Ever since the Boer prisoners of war were transported from South Africa
to the Bermuda Islands, glowing accounts of the salubrious condition
of the prison camps there have appeared periodically in the British
press, and the benevolent treatment accorded to their occupants has
been highly extolled. One of the London papers even stated that a great
number of prisoners expressed a desire to be allowed to return for the
purpose of aiding the King’s soldiers against their late compatriots.
These reports, having found their way into American papers, excited
suspicion in the minds of a few friends of the Boers here, as they
were entirely in conflict with the tale told by David Duplooy, the
plucky young Boer, who escaped last July and arrived in New York on
the steamship _Trinidad_.[1] After a consultation of these friends
in New York I was asked if I would undertake to learn the truth by
personal observation. As I had held a commission in the Boer army,
and had taken part in the present war, this proposal was somewhat
embarrassing and the undertaking rather hazardous. My suggestion that
a newspaper correspondent might be intrusted with it, at little or no
risk whatever, found no favor, as it was doubtful whether any one with
the avowed purpose of investigating would be permitted to enter the
camps; and on account of my acquaintance with the “Taal,” the South
African Dutch spoken by the Boers, it was thought best for me to go. My
friends’ entreaties and sympathy with my suffering comrades overcame
all hesitation, and in less than twenty-four hours I was resolved to
go. Armed with a passport, I secured passage on a steamer of the Quebec
Line sailing from pier 47, North River, New York, and with favorable
weather my mission was begun. The journey was uneventful, and on the
fourth morning the coveted islands hove in sight.
The Bermuda Islands, like some of the West Indian Islands--_e.g._, the
Bahamas--are formed by a ledge of coral, which, peeping out above the
surface of the ocean, forms five large and hundreds of small islands
and innumerable cliffs called “cays.” The five larger islands, St.
David’s, St. Georges, Main Island, Somerset, and Ireland, lie in one
stretch, assuming a shape which has been likened to a fish-hook,
the opening of which is toward the north. These large islands are
surrounded on all sides, and especially to the north, by innumerable
small islands, and in this way is formed a most effective fortification
against an attacking fleet, as they leave only one small channel along
the north shore by which the principal port can be reached. After
rounding the enormous northern reef with its miles of foaming breakers
we approached St. David’s lighthouse, the most northern point, where
the channel commences.
The Bermuda Islands, as a whole, have been widely advertised as the
land of eternal spring, with a luxuriant tropical vegetation, with
garlands of sweet-scented flowers and balmy breezes. When the steamer
glides along the north coast through the tortuous channel the first
impression of the tourist must be a rude disappointment. This part of
the coast is a barren, naked bluff, battered, washed, and corroded
by the high breakers, which carry off all vegetation, except some
weather-beaten, stunted cedars that bend their trunks all in the
direction of the prevailing winds. Only here and there a green patch
interrupts the monotony. The scene, however, changes as soon as the
ship rounds Spanish Point to enter the circle of the fish-hook, a
lovely land-locked lake called Great Sound, the eastern corner of which
is our point of destination, Hamilton Harbor. Now, indeed, a foretaste
is given to us of what tropical luxuriance means--stately palms,
swaying their green plumes in the sea-breeze, orange trees, groves of
flowering oleander and pomegranate embowering white-roofed cottages and
whitewashed houses. Such is the picture which greets the view of the
Northern tourist.
Being installed in one of the numerous hotels, I had now time to
look around and mature a plan by which I might attain my purpose of
inspecting personally the points of greatest interest. There are
excellent roads and pleasant walks and by-paths leading through all the
larger islands, which are so near together that bridges make of them
a single island. The white, calcareous soil and rock yield superior
material for their construction, and, together with the dazzling
white houses and huts, form an agreeable contrast to the dark-green
foliage. When you stroll along these private gardens, public parks,
and open fields, with their palms, bananas, sweet roses, and lilies,
you soon perceive that this is an artificial make-up; all the tropical
vegetation has been imported, and only thrives under the special care
of the owner of the ground. Wherever vegetation is left to shift for
itself the only indigenous tree, the red cedar, springs up in more or
less thriving specimens. The soil is extremely porous, and while it
allows no formation of stagnant pools or lakes, it produces no grassy
lawn to cover the surface of the rock, nor is any well or spring to
be found on the islands. The population is entirely dependent upon
rain-water collected in cisterns.
[Illustration: PRISONERS OF WAR ABOVE SIXTY YEARS OF AGE]
My cautious inquiries about the prison camps met with a sorry
disappointment. With a certain shyness some of the small islands with
which Great Sound is dotted were pointed out to me, but the naked eye
from the mainland could not distinguish anything going on on their
surface. They are entirely out of the familiar routes of local traffic,
and the average visitor would not know of their existence unless made
specially acquainted by some native. The entire circuit of Great Sound
is guarded by a powerful system of forts, towers, and batteries, in
which the majority of the Bermuda garrison--more than two thousand
men--is stationed. Besides a number of men-of-war anchored in the
harbor, there were three special warships detailed near the prison
islands, which kept up a close watch during the day, and which also
played incessant streams of electric search-lights upon the islands and
the surrounding waters during the night. Indeed, four thousand of the
most dangerous outlaws could not be guarded more effectively than these
young children and old men.
Every citizen approached on the subject of the Boer prisoners pretended
not to know anything, and the existence of martial law, under which the
prison islands are held, and copies of which were posted everywhere,
explained fully why all disclaimed any knowledge. The regulations
established for the safe guarding of the Boer prisoners include among
other provisions those which follow:
_Martial Law._--Martial law is in force within the territory of
Marshall’s, Burtt’s, Darrell’s, Tucker’s, and Port’s islands. The
following are some of the offences against martial law: