TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
1) Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2) A few chapter sub-headings do not end with a period. For consistency,
obvious errors have been corrected by ending these with a period.
3) A few obvious misprints where sentences did not end with a period have
been corrected.
4) The words "manoeuvres" and "manoeuvre" use oe ligature in the original.
5) The following misprints have been corrected:
"which we pet in our" corrected to "which we put in our" (page 243)
"Britian" corrected to "Britain" (page 271)
6) Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
spelling, punctuation, hyphenation and ligature usage have been retained.
DUE SOUTH
OR
CUBA PAST AND PRESENT
BY
MATURIN M. BALLOU
AUTHOR OF "DUE WEST; OR ROUND THE WORLD IN TEN MONTHS"
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
Copyright, 1885,
By MATURIN M. BALLOU.
_All rights reserved._
ELEVENTH IMPRESSION
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
PREFACE.
The public favor accorded to a late volume by the author of these
pages, entitled "Due West; or Round the World in Ten Months," has
suggested both the publication and the title of the volume in hand,
which consists of notes of a voyage to the tropics, and a sojourn
in Cuba during the last winter. The endeavor has been to present a
comprehensive view of the island, past and present, and to depict
the political and moral darkness which have so long enshrouded it.
A view of its interesting inhabitants, with a glance at its beautiful
flora and vegetation generally, has been a source of such hearty
enjoyment to the author that he desires to share the pleasure with
the appreciative reader. The great importance of the geographical
position of the island, its present critical condition, and the
proposed treaty of commerce with this country, together render it
at present of unusual interest in the eyes of the world. If possible,
Cuba is more Castilian than peninsular Spain, and both are so Moorish
as to present a fascinating study of national characteristics.
M. M. B.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Departure. -- On Board Ship. -- Arrival at Nassau. -- Capital
of the Bahamas. -- Climate. -- Soil. -- Fruits and Flowers.
-- Magic Fertility. -- Colored Population. -- The Blockade
Runners. -- Population. -- Products. -- A Picturesque Local
Scene. -- Superstition. -- Fish Story. -- The Silk-Cotton
Tree. -- Remarkable Vegetation. -- The Sea Gardens. -- Marine
Animal Life. -- The Bahama Banks. -- Burial at Sea. -- Venal
Officials. -- Historical Characters. -- The Early Buccaneers.
-- Diving for Drinking-Water. 1
CHAPTER II.
Among the Islands. -- San Salvador. -- A Glimpse at the
Stars. -- Hayti. -- The Gulf Stream. -- The Caribbean Sea. --
Latitude and Longitude. -- The Southern Coast of Cuba. -- A
Famous Old Fortress. -- Fate of Political Prisoners. -- The
Oldest City in Cuba. -- The Aborigines. -- Cuban Cathedrals.
-- Drinking Saloons. -- Dogs, Horses, and Coolies. -- Scenes
in Santiago de Cuba. -- Devoured by Sharks. -- Lying at
Anchor. -- Wreck of a Historic Ship. -- Cuban Circulating
Medium. -- Tropical Temperature. 24
CHAPTER III.
Doubling Cape Cruz. -- Trinidad. -- Cienfuegos. -- The Plaza.
-- Beggars. -- Visit to a Sugar Plantation. -- Something
about Sugar. -- An Original Character. -- A Tropical Fruit
Garden. -- Cuban Hospitality. -- The Banana. -- Lottery
Tickets. -- Chinese Coolies. -- Blindness in Cuba. -- Birds
and Poultry. -- The Cock-Pit. -- Negro Slavery, To-Day. --
Spanish Slaveholders. -- A Slave Mutiny. -- A Pleasant
Journey across the Island. -- Pictures of the Interior. --
Scenery about Matanzas. -- The Tropics and the North
contrasted. 46
CHAPTER IV.
The Great Genoese Pilot. -- Discovery of Cuba. -- Its Various
Names. -- Treatment of the Natives. -- Tobacco! -- Flora of
the Island. -- Strange Idols. -- Antiquity. -- Habits of the
Aborigines. -- Remarkable Speech of an Indian King. -- A
Native Entertainment. -- Paying Tribute. -- Ancient Remains.
-- Wrong Impression of Columbus. -- First Attempt at
Colonization. -- Battle with the Indians. -- First Governor
of Cuba. -- Founding Cities. -- Emigration from Spain. --
Conquest of Mexico. 70
CHAPTER V.
Baracoa, the First Capital. -- West Indian Buccaneers. --
Military Despotism. -- A Perpetual State of Siege. -- A
Patriotic Son of Cuba. -- Political Condition of the Island.
-- Education of Cuban Youths. -- Attempts at Revolution. --
Fate of General Narciso Lopez. -- The Late Civil War and its
Leader. -- Terrible Slaughter of Spanish Troops. --
Stronghold of the Insurgents. -- Guerrillas. -- Want of
Self-Reliance. -- Spanish Art, Literature, and Conquest. --
What Spain was. -- What Spain is. -- Rise and Fall of an
Empire. 88
CHAPTER VI.
Geographical. -- A Remarkable Weed. -- Turtle-Hunting. --
Turtle-Steaks in Olden Times. -- The Gulf Stream. -- Deep-Sea
Soundings. -- Mountain Range of Cuba. -- Curious Geological
Facts. -- Subterranean Caverns. -- Wild Animals. -- The
Rivers of the Island. -- Fine Harbors. -- Historic Memories
of the Caribbean Sea. -- Sentinel of the Gulf. -- Importance
of the Position. -- Climate. -- Hints for Invalids. --
Matanzas. -- Execution of a Patriot. -- Valley of Yumuri;
Caves of Bellamar; Puerto Principe; Cardenas. 102
CHAPTER VII.
City of Havana. -- First Impressions. -- The Harbor. --
Institutions. -- Lack of Educational Facilities. -- Cuban
Women. -- Street Etiquette. -- Architecture. -- Domestic
Arrangements. -- Barred Windows and Bullet-Proof Doors. --
Public Vehicles. -- Uncleanliness of the Streets. -- Spanish
or African! -- The Church Bells. -- Home-Keeping Habits of
Ladies. -- Their Patriotism. -- Personal Characteristics. --
Low Ebb of Social Life. -- Priestcraft. -- Female Virtue. --
Domestic Ties. -- A Festive Population. -- Cosmetics. --
Sea-Bathing. 125
CHAPTER VIII.
Sabbath Scenes in Havana. -- Thimble-Riggers and Mountebanks.
-- City Squares and their Ornamentation. -- The Cathedral. --
Tomb of Columbus. -- Plaza de Armas. -- Out-Door Concerts. --
Habitués of Paseo de Isabella. -- Superbly Appointed Cafés.
-- Gambling. -- Lottery Tickets. -- Fast Life. -- Masquerade
Balls. -- Carnival Days. -- The Famous Tacon Theatre. -- The
Havana Casino. -- Public Statues. -- Beauties of the
Governor's Garden. -- The Alameda. -- The Old Bell-Ringer. --
Military Mass. 144
CHAPTER IX.
Political Inquisition. -- Fashionable Streets of the City. --
Tradesmen's Signs. -- Bankrupt Condition of Traders. -- The
Spanish Army. -- Exiled Patriots. -- Arrival of Recruits. --
The Garrote. -- A Military Execution. -- Cuban Milk Dealers.
-- Exposure of Domestic Life. -- Living in the Open Air. --
The Campo Santo of Havana. -- A Funeral Cortége. -- Punishing
Slaves. -- Campo de Marte. -- Hotel Telegrafo. -- Environs of
the City. -- Bishop's Garden. -- Consul-General Williams. --
Mineral Springs. 166
CHAPTER X.
The Fish-Market of Havana. -- The Dying Dolphin. -- Tax upon
the Trade. -- Extraordinary Monopoly. -- Harbor Boats. -- A
Story about Marti, the Ex-Smuggler. -- King of the Isle of
Pines. -- The Offered Reward. -- Sentinels in the Plaza de
Armas. -- The Governor-General and the Intruder. -- "I am
Captain Marti!" -- The Betrayal. -- The Ex-Smuggler as Pilot.
-- The Pardon and the Reward. -- Tacon's Stewardship and
Official Career. -- Monopoly of Theatricals. -- A Negro
Festival. 184
CHAPTER XI.
The Havana Lottery. -- Its Influence. -- Hospitality of the
Cubans. -- About Bonnets. -- The Creole Lady's Face. -- Love
of Flowers. -- An Atmospheric Narcotic. -- The Treacherous
Indian Fig. -- How the Cocoanut is propagated. -- Cost of
Living in Cuba. -- Spurious Liquors. -- A Pleasant Health
Resort. -- The Cock-Pit. -- Game-Birds. -- Their Management.
-- A Cuban Cock-Fight. -- Garden of the World. -- About
Birds. -- Stewed Owl! -- Slaughter of the Innocents. -- The
Various Fruits. 200
CHAPTER XII.
Traveling by Volante. -- Want of Inland Communication. --
Americans Profitable Customers. -- The Cruel National Game.
-- The Plaza de Toros. -- Description of a Bull-Fight. -- The
Infection of Cruelty. -- The Romans and Spaniards compared.
-- Cry of the Spanish Mob: "Bread and Bulls!" -- Women at the
Fight. -- The Nobility of the Island. -- The Monteros. --
Ignorance of the Common People. -- Scenes in the Central
Market, Havana. -- Odd Ideas of Cuban Beggars. -- An Original
Style of Dude. -- A Mendicant Prince. 219
CHAPTER XIII.
Introduction of Sugar-Cane. -- Sugar Plantations. -- Mode of
Manufacture. -- Slaves on the Plantations. -- African
Amusements. -- The Grinding Season. -- The Coffee
Plantations. -- A Floral Paradise. -- Refugees from San
Domingo. -- Interesting Experiments with a Mimosa. -- Three
Staple Productions of Cuba. -- Raising Coffee and Tobacco. --
Best Soils for the Tobacco. -- Agricultural Possibilities. --
The Cuban Fire-Fly. -- A Much-Dreaded Insect. -- The Ceiba
Tree. -- About Horses and Oxen. 236
CHAPTER XIV.
Consumption of Tobacco. -- The Delicious Fruits of the
Tropics. -- Individual Characteristics of Cuban Fruits. --
The Royal Palm. -- The Mulberry Tree. -- Silk Culture. -- The
Island once covered by Forests. -- No Poisonous Reptiles. --
The Cuban Bloodhound. -- Hotbed of African Slavery. --
Spain's Disregard of Solemn Treaties. -- The Coolie System of
Slavery. -- Ah-Lee draws a Prize. -- Native African Races. --
Negroes buying their Freedom. -- Laws favoring the Slaves. --
Example of San Domingo. -- General Emancipation. 260
CHAPTER XV.
Slave Trade with Africa. -- Where the Slavers made their
Landing. -- An Early Morning Ride. -- Slaves marching to
Daily Labor. -- Fragrance of the Early Day. -- Mist upon the
Waters. -- A Slave Ship. -- A Beautiful but Guilty
Brigantine. -- A French Cruiser. -- Cunning Seamanship. -- A
Wild Goose Chase. -- A Cuban Posada. -- Visit to a Coffee
Estate. -- Landing a Slave Cargo. -- A Sight to challenge
Sympathy and Indignation. -- Half-Starved Victims. --
Destruction of the Slave Ship. 282
CHAPTER XVI.
Antique Appearance of Everything. -- The Yeomen of Cuba. -- A
Montero's Home. -- Personal Experience. -- The Soil of the
Island. -- Oppression by the Government. -- Spanish Justice
in Havana. -- Tax upon the Necessities of Life. -- The
Proposed Treaty with Spain. -- A One-Sided Proposition. -- A
Much Taxed People. -- Some of the Items of Taxation. -- Fraud
and Bankruptcy. -- The Boasted Strength of Moro Castle. --
Destiny of Cuba. -- A Heavy Annual Cost to Spain. --
Political Condition. -- Pictures of Memory. 300
DUE SOUTH.
CHAPTER I.
Departure. -- On Board Ship. -- Arrival at Nassau. -- Capital
of the Bahamas. -- Climate. -- Soil. -- Fruits and Flowers.
-- Magic Fertility. -- Colored Population. -- The Blockade
Runners. -- Population. -- Products. -- A Picturesque Local
Scene. -- Superstition. -- Fish Story. -- The Silk-Cotton
Tree. -- Remarkable Vegetation. -- The Sea Gardens. -- Marine
Animal Life. -- The Bahama Banks. -- Burial at Sea. -- Venal
Officials. -- Historical Characters. -- The Early Buccaneers.
-- Diving for Drinking-Water.
We left Boston in a blustering snow-storm on the morning of February
25th, and reached New York city to find it also clothed in a wintry
garb, Broadway being lined on either side of its entire length with
tall piles of snow, like haycocks, prepared for carting away during
the coming night. Next morning, when we drove to the dock to take
passage on board the steamship Cienfuegos, the snow-mounds had all
been removed. The mail steamer sailed promptly at the hour assigned,
hauled out into the stream by a couple of noisy little tugs, with
two-inch hawsers made fast to stem and stern. Before sunset the pilot
left the ship, which was then headed due south for Nassau, N. P.,
escorted by large fields of floating ice, here and there decked with
lazy snow-white sea-gulls. The sharp northwest wind, though
blustering and aggressive, was in our favor, and the ship spread all
her artificial wings as auxiliary to her natural motor. We doubled
Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout well in towards the shore, sighting on
the afternoon of the fourth day the Island of Abaco, largest of the
Bahama Isles, with its famous "Hole in the Wall" and sponge-lined
shore. The woolen clothing worn when we came on board ship had already
become oppressive, the cabin thermometer indicating 72° Fahrenheit.
With nothing to engage the eye save the blue sky and the bluer water,
the most is made of every circumstance at sea, and even trivial
occurrences become notable. The playful dolphins went through their
aquatic pantomime for our amusement. Half a dozen of them started off
just ahead of the cutwater, and raced the ship for two hours, keeping
exactly the same relative distance ahead without any apparent effort.
Scores of others leaped out of the water and plunged in again in
graceful curves, as though they enjoyed the sport. A tiny land bird
flew on board, and was chased all over the ship by one or two
juveniles until caught, panting and trembling with the unwonted
exertion. Presently it was given its liberty, partook freely of bread
crumbs and drank of fresh water, then assumed a perch aloft, where it
carefully dressed its feathers, and after thanking its entertainers
with a few cheerful notes it extended its wings and launched out into
space, no land being in sight. The broken mainmast of a ship,
floating, with considerable top hamper attached, was passed within a
cable's length, suggestive of a recent wreck, and inducing a thousand
dreary surmises. At first it was announced as the sea serpent, but its
true nature was soon obvious. At midnight, March 1st, Nassau light
hove in sight, dimmed by a thin, soft haze, which hung over the water,
and through which the light, by some law of refraction, seemed to be
coming out to meet the ship. Overhead all was bright,--almost dazzling
with unnumbered stars and familiar constellations, like silver
spangles on a background of blue velvet. We anchored off the island an
hour before daylight, the harbor being too shallow to admit the ship.
A forbidding sand bar blocks the entrance, inside of which the water
is but fifteen feet deep. Indeed, Nassau would have no harbor at all
were it not that nature has kindly placed Hog Island in the form of a
break-water, just off the town. The vibrating hull of the Cienfuegos
was once more at rest; the stout heart-throbs, the panting and
trembling, of the great engine had ceased; the wheelhouse and decks
were deserted, and one was fain to turn in below for a brief nap
before landing on this the most populous of the Bahamas.
The island, which was settled by Europeans as early as 1629, embraces
nearly a hundred square miles, forming an oasis in the desert of
waters. It is sixteen miles long and about one half as wide,
containing fourteen thousand inhabitants, more or less, who can hardly
be designated as an enterprising community. On first landing,
everything strikes the visitor as being peculiarly foreign,--almost
unique. The town is situated on the northerly front of the island,
extending along the shore for a couple of miles, and back to a crest
of land which rises to nearly the height of a hundred feet. This
elevation is crowned by the residence of the English Governor-General,
in front of which may be seen a colossal but not admirable statue of
Columbus. The town boasts a small public library, a museum, theatre,
several small churches, a prison, a hospital, and a bank. The
government maintains one company of infantry, composed of black men,
officered by whites. It must be admitted that they present a fine
military appearance when on parade. Nassau has long been a popular
resort for invalids who seek a soft, equable climate, and as it lies
between the warm South Atlantic and the Gulf Stream it is
characterized by the usual temperature of the tropics. There seemed to
be a certain enervating influence in the atmosphere, under the effects
of which the habitués of the place were plainly struck with a spirit
of indolence. The difference between those just arrived and the
regular guests of the Victoria Hotel, in this respect, could not fail
to be observed. The languidly oppressive warmth imparts a certain
softness to manners, a voluptuous love of idleness, and a glow to the
affections which are experienced with less force at the North. Neither
snow nor frost is ever encountered here, and yet it is as near to
Boston or New York as is the city of Chicago. The temperature, we are
told, never falls below 64° Fahrenheit, nor rises above 82°, the
variations rarely exceeding five degrees in twenty-four hours. In
Florida a change of twenty degrees is not unusual within the period of
a single day. The thermometer stood at 73° on the first day of March,
and everything was bathed in soft sunlight.
It is somewhat singular that an island like New Providence, which is
practically without soil, should be so remarkably productive in its
vegetation. It is surrounded by low-lying coral reefs, and is itself
composed of coral and limestone. These, pulverized, actually form the
earth out of which spring noble palm, banana, ceiba, orange, lemon,
tamarind, almond, mahogany, and cocoanut trees, with a hundred and one
other varieties of fruits, flowers, and woods, including the
bread-fruit tree, that natural food for indolent natives of equatorial
regions. Of course in such a soil the plough is unknown, its
substitutes being the pickaxe and crowbar. However, science teaches us
that all soils are but broken and decomposed rock, pulverized by
various agencies acting through long periods of time. So the molten
lava which once poured from the fiery mouth of Vesuvius has become the
soil of thriving vineyards, which produce the priceless Lachryma
Christi wine. This transformation is not accomplished in a lifetime,
but is the result of ages of slow disintegration.
Among other flowering trees, some strikingly beautiful specimens of
the alligator-pear in full bloom were observed, the blossom suggesting
the passion-flower. While our favorite garden plants at the North are
satisfied to bloom upon lowly bushes, at the South they are far more
ambitious, and develop into tall trees, though sometimes at the
partial expense of their fragrance. The air was full of sweet perfume
from the white blossoms of the shaddock, contrasting with the deep
glossy green of its thick-set leaves, the spicy pimento and cinnamon
trees being also noticeable. With all this charming floral effect the
bird melody which greets the ear in Florida was wanting, though it
would seem to be so natural an adjunct to the surroundings. Nature's
never-failing rule of compensation is manifested here: all the
attractions are not bestowed upon any one class; brilliancy of
feathers and sweetness of song do not go together. The torrid zone
endows the native birds with brilliant plumage, while the colder North
gives its feathered tribes the winning charm of melody.
The soil of these Bahama Islands, composed of such unpromising
ingredients, shows in its prolific yield how much vegetation depends
for its sustenance upon atmospheric air, especially in tropical
climes. The landlord of the Victoria Hotel told us, as an evidence of
the fertility of the soil, that radish seeds which were planted on the
first day of the month would sufficiently mature and ripen by the
twenty-first--that is in three weeks--for use upon the table; and also
that potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons were relatively
expeditious in ripening here after planting. Our mind reverted to the
jugglers of Madras and Bombay, who made an orange-tree grow from the
seed, and bear fruit before our very eyes, at a single sitting.
The luscious pineapple, zapota, mango, pomegranate, guava, star-apple,
citron, custard-apple, mammee, and other fruits abound. The
profuseness and variety of beautiful ferns and orchidaceous plants
will also be sure to attract the attention of the Northern visitor.
The rocky formation of the soil produces good natural roads, so that a
long drive in the environs of Nassau is like a pleasure excursion over
a well-macadamized thoroughfare. We were told of a delightful drive of
fifteen miles in length which follows the sea beach the whole
distance, but did not find time to test its attractions, though
strongly tempted by the excellence of the roads. Here, as in other
tropical regions, each month has its special floral display, although
there are many, and indeed a majority, of the plants which continue to
flower all the year round. We observed that the stone walls and
hedges were now and again covered for short spaces with the
coral-vine, whose red blossoms, so pleasing to the eye, emit no odor.
The yellow jasmine was dazzlingly conspicuous everywhere, and very
fragrant. Red and white roses, various species of cacti, and
tube-roses bloomed before the rude thatched cabins of the negroes in
the environs, as well as in the tiny front gardens of the whites in
the streets of the town; while red, white, and pink oleanders grew as
tall as trees, and flower here every month in the year. The
night-blooming cereus abounds, opening just at sunset, and closing
again at break of day. The outside leaves of this poetical flower are
of a pale green, the inner ones of a pure wax-like white, and the
petals light yellow. Complete, it is about eight inches long, and from
twelve to fifteen in circumference.
While we drove through the suburbs, slatternly, half-clothed family
groups of negroes watched us with curious eyes, and on the road aged
colored men and women were occasionally met, who saluted us with grave
dignity. No one seemed to be at work; sunshine was the only
perceptible thing going on, ripening the fruits and vegetables by its
genial rays, while the negroes waited for the harvest. Like the birds,
they had no occasion to sow, but only to pluck and to eat. There was,
both in and out of the town, a tumble-down, mouldy aspect to the
dwellings, which seemed to be singularly neglected and permitted to
lapse into decay. With the exception of the town of Nassau, and its
immediate environs, New Providence is nearly all water and wilderness;
it has some circumscribed lakes, but no mountains, rivers, or
rivulets. The island is justly famous for the beauty and variety of
its lovely flowers. It is true that the rose is not quite equal in
color, development, and fragrance to ours of the North; Nature has so
many indigenous flowers on which to expend her liberality that she
bestows less attention upon this, the loveliest of them all. The
Cherokee rose, single-leafed, now so rare with us, seems here to have
found a congenial foreign home. In the suburbs of Nassau are many
attractive flowers, fostered only by the hand of Nature. Among them
was the triangular cactus, with its beautiful yellow blossom, like a
small sunflower, supported by a deep green triangular stem.
The pendulous cactus was also hanging here and there on walls and tree
trunks, in queer little jointed, pipe-stem branches. The royal palm,
that king of tropical vegetation, is not very abundant here, but yet
sufficiently so to characterize the place. Its roots resemble those of
asparagus, and are innumerable. Another peculiarity of the palm is
that it starts a full-sized trunk; therefore, not the diameter, but
the height, determines its age, which is recorded by annual concentric
rings clearly defined upon its tall, straight stem.
During the late civil war in the United States, when blockade runners
made this place a port of call and a harbor for refitting, it was by
English connivance practically a Confederate port. The officers and
sailors expended their ill-gotten wealth with the usual lavishness of
the irresponsible, the people of Nassau reaping thereby a fabulous
harvest in cash. This was quite demoralizing to honest industry, and,
as might be expected, a serious reaction has followed. Legitimate
trade and industry will require years before they can reassert
themselves. Sudden and seeming prosperity is almost sure to be equally
transitory. We were told that, during the entire period in which the
Confederates resorted here under the open encouragement and protection
of England, the town was the scene of the most shameful drunken orgies
from morning until night. Lewdness and crime were rampant. Officers
played pitch-penny on the veranda of the Victoria Hotel with gold
eagles, and affiliated openly with negresses. The evil influence upon
all concerned was inevitable, and its poisonous effect is not yet
obliterated.
Three quarters of the present population are negroes, but of course
all trace of the aborigines has disappeared. It is curious and
interesting to know what Columbus thought of them. He wrote to his
royal mistress, after having explored these Bahamas, as follows: "This
country excels all others as far as the day surpasses the night in
splendor; the natives love their neighbors as themselves: their
conversation is the sweetest imaginable, and their faces are always
smiling. So gentle and so affectionate are they that I swear to your
highness there is no better people in the world."
The negroes are mostly engaged in cultivating patches of pineapples,
and yams, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables; a large number of the
males employ themselves also in fishing and gathering sponges. It will
be remembered that from this locality comes the principal supply of
coarse sponge for Europe and America. There is also a considerable
trade, carried on in a small way, in fine turtle-shell, which is
polished in an exquisite manner, and manufactured by the natives into
ornaments. Though the Bahama sponges are not equal to those obtained
in the Mediterranean, still they are marketable, and Nassau exports
half a million dollars' worth annually. It is a curious fact that
sponges can be propagated by cuttings taken from living specimens,
which, when attached to a piece of board and sunk in the sea, will
increase and multiply. Thus the finest Mediterranean specimens may be
successfully transplanted to the coral reefs of these islands, the
only requisite to their sustenance seeming to be a coralline shore and
limestone surroundings. Another important industry which gives
employment to a considerable number of the inhabitants is the canning
of pineapples, a process which is equivalent to preserving them for
any length of time. One firm on Bay Street, as we were informed,
canned and exported nearly a million of pines in one season, lately;
and another, engaged in the fresh-fruit trade, shipped to the States
fifteen cargoes of pines in one year, besides many thousands of
cocoanuts. These are not all raised in Nassau, but this port is made
the headquarters for collecting and disposing of the fruit grown upon
what are termed the out-islands, as well as marketing the large
product of its own soil. It is but a short drive inland to the
extensive pineapple fields, where the handsome fruit may be seen in
the several stages of growth, varying according to the season of the
year. If intended for exportation, the fruit is gathered green; if for
canning purposes, the riper it is the better. The visitor will also be
impressed by the beauty and grace of the cocoanut trees, their pinnate
leaves often a hundred feet from the ground, notwithstanding the bare
cylindrical stem attains a thickness of only two feet.
The Royal Victoria Hotel, though bearing a loyal name, is kept by an
American, and is a very substantial, capacious building, composed of
native limestone, four stories high, three of which are surrounded by
wide piazzas, which afford the shade so necessary in a land of
perpetual summer. The native stone of which the island is composed is
so soft when first quarried that it can easily be cut or sawed into
any shape desired, but it hardens very rapidly after exposure to the
atmosphere. The hotel will accommodate three hundred guests, and is a
positive necessity for the comfort and prosperity of the place. It was
built and is owned by the British government, who erected it some
twenty-five years since. At the time of our arrival there was gathered
under the lofty Moorish portico of the hotel a most picturesque group
of negroes, of both sexes and of all ages, their ebony faces forming a
strong contrast to the background of well-whitewashed walls. Some of
the women were dressed in neat calico gowns, and wore broad-brimmed
straw hats; some were in rags, hatless, shoeless, and barelegged; some
had high-colored kerchiefs wound turban-like about their woolly heads;
and some wore scarlet shawls, the sight of which would have driven a
Spanish bull raving mad. There were coquettish mulatto girls with
bouquets for sale, and fancy flowers wrought of shells; these last of
most exquisite workmanship. Specimens of this native shell-work were
sent to the Vienna Exposition, where they received honorable mention,
and were afterwards purchased and presented to the Prince of Wales.
Old gray-haired negroes, with snow-white beards on a black ground,
offered fruits in great variety,--zapotas, mangoes, pineapples, and
grape-fruit. Others had long strings of sponges for sale, wound
round their shoulders like huge snakes; some of these were good, but
many were utterly useless. No one knows this better than the cunning
negroes themselves, but strangers, only touching at Nassau, they do
not expect to see again, and there is proverbially cheating in all
trades but ours. A bright, thrifty-looking colored woman had spread
out her striped shawl upon the ground, and on this arrayed a really
fine collection of conch-shells for sale, delicately polished, and of
choice shapes. When first brought to the surface by the divers they
are not infrequently found to contain pearls imbedded in the palatable
and nutritious meat. These pearls are generally of a pinkish hue, and
greatly prized by the jewelers. Now and then a diver will realize a
hundred dollars for one of them. From the conch-shell also come the
best shell cameos. A smart half-breed offered canes of ebony, lignum
vitæ, lance, and orange wood, all of native growth. He was dressed in
a white linen jacket, pantaloons to match, with a semi-military cap,
cocked on one side of his head,--quite a colored dude. The women who
sell native-made baskets are most persistent, but if you purchase of
them make your own change, for they are apt to take money away for
this purpose and to forget to return. Negro nature is frail,
characterized at Nassau by theft and licentiousness, but great crimes
are rare. If you have occasion to hire a boat for a sail in the
harbor, be sure to find and employ "Bushy," a tall, intelligent
darkey, the best boatman and stroke-oar in Nassau.
Bushy showed us what he called a fish-whip, made from the whipray, a
fish quite new to us, but indigenous to these waters. With a body
shaped like a flounder, it has a tail often ten feet long, tapering
from about one inch in thickness at the butt to an eighth of an inch
at the small end. When dried this resembles whalebone, and makes a
good coach-whip. There is a great variety of fish in and about the
Bahamas. We saw, just landed at Nassau, a jew-fish, which takes the
same place here that the halibut fills at the North, being cut into
steaks and fried in a similar manner. They are among the largest of
edible fish, and this specimen weighed about four hundred pounds.
According to Bushy, at certain seasons of the year the jew-fish lies
dormant upon the sandy bottom, and refuses to take the bait. In these
transparent waters he is easily seen when in this condition, and the
native fishermen then dive down and place a stout hook in his mouth!
Though this may sound like a "fish story," we were assured by others
of its truth. Bushy undertook to give us the names of the various
fishes which abound here, but the long list of them and his peculiar
pronunciation drove us nearly wild. Still a few are remembered; such
as the yellow-tailed snapper, striped snapper, pork-fish, angel-fish,
cat-fish, hound-fish, the grouper, sucking-fish, and so on. Both
harbor and deep sea fishing afford the visitor to Nassau excellent
amusement, and many sportsmen go thither annually from New York solely
for its enjoyment.
The colored people of Nassau, as we were assured by one competent to
speak upon the subject, form a religious community, according to the
ordinary acceptation of the term. They are very fond of church-going,
and of singing and shouting on all religious occasions. Nervously
emotional, they work themselves up to a hysterical condition so
furious as to threaten their sanity, but having naturally so little of
that qualification, they are pretty safe. No people could possibly be
more superstitious. They shut up and double lock the doors and windows
of their cabins at night to keep out evil spirits. There are regular
professional man-witches among them, persons a little shrewder and
more cunning than their fellows. The very ignorant believe in a sort
of fetichism, so that when a boat starts on a sponge-fishing trip, the
obeah man is called upon for some coöperation and mysticism, to insure
a successful return of the crew. The sponge fishermen have several
hundred boats regularly licensed, and measuring on an average twenty
tons each. On favorable occasions these men lay aside their legitimate
calling, and become for the time being wreckers, an occupation which
verges only too closely upon piracy. The intricate navigation of these
waters, dotted by hundreds of small reefs and islands, and which can
be traversed by only three safe channels, has furnished in former
years a large amount of shipwrecked merchandise to Nassau. The
wrecking business at best is extremely demoralizing, unfitting any
community of men for legitimate industry, as we know very well by the
experience gained on our own Florida shore. Men who have cruised
fruitlessly for months in search of a profitable wreck will sometimes
be tempted to decoy a ship from her proper course, and lead her upon
the rocks, by a display of false lights.
In front of the Victoria Hotel are some noble specimens of the ceiba,
or silk-cotton tree, as it is called here, the finest and loftiest we
have seen in any country. These trees, naturally slow growers, must
be over a century in age, and afford, by their widespread branches, a
shade equally graceful and grateful. Like the india-rubber trees of
Asia, these ceibas have at least one half of their anaconda-like roots
exposed upon the surface of the ground, dividing the lower portion of
the stem into supporting buttresses, a curious piece of finesse on the
part of nature to overcome the disadvantage of insufficient soil. The
tree bears annually a large seed-pod, packed with cotton of a soft,
silky texture, and hence its name. It is, however, suitable neither
for timber nor fuel, and the small product of cotton is seldom if ever
gathered. The islanders are proud of a single specimen of the banyan
tree of considerable size, which they show to all visitors; but it
cannot be indigenous--it must have been brought in its youth from
Asia. There is, however, in these West Indian isles, the black
mangrove, with very similar habit to the banyan. The limbs spread to
such an extent from the trunk as to require support to prevent them
from breaking off or bending to the ground by their own weight; but to
obviate this, nature has endowed the tree with a peculiar growth. When
the branches have become so heavy as to be no longer able to support
themselves, they send forth from the under side sprigs which, rapidly
descending to the ground, take root like the banyan, and become
supporting columns to the heavy branches above. So the writer has seen
in Hindostan a vine which grew, almost leafless, closely
entwined around the trees to the very top, whence it descended, took
fresh root, and ascended the nearest adjoining tree, until it had gone
on binding an entire grove in a ligneous rope. Long tendrils of the
love-vine, that curious aerial creeper, which feeds on air alone,
were seen hanging across some of the low branches of the Nassau trees,
and we were told that the plant will grow equally well if hung upon a
nail indoors. Emblematic of true affection, it clings, like Japanese
ivy, tenaciously to the object it fixes upon. One specimen was shown
to us which had developed to the size of the human hand from a single
leaf carelessly pinned by a guest to one of the chamber walls of the
hotel.
There are said to be six hundred of the Bahama islands, large and
small, of which Nassau is the capital, and there, as already
intimated, the English Governor-General resides. This numerical
calculation is undoubtedly correct; many are mere rocky islets, and
not more than twenty have fixed inhabitants. Is there anything more
wonderful in nature than that these hundreds of isles should have been
built up from the bottom of the sea by insects so small as to be
microscopic? All lie north of Cuba and St. Domingo, just opposite the
Gulf of Mexico, easily accessible from our own shores by a short and
pleasant sea-voyage of three or four days. They are especially
inviting to those persons who have occasion to avoid the rigor of
Northern winters. People threatened with consumption seek Nassau on
sanitary principles, and yet it was found upon inquiry that many
natives die of that insidious disease, which rapidly runs its career
when it is first developed in a tropical climate. To the author it
would seem that consumptives might find resorts better adapted to the
recovery of their health. Intermittent fever, also, is not unknown at
Nassau.
The sea gardens, as they are called, situated just off the shores of
the island, are well worth a visit; where, by means of a simple
instrument of wood and glass, one is enabled to look many fathoms
below the surface of the water, which is here so remarkable for its
transparency. These water glasses are all of home manufacture, easily
improvised, being formed of a small wooden box three or four inches
square, open at the top, and having a water-tight glass bottom. With
the glass portion slightly submerged, one is enabled to see distinctly
the beautiful coral reefs, with their marvelous surroundings. There
are displayed tiny caves and grottoes of white coral of great delicacy
and variety, star-fishes, sea-urchins, growing sponges, sea-fans, and
gaudy-colored tropical fishes, including the humming-bird-fish, and
others like butterflies with mottled fins and scales, and that little
oddity the rainbow-fish. The prevailing color of this attractive
creature is dark green, but the tinted margins of its scales so
reflect the light as to show all the colors of the rainbow, and hence
its name. When bottled in alcohol, these fairy-like denizens of the
deep lose their brilliancy, which they exhibit only in their native
element. This unique display is greatly enhanced in beauty by the
clearness of the Bahama waters, and the reflected light from the
snow-white sandy bottom, dotted here and there by curious and delicate
shells of opalescent lustre. One longs to descend among these coral
bowers,--these mermaid-gardens,--and pluck of the submarine flora in
its purple, yellow, and scarlet freshness.
It will be remembered that Columbus wrote home to his royal patrons
that the fish which abounded in the seas partook of the same novelty
which characterized everything else in the New World. This was about
four hundred years ago, before the great Genoese had discovered Cuba.
"The fish," as he wrote, "rivaled the birds in tropical brilliancy of
color, the scales of some of them glancing back the rays of light like
precious stones, as they sported about the ships and flashed gleams of
gold and silver through the clear water."
The surface life of these translucent waters is also extremely
interesting. Here the floating jelly-fish, called, from its
phosphorescence, the glow-worm of the sea, is observed in great
variety, sheltering little colonies of young fishes within its
tentacles, which rush forth for a moment to capture some passing mite,
and as quickly return again to their shelter. One takes up a handful
of the floating gulf-weed and finds, within the pale yellow leaves and
berries, tiny pipe-fish, sea-horses, and the little nest-building
antennarius, thus forming a buoyant home for parasites, crabs, and
mollusks, itself a sort of mistletoe of the ocean. The young of the
mackerel and the herring glance all about just beneath the surface
near the shore, like myriad pieces of silver. Now and again that
particolored formation of marine life, the Portuguese man-of-war, is
observed, its long ventral fins spread out like human fingers to
steady it upon the surface of the water. Verily, the German scientist
who says there is more of animal life beneath the surface of the sea
than above it cannot be far amiss. This seems to be the more
reasonable when we consider the relative proportions of land and
water. The whole surface of the globe is supposed to have an area of
about two hundred million square miles. Of these only about fifty
millions are dry land. Within the harbor of Nassau the divisions of
shoal and deep water presented most singular and clearly defined
lines of color, azure, purple, and orange-leaf green,--so marked as to
be visible half a mile away. All was beneath a sky so deeply and
serenely blue as constantly to recall the arching heavens of middle
India.
The Bahama Banks is a familiar expression to most of us, but perhaps
few clearly understand the significance of the term, which is applied
to a remarkable plateau at the western extremity of the archipelago,
occupying a space between two and three hundred miles long, and about
one third as wide. These banks, as they are called, rise almost
perpendicularly from an unfathomable depth of water, and are of coral
formation. In sailing over them the bottom is distinctly seen from the
ship's deck, the depth of water being almost uniformly forty to fifty
feet. Some years since, when the author was crossing these banks in a
sailing ship, a death occurred among the foremast hands, and the usual
sea burial followed. The corpse was sewn up in a hammock, with iron
weights at the feet, the more readily to sink it. After reading the
burial service the body was launched into the sea from a grating
rigged out of a gangway amidship. The waters were perfectly calm, and
the barque had but little headway. Indeed, we lay almost as still as
though anchored, so that the body was seen to descend slowly alongside
until it reached the calcareous, sandy bottom, where it assumed an
upright and strangely lifelike position, as though standing upon its
feet. An ominous silence reigned among the watching crew, and it was a
decided relief to all hands when a northerly wind sprang up, filling
the canvas and giving the vessel steerage way.
So many years have passed since the occurrence of the scene just
related that we may give its sequel without impropriety, though, at
the same time, we expose the venal character of Spanish officials. The
man we buried on the Bahama Banks had died of small-pox, though no
other person on board showed any symptoms of the disease. On entering
the harbor of Havana, three days later, we had been hailed from Moro
Castle and had returned the usual answer. A couple of doubloons in
gold made the boarding officer conveniently blind, and a similar fee
thrust quietly into the doctor's hand insured a "clean bill of
health," under which we were permitted to land! The alternative was
twenty-one days' quarantine.
Fort Montague, mounting four rusty guns, "with ne'er a touch-hole to
any on 'em," as Bushy informed us, stands upon a projecting point
about a mile from the town of Nassau, the road thither forming a
delightful evening promenade, or drive. The fort is old, crumbling,
and time-worn, but was once occupied by the buccaneers as a most
important stronghold commanding the narrow channel. These sea-robbers
imposed a heavy tax upon all shipping passing this way, and for many
years realized a large income from this source. It was only piracy in
another form. Most vessels found it cheaper to pay than to fight. When
the notorious Black Beard had his headquarters at Nassau, he sought no
such pretext, but preyed upon all commerce alike, provided the vessels
were not too well armed to be captured. This notorious pirate had an
innate love for cruelty, and often tortured his captives without any
apparent purpose, after the fashion of our Western Indians. When the
English lashed the mutineers of Delhi and Cawnpore to the muzzles of
their cannon and blew them to pieces, they were enacting no new
tragedy; legend and history tell us that Black Beard, the pirate of
the Windward Passage, set them that example many years before. His
rule was to murder all prisoners who would not join his ship, and
those whom he took fighting, that is, with arms in their hands, were
subjected to torture, one form of which was that of lashing captives
to the cannon's mouth and applying the match. Fort Montague is not
occupied by even a corporal's guard to-day, and is of no efficiency
whatever against modern gunnery. The reader will thus observe that the
principal business which has engaged Nassau heretofore has been
wrecking, buccaneering, privateering, and blockade running.
Some noted characters have found an asylum here, first and last. After
Lord Dunmore left Virginia he sought official position and made a home
on the island. He was appointed governor, and some of the buildings
erected by him are still pointed out to the visitor, especially that
known as the Old Fort, just back of the Victoria Hotel, crowning the
height. His summer seat, known as the Hermitage, is a quaint old
place, still in fair condition, and surrounded by oaks and cocoanut
trees, near the sea. Such matters do not often get into history, but
legend tells us that some strange orgies took place at the Hermitage,
where the play was for heavy stakes, and the drinking was of a similar
excessive character.
Another well-known individual who sought to make a home here, and also
to escape from all former associations, was the notorious
Blennerhasset, a name familiar in connection with Aaron Burr. After
his trial, it will be remembered that he suddenly disappeared, and
was heard of no more. He left his country for his country's good,
changing his name to that of Carr. His objective point was Nassau;
there his undoubted talent and legal ability were duly recognized and
he was appointed government attorney, officiating in that capacity for
a number of years. Having deserted his first wife, he found another to
console him upon the island. At last wife number one appeared upon the
island. She had discovered his hiding-place, and a domestic war
ensued. Wife number two carried the day and the rightful spouse was
sent away and paid an annuity to keep away. The pretended Mr. Carr is
said to have finally lapsed into habits of excessive intemperance, and
to have found a stranger's grave on the island.
Much of the drinking water, and certainly the best in use at Nassau,
as well as on some of the neighboring islands, is procured in a
remarkable, though very simple manner, from the sea. Not far from
shore, on the coral reefs, there are never-failing fresh water
springs, bubbling up from the bottom through the salt water with such
force as clearly to indicate their locality. Over these ocean springs
the people place sunken barrels filled with sand, one above another,
the bottoms and tops being displaced. The fresh water is thus
conducted to the surface through the column of sand, which forms a
perfect filterer. Such a crude arrangement is only temporary, liable
to be displaced by any severe storm which should agitate the
surrounding waters. If destroyed in the hurricane season, these
structures are not renewed until settled weather. In so small and low
lying an island as that of Nassau, it is very plain that this crystal
liquid, pure and tasteless, cannot come from any rainfall upon the
soil, and its existence, therefore, suggests a problem, the solving of
which we submit to the scientists.
On the arid shores of the Persian Gulf, where rain so seldom falls,
and where there are no rills to refresh the parched soil, fresh water
is also obtained from submerged springs beneath the salt water. Here
it is brought to the surface by divers, who descend with a leather
bag, the mouth of which being opened over the bubbling spring is
quickly filled and closed again, being drawn to the surface by those
who are left there to assist the diver, who hastens upward for air. In
descending his feet are weighted with stones, which being cast off at
the proper moment, he naturally rises at once to the surface. This
operation is repeated until a sufficient quantity of fresh water is
procured. There is no mystery, however, as to the source of these
springs. The rain first falls on the distant mountains, and finding
its way downward through the fissures of rocky ledges, pursues its
course until it gushes forth in the bed of the gulf.