-
currence and the government chemists
are kept busy investigating such cases.
The women are attractive in APP
pearance, with appealing eyes, round
ed arms and 1.-THE bodies. 1t is their
custom to massage daily with coconut
oil. They have passion for gaudy
colors and, in gala attire, resemble "a
flock of rainbows."
The men are solemn-looking crea-
lures, with those all-knowing eyes of
the Far East, and the long-haired
priests are positively uncanny.
The cross of the East Indians in the
New World is the enforced association
with the Africans. These "lords of all
creation" look with contempt upon the
orientals. "He only a coolie man /!
says the lazy, ignorant negro, disgust
written on every line of his face. The
brown man-this descendant of an old
and proud race, who regards the ne
gro as little more than a savage
does not retaliate, but goes steadfastly
on with biz work.