THE SKETCHER. THE ISLES OF JUNE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 55

THE SKETCHER. THE ISLES OF JUNE.

(A Selection from "A Sketch of the Bahamas," by E. B. Wobthingtok, in the Canadian Magazine).

. Ife-was during the month of January last that "we valetudinarians left "Our Lady* of the Snows" to seek change and rest in a ■warmer clime. Jack Frost.gave us a good send-off, registering 30deg. below zero the day previous to our departure,- but two days out from New York, when crossing the Gulf Stream, we were obliged to discard our woollens for lighter clothing. Less than four days' steaming brought us to Nassau, the capital of ths Bahamas, otherwise called the "Isles of June." These sunny isles, notwithstanding the:r importance, are but little known to the world at. large, so a short sketch of their position, formation, history, and climate may not be out of place. Roughly speaking, they extend lor 700 miles from the south-east coast of Florida to the northwest coast of San Domingo. The nearest of the Bimini group lies only 50 miles off Florida. Great Inagua and Turks Island (which hitter is generally classed with the Bahamas) lie to the north of San Domingo. The Bahamas comprise several hundred islands called cays, the largest of which is Anuros, about a hundred miles long and forty miles broad. Some are only reefs and sunken rocks over which the sea dashes at will. The word cay (commonly, but incorrectly, pronounced key) is derived from the Spanish cayos, a small island, hence the American port Key West. The Islands are all of coral origin, built on the peaks of gigantic mountains which have their bases -in the deep. Geologists estimate that it took the small marine architects some 400,000 years, or at the rate of one-six-teenth of an inch a year, to build these reefs. What an example of patient endeavour ! ' The Bahamas' enjoy the distinction of being the. first land of the New World on which Christopher Columbus set foot. At that time the islands were inhabited, by a peaceful race known to history as the 3Lucayans, and numbering about 50,000 souls. They raceived the Spaniards as gods. In return foF their trustfulness they were transported by the Spanish Govei'nment to Hayti and the Spanish Main to labour in the mines. In less than 50 years from the time of their discovery this once happy race had been exterminated by their relentless masters ; but -to-day traces of their existence in the shape of carved stone articles may be found in the numerous caves throughout the islands. -

About the year 1600 the islands were taken possession of by the English, and Charles the Second granted them, under letters patent, to a number of noblemen. But other gentlemen also had their eyes on these pleasant lands. The buccaneers seeing that the islands were in the track of the rich Spanish galleons, and favoured by Nature with every advantage that a pirate's heart could desire, usurped and set at defiance the charter of the King. They appropriated the Bahamas exclusively to their own designs until the second decade of the eighteenth century. The cays were indeed- a pirate's paradise. He alone knew the location of the countless submerged reefs,' the narrow, tortuous channel through which to dash and chide his pursuers ; the islets on which to hide his booty, and ivhere to replenish his exhausted stores of provisions and obtain fresh water. From a small beginning the pirates gradually acquired tremendous power. With small shallops they committed correspondingly small depredations. In their palmiest days they fitted out grea<t fleets of the highos£. tonnage and became the terror of the Spaniards. From these islands were sent

out expeditions which captured and laid in ashes tho rich cities of Granada, Puerto del Principe, Porto Bello, aud Panama. The booty was enormous. During this timo the islands enjoyed a very precarious existence, being taken, sacked, and retaken by the Spaniards, English, and buccaneers half a dozen times. At last in 1718 the English Government resolved to put an end once and for all to piracy in the Bahamas. A British fleet was sent to Nassau, which captured the place ; a Government was established, and law and order for the first time began. In commemoration of this event the seal of the colony has since borne the words, " Expulsis'piratis, restituta commercia." During the Revolutionary War an American fleet captured Nassau, but was only able' to hold the town for a few days. Again, in 1781, the Spaniards took possession, but two years later were expelled once more by the English. At the termination of the American War of Independence large grants of land throughout the islands were given to United Empire Loyalists from the Carolinas who settled there with their slaves. The mace now in use in the Baliamas Legislature was carried from South Carolina by these Loyalists to their new homes.

The period of greatest prosperity enjoyed by the islands was during the years of the war between the Northern and Southern States, when, owing to their position, they became the headquarters of the block-, ade runners to and from the Confederate ports. During the conflict 397 vessels reached Nassau from Southern ports, and 588 cleared from there with contraband of war bound for Confederate ports. These were indeed palmy days for Nassau ; things were on the boom. The streets were almost paved with gold. It was even better than old buccaneering days. In place of an annual defic'.t, the Government soon rejoiced in a handsome surplus, and built the Royal Victoria Hotel at an expenditure of a quarter .of a million dollars in order to have a place where they could fittingly entertain their Southern friends. Oh, the irony of time ! Then, the patriotic Northerners were secretly fitting out swift blockade runners with which to supply their friends the enemy with munitions of war, and at the same time to make fortunes for themselves. To-day the wealthy Northerners fare sumptuously at the Royal Vie, the same hostelry erected expressly for the Confederate refugees. The" Bahamas are said to have the most salubrious and equable climate in the world, with a temperature more even than in Madeira, Nice, or Algiers, and other world-wide health resorts.