Show our K efm bear 11 AR 1 ali d FF V 4 P A vista in barbados west indies I 1 prepared ared by tho th Nai national lonal geographic society So clety washington D C Q island domains that seem T destined to take on new importance with the development of air traille traffic were passed over ili by the grat graf zeppelin on its recent trl angular voyage horn from europe to south america to north american and back to europe I 1 the cape verde islands were sighted first tibey aliey lie far from the asua usua usuna I 1 ehrp lanes and are visited travelers one globetrotter globe trotter pronounced them the vibe most uninteresting place I 1 have visited it Is true tru 1 e that tile the cape verde islands do not compare with the exquisite canaries nearer europe in beauty human interest faunal features or salubrious breezes baedeker ignores them yet set now that they are taking on new importance as land falls alls on ae aerial rial routes tha islands may be rescued from innocuous obscurity would find on one of the islands a elbird ea bird unknown elsewhere and a plant enting eating lizard the student of economic geography would be interested to work out outtie the reason wily why the inhabitants of one of tile the group brava have developed la a landowning propensity which leads them thein into constant legal wrangles while a parit of come what may and indifference to ownership of anything infests the theother other islands the islands recently developed their trade tah to a the state de apartment part ment established a new consulate on the island of sao vincente st vine cut st vincent Is one of the 14 isian islands ds of the group which form a crescent about miles west of dakar the city on the african continent porto grande capital of st aln vincent aut and one ot of the few large port tons in the IsI islands Is hullt built in a well i protected location with ft ath high moun bains at its hack bach and in front the massive maire heights of tile he island of st anthony almost t shutting in a wide deep deed abhor haiti or from the aea ea total area la Is small the 14 islands could be placed on the state stafe of rhode island and only a few rugged edges would extend exten d ivr the he orders sao kno tillage st jago the largest if the cape beides Is slIg slightly bily smaller in aren area than fian the city of los angeles while the smallest Is land Is measured inea suied by square yards all AH the larger islands are inhabited tho the majority of the population being quartered nuart ered in compact villages hinges und and built in small recesses lecesse s in the I 1 stee steep overlooking the sen sea nut but if it Is in alje interior of tile the larger islands that abat one suds finds the real nathe life of the ilie cape ape verdes it Is paid that the ancestors of these peo pie of the interior once lived along the seashore sea shoie but for a hundred liun year sears S offer after spain took control of the islands aid cape verdi verdes were il plundered ull by pirates during this period the inhabitants led fled to the volleys from which they seldom emerged ex capt to trade most of these ballek people are black binch hut but one often notes portuguese features they speak a poor quality portuguese which velch Is adlai cult for the Euro liean to understand like greenland the alie name cape verile Is deceptive it wai ans taken irom from lape jape verde africa and lu good Ell enlglish glish means green cave but e is s little on the islands tosu to suggest gge that the cape verdes deserve to be called cape green islands here and there along the shore and in a few interior volleys valleys are patches of fertile land but rocks and sand claim the greater portion of the uren fresh water has alway sheen a luxury lack fack of pas has caused serious famines in a th the past natives are a busy lot that the natives make the th ebest best of their b barren islands Is indicated by the that they produce Indigo cof of fee castor beans fruits tobacco poultry potatoes end yarns yams salt Is also ar an important product many of the inhabitants ati A are not employed in agriculture or shipping are good fishermen and adept in making jura curing fish uda manufacturing straw hats bats and seats seat when the islands were discovered more than years yeara ago by two portuguese sed sea captains they were devoid of human life the only excitement cit elt ement was tho the occasional overflowing of a volcanic crater the latest eruption occurred in 1080 for more than years the cape verdes built up a flourishing trade and became gals principal out post poat of trade with africa until the middle of the last fait century tile the natives reaped a harvest from the african slave trade this probably accounts for the majority maJori fy of negroes in the tha present population 0 of f about those inhabitants who are not black are portuguese or of mixed blood in the early eaily days when new england lifs was famous as a whaling haling center i many any odthe of the crews of the whalers chalers iver were e ree recruited bulted in the cape verdes those who did not return to the islands settled bottled in southeastern massachusetts chu in the vicinity of new bedford bravoes Bra the name by which they are sometimes known cornea comes froni from the name of the island from which most of the recruits migrated bravn brava the westernmost estern most island ot of ajie ahe cape verde group barbados densely inhabited quite alte different lg Is barbados one of tile the most interesting and less W well 11 known irown or of great possessions possessions in the western hemisphere pear shaped solitary farthest east of the west indies barbados generally Is account ac counte eSl t the he most healthful of the group even though it Is the most populous country in the world per square mile except china and at al though george washington carried to his grave tile the marks of the smallpox contracted on a visit there the island there Is butone but one despite the misleading plural name is but nn na eighth the size of our rhode island hut has twice as many inhabitants per square nille mile as our smallest and most densely populated state seldom does a volcano become an asset but volcanic eruptions have conti contributed louied largely to the fertility of barbados when the sun was obscured throughout one day in may 1012 the Barb barbadaes adans were panic stricken hu but t when the gen gentle tie rain of black dust subsided the deposit ads was found to he be ashes from an eruption of st vincents Sou friere neif nearly irly miles to t the he west and an enrichment for tile the soil hot hoi dusty bridgetown bridgetown the island capital Is a hot dusty city of about people it Is especially busy on fridays when ihen planters flock to town tor for business and buying its cathedral wua was built principally by funds obtained from a lottery authorized by the legislature after the original building had been blown down by a hu hurricane la in 1780 labor Is so plentiful that men compete with beasts of hurden burden but this condition was vas greatly the use of considerable barbados labor in building the alie panama conal canal the the third important island visited ty by the graf zeppelin lu was potto luco but it was really san junn juan the capital tal city rather than the island to which the great air liner paid its respects after cruising over the city tt it turned sharply northward and put out over the atlantic sanjuan san junn has a population of wore inore than and has nearly doubled M lt size since the island canle came under american control conti 0 1 it was from san juan that ponce de leon set salt sail like 11 nother jason in search of the golden fleece for the fulfillment of his charming if boyish dream of finding the fountain of youth which we all recall resulted in the discovery of the end of t lie united states sun san i juan was a settlement halt half a century before St Augustine flo fla the oldest town in in ilie alie united states came into being and a 4 full century before the pilgrims lauded landed nt at plymouth flock it began to take on the semblance of a city more than two t and a half centuries before the united states began to build the white house in washington spain started the construction of the ansa blau blanco the giver governors nors palace |