Grenada

“ If Grenada belonged to the English, who knew how to turn to profit natural advantages, it would be a rich and powerful colony. In itself it was all that man could desire. To live there was to live in paradise.' Labat found the island occupied by countrymen of his own, 'paisans aisez', he calls them, growing their tobacco, their indigo and scarlet rocou, their pigs and their poultry, and contented to be without sugar, without slaves, and without trade. ”

“ But, after all, civility pays in Grenada, as in the rest of the world; and the Negro, like the Frenchman, though surly and rude enough if treated with the least haughtiness, will generally, like the Frenchman, melt at once at a touch of the hat, and an appeal to ‘Laissez passer Mademoiselle.’ On shore we got, through be-coaled Negroes, men and women, safe and not very much be-coaled ourselves ”

“ The excellent climate and good sea-bathing have made Grenada the health resort of the neighbouring islands, especially of Trinidad. Good roads and byeways intersect it in every direction. The soil is extraordinarily fertile, the chief products being cocoa and spices, especially nutmegs. The exports, sent chiefly to Great Britain, are cocoa, spices, wool, cotton, coffee, live stock, hides, turtles, turtle shell, kola nuts, vanilla and timber. Barbados is dependent on Grenada for the majority of its firewood. ”

“ To-morrow morning we should make the Grenadilloes, which are a hundred and fifty miles from Carlisle Bay. Hark ye! There may be a Bristol vessel sailing from Great Grenada to Barbadoes, or the other way. That would be the devil. But such ships are rare, and there is no trade between the two islands. Well, we shall give Grenada as wide a berth as may be.' Here he considered a little. 'Therefore, 'twill be our wiser plan to bear more to the south. Once south of Grenada, I take it, there will be no more danger. Off the main of South America the sea is covered with islands. They are No Man's Land ”

“ The French settled Grenada in the 17th century, established sugar estates, and imported large numbers of African slaves. Britain took the island in 1762 and vigorously expanded sugar production. In the 19th century, cacao eventually surpassed sugar as the main export crop; in the 20th century, nutmeg became the leading export. In 1967, Britain gave Grenada autonomy over its internal affairs. Full independence was attained in 1974, making Grenada one of the smallest independent countries in the Western Hemisphere. Grenada was seized by a Marxist military council on 19 October 1983. ”

“ Granada is not connected by railway with any important city: she lives alone, surrounded by her gardens, enclosed by her mountains, happy with the fruits which Nature produces under her hand, gently lulling herself to sleep in the vanity of her beauty and the pride of her history—idle, drowsy, and fanciful, content to answer with a yawn to any one who reproves her for her condition: "I gave Spain the painter Alonzo Cano, the poet Louis de Leon, the historian Fernando de Castillo, the sacred orator Luis di Grenada, and the minister Martinez de la Rosas. ”

“ My fellow-traveller, the Spanish Consul from Gibraltar, was en route for Grenada; he had opposed the contraband trade, and was afraid of an attack.
Our miserable diligence was drawn by eight mules with rope traces; the driver guides the wheel mules with nose-straps only, without bits, and at times jumps down beside them, whipping up and crying out lustily; so they dash along the rugged roads and on the banks of precipices at the imminent risk of one’s life. ”

“ I intended in such an event to hold the road to Grenada on the Yallabusha and cut loose from there, expecting to establish a new base of supplies on the Yazoo, or at Vicksburg itself, with Grenada to fall back upon in case of failure. It should be remembered that at the time I speak of it had not been demonstrated that an army could operate in an enemy's territory depending upon the country for supplies. A halt was called at Oxford with the advance seventeen miles south of there, to bring up the road to the latter point and to bring supplies of food, forage and munitions to the front. ”

“ The result was a quasi-civil war of the most barbarous kind—in fact, a turning loose of all the worst characters in the West Indies on the track of massacre and plunder. The garrisons of the British islands were so weak that in some cases, as in St. Lucia, they were overpowered and in others pressed to extremity. Grenada being the island wherewith the Seventeenth was engaged, it is necessary to glance at the course of the revolt therein.
Grenada, like most of the West Indian Islands, is simply a rugged, confused mass of volcanic hills, rising at their highest to three thousand feet. ”

“ Grenada (54) , one of the most picturesque of the Windward Islands, in the British West Indies, of volcanic origin; lies about 60 m. N. of Venezuela; the harbour of St. George, the capital, is the most sheltered anchorage in the Windward Islands; fruits, cocoa, and coffee are cultivated; it was ceded by France in 1783.
Grenfell, Sir Francis Wallace, Major-General, late Sirdar of the Egyptian army, born in London; distinguished himself in Zulu, Transvaal, Egyptian, and Nile expeditions (1885-1892) , and commanded forces in Egypt (1897-98) ”

“ The Lords and Commons are no doubt considerably modified by official influence.
And then the traveller runs down the Grenadines, a petty cluster of islands lying between St. Vincent and Grenada, of which Becquia and Cariacou are the chief. They have no direct connection with the mail steamers, but are, I believe, under the Governor of Barbados. They are very pretty, though not, as a rule, very productive. Of one of them I was told that the population were all females. ”

“ Among these mountains, those of the Alpuxaries alone formed a province, and yielded the monarch of Grenada more precious treasures than their mines could furnish—active and athletic men, who became either hardy and industrious husbandmen, or faithful and indefatigable soldiers. ”

“ On the prospects of Trinidad I have a few more words to add. The tendency of the island is to become what Grenada has become already—a community of negro freeholders, each living on his own homestead, and raising or gathering off the ground what his own family will consume. They will multiply, for there is ample room. Three-quarters of the soil are still unoccupied. The 140,000 blacks will rapidly grow into a half-million, and the half-million, as long as we are on the spot to keep the peace, will speedily double itself again. The English inhabitants will and must be crowded out. ”

“ They stretch for 60 m. between St Vincent and Grenada, following a N.E. to S.W. direction, and consist of some 600 islets and rocks. Some are a few square miles in extent, others are merely rocky cones projecting from the deep. For purposes of administration they are divided between St Vincent and Grenada. Bequia, the chief island in the St Vincent group, is long and narrow, with an area 6 sq. m. Owing to a lack of water it is only slightly cultivated, but game is plentiful. Admiralty Bay, on the W. side, is a safe and commodious harbour. ”

“ One of our passengers intoxicated and riotous in the street. Openly and avowedly desires the entire Republic of New Grenada to "come on."
In case they do come on, agrees to make it lively for them. Is quieted down at last, and marched off to prison, by a squad of Grenadian troops. Is musical as he passes the hotel, and smiling sweetly upon the ladies and children on the balcony, expresses a distinct desire to be an Angel, and with the Angels stand. ”

“ But when a despot can boast of none of those attributes, woe to the people who are obliged to submit to his oppressions and obey his behests!
The island of Grenada, as is indeed the case with most of the Windward Islands, is well watered by rivers running from the mountains. Some of the streams are of considerable size, and are never dry in seasons of the greatest drought. The water, conducted by canals from these rivers, constituted the chief motive power for the machinery on the sugar estates, although in a few cases windmills were used for that purpose. ”

“ Leon had fought the battle, and had the same materials with which she gained it to enforce the contribution. In order that Grenada might be taken unawares, it was given out that the troops were destined for San Salvador, and they were actually marched out on the San Salvador road; but at midnight made a circuit, and took the route for Grenada. War between different states was bad enough, but here the flame which had before laid the capital in ruins was lighted again within its own borders. ”

“ Next, the stranger will remark, here as at Grenada, that every one he passes looks strong, healthy, and well-fed. One meets few or none of those figures and faces, small, scrofulous, squinny, and haggard, which disgrace the so-called civilisation of a British city. Nowhere in Port of Spain will you see such human beings as in certain streets of London, Liverpool, or Glasgow. Every one, plainly, can live and thrive if they choose ”

“ Just 2 years ago, the United States came to the rescue of democracy and of hundreds of American students in Grenada. All of us can be proud of the swift response of our country, together with Grenada's democratic Caribbean neighbors to the SOS from Grenada's Governor General Paul Scoon. ”

“ The grain of New Grenada will be carried to the banks of the Rio Negro; boats will descend from the sources of the Napo and the Ucuyabe, from the Andes of Quito and of Upper Peru, to the mouths of the Orinoco, a distance which equals that from Timbuctoo to Marseilles. A country nine or ten times larger than Spain, and enriched with the most varied productions, is navigable in every direction by the medium of the natural canal of the Cassiquiare, and the bifurcation of the rivers. ”

“ One is that of the dialects of Veragua called Darien, and collected by Wafer; the other the numerals of the famous Muysca language of the plateau of Santa Fé de Bogota. With these exceptions, the whole philology of New Grenada is unknown, although the old missionaries counted the mutually unintelligible tongues by the dozen or score. More than one modern author—the present writer amongst others—has gone so far as to state that all the Indian languages of New Grenada are extinct. ”

“ The influence of the French Revolution was felt in most of the other islands, but nowhere did it lead to such disasters as befel Hispaniola. In 1795 there was an insurrection in the island of Grenada, where the coloured people, under French influence, nearly drove the English out of the colony. Even when defeated they held their own in the mountains for about a year, committing many atrocities on the whites who fell into their hands. ”

“ If he be yet alive, it is as great a marvel as ever minstrel’s lay hath told.”
This explanation was all the more satisfactory to the emir, that (as his next words showed) it agreed with his own opinion.
“As truly as the Prophet (may his name be exalted!) made the full moon pass through the sleeves of his mantle, it must be as thou sayest, O Christian. At Grenada all men say that this slave of whom I speak hath indeed been raised from the dead, and that no weapon hath power to harm him, even as they say of thee.” ”

“ The corvette had been detained longer than was expected at Madeira, and had been three days in the magnificent harbour of Grenada.
“Oh, it’s a braw place, there’s ne’er doot about that,” said Archy. “They say it’s just like Italy, and if so, Italy must be a beautiful country. Hills and dales, covered with plantations, sic fruits and flowers, and a plenty of Scotsmen. It has only one fault; there are no ladies, unless they call the black lassies who gang wi’ blue silk parasols and na shoes to their feet so.” ”

“ Qualifying active-duty service includes service conducted, during this period, on the islands of Grenada, Carriacou, Green Hog, and those islands adjacent to Grenada in the Atlantic Seaboard where such service was in direct support of the military operations in Grenada. Qualifying active-duty service during this period also includes service conducted in the air space above Grenada, in the adjacent seas where operations were conducted, and at the Grantly Adams International Airport in Barbados. ”

“ Froude, we can point him to page 56 of this his very book, where, speaking of Grenada and deprecating the notion of its official abandonment, our author says:—
"Otherwise they [Negroes] were quiet fellows, and if the politicians would only let them alone, they would be perfectly contented, and might eventually, if wisely managed, come to some good.... Black the island was, and black it would remain. The conditions were never likely to arise which would bring back a European population ”

“ The steamboat New Grenada which started one hour before us from Aspinwall has been more or less in sight since we left that Port and now is about ten miles astern of us. Last evening about five o'clock P.M. we passed the island of Providence to our right. This Island like all the rest I have seen on this trip is mountainous and thickly timbered. As there were fires on the coast I presume it must be inhabited and there are undoubtedly spots on it under cultivation. All the country in these lower latitudes is very fertile, producing luxurious growths of most all the tropical fruits. ”

“ Grenada be a wonnerful brave place for nutmegs, which you might not know grow ’pon trees like almond trees. There be male and female trees, and one male goes to every ten females. A fine thing, even if you was a tree, to have ten wives—so Bradley says! But I only want one, and that’s my dinky Minnie, so brave and so lovely.
“St George, Grenada, we stopped at for a [138] week, and I seed a great deal of the place. They’ve got a lunatic asylum and a klink there; and they want ’em both. Niggers often go mad, but it ban’t from over-work, that I will swear. ”