412 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



200— SAIVITARY REPORT OIV OI>» PROVJDEIVC'E ISIjAIVD, IIIVITED 



fSTATES OF COEOiMRIA. 



By C. G. H£RI\I>0]\, P. A. SUKGE©^, U. S. N. 



The island of Old Providence is situated abont 250 miles north of Co- 

 lon, from which place it can be frequently reached by schooneis trading 

 between the two places. This island, with Santa Cataliua, from which it 

 is separated by a very narrow and shallow channel, is some 4 miles long 

 from north to south and from 2 to 3 miles wide. With the adjacent 

 island of Saint Andrews, it forms a jiart of the State of Cartagena, and 

 is governed bj^ an official appointed by the Bogota Government, resi- 

 dent at Saint Andrews. The island is mountainous in its central part, 

 one peak being as much as 1,100 feet above the sea. Its structure is 

 coral line. On the northwest part is a harbor nearly a mile wide and 

 extending about the same distance into the land. The mountains and 

 hills are very rocky and covered with thickets of thorny bushes. The 

 soil is not, as a rule, arable except along the sea-shore, where there are 

 many little farms which extend entirely around the island. The seasons 

 are the wet and dry ; as a rule, the former begins in the latter part of 

 April or the first of May, and continues up to the first of December. 

 During the dry season the trade-winds are continuous, and keep the 

 temijerature at about 78° F. During the rainy season the heat is op- 

 pressive. 



The arable portion of the island is very productive ; sugar-cane, the 

 cotton-plant, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread fruit, yams, and both 

 sweet and bitter cassava grow abundantly. The bitter cassava is eaten 

 by the people np to a certain stage of its growth, after which it is 

 fed to the hogs which thrive ui)on it. Excellent oranges, limes, pines, 

 cocoa-nuts, tamarinds, &c., grow in abundance. Uncommonly line 

 l)Oultry, good beef, kid, large and small pigs, can be bought at very 

 reasonable prices. The adjacent waters swarm with fine fish and turtle. 



The population, numbering between 800 and 1,000, is a mixed one, 

 and contains but few pure whites; it is for the most part a mixture of 

 negro and Indian, with a streak of Spanish and American blood. The 

 negro element is for the most i^art from former slaves, who were sent 

 over from Jamaica. The Indian and Spanish elements come from the 

 mainland, and the American from seamen who have visited the island 

 in trading vessels. The men are uncommonly tall, well developed and 

 fine looking, and as a rule are industrious and thrifty ; they engage in 

 farming, fruit-growing, and stock-raising; many of them are expert 

 fishermen and turtle catchers, and not a few are enqiloyed as seamen on 

 vessels engaged in trade between the island and the United States, the 



