2i 18 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May i, 1910. 



A Street in Para. 



A Waterfront View at Para. 



done throughout. The machinery used is mostly English, with 

 some American for special purposes. 



Just to get an idea of the. topography of the island, we rose 

 early one morning and drove over to Codrington College, some 

 14 miles away. The roads were all good, narrow but smooth, 

 with no sidewalks even in the small towns. It is a wonder, so 

 smooth are the roads, that the 40 automobiles owned on the 

 island, as well as the 1,500 bicycles, are not equipped with solid 

 tires rather than pneumatics. There are no speed limits, but 

 there are so many turns, and such a crowd of foot passengers 

 and vehicles, that more than twenty miles an hour is out of the 

 question. So smooth are the roads that the boys with a forked 

 stick roll three inch iron wheel for miles — a form of toy not seen 

 elsewhere. 



The drive was a very beautiful one. Through great fields of 

 sugar cane, by big and little sugar mills sometimes run by steam 

 power, but more often by the wind. We stopped briefly at St. 

 John's church, which is situated on the top of a hill fronting the 

 ocean, and climbing the bell tower got a wonderful view of sea 

 and shore. Then we wandered through the ancient churchyard 

 and looked at the quaint headstones and limestone vaults, took 

 photographs, and went on our way. 



A four-mile drive down a series of steep hills, where the driver 

 roped one of the rear wheels to keep it from turning, and we 

 were at Codrington College, which we did not see much of, as 

 the main buildings were being repaired. Here under a huge 

 tree, from the shade of which we evicted several sullenly reluc- 

 tant toads, we opened our lunch basket. We were very com- 

 fortable, for the caretaker brought us chairs, and a "monkey" of 

 cool water, and the food was excellent. We loafed and smoked 

 through the heat of the day and finally, at 3 -.30, started back. On 

 the way we stopped at a sugar estate and saw a windmill at work 

 and the process of boiling the juice. The proprietor was an 

 absentee, but his colored superintendent was elaborately polite 

 and hospitable. After the examination of the plant he led us to 

 the "gallery" (veranda) of the house and treated us to a pitcher 

 of the hot syrup. 



GOLFING IN THE TROPICS. 



The day following I called upon the American consul, 

 who promptly put me up at the Golf Club, and was par- 

 ticularly helpful. I was much interested to know that 

 he had a son in the States, who occupies a responsible position 



with one of the big rubber companies. Speaking of golf, I had 

 been advised that it was well before a journey to the Amazon to 

 get in as good a physical condition as possible. That was one 

 reason that I was glad to be put up at the Savannah Club (the 

 golf club), which institution merits a little extra attention, as the 

 links were different from any that I had ever played over. There 

 is a station half way between Bridgetown and Hastings known as 

 Garrison. Here are arranged on three sides of the Savannah 

 the brick barracks and officers' houses that once sheltered full regi- 

 ments. To-day there is hardly a corporal's guard left. One of 

 the buildings, the "clock tower," where the regimental bands 

 played, has been acquired by the Savannah Club, that in the 

 face of a dearth of men have kept tennis, cricket, and polo alive 

 and incidentally laid out a six-hole golf course. The putting 

 greens, circles of 23 feet, cut into the thick bunch grass of the 

 fields, are fine. Seeded to Bermuda grass, they are always level, 

 free from worm casts, and as nearly perfect as possible. Then, 

 too, the course to the first hole, across the polo field, is such 

 that one can use a brassy, but nowhere else. All of the tees are 

 built on a slant and grassed, and it is wonderful how far into 

 the sky one can drive a ball. The caddies, funny little darkies, 

 go on ahead and locate the ball in the deep grass, and there- 

 after one uses a lofter. By the club rules if a caddy fails to 

 find the ball, any other boy who does gets a threepence, to be 

 deducted from the caddy's fee. Very few balls are lost. Al- 

 though it is hot there is usually a breeze, and eighteen holes 

 with tea afterward on the club "gallery" is a good healthy 

 afternoon's work, and pleasant finish. 



Did I by any chance say there were no bunkers on the golf 

 course? I was wrong. From one tee the drive was over the 

 race course and a high board fence. Then, too, there were 

 the big banyan trees that circled one green. The only play was 

 to loft the ball up over the one fronting you. Then the small 

 movable bunkers, the tethered cows, sheep, and goats, might all 

 be called hazards. One cow in particular lowered her head and 

 charged golfers whenever they indulged in too much preliminary 

 wrist wriggling. I don't blame her. If I had her horns and 

 bulk, I'd try to break the practice myself. The goats chewed the 

 balls some, but that was only because they were thirsty and 

 hoped that some of the Americans were using water core balls. 

 Oh, yes, there was lots of interest and sport, particularly when 

 a sergeant was drilling the awkward squad on horseback on the 



