CRADLE OF EMPIRE.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1923, Page 4

CRADLE OF EMPIRE.

THE WEST INDIES,

Too littli' i.s known in Australia of that group of islands which occupies in the Atlantic the same' relation, to America as our own possessions in the Pacific do to Australia. Tt would he of real educational value to Australian travellers via the Panama Canal to take advantage of the stop-over privilege on route, and give two weeks to a survey of a chain of islands only equalled for beauty and fertility in the world by our Pacific islands, and surpassing even them in romantic association, historical significance, and complexity of industrial outlook and problems. Our Pacific island empire will often find itsolr face to face with seemingly insolubleproblems which will he found on closer scrutiny to he a repetition ot ost Indian history, and for whose solution formula* are available to-him who has familiarised himself with one of the most entrancing and illuminating | stories of man. Those islands are inexpressibly beautiful. But those who know the jewels ol the Pacific, the electric blues and livid purples in sen and sky, the innumerable tints ami shades of green mounting up, bank on bank, to the snowy clouds, the Crusoe coves and perlume-laden dells, haunts of the loins caters, the shatter-

oil chip- (if rainbow swimming m coni, sea gardens. and, over all. the solft caress of lho gonial trade-winds, Mill require no description. Others would label our picture a gross exaggeration. THE WEST INDIES. They have their own geological interest as 'well. For although you may inhabit an island fifty feet above sen level ai its highest point, you are probably on a vast mountain peak thousands of foot bight, hut whose massive hulk .is almost, totally submerged. Oil' one island I know well yon may anchor your fishing boat with a do7.cn feet ol rope, and catch the small llsli of the shallows nt one <*ml, at th<* other oml von ma> use your loosest taeklth kml it un " fathoniahle ; or your strongest, and find It cut in two by enormous lisb 111 tlie dark deptlis. You have anchovc.d on the edge of a huge submarine precipice Another indication that the Caribbean

was at one time ilsell a great continent lies in a recent discovery by a small expedition, of which I had the honour of being the guide, of a woman's skull now 1 believe in the Smithsonian Institute of Washington—of that pronounced flat-head type which once seen and handled would not easily bo forgotten: and peculiar only to certain trikes of mainland America. I! ACE IDEM ANTE. Thiit the West Indies nic the cradle of remain c every schoolboy knows. I shall not soon forget on a long trip in a small e<.aster among the Bahamas how the capiain 'touched my arm, and pointed to a small island (Wailing's). savin l 11 Thai was the first httidiall of Columbus: it was probably on that beach he landed." lioiii coaster and captain scon laded from my mind, and

1 soone-d to I'O almost ii spectator of a scene with lew parallels in history. A snow-white liench. throe earnvels ill the iilliiiu:. 11 {front, throne; of kindly Inilinits, n little "roup of mail-clad oflicors. ami then the plantim; of the (Voss, lit eiiihlom of the hideous stlflerines those innocent folk were shortly to endure at the hands of the missionaries of nrnml t aside. More titan once 1 have followed the trail of the most infamous of the buccaneers, Blackboard. Their sdnrv of desperately courageous lights ;ind vast hauls of ireasure of the Spani-h .Main alternated with dismal limits of debauchery and drunkenness

j-. ilia stock-in-trade ol all writers of adventure. One hears rumours still of di i overt- of buried treasure, and now and again one meets a small party with a we!!-1 bundled chart, but I know of no authentic case where anything ol value was recovered. On one cceasion I joined stli h a party, and found wluil probably ha. 1 ! been a treasure fhambrr. hut nothing more precious than a broken earthenware pot. I have no desire to stand forth as an apologist lor the buccaneer, hut it is fair to say that many ol them were act tutted by something nobler than the hist ol gold, an elementary idea of justice, which could onlv find sat is fact ion lor a comrade done to death by the I mjitisilion in the. slaving of Spaniards. Our Empire owes • omelliing to the gentleman hticcniiccr to dautless Dumpier. the first English voyager to Australia, to invincible Drake and his captains, who sealed the doom of mighty Spain, and opened a new chapter in British colonial history and to many nameless ones who, in desperate sortie' and forlorn hope-, struck such terror into Spanish hearts, that at long last their terrible flag was swept clean from the Seven f>ea>s.

A day ashore in a sleepy West Indian town will set the dullest imagination afire. A Monish Cathedral, the arms of Castile over a grille, a passing lady’s face, draped by a delicate mantilla, with tliai soft splendour of ey e peculiar to Spanish beauty, and one sees pass in dread procession the advance guard of civilisation, the proud Cmiqiiistadoros of Spain. The sad pages in many a country's story are thn-c that tell of the treatment meted out to the indigenous native by the European conqueror. But none can equal in tragedy and poignancy the record of the Hp.inish in America, especially at: their enormities were perpetrated in the name of the Christian religion. Surely no stranger method <>i evangelising heathen people was ever applied. The cause of the Cross went forward chiefly by club and lash, by sword and gnu. by rack and rape. The Spaniard was nothing if .not thorough in thH sacred duty, for while (lie Moslem offered Ins victim itt Africa his choice of the Koran or the sword, he gave the timid Indian both. ID' refinement' of cruelty were not excelled by that other lnii'tetpiece of Castilian culture—the Spanish Inquisition. After having carefully baptised them so 1 lint til least their souls wore safe, the Spaiards drowned them iu long files in the ocean, set savage dogs to tear them to pieces, or beat, lium to death with dubs. Tinsimple and hospitable race was annihilated. What a strange hut just Nemesis. stalks down the path of history, for not one square foot of a once vast Empire i.-. now held by Spain!

HOME OF ADVENTURE. Further, it was in these azure seas that our greatest seamen fostered that adventurous spirit and developed that mastery of the science of naval war that has made the navy invincible since the davs of Rodney ami Nelson. But if wo had great seamen they laced far braver and tougher foe than the Spaniard, tlie Frenchman. The French seaman was an indomitable tighter; it was

his misfortune to meet as antagonist probably tile most ferocious and deadly human lighting machine of our history —an English hoarding crew. 1 hey made dirty work of it. A row of horny groping hands on the bulwarks, a line of heads swathed in handkerchiefs oi bloody rags, then like a pack of hungry wolves, the boarders were on deck. Dark fins soon dot the water, for even the sharks know what to expect when the boarding crew are at their work. It was off Dominica off an ideal stage for such drama that Rodney struck France a shattering blow. As the sun set the great fleet of France drifted about the Saints’ Passage, reduced to derelict hulk, with not one tricolour flying at the masthead. Using almost the same brilliant tactics, a greater officer. the incomparable Nelson, finished the task-that Rodney had commenced in the Indies in colder waters off Tra-

fnl-mr. Truly these island seas were the cradle cf the navy, and from them have Come, handed on hy Nelson and Rodney, those imperishable naval traditions which are always a reserve, invisible fleet in the hour of the h.inpire s need. Tt was this impalpable thing the German sailor learned to fear. Whatever be his judgment on our gunnery and tactics at Jutland, of one thing he was sure, that he must face at last something more than men or ships, and that no battle with that navy would ever be over until tbe waves had closed over the last battle-flag. He never sailed forth again, except to surrender.

When wo consider further that these islands were the cradle ol our colonial Umpire—for in the reign of Charles IT. that “Council of Foreign Plantations was appointed for Lho oversight and direction of Jamaican affairs, a small acorn which has steadily grown into trie enormous oak ot our Colonial 01-jjee-—we must believe that no Held could be more worthy of study by. or more fruitful in suggestion for, those vitally interested in the administration and development of our Pacific islands than these Atlantic island-, set in sapphire seas.