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ROAMING THROUGH THE WEST INDIES ROAMING THROUGH THE WEST INDIES BY HARRY A. FRANCK Author of A Vagabond Journey Around the World, Zone Policeman 88, Vagabonding Down the Andes, etc., etc. ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR YUKJS. THE CENTURY CO. TO MY WIFE, RACHEL, WITH WHOM THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF A FAR LONGER JOURNEY, AND TO MY SON, HARRY, WHO JOINED US ON THE WAY FOREWARNING Sortie years ago I made a tramping trip arou-nd the world for my own pleasure. Friends coaxed me to set it down on paper and new friends were kind enough to read it. Since then they have demanded more at least so the publishers say but always specifying that it shall be on foot. Now, I refuse to be dictated to as to how I shall travel I will not be bullied into tramping when I wish to ride. The journey here with set forth is, therefore, among other things, a physical protest against that attempted coercion, a proof that I do not need to walk unless I choose to do so. To make broken resolutions impossible, I picked out a trip that could not be done on foot. It would be difficult indeed to walk through the West Indies. Then, to make doubly sure, I took with me a newly acquired wife and we brought back a newly acquired son, though that has nothing to do with the present story. I will not go so far as to say that I abjured footing it entirely. As a further proof of personal liberty I walked when and where the spirit moved me and the element underfoot was willing. But I wish it distinctly understood from the outset that this is no walking trip. Once having broken the friends who flatter me with their attention of expecting me to confine myself to the prehistoric form of locomotion I shall probably take tothe road again to relieve a chronic foot-itch. The following pages do not pretend to cover the West Indies. They are made up of the random pickings of an eight-months tour of the Antilles, during which every island of importance was visited, but they are put together rather for the entertainment of the armchair traveler than for the information of the traveler in the flesh. While the latter may find in them some points to jot down in his itinerary, he should depend rather on the several thorough and orderly books that have been written for his special benefit. HARRY A. FRANCK. TABLE OF CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE I OVERLAND TO THE WEST INDIES 3 THE AMERICAN WEST INDIES II RANDOM SKETCHES OF HAVANA 25 III CUBA FROM WEST TO EAST 50 IV THE WORLDS SUGAR-BOWL 76 V UNDER THE PALM-TREE OF HAITI 106 VI THE DEATH OF CHARLEMAGNE 128 VII HITHER AND YON IN THE HAITIAN BUSH 149 VIII THE LAND OF BULLET-HOLES 189 IX TRAVELS IN THE CIBAO 207 X SANTO DOMINGO UNDER AMERICAN RULE 229 XI OUR PORTO Rico 256 XII WANDERING ABOUT BORINQUEN 280 XIII IN AND ABOUT OUR VIRGIN ISLANDS ........ 304 THE BRITISH WEST INDIES XIV THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS 339 XV LITTLE ENGLAND 360 XVI TRINIDAD, THE LAND OF ASPHALT 3 Sl Xyil AFRICAN JAMAICA 403 THE FRENCH WEST INDIES AND THE OTHERS XVIII GUADELOUPE AND DEPENDENCIES 439 XIX RAMBLES IN MARTINIQUE ........... 449 XX ODDS AND ENDS IN THE CARIBBEAN 475 ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Shade-grown tobacco in Porto Rico Frontispiece FACING PAGE St. Augustine, Florida, from the old Spanish fortress, 16 A policeman of Havana 16 Cubas new presidential palace 17 Venders of lottery tickets in rural Cuba . 32 The winning numbers of the lottery 32 Pigeons are kept to clear the tobacco fields of insects33 Ploughing for tobacco in the famous Vuelta Abajo district. The large building is a tobacco barn, the small ones are residences of the planters 33 A Cuban shoemaker 56 Cuban soldiers 56 Matanzas, with drying sisal fiber in the foreground 57 The Central Plaza of Cienfuegos . . . . . 57 A principal street of Santa Clara 64 The Central Plaza of Santa Clara 64 A dairyman, Santa Clara district 65 Cuban town scenery ...