New Britain herald., 1930-10-07
ONLY 3 CONFINED
 0N DEVILS ISLE.
Three AYiatorS Among Lilers at
 French Penal Colony

in French Guiana, looks from the air is told in a report to the N1- 1ional Geographic Society by Fred erick Simpich, recently in charge of the society's aerial survey party which made study of air traffic lanes between Washington and Buenos Aires. ..,
 With M Sadous, Governor Geri- eral of French Guiana,' writes MT. Simpicn, i've flew from Cayenne 10 Devils Island. Here Captain Drey- fus languished through long, lonely years till fresd by Emile Zola's aii. /His dramatic trial, uncovering the amazing Count Esterhazy plot. stirred the civilized world.
 Three tiny green dots rise from the sea 27 miles south of Cayenne. They form the penal group, Isles du Salut,' which include St. Joseph with it's prison hospital Isle Royale, with tiers of tiny stone cells for incorrigibles, and Devils Ts- land, so famed in tales of fact and fiction.
 Men without women gazed up from behind high walls as we idled overhead For women are no longer sent to this great penitentiary of France Here, and in Cayenne are about 1000 French prisoners --in- cluding such colonials as Arabs Af- ricans and even French Indo- Chinese.
 Island of Spies
 But on Devils Island today de- spite it's world wide notoriety only nine men are confined-mostly spies. But they are lifers. Three aviators are there They were among the little group gazing up at at us. l wondered what their thoughts must be, as they saw, our big ship flying free in their own once familiar element-able to carry them so quickly to freedom were they only up in it. Har1 by, on Isle Royale, are prison graves TOW on row. where now men of high and low degree sleep side by side, their earthly penalties paid.
 "A dismal land is Cayenne, or French Guiana, as you fly from Paramaribo along it's lonely coast. Mud flats far out to sea- brightene1 only by flocks of two thousand or more pink ibis, and low, jungle grown swamps broken by grassy savannas stretching inland to dis tant low hills. Once past the planta- tions below Paramaribo, so many long abandoned, the only signs Of white mans work we saw were about the mouth of the River Ma roni. Up it steamers go, some to un- load prisoners for the penal colo nies. The last ship brought about 800 from France.
 Returning from Devils Island, we took Governor Siadous for d rid over the delta of the Kourou. It was up this river that a French colonizing company once sent 10,- 900 immigrants from Alsace. Badly equipped, unwisely chosen-for the party included jewellers, dancing masters and even dressmakers-bu few experienced farmers or miners is historic. Only about 2,0O0 surviv- ed, and returned to France.
 Rich Soil But No Farmers
 Miles inland we could see low. painted ridges, with round-top hills enjoying such local names as Monkey Hill and Devil Mountain. Into that hard land gold-seekers go. Gold now, in ever dwindling vol ume, is the chief export. Incredibly rich as the soil is, agriculture is limited by lack of labor. Most of the 'Condamnees,' though farmed out by the government to work for private masters, are too weak in mind or body-or both-to till the soil in this trying climate. Efforts to colonize free men, on a big scale, have brought no good results. The average potential immigrant shuns French Guiana. because so many convicts are here. But one is amaz- ed at the good order. By seven o'clock the small town of Cayenne is dark.
 "Dilapidated Cayenne, with weed grown plazas, weather beaten houses, and it's rough streets SIColICu OllIy DJ puLIdl Us, IS d DlOI of gloom depressings it's normal souls. Weeping women and despond- ent men sit idly about its cheap cafes-or wander under the small grove of strange conspicuous royal palms which lift their graceful trunks above the squalor of it's prin- cipal plaza. 'Jiberes,' such half-free rrirnnoro oo1lo1 ,p], days of actual confinement are end- ed, they are at liberty only within the borders of Cayenne. A convict. sent here for term longer than years, must remain for life; he IS known as a prisoner in perpetuity' But a man sent for lesser period. say for five years must remain an additional five in the colony or one year on the island for each year spent in it's jails-before he can return to France. Then he must pay his own way home. For the Government does not repatriate the exiles. Often such a mans relatives or friends send him money to come home on; occasionally. he can earn enough in the colony. French Arabs, industrious and thrifty. support a sort of community chest which buys home bound tickets for each Arab, As his day of complete liberty ar rives.
 Gentlemen and Hoodlums Brothers
 in Misery
 Lawyers. doctors, engineers, art lsts, skilled artisans-as we'll as criminals from the, peasant class and the slums of Paris-these you see in the streets. Many seek to earn 8 few francs, at any kind ol work, in a lost city where even petty tasks are few. That tall. ragged, bare-footed man driving