Page 23 - AHATA

A15
LOCAL Tuesday 22 OcTOber 2019

A scientific journey across the island- Part III Episode 40

Continued from Page 14

“In the morning we visited the stalactite cave at no more
than a few hundred yards distance from Fontein.” (Prof.
Martin proceeds to give an explanation of the origin of
these caves informing us that the Indians chose them as
their dwellings at a later period, but that now only bats
and rats inhabit them. Furthermore he describes the In-
dian drawings).

“We continued our journey along the north coast of the
island, intending to ride along the beach of Fontein to
Daimari, which can now be reached from Oranjestad by
an easy path enabling us to arrive there already by noon.
It consists of a single house on the bay of that name and
is, like all other houses of the residence, of a peculiar
construction and subdivision, if one is justified in using this
word at all. Two small rooms_ just large enough for a few
hammocks, a crude table and primitive chairs on which,
in fact, we hardly dared sit for fear of their collapsing un-
der us that was the interior of this house.”
“By the side of the house, which is spotlessly white-washed,
there is a lean-to, a cooking-place open on several sides
in which there is generally a seat. Daimari boasts an ob-
ject of great luxury. Before the door stands a simple but
usable sun-dial, and it even possesses a type of wind-
gauge, made of two calabashes. The professor found a
man here whose father was a Dutchman, and who had
earned twenty-four thousand guilders as a gold-seeker,
but had as soon lost them again.”
…and so are the stories of Aruba in the second half of the
19th century.q