tobacco, and fruits and vegetables; but the chief
exports of the island are salt, phosphate of lime,
and the well known Curasao liqueur, of which the
chief ingredient is derived from a peculiar variety
of orange, the Citrus aurantium curassuviensis.
But the larger business of Curagao is the transit
trade of Venezuela and Colombia.
It has a deep and well sheltered harbour on the
south coast, the bay of Santa Ana, where the capital,
Willemstad, is situated. This port furnishes
both vessels and crews for a large coasting trade,
and also the bankers, many of them Jews, who
make the advances and loans that give life to the
traffic. Willemstad is distinctively a Dutch town,
though its population is greatly mixed. Its houses,
though built low and subject to the conditions of a
tropical climate and the visitations of earthquakes,
have a general resemblance to those of Amsterdam;
and the deep lagoon called the Schottegat, which
extends inland from the bay, the passage between
the city and the western suburb of “ Oberzijde,”
with its bridge of boats, and the overflowing swamps
that spread through the environs, suggest the watery
aspect of Holland. The entrance to the bay is defended
by Fort Amsterdam and separate batteries;
men-of-war often lie at anchor in the Schottegat,
while the quays of the port of Curagao are generally
crowded with merchant shipping. A peculiar patois,
derived from many tongues, is common in its
streets.
This island was discovered by Ojeda in 1499, a°d
called the “ Isle of Giants,” whereby hang dubious
legends of the stature of the original inhabitants.
It was settled by Spaniards as early as 1527, but it
had the happiness of possessing virtually no annals
until it was captured by the Dutch in 1632, when
they also took possession of the outlying islands of
Buen Aire to the east and of Aruba to the west.
The only interruption to their possession was during
the Napoleonic wars, when the English captured
Curagao, first in 179^ ^nd again in 1806. I t was restored
to Holland in 1814, when several dislocations
in the West Indies were rectified.
Buen Aire hardly has an existence independent of
that of Curagao. It is some twenty miles off the
shore of the latter to the north-east, and has an area
of two hundred and fourteen square miles, but there
are only about 5000 inhabitants. T hey cultivate
the few productive acres in an arid waste and share
in the fishing and seafaring pursuits of the neighbour
island. Aruba is the westernmost of this
group, and lies near the entrance to the Gulf of
Maracaybo. Its area is only sixty-six square miles,
and its population less than 8000; but it has more
cultivated surface than either of the other Dutch
islands. I t suffers from lack of natural watercourses
or springs, and depends upon cisterns and tidal wells.
The people consist largely of half-breeds, partly descended
from the aborigines, and there are some interesting
relics of antiquity in the island in the form
of rock inscriptions and objects wrought from stone
or clay. The earthenware is commonly embellished
with the heads of owls or frogs, and until recent
times there were vestiges of old customs in the burial