Newspaper Page Text
MARCH 22, 1902
THE SUNNY SOUTH
NINTH PAGE
Wide Awake Japan SeeKs to Monopolize
Asiatic Trade
By trank G Carpenter
Written f or 0>e Sunny South
■^HE Japanese are about to 1
establish a bureau of for
eign commerce. Parlia
ment lias already discuss
ed the question and the ,
plan has been outlined.
Tin re will be a central de
partment at Tokio and
branch oflices in London,
Paris, Berlin, New York,
Boston, Chicago and other
places. The business of
the bureau will be to look
up openings for Japanese
trail and inform Japanese merchants. ,
It v 11 be somewhat like bur bureau of :
commerce of the state department, which
is id to be the best of its kind in the .
word.
The Japanese government is straining
to capture the trade of the Pacific. It .
hopes to make Japan the workshop of i
the Orient, and has commercial and in-
d a trial training schools under way lor
that purpose. It is also subsidizing its
steamship lines, giving industrial exhibi
tions and encouraging foreign trade >u
other ways.
The government is instituting commer
cial museums at the ports of the Far
Fast. 1 found one in Singapore under
tin management of the Japanese consul
there. Tlie plan is much like the Phila
delphia museum, save that its goods are
~fhV Japanese. There are clocks, shovels,
hats, fans and brushes, all made in Ja
pan. There are samples cf Japanese
mgs, stationery, umbrellas, trunks and
: atvh. Ir, as well as of silk, linen and cot-
oi. goods. There are arts and jinrikshas.
In latter forming one of the chief ex
perts to the different centers of the
■' r Fast. Japanese jinrikshas are used
u Pekin. Shanghai, llonk lvong, Saigon
3 Singapore. There has been an at-
0 aipt to introduce them into the Phil-
jim s. but so far our government iias
iwin d on using man as cab horse an t
e attiur.pt has not been successful.
Singapore is an excellent place for such
museum. It is the haif-way station on
e trip irotind tlie world, and it is where
the W'itel* highways to different parts of
tin' Orient cross. There are ships from
India. Siam, the Philippines. Austrian
1 hina and liurope always at anchor in
ils harbor. Fifty-live thousand vessels
come into it every year, and its annual
trade amounts to $285,l" HI,Out). The Jap
anese catch the traders as they go back
Old forth, working not only the Singa
pore trade, but the countries which mi
ll irt through Singapore. To Singapore
alone the Japanese exports already
amount to about ,iitn*.iwm> gold.
The Japanese hope to be the carriers
of ilie Pacific. They are among the best
sailors of the world. They take to water
like ducks. Their coun
try consists of about
s 4,'jiH) mountainous islands
i aiming through the Pa-
• eific in the form of a
orescent os long as from
New York city to Sail
l.ake. The most of the islands are small
and iln bulk of the population lives near
the sea. 'flu- result is that every man
of them ran handle a boat, and in past
crowded tliis way and that betting on the
various stocks. They were a| bare
headed and their hair stuck out like the
I black bristles on a shoe brush. The
j sleeves of their gowns were loose and
j their arms showed bare to the shoulders
! as they swung them and shook their fists,
shouting their bids. Their almond eyes
were full of anxiety and their mouths
I of noise. I was interested in the signs
which they used in bidding. To put up one
linger indicates an advance of It) cents,
two fingers 20 cents and a closed fist
50 cents.
I The president was an old Japanese in
a black gown, embroidered with a white
: coat id’ arms. lie stood on a rostrum in
[the rear of the chamber and direoted the
selling. The quotations wore written in
Japanese on black and white strips of
wood. The white strips gave the face
value of the stocks and the black strips
indicated the selling prices.
The president tells me that the stock
exchange has a capital of a million and a
quarter yen. and that it is now paying
dividends of 25 per cent. He says that
| seats are worth about $12,000 each, and
that the daily sales approximate 50.000
j shares. Most of the business is small,
j There is no such watering of stocks as
! m the United States, and the result is
that some shares pay high dividends,
j The Tokio tram cars, for instance, pay 55
per cent and some other stocks equally
j well.
Sparse Remnant All That Remains of Crusoe’
Sad Tales of the Decline of a Brave But Unfortunate Race
By L M Howe
Fhe cAinob, the hairy aborigines of Japan
Japanese
hope 4o it»«
C arriers
on the
Pacific
generations they havi
tlieir junks and war v
always done a great
with China and Korea
levying toll on all thi
and express charge
ships as you will
been noted for
els. They have
reight business
Today they are
itorld in freight
They have as good
find anywhere, and
they are building some ol O.uOO tons each
in their own shipyards. These shipyards
are at Nagasaki and arc under subsidy
from the government. The Japanese
have been also buying modern steamers
of England and the United Slates. They
ire continually bringing In new vessels
from the shipyards of file Clyde.
Thee have today l.luo modern steamers
in Heir merchant marine and about 2,01)0
sailing vessels of European type. They
have 20.00U native vessels and innumera
ble small boats. Y'ou can now go around
the world in a Japanese steamer. There
is a line of twelve great ships lrom Yoko
hama to London by tile Sut-/, canal, and
there are several good lines from tie-
United States to Japan. The Toyo Kisen
Kaisha has three steamers of U.OUO tons
which sail regularly from San Francisco
to Yokohama by way of Honolulu, and
thence on to Shanghai and Hong ICong.
The Nippon Yusen Kaisha has G,000-ton
steamers from Seattle, and other Japan
ese steamers call at Cortland and Taco
ma. It is now proposed to establish a
line to the west coast of South America,
and as soon as the isthmian canal is
opened there will be a regular Japanese
service from Japan to the United States
and Europe. Even now Japanese vessels
come into our gulf ports for cargoes of
raw cotton and iron, and the day is not
far distant When steamships from Yoko
hama may be seen all along our coast.
The Japanese are reaching out after our
Philippine trade. They send ships regu
larly to Manila, and thence on to Austra
lia via Thursday island. In that line
there are six steamers of 3,)i'J0 tons each,
comprising the best that call at the Phil
ippines.
Japan has direct steamship connection
with Siberia. The vessels start at Kobe
and call at Nagasaki, Fusan and Gensan,
Korea, on their way to Gladivostock. It
was on one of these ships that 1 went to
Siberia a short time ago. The captain
was an Englishman and the engineer a
Swede, but the rest of the officers were
Japanese, and also the sailors. There
arc other lines which go from Japan to
Manchuria, and almost dail> vessels to
Shanghai and the Yangtse Kiang. A
regular line connects Yokohama and
Kobe with Calcutta and Bombay, bring
ing cotton and jute from India, especially
jute for making the Japanese rugs which
are sold so cheaply in onr A merle an
stores. Indeed, the Japanese flag Is mort
common in the ports of the iwna n. n
the American Hag. and in the Far East
it is safe to say that there arc twenty
Japanese vessels to America’s one.
The Russians and the Japanese nro
each grasping after iVirca. The rela
tions of tin two nations are strain. <1 by
the struggle, and it may eventually bring
about a war between them. Were it not
for Russia the Japanese would own the
whole country. They made their war of
1881 in order that they might have the.
Korean trade, and today they are doing
the most of the import and export busi
ness of the peninsula. We are shipping
Korea some cotton goods but the Japan
ese shipments of last year amounted to
2,(;‘H),(xin yen, and they hate the most of
the trade in other lines.
Sixty-live per cent of all the shins tii {
cal] at the various ports are Japanese,
and the Japanese are now building rail
roads which shall open up for tlu-m some
ol tile best parts of the country. They
have bought the railroad which some
of our Denver men built from Chemuipho
t.> Seoul, and they are now at work con
structing a line from Seoul to Fusan.
This railroad will be 300 miles long. Fu
san has already a large Japanese colony,
and it is but a short distance from the
Japanese coast. Goods can be almost
ferried across from one country to the
other and by means of this railroad sent
direct to the apanese capital. Korea,
furnishes Japan a great deal of rice and
fish and the Koreans buy all sorts of
Japanese goods.
The Japanese have put up telegraph
lines connecting Fusan with all parts
of the country, and from Fusan there
is a cable to Japan. The big Tokio banks
haw branch offices in Seoul and at some
of the Korean ports, and there are Japan
ese postotiices at the principal cities.
Japanese money is the currency of tlie
country, and the Japanese have been
granted concessions for mines and other
things.
The Japanese have been crowded out
of Manchuria by Russia, and the powers
have not permitted them to take posses
sion of any part of Ulii-
Japanese lia. Nevertheless, they
Making are pushing tlieir trade
Commercial throughout the Chinese
Inroads empire and will have
Into China their share of China's
coiiuuerec. There are
Japanese steamers doing a regular carry
ing trade or. some of the Chinese rivers.
You can have your house boat towed
through the canals of Kiangsu by Jap
anese launches and can go up the
Yangtse Kiang or the Peiho on steamers
owned by Japanese.
f l lie Japanese have concessions at many
of the open ports. At Shanghai their con
sulate is in one of the finest buildings;
and there is much Japanese money in
vested in the port. They have a conces
sion for a cotton mill there, but have
concluded that it is cheaper to make
cotton cloth at Osaka and ship it in
China. Indeed, this is so with all sorts
ol’ goods. The people hope to make Japan
the workshop of the Orient. In an in
terview which I had with Marquis Ho
he said that foreign capital should put
up factories in Japan to supply the Chi
nese markets. He assured me that such
capital would be safe, and that Japanes •
labor could be more easily handled than
Chinese labor.
J do not doubt that this is correct. The
Japanese are not so thoroughly organized
into trades unions as the Chineso, Their
labor is good and exceedingly 4-heap.
Both women and men work in the fac
tories, and among the most skillful of the
hands arc children. I went through some
of the finest rug factories of this empire,
and had myself photographed with one
of the employees standing in front of
me. This was a little girl of 10 years.
She only reached to my waist, but she
was weaving a rug for the American
market when she went out to be photo
graphed.
The Japanese government is thoroughly
awake to the possibilities of foreign trade.
It is encouraging manufactories, and is
even now considering the building of steel
works at Kure at an initial cost of
more than 6,000.000 yen. These works will
make steel plates and other shipbuilding
materials.
I don’t know that one can rightly speak
of Japan as having colonies. It lias.
north
south.
A Strong Woman
Iowa City, Iowa, Aug. 15,1903
My wife was sick for three years. We tried
everything without relief and spent much
money. My wife tried Wine of Cardui and four
bottles cured her. She took two more bottles,
knowing she would have to work hard during
the hay harvest. She attended to all her house
hold duties and loaded and unloaded all tho
hay. This medicine gave her strength. For
merly she was weak and tired und couid hardly
got aooutj but since she has been taking Wine
of Cardui she feels betler and stronger than
when 20 years of age. JOS. A. EISENHAFER.
Mrs. Eisenhafer had tried everything during
her three years sickness and had spent consid
erable money. She was weak and could hardly
get about for three years before she took
WINE°*CARDUI
Now, after taking the Wine of Cardui, she can
work with her husband in the hay field. That
la hard work, but it is not as injurious to a
woman's health as labor In stores, factories and
offices where thousands of girls are closely con
fined year after year. With the aid of Wine of
Cardui a woman can do any reasonable work and enjoy good health. The
health that Wine of Cardui brings makes a woman vigorous in body and mind.
Freed from those terrible devastating pains a woman grows well and atrong
naturally Wine of Cardui regulates the disordered menstruation and cures
leucorrhoea falling of the womb and periodical pains in the head and back
caused bv standing or sitting a long time in the same position. Thedford's
Mack Draught puts the bowels, stomach, liver, kidneys and blood In proper
Greatly Increased strength and endurance is the natural result. Most
ahape. ureawy ... ? Ms sell $1.00 bottles of Wine of Cardui
Black-Draught.
itly Increased strengi
cases are cured quickly. All drugghrts
and 25 cent packages of Thedford's B1«
Tor aditco and literature, addreai, giving •yroptomt. “Tha badte*’ Advisory
Department." The Chattanooga Medicine Company, Chattanooga, Tcnn.
however, two great islands at the oppo
site ends of the empire which are unde
veloped and which will add much to its
wealth and its position in tlie l’acifio.
These are Y'ezo and Formosa. Yezo is
about as big as Indiana and its popula
tion is about as great as that of St.
T.ouis. It has an excellent climate, and
its soil raises tin finest of grass. Tha
government colonization department Is
trying to develop the. country.
Yezo lias excellent coal. There are three
large mines now in operation, and rail
roads connect these with the coast. There
arc no large towns except Hakodate,
which has 75,000 people, of whom only
about lei) are foreigners. The most of
the inhabitants are Ainos, the hairy
aborigines of Japan.
Formosa is smaller than Y'ezo, hut of
far more value than its wonderful natu
ral resources. The island is 260 miles
long and about 70 miles wide in its broad
est part. It is full of minerals, but ow
ing to its wild nature has not been care
fully prospected. Coal mines are already
worked and gold is found in many of the
streams.
The island has a ridge of mountains
running through it from one end to the
other, some of the peaks being over 2
miles in height. Along the west slope of
these mountains there are many rich, fer
tile valleys which lead to a large rolling
plane settled by the Chinese. On these
islands is raised some of'the finest tea of
the world. They produce more than 20,-
010.000 pounds of tea every year and the
most of this goes to the United States.
Indeed, China and the United States are
the Chief customers for Formosan prod
uets. Japan itself takes but little. Our
tea is sent across the strait to Amoy
and shipped from there to San Francisco
and New York. The most of the tea
leaves are dried in the sun and the pack
ing is. done by tramping them down with
the bare feet.
The Japanese have not yet attempted
to do much with Formosa. They remit
ted taxes for one year after they took
possession, but are now attempting to
make it self-supporting. The population
is largely Chinese, there being about
three million on the island. The chief
towns are Tamusi and Kelung in the
and Tainan and Takow in the
Taipeh is the capital.
The Japanese are now building rail
roads in the northern port of Formosa
and one is to go from Kelung on south
to Taman-fu. This will pass through
the most thickly populated portion of the
island, including the richest of the sugar
and rice regions. It is at Tamsui that
our consul lives. This place has a club,
several banks and a number of merchants
and exporters. One of the great products
of Formosa is camphor made from the
camphor tree. It is shipped to ali parts
of the world.
The Japanese have considerable trouble
with the Formosan savages who live in
villages scatter'd throughout the moun
tains. Tin se people are much like our
wild men of the Philippines. They live
by hunting and fishing and a little agri
culture. Some villages have small farms
about them. A few acres are enough for
one hundred people, eaqji family having
its own plot. The men are head hunters
not unlike those of Borneo, and it is
said that a man cannot marry until he
has tirougt in at least one head.
The Chinese are the game of the head
hunter. He sneaks up on them while
they are at work in the fields anil spears
them to death. After this he cuts off the
head and goes home rejoicing. The
tribes are continually warring with one
another and the Japanese soldiers have
to conquer them tribe by tribe. So far no
great progress has been made in civiliz
ing the people.
I am told that Formosa has rich min
erals. Coal is found in different parts
and there are evidences of petroleum.
Not long ago some Chinese employed two
Pennsylvanians to test certain oil fields.
They sank a shaft, hut tlieir drills broke
at 300 foot from tlie surface and so far
the work has not been resumed.
The Japanese are by no means a pover
ty-stricken nation. They have many mil
lionaires among them and they are grad
ually building up great financial institu
tions which will enable them to compete
with us. They are good financiers and
their banking system is modeled on ours.
Marquis Ito, who organized it. came to
Washington and spent some time study
ing our government finances and then
went hack and formulated the policy
of the empire. Today Japan has a paper
currency which is at par with its silver,
and the country is nominally on a gold
basis. It has one bank which acts as tlie
agent of the government, having much
the same place here as the Bank of Eng
land in Great Britain.
This is the Bank of Japan. It lias a
capital of 30,000,000 yen, divided into 150,-
iniii shares, and its dividends range from
15 to 10 per cent per annum. The shares
are all registered and can be owned only
through the consent of the Japanese
secretary of the treasury. The bank lias
a half billion dollars of deposit and its
loans amount to about $300,000,000. Its
banking building in Tokio cost more than
a million yen.
Another large bank is the Kokuritsu
Gfnko, which has a capital of about $24,-
000.000 in gold. It has deposits amount
ing to about $500,000,000 in gold and loans
of more than half that amount. The Spe
cie bank has a capital of less than $3,-
000,000, hut its deposits amount to $150.-
000,000 and its loans run high into the
millions.
1 have spent some time in the stock
exchange watching the Japanese bulls
and bears. The exchange is right in the
heart of Tokio. It is a
three - story building,
more like a great barn
or ware house than any
thing else. It has a ce
ment floor and about the
i s are great galleries.
As you go in you have to take off your
shoes, and thdre is a room at the right
of the entrance where the brokers check
t'hcir clogs and where they are given
straw sandals in exchange. Every one
in the house dresses in gowns, although
some of the more swell brokers wear
overcoats as well.
When I entered the exchange there
were at least one hundred Japanese yell-
ihg and pushing each other as they
Written for TThc Sunny ,Yoeth
TIO does not remember tho
thrill of childish fear with
which, buried in his well-
thumbed ’’Robinson Cru
soe," he crept after Friday
and his master, cautious
ly, tremblingly through
tropic underbrush, to
peer out at the horrible
Caribs dancing around
their cannibal banquet on
the beach?
In after years did not the
dull pages of the history
lesson suddenly glow with human interest
when that canoe full of fierce sav
ages, "very lionlike and terrible of coun
tenance with red-painted cheek bones,"
rushed out to battle with the sailors of
Columbus, and we recognized our old
enemies of the story book? "Most incred
ibly tierce and brave,” Columbus called
them, “quite amphibious, fighting with
equal skill from the water, after their ca
noe was overturned.’’
On the little island of Dominica, which,
oddly ' nough, was the first of tlieir
strongholds to lie discovered and the
last to be surrendered, live in almost in
accessible mountain forests a pitiViI rem
nant of the Carib race. For the sake
of the old childhood memories, this brief
sketch of their latter end, before they
die out utterly, seems worth the writ
ing.
A strange, wild, beautiful island, this
raibs.” In 1756, however, the English
changed their minds and finally occupied
the island, only to be ousted by the
French in 1778. From then until 1804 the
government was changed with the ra
pidity of a South American republic, but
in the general peace following the Na
poleonic wars the island was awardt d
to England, and that power has held it
undisturbed ever since.
Such, briefly, is the history of the Ca
ribs and their island.. Slowly, but surely,
the little fringe of civilization along the
coast is eating its way into the wild,
beautiful forests. Less slowly, but quite
as surely, the eighty pure-blooded Ca
ribs, who alone. remain of all the mil
lions on their tiny reservation, are dying
like the trees. A few square miles of
land, so rough as to be unfit for culti
vation. is all that remains of their once
wide domain. Of their 'old pride little is
left; of their old customs, nothing. Like
stout-hearted fighters, who must be beat
en into insensibility or not beaten at all,
every memory of tlieir old glory, their
old ways, their old language even, lias
been whipped out of this fragment of a
once mighty people, who terrorized a
continent and swept the sea.
Most curious, by tlie way, was the
Carib language. There was one vocabu
lary for the warriors and another for the
women, which the children were also re
quired to use. The boys, of course, were
taught the war vocabulary also when they
were able to go out with the fighting
parties. The last Carib who could speak
the language died, an old, old woman,
many years ago.
A skillful knack of weaving curious
tut Josepti cunningly kept out of tho ] trunk they will hollow out a boat some
1 ypical Caribs
reverend father's way until, one day,
they unexpectedly met face to face.
“Good morning, Joseph," said tho
priest.
“Good morning.” replied the chief.
“Joseph.” said the good man, plunging
into the heart of the matter without de
lay. “who are those women back of
you ?”
“Them my wives,” replied Joseph,
briefly.
"But, Joseph, don’t you know that is
wrong? You must pick out one of them,
and 1 will marry you, and the others you I
must give up.”
There was a moment's awkward silence, j
Then the chief, beckoning his retinue
alongside, lined them up.
“Me chief." he exclaimed; “chi"f can ;
not work: chit f cannot starve. This
oiic." pointing a lean finger at the head
of the stolid line, “she fish for me. This I
one. she tend my garden, grow my onss.i- I
va. my plantains, my yams. This /no.
she tend my bouse, she cook for me, she [
make my clothes. Me chief! Now which I
one you say I give up?’’
When old Joseph died full of years and
honor, three widows wept his loss.
Behold, now. Auguste Francals, chief
of the Carib nation, conquerors of the j
Spaniards, the l-Yench and the English, '
long the undisputed masters of the Carib- I
bees—Auguste Francais, whose descent
runs straight without a cross from those ;
red-painted lion-featured eaters of men, 1
is squatted on the ground, weaving has- :
kets. No longer reason to ask why Au- 1
guste has lost caste with his people. It ]
is as if tho king of England were to go
to blacksmithing, or the sultan of Tur- J
key take in washing. Willingly would i
his people follow the old custom and
bring him fish or monioc flour, but Au- j
guste—well, there is delightful stuff that I
comes in bottles from the white man’s 1
country, only to be procured by gold or
silver, and gold or silver must’be worked
for. They are very good baskets All- 1
guste makes, to be sure; in fact, tho
finest in the world. First his lean, can
ning fingers will weave the dried g. t
into a basket of the ordinary kind, and
then, with brown and black dyed 1
strans. in curious patterns; around it I
he will weave another basket, putting
plantain leaves between the two. Im- ,
pervious to tropic showers, water itself ;
may, indeed, l^e carried in them.
Back of Auguste’s hut. under a rough. ■
palm-thatched shed. Auguste’s wife is
making cassava flour. Her unmistakable
negro features explain why Auguste is |
the last of the Carib chiefs. By and by. i
when he dies, the people will elect an- j
other head man to represent tlieir side in [
any dispute with the government, out ;
the old royal line dies with this dull- j
featured w aver of baskets.
Whil ■ we are watching his flying fin- J
gers, a French gentleman from the ne at— 1
by island of Martinique rides up. clad in ;
immaculate white. He is ;
Duellist ii") pleased to see us,
Seeks and, indeed, starts to re-
Ancient treat, but finally fiis-
CRief Fer mounts and begs a word \
Immu rxiiy in private with the chief.
The gleam of gold is in ;
liis hand as he talks, and when Auguste I
returns and begs to be excused, he :s i
clutching something very tightly. Th 1 !
two enter the house together. The French |
gentleman is about to fight a duel, and j
has come for the famous Carib charm, j
Auguste will undress him, and, with j
much ceremony, bathe him in a myste- ;
rious decoction, muttering strange words, i 0 f
Then the duellist will be bullet proof. In | va
tlie corner of Auguste’s hut hangs a fine j a( j
ham. It is a present from the French- 1 j us
man's adversary, whom Auguste treated |
20 feet in length and 8 inches wide. This
I they will soften with fire and spread
| with wedges, or perhaps paddle it as it
| is, over 30 miles of open sea to Mar-
I tinque, where those who buy it will
spread it to suit their tastes. Last week
1 they were swept far out to sea, and
! picked up by a schooner. The captain,
J not wishing to be hindered by a tow,
| slyly cut their boat adrift. It was two
j miles away before they found it out, but
| without waiting to complain they both
I plunged overboard. Re.;, hing their pt <%■
| eious canoe., they clambered in and pad-
| died safely home. This is a true tale,
j and was not told me as anything ex
traordinary, but as a joke on Talaate
| and Curlin. They are very glad to see
! us when we approach, but smile—a Carib
! never laughs—at the idea of their being
any Hit) worse for their experience.
| There were visitors from town at the
l tiny police station last night who brought
! with them strange and delicate things to
j eat. all packed in little cans with gaudy
labels. In the morning two boards were
missing from the station floor. The
gaudy-labeled tinned things were miss
ing also. When you tell this bit of gos
sip to Talaate he finds it strangely funnj'.
It is past eating time, but they profess
no hunger. After a while you leave
them; it occurs to you that perhaps they
have no food; ought you to return and
offer some? No, you would better not.
if yon could creep back so softly that
they could not heal you. which you can
not, you would see Talaate and Curlin
seated on tin- log enjoying hugely strange
delicacies out of tins bearing gaudy la
bels.
On the journey home w are aecompa-
nit d by little Dupliine, bearing baskets
black hair, she strides before the horses,
her huge burden on her head. Dupliine
is a half-breed, and represents in more
I. Straight as her own
; link between the Carib
This fatal admixture
has sounded the death
ce. The negro wife
vidence. As yet the
into town to se
than one way th
and civilization,
of negro blood
knell of the Carib
is more ar.d more i
A
Land
of Ever-
Present
Diablerie
Tokio
$lock Ex
change
I Similar to
Our Own
Dominica. Colmrfinis. at loss for words
to describe it. crumpled a sheet of paper
and threw it down upon the table before
Queen Isabella. One could easily imagine
that, at first, its highest peak, well
named Mount Diublotin, had stood alone,
lashed by gigantic seas, which, by a
miracle, had been turned into billows of
red. damp earth and gray jvolcanic ash,
over which nature had thrown a mar
velous mantle of countless shades of
green, woven with fantastic patterns in
brilliant-colored tropic flowers.
A veil’d, uncanny land of dark, mys
terious forests, through which the noon
sun struggles feebly; of darker, more
mysterious gorges, into which tlie sun
falls not at all.
A land beneath which seethe wicked,
world-old volcanic fires, full of devil-
haunted spots, where sulphurous waters
bubble up, steaming hot,
spewing out horrid
masses of slimy mud,
tinted in unnatural hues
of vivid red and green,
with weird oily gurgling
like some monstrous liv
ing tH?ng. In the crater of Mount Dia-
lilotin itself a boiling lake lies like a
huge silver spider, luring strangers
through his net of emerald green to
slay them with deadly invisible vapors;
an English tourist and his guide, the
latest victims, only a few weeks ago.
Surely ibis island, with its savage
beauty, was of all spots most suited to
those strange, lion-featured Caribs, who
flitted noiseless and mysterious as tlieir
own forests, from shadow to shadow,
until they burst with diabolic shouting,
a wild hurricane of death, upon the white
faced invaders of their land.
Wrapped in fascinating mystery is this
Carib race. Unlike all other Indian tribes
in appearance and customs, their origin
is speculative: their habits travelers’
tales, too often evidently untrue. Occu
pying the chain of islands known as the
Lesser Antilles, they were very different
from tlie peaceful Arawaks of Trinidad
only- a few miles distant from their
southern islands, or the easily conquered
Indians of Porto Rico, so near them to
the north. Indeed, they had a pleasant
habit of assembling great fleets of war
canoes and sweeping down upon the
larger islands, killing or carrying off for
slaves their less warlike population.
Tradition says that each year, gathering
from their various islands, they would
travel in their frail boats over 300 miles
of turbulent sea to the mainland of South
America, and. with the regularity of
clock work, soundly trounce the Indians
there, apparently for sheer love of fight
ing.
Hold in wholesome respect by tho
Spaniards, their isles were named “The
Caribbees,” the surrounding sea “The
Caribbean,” and to them is due the doubt
ful honor of introducing the word “can
nibal" into the English language. Before
their discovery, eaters of human flesh
were considered largely mythical, and
Peter Martyr, writing to Pomponius Lae-
tus of Columiuis’ adventures, says: “The
stories of the Lestrigonians and of Poly
phemus, who fed on human flesh, are no
longer doubtful. Attend, but beware lest
thy hair bristle with horror.”
Long after the other races had been
conquered and enslaved the Caribbees
remained the islands of the Caribs in
fact as well as in name. Slowly, how
ever, fighting fitreel yto the last, they
were driven southward until here, in
Dominica, they made their last sta’fl.
Spanish. French, English tried in vain
to conquer them. As late as 1748, Earl
Carlisle, who held Dominica by royal
grant, gave it up as a bad job, and by
treaty between the English and the
French, the island was declared to lie
a neutral land, belonging to the "Cha-
baskets, cunning skill in hewing out ca
noes from solid tree trunks, these are all ]
that remain. Seldom, if j
Cunning ever, lias a mighty people |
Handiwork been so utterly crush 'd. I
all Ytvat is The Carib of today |
Left YJxis dreads a stranger as a j
People wounded deer dreads a |
hunter. The unknown I
visitor might travel fur weeks through
the reservation without seeing a living |
soul. At the sound of horses’ hoofs,
presto, they slip like shadows behind the
dense screen of living green through
which they peer with frightened eyes,
themselves entirely invisible. If you are
accompanied l>y one they have learned to
know and trust, they may tie coaxed to
reappear, shyly, as a rabbit is tempted
toward a bit of lettuce.
Tlteie are some two hundred lialf-
bre.Tls living with them, whose negro
blood renders them less sensitive, but
your pure-blooded Carib lias learned,
through generations of cruel conquest, to
know that new word, fear, and in the
present terror all past memories are blot- j
ted out.
Though it is but 20 miles from the En
fish town of Roseau to the Carib villa
of Saiibia, yet so rough and wild is the j
trail that it is a good two days’ journey,
well worth the trouble, however, so won
derful is the wild riot of emerald vegeta
tion. Tree ferns, those last survivals rf
the old carboniferous period, 40 feet in
height; begonias growing like weeds;
hundreds of unknown brilliant flowers,
with Jiere and there an orchiu, scenting
the air with strange perfume; soft clouds,
rolling down from the mountains, cover
ing everything with a warm mist; gor
geous rainbows arching the green valleys,
seemingly close enough to touch; cool
streams gurgling unseen amid the foli
age, 300 foot below; tho Carib town itself 1
has but a collection o'f a few grass huts 1
and a queer little shanty, whose cross at
the apex of its roof proclaims it to be
the Catholic mission. They are all good
Catholics, these Caribs, so the priests say, |
but it is to be feared that is so mainly |
because it is easier to be converted than i
not. What the real religion of this j
strange people was no one really knows. |
Spirits of wood and air, a terrible devil, 1
Mabanj a, requiring human offerings for j
his appeasement, ghosts of dead ances
tors, all these were part, it is guessed, of
their belief. However deep their present j
faith may be, it does not sink deep j
enough to dull the dogged persistence j
with which they hold every inch of tlie 1
little land now left them. A flourishing I
settlement was started, called La Bote, j
but one day the news came that tlie
land where the chapel stood had been j
presented to the priests. That night all
save five deserted their huts forever as
a silent protest against the granting of
their territory. There is something inde
scribably pathetic in this fragment of a
nation clinging to the fragment of its
country. When the reservation was sur- i
veyed last year a little farm they claimed !
as theirs was found to belong to a neigh- |
boring estate. Work was sent to the sur- |
veyor that if lie returned he would he
killed if they were all hanged for it. j
If you are lucky you will find the chief, j
Auguste Francais, chief by descent and ]
In name only, for he has little authority |
over his people. The last real chief was ,
old Joseph, Francais. dead these thirty j
years, ignorant, let us trust, of the down
fall of his people. There must have been i
a good deal of the old lion look about j
Joseph, for those who remember him
agree with one accord that they were |
always afraid to meet him. In proper ;
state he stalked through the forest, his j
three wives always trotting obediently !
behind him in single file. These wives ;
were a constant source of grief to the |
parish priest, being rather uncanonical, I
yesterday. It should be a bloodless duel, I
On our way back to Roseau a messen- |
ger to town from Auguste Francais
passes us in a great hurry. Y'ou do not j
see the gleam of gold in his hand, be- j
cause he is carrying it in his mouth for j
safety. He will shortly return, bearing a !
heavy burden that clanks at every step, I
and Auguste Francais will give a new 1
Imitation of being “drunk as a king.”
We also pass the four posts that mark j
the former dwelling of Popott. Before j
Popott was taken sick it was like all |
the other huts. Kind friends brought j
Popott food each day. One morning they j
found Popott had turned his face to the
wall and left the food untasted. Th -y I
brought no more, but instead each time i
they called they took away a door, o>- i
shutter, or bit of side thatch. Popott
was a long time dying for a Carib, who ;
generally goes quickly once he has made !
up his mind, and before it was over \
there was only a bit of the roof left. It
is one of the few old customs remain
ing. They say it is to give the spirit free
egress. As no Carib will live where any
one has died, and the pieces carried
away can be used for a new house, this
custom has a practical side to it as
negro husband may not, with comfort,
dwell among them.
But slowly, one by one, that strange
race who flattened their skulls to odd
shapes, and bound cloths around their
arms to make the muscl s swell, w,ho
painted their faces red and ate their
• t mies, is dying off, and in the near fu*
ture the Carib will be but a name.
King Edward’s Joke
Lord Salisbury has a reputation fo;
being singularly detached from the work
of men and affairs. It has Been saiii
that he has never spoken to Mr. Mor-
ley; it is also said that poor Mr. Foley,
of the foreign office, has to submit to be
called Mr. Flower, or Mr. Fowler, or
anything but Foley. Here is a story
that. lias just come to me, says a writer
in an English paper:
It is typical—I offer no other credential
for it. Lord Salisbury, the bishop of
London and many others, so runs the
story, happened to be in a room with
the king. The king said to the bishop:
“Do you know what Lord Salisbury has
just said about you? lie pointed you out
and asked: ‘Who is that young looking
cleric?” And then, to save embarrassment
of the bishop, his majesty, with that in
variable geniality which is all his own,
led: "But you need not mind that. I
t showed him the latest photograph
myself, and after looking at it some
Well.
Front the high woods the soft thud, thud
of an ax comes floating down the trail.
It is Talaate and Curlin cutting timber
for a boat; clever axmen. as all thesa
Caribs are. Presently, with a long sigh,
you hear the tree fall, tearing the count
less long lianas that hang like serpents
from every limb. Fine specimens of men
are Talaate and Curlin. From the fallen
moments in silence, he said sympathetical
ly, ‘Poor old Buller.’ ”
The prince of Wales once called his
sister, the duchess of Fife, “her royal
shyness," on account of her medest and
retiring disposition. Princess Victoria is,
however, even more retiring—her over-
1 owering shyness making publicity quite
a martyrdom to her. "I wish I were
plain Aliss Wales, without any great title
of splendor to keep up," once said Prin
cess Victoria with a sigh to her merry
sister. Princess Charles of Denmark.
♦
Ys Senator MeLaurin was stepping oft
a street car in Washington the other day
lie came face to face with Senator 'fill-
in m, who but recently had punched hi3
face in the senate chamber and who was
just about to board ihe car. Other pas
sengers breathlessly expected trouble, but
the two men glared at each other with
their three eyes and the car soon pro
ceeded with th fiery Tillman.
♦
Rev. Barnabas T. Sakai, bead of im
portant missionary work in Tokio, and a
graduate of the Episcopal Theological
seminary, Cambridge, is in this country
lecturing on missionary work among tho
educated classes of Japan.
”♦
Mascagni, the composer, who says he
has not written a note for two years, will
take Marie Antoinette as tho theme of
liis next opera.
Chief Auguste nvearving a basket