A Description of Roatan Island, 1766

The following is a description of the island of Roatan, located off the coast of Honduras.  This is part of a larger work titled The West India Pilot by Joseph Smith Speer, first published in London in 1766.  Speer's work can be found in the LoC online map collection.

An 1880s Description of Grand Turk Island

This one comes from The Mountain Signal (the precursor to the Mt. Vernon Signal) of Mount Vernon, Rockcastle County, Kentucky on February 24, 1888.  In this issue, in the "Of General Interest" column, appears a brief description of Grand Turk Island in the late 19th century:

The Mountain Signal, Feb 24, 1888

Turk's Island, one of the West Indies, is only 7 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide.  It contains 2,500 inhabitants, three-fourths negroes.  The only product and export of the little island is salt and sponges.  Of these it sends out annually 2,000,000 bushels and 2,600 bales of sponges.  Two-thirds of the salt goes to the United States and the rest to the Canadian provinces as fishery salt.  The best part of the salt is piled up outdoors in stacks of 15 to 20 feet high.  It is pure, dazzling white and trying to the eyes; in fact, so much so that those who work at the salt usually wear goggles.

Leased Cemetery Plots in Cuban Cemetery

From The San Francisco Call of San Francisco, California on April 24, 1904: 

San Franciso Call, April 24, 1904

Havana's Golgotha 

When Americans visit Havana they are confronted with many peculiar customs.  One of the most startling and revolting is that which prevails in regard to the dead.  Colon Cemetery, a beautiful burial ground, laid out in romantic walks, arched with superb trees and adorned with costly monuments and classic cenotaphs, is the last home for all, grandee and peasant alike. 

The rainbow effects of the city's architecture are carried out here, as revealed in the various colors of the crosses which mark the graves; but suddenly, and without warning, the vision is astonished with a grotesque contrast, which is truly a shocking commentary upon civilization. 

It appears that the ground in this cemetery is leased, not sold, and if after a term of five years the renewal rent is not paid the dead forfeit their resting places.  The bodies are ruthlessly dug up and cast into a common heap, exposed to public view along with thousands of other skulls and bones of men, women, and children who can never be traced by posterity.