GUADELOUPE AND MARTINIQUE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11279, 21 May 1902, Page 8

GUADELOUPE AND MARTINIQUE.

NOTES OF A HOLIDAY VISIT.

(By *_» Rev. A. C. Hoggins.) In the summer o_ 1873 I was residing in Georgetown, !______*___, and found myself with a few -weeks of holiday time at my disposal. Tbe offer of a passage in a little 20-ton trading sohooner belonging to M. Ledotuc, the French Consul at Georgetown, bound for TVxtnt-o-Pitre, decided mc to enter upon a trip, which proved more full of rook-eat and adventuv c than bas fallen to my lot before or since. The _____ craft contained a saloon, in nlze about six feet by eight, in which. w_re two blinks, with a narrow passage between. The bunks were occupied by myself and a lad, a friend of M. Ledoux, and a choice assortment of c_-___„c___. The captain occupied a dogbox on deck, and we took our meals on tbe roof of tbe little cabin. The deck was so piled up with shingles (our cargo) that we were confined to tbe few square yards of the '•quart-__-__-__." Fortunately, we had good weather, and in three or four days anchored in the port of Basseterre, in Quadeloupe, where I landed. Visits.to the Convent, a Jesuit College outside tbe town, and other objects of interest filled up a few days. Through, the English Consul I made a few acquaintances, and two incidents resulted. One was curious, remembering that I write of not quite thirty years ago. I was taken as - a '.peokil honour conferred upon a visitor to tlie little prison of the town, where a gentleman was confined in private apartments, where be held _ kind of miniature court, to whom I was formally presented. He was charged with duelling, and had received some damage, from, which, he was . then suffering. Though against the law, duelling was very common in' the:_____ islands, and anyone charged with it became the hero of the hour, apd was certain of no more serious consequence- than a few days* imprisonment, with liberty to receive any number of visits and presents from his friends. Indeed, I was myself very much annoyed by a young fellow staying at tlie same hotel, who persistently endeavoured to. force a quarrel upon roe, until ths buxom mistress c_ tbe bouse interfered, and #_ye the gentleman, I think, a rather large ••piece of her mind." Ido not think these duels were ever fatal, but, as in the case I have mentioned, nasty wounds were sometimes receiyed. Tlie other incident was the ascent of tine volcano, La _k._f_.ie_e. one of tihe same chain in which lie La Sc_f_r_er. of St. Vine*!*, and Mount Pelee, of Martinique. I went out overnight to a little cabaret at tlie base of tlie mountain, where I occupied what was, I think, the only bed in tlie house. It was in a kind of cupboard off the mom room, and I didn't notice any other cupboards. Two guides met mc there, and at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning we started. Ido not know the height of the mountain, but tlie lost,, say, 200 feet, appeared to bo almost perpendicular. For about two hours we followed. some invisible track through dense bush, with peculiar fern vegetation, notably tbe rat's tail fern, which I have never seen before or since, at. intervals passing springs, sometimes of ice-cold, sometimes of almost boiling water. Then we came to what seemed a wall of rock, with streams foiling, from point to point, o_ _t marking out shallow courses __r themselves. FoU-rvring one of _b_se we ascended, climbing from projection to projection, I in the middle, and helped over the bad places by both guides. Tbe ton was area-bed at length, still in the «e_m-d_r__-s_—tlie exertkai would 'have been impossible, I take it, after sunrise. H Mon_u_*," cried the guide, "vous avea le cceur <___„ Francois," and I accepted the compliment affably, but with an obvious mental .reservation. We found small plateaus on tbe summit, with several .raters, one of which was pouring forth a thin column of heavy sulphurous smoke, the odour cf which made near approach quite impossible. The ground was veHow with sulphur everywhere around tbe crater, and there was in patches a considerable amount of vegetation, small cactus-like plants, bright red or yellow in colour, and of grotesque forms. Breakfast with a bottle of red -wine was very acceptable, for it was now between six and seven, and tbe sun bad just risen, and we, of course, were wet through, and dirty, and a good deal the worse as regards clothes for our journey up. ______ was a grand view out tx> sea, but beyond tbe sulphur cloud and the vegetation there was nothing to see, and it was -o__rj__utiv_.y on a small scale, the sulphur crater being perhaps not more than •TO or 50 feet across and as many deep A good rest fitted us for the return, tbe first part of which was rather nervous work, and we were down at ths cabaret about midday, I with one boot only, the other having gone to pieces with alternate baths of hot and cold water. From Basseterre I went by diligence to a point .whence a small steamer crossed the

narrow channel to Point-a-Pitre, in Marie Salonte. This is a place of some commercial importance, but had only a year before my visit suffered severely from an earthquake, and half the town was still in rains. A few interesting days were spent here, during which I found out that the black and cofoured population largely spoke English, and profes_ed a strong admiration for British institutions. The shipping, of whioh there was a good deal, was chiefly American, and I grill remember a comical, good-hearted Yankee skipper whose vessel I visited several times, and who thought I must be very glad to find a friend in him amidst so many foreign faces, whose language even was so strange to himself. The English Consul, who was a French West Indian, drove mc across the small island to a queer little village, where tlie one inn contained one guests' room, with one bed in it. There was nothing of very much interest in Point-a-Pitre. I left the place in a French schooner of about 40 tons, which had as passengers a Frenchman and two French women beside myself. We were to have landed in Dominica, but we arrived there late at night, and' for some reason I did not understand the port, doctor, who came out in a small boat to interview us, and whose peculiar language I took upon myself to protest against, did notpermit us to approach, though he offered to land mc, if I wished it, by myself. Midd_v on the morrow we were lying in a dead calm off the northern rocky shores of Martinique, captain, crew (of two), and passengers alike dozing in tlie tropical iheat. the sky witliout a speck to mar its glorious' expanse of blue. (Soon a breeze, the crew (half of it) .shakes the captain roughly and points, n_ are drifting on the rocks, and the breeze is freshening. Vigorous efforts, and in half an hour we are out to sea. again, then a cloud on the horizon "like <i man's hand," and in ten minutes or less the sails are down, the women are battened down in the foul little cabin, the captain lashed to the wheel, I and the other passenger to the gunwale, the crew standing with ropes by tlie mast ready to haul staysails up and down, and we are in the midst of a "squall," which I suppose most people know i3 a baby hurricane. Ths next few minutes were lively; each wave swept completely over us, and we enjoyed a succession of plunge baths of a thoroughly convincing character. Appeals to "Le bon Dieu" were frequent .ram. my neighbours, my only feeling, if I can remember, was that of curiosity. As we emerged from each wave up went the sails, only, to come down at. tlie approach of the next, and every loose article clattered along the deck and found its way out to _ea. I had left coat and waistcoat in the cabin, and al'. the loose coin in the pockets of the latter was shaken out and was never found again. Rapidly as it came, the storm passed away, soon tho sun was shining again in a pure blue sky, and the sea .hinuuered as com. !)_r_tivedy calm as if in those regions squalls lad never been heard of. Hot soup and drying oneself in the _un filled the time till at* about 6 p.m. we entered the port of St.* Pierre. It was against the rule to land after six, but in consideration of our plight, and I think too of my presence, we were allowed to go ashore, and I spent the night in a large rambling one-storied hotel in the quaint and picturesque old town—for it was old for that part of the world. The winding up and down cobbled streets are now blotted out, but I have a vivid recollection of the bright, many-coloured houses, the abundance of fruit, the joyous open-air life. A very sensible custom it was in those days for chops and business houses to open at six in the morning, close at 11, and open again at four or five. From eleven to 4 was spent by everyone, it seemed, in breakfasting, dozing, and billiards. The inhabitants were almost entirely half-castes, and there was always plenty of amusement.' I went one night to the large theatre, built 1 think by the Empress Josephine in the days before she knew what courts and sorrow were, and saw "Orphee aux Enfers" played by a st-olling company five or _ix in number. 1 occupied a front middle seat in the dress circle, and began at once to attract attention. Presently a murmur arose, and strengthened into a cry of "L'Anglais, I'Anglais." My neighbour was a cavalry'mam in full regimentals. ' "Tout-Is si droles comme .a les Anglais," I asked, but, soldier as he was, he couldn't stand being seen in company with au Anglais, and he sought another seat; so did mv other neighbours, and the performance being about to commence, I no longer attracted attention, but was left in solitary grandeur to witness the performance like a Governor at least I visited the great usines, where enormous quantities of canes brought in from all tbe country round are crushed, several places of interest and romance in the neighbourhood and among tbe seaside cliffs,- and the big cathedral with its huge crowd of negro worshippers at early Mass on Sunday, but my chief impression of St. Pierre is a vision of narrow uneven streets and garments of many colours, and bright roofs, and fruit, and scarlet-flowered and scented trees in the courtyards, and the blazing' sun overhead and the sparkling sea beyond, and the heavy mountains frowning ominously 'behind and on either side. A- few days only to enjoy all this, and'the English Consul (a Frenchman) gave mc a pile of 5-fcranc pieces in exchange for English gold. Stxanfrelv enough, that is the only coin which the shipping offices would then take, and I took passage on board the neat Royal mail steamer, nnd calling at St. Lucia and Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, in three or four-days found myself again in Georgetown, with my* holiday a thing of memory only.