the outskirts of the city is a large and well-appointed leper hospital; but you rarely see a white patient among its numerous inmates. They are generally negroes or their mixed descendants, or the mixed descendants of whites and Indians originally from Venezuela and Colombia.

Although one of the oldest maladies known to medical science, there seems to be as little known of the causes which produce this dreadful disease of leprosy as there was thousands of years ago. From time immemorial it has been prevalent in Asiatic countries; and something corresponding to it was found among the aborigines of the tablelands in South America at the time of the Spanish conquest. But whether it is produced by certain unknown conditions of the climate, soil and modes of life, or whether it is in reality a parasitic disease and therefore contagious, is still a debatable question. Perhaps the weight of authority favors the parasitic theory; but what produces the parasites? The disease, in whatever form manifested, is always found in connection with a minute vegetable organism which inhabits the tissues of the leper; and this microscopic organism has never been found elsewhere than in the human body. It has never been discovered in the bodies of any of the lower animals, and never in the body of a perfectly healthy human being. Hence the formula, "Given the presence of the organism in the human body, we have the disease of leprosy; given disease, we have the organism." And the almost necessary inference is that the disease is contagious. Yet physicians who have made it a special study tell us that the transmission of the disease "is dependent upon certain physical conditions," and that oftener than otherwise these are the result either of climatic conditions or of heredity. So that, in reality, we seem to know very

little about it, except that the disease, whatever it is, is generally considered incurable.1

Perhaps fully one half of the native population of the island are negroes and their mixed descendants; for negro slavery existed here as late as 1861, when it was finally abolished. But these freedmen, although invested with all the immunities of citizenship, were not given the ballot; for the Dutch are noted for their conservative ideas. They are fond of freedom, and once gave to the world a fine example of republican form of government; but they are not given to rash experiment, and have little patience with modern "run-mad democracy." Qualified voters have a voice in the municipal government of Willemstad, and to this end there is both a literary and property standard; but the government of the island is by a chief magistrate and a council appointed by the authorities of Holland, and responsible to the home government.

The negroes and mulattoes do not differ in appearance or in average intelligence from those seen on the other islands of the West Indies, or in some parts of Louisiana and Mississippi; but they are more civil and better behaved than those in either Hayti, Jamaica, or Saint Thomas. As a rule, they seem to be indolent, improvident, and shiftless, though there are a few wellto-do people among them. Their language is a curious jargon made up of corrupted Dutch, Spanish, and Eng

1 Quite recently there has been discovered in Venezuela a plant known to the native Indians as Tua-Tua, classified botanically as Jatropha gossypifolla, which is said to be a specific for leprosy. The plant grows in a dry, sandy soil, mixed with clay, to an average height of about four feet. Its leaves and stems are a beautiful purple. It bears a fruit about a third of an inch in diameter, which is covered with fuzzy, velvety hair, each pod containing three seeds, from which a strong oil is extracted. This oil is administered internally; two ounces twice daily, diluted in water. The claim is, by those who have experimented with it, that it will cure an ordinary case of leprosy in less than three months.

lish words, quite unintelligible to foreigners. Even after you have succeeded in picking up a considerable vocabulary of their local dialect, you are often at a loss to understand them. They are proverbially civil and goodnatured; but although usually very scrupulous in the observance of the external forms of religion, they are generally oblivious of the seventh commandment.

The whites are generally of Dutch origin, and their language is that of the Fatherland; but most of them speak English, Spanish, and French equally well. They are noted for uprightness, honesty, and conservative methods in business transactions, but none the less quick to see and take advantage of a turn in the market. They are always busy at something or other, but never in a hurry about anything. They live comfortably, and even luxuriously when their means will allow, but never beyond their income, and seldom fail to "lay up something for a rainy day." They dress plainly but neatly, and are generally models of cleanliness in their personal habits.

There are now very good but plain hotel accommodations in Willemstad. This, however, is a recent innovation. Fifteen years ago there were but two hotels in the place, and both were about equally bad. No matter at which you put up, you were sure to wish you had gone to the other. Before embarking at Savannilla I was told that it never rained in Curação, that the extreme dryness of the atmosphere was a specific for neuralgia and rheumatism, and that a few weeks' sojourn there would effectually cure the most obstinate case of nervous dyspepsia. Well, the very first night after my arrival it rained as I never saw it rain before, except, indeed, at Panama,- for exception should always be made in favor of the average isthmian rain-storm. The windows of heaven seemed to have been suddenly

opened, and for about six hours the rain came down in torrents. The tile roof of the hotel did not seem to be much in the way of the downpour, for very soon my apartments were completely flooded — and so, indeed, was every room in the house. The only dry spot about the premises was in a remote corner of the parlor, which served also as dining-room and business office, and this was already occupied by the landlord and his family. Some one asked him why he did not repair his roof. "It rains too hard," was the laconic reply. "Then you'll probably go to work at it when the shower is over?" suggested one of the guests. "Oh, it has never rained here before in twelve years, and may not rain again in a lifetime," was his quiet response.

However, every one seemed to enjoy the wetting. It was not yet five o'clock in the morning, but the streets were already full of people. Some had well-filled buckets and tubs; others were strolling about apparently with no purpose other than to see how a little fresh water would feel; for fresh water is indeed a rarity in Curação. There is not a spring or brook or running stream anywhere on the whole island, and it rarely ever rains. Plenty of water is found by digging deep enough, but it is so loaded with saline matter that it is totally unfit to drink. Nearly every house has its cistern, but it is usually either entirely empty or the rainwater has become odorous and impure by long stagnation. People who are able to afford it import their water for domestic use from the Venezuelan coast, just as well-todo people of Canton, in China, import their drinking water from Hong Kong. Those who cannot afford this luxury manage to live somehow I hardly know how. Ice is brought here from Boston, stored in ice-houses, and retailed at enormous prices; but half of the time there is an ice famine, and every time you

ask your host for a glass of ice-water you feel like apologizing.

It has been said that in arid climates like this, people are proverbially amiable and good-natured. There is probably some foundation for this statement. At any rate, a man who is tortured with rheumatism or neuralgia rarely shows much amiability of spirit, though he may be constantly on the watch to curb his irritability. He sometimes passes current as a saint only because he happens to have a good digestion and sound nerves; and dry climates are said to be promotive of these conditions. Be that as it may, the fact is, I never saw a more even-tempered and good-natured people than the Curaçäons; and the merchants and shopkeepers of the place are models of courtesy and politeness. You see no sour visages or scowling brows, as in Caracas, where every third man has a liver, nor hear any snarling or angry tones; and there has never been anything like an organized labor riot or "strike" on the island. There are no "sand-lot" politicians and cranky "reformers"; and everybody seems to be satisfied with himself and on good terms with the world generally.

The religion of the masses is the Roman Catholic, and, next to the government house, the cathedral is the largest and finest building in the city. With few exceptions, the negroes, mulattoes, and quadroons are all Roman Catholics; and the same is even more generally true of the few whites and mestizos of Spanish origin. The Dutch of pure descent are generally Lutherans; the few English who have homes here are almost invariably Episcopalians. Some of the best people of the place are Jews. There is, however, a large white contingent who are described as Indiferentes, that is, persons who pay little attention to church creeds or religious forms, but who cannot,