An Early 20th-Century Travel Journal From A Cruise Through The Caribbean, Written By A Man From Hudson, New York

(CARIBBEAN TRAVEL JOURNAL). Diary. 101 pages. The Caribbean. [c. 1908-9]. The handwritten journal belonging to C. B. Benson of Hudson, New York. The diary recounts Benson’s experience on an organized cruise group visit to Caribbean locations such as St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Kingston [Jamaica], Caracas [Venezuela], Panama City [Panama], Port of Spain [Trinidad], and Martinique. Benson records his experiences in each location, including his impressions of the town, the locals, sights he visited, and local travel. He visited forts, a school, churches, a mill, a sugar plantation, and Carnival celebrations. Benson took his tour during the era of colonial rule, the attitudes of which infuse both his experiences and observations. Based on his mention of an earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica taking place a year or two before, he travelled in 1908 or 1909. “…St. Thomas, where we arrived about 6 A.M. mid morning Jan, 26 is one of the Virgin group and we found her framed and frescoed in the principal churches. Columbus, in 1493, gave the group of 100 islands, rocks and…which comprise the group. St. Thomas is 13 miles in length and 3 miles in width at its broadest. And I guess we walked the length of it speaking broadly and in the abstract at this distance....The heat of the tropical sun also takes its toll and blurs our ideas of time and distance somewhat. The town of Charlotte Amelia contains 13000 inhabitants – merchants and black babies and they are all dressed in their Sunday best to receive us properly....Thursday morning at 8 we went ashore at Porto [sic] Rico...Returning thro the village streets we stopped at the market place and noticed the display of fruits in baskets, a couple of men seated on low stools with blacks in front of them...a native woman…was entertaining us, in the middle of the road with a dance....When passing the island of Haiti...‘Do you know why we do not stop at the Island of Haiti’? ‘No’? There are cannibals there, there are so many fat people aboard you would lose your wife,’ At St Thomas, the American council held open house and received some of us, who dared to invade this solitude,...An hour’s railroad ride, which was made interesting by stops at every little…and station where the bare legged boy with the oil gun in hand squirted oil…bearings [sic] of the cars and engine. As it was, before the 17 miles came to an end, the rear axle of the parlor car so called because it had leather covered reclining seats, caught fire. But when this happened we were nearly at the end of our journey, and we were not delayed much. At the sugar plantation where we detrained, we found we had some distance to walk down…to the sugar mill. As there was no path and the sticky wet ground to soil, made worse by the heavy rain of the night before...A sugar mill is never a clean place....The process is somewhat intricate, but way he likened to the process of brewing....The cane piled up in the yard is boiled in a number of vats, then is run off with barrels, and in a black and solid state in shipped to the Refineries at New York. The fiber of the cane is then hardened and dried and is fed to the furnaces to boil…cane. After return to the town San Juan we visited the shops. Walked out to the fort at the entrance of the harbor. The town is excellently policed, and paved in the principal streets with telegram blocks....As this day was Thursday we concluded that every day was wash day for the native women and girls, who, for want of other diversions, spend most of their time in this form of dissipation. Even the balconies of the main public street filled with traffic, of street cars, carriages and drays had their fill of wash, some of which are found laying in the street, having been carried down by the wind. No one had appropriated it as yet; and we did not add it to our collection of souvenirs. At the officers quarters I applied for a permit of the officer of the day to enter the fort, ‘San Cristobal’ the fort, commanding the entrance to the harbor....The fort was like most forts. The high tower gave a commanding view of the town and harbor. Then we visited the Governor’s Palace. In the Reception Room hanging on opposite sides facing each other are life sized oil paintings of McKinley & Cleveland. In the garden were some large palms, tropical ferns, a fountain, &....Jan 29. early in the morning, we were at Kingston, in Jamaica. The channel is narrow and tortuous, but well… Taking a local pilot, we soon…opposite it…of three vessels, one of which was the Princess Louise that was caught in the hurricane here three years ago and…the larger of the three vessels, was trying to pick up the light from the light house which had been blown down. This destruction of the hurricane...After driving about a mile thru the city, the destruction to the buildings & pavements made by the earthquake here a year or two ago, half of the city seems to be in ruins and no attempt has been made apparently to rebuild & restore the city. Thousands of lives were lost here at that time, which did immense damage to the fruits. Most of the uninhabitable part of the island belongs to the United Fruit Company, a Boston Corporation, who ships immense quantities of bananas from Port Antonio. Owing to recent destruction by fire of Hotel Litchfield, our stop at the port of San Antonio and stay of night at the Hotel was omitted. An excursion across the island by train to Mandeville was arranged in its place....The town of Colon in its principle streets are paved with brick and appear clean. We noticed many buzzards. The air was clear and there was a delightful cool breeze blowing....We stopped at all of the stations going to Panama, and noted the wonderful impressions made by the Sanitary Commission. The well ventilated and screened houses. The plan for disposal of garbage, the open drainage, the cleared lands…But, of course, the facts are here – bug and drain – all working to the mutual exclusion of some ideas, to the American white employers. Therefore, after a few months, they must have a reaction in the States to…and detach themselves from all absorbing facts. The fighting for life against…fires. Most things are…between the white employers and the black employees. So we find the ‘White Bar’ and the ‘Black Bar’, ‘The White Employees’, ‘The Silver White Employees’, &c, as signs on the cars, intended to carry workmen back and forth from the works....Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, is about 3000 ft up, but the sun in the middle of the day we found very hot....Plaza Bolivar was decorated with rows of colored electric lights. They are preparing for the Carnival season which ushers in Lent in Catholic countries. The market place had counters for dry goods, highly colored handkerchiefs, etc. Another section was devoted to fruits, vegetables, etc. We noticed some very large apricots. Mr. Bolivar apparently has done a great deal for his native town. He has given his name – while the people furnished the funds – for the largest parks, a street, and the coinage of the plutocrats....The Spaniard the…Hildago -in his easy subjugation of the…pleasure loving tropical savage has replaced the native of simple taste and left in his place the mongrel half-breed with all the vices of the conqueror and none of the virtues of the…Indian savage…”. The diary is in very good condition. It is mostly written in pencil but is quite legible.