Caribbean Holiday

[Music] [Music] it was christopher columbus who named the archipelago of the caribbean the west indies because he hoped he had found a new route to india the spaniards who came after him discovered that this new world held greater riches than india so it was inevitable that the british branch and dutch soon sees their own footholds the island of saint vincent is british and visitors are always drawn to ancient stronghold of the empire 250 feet above the sea its guns date from the time of george the third and many a raiding pirate ship have they smashed on the sea far below kingstown for all its atmosphere of the tropics is as british as london in its speech and customs and from this port picturesque craft ply the windward island trade routes st george is the capital of the island of granada a resplendent gem in the necklace of emerald isles that encircle the caribbean the natives are proud of indian ancestry and still know secrets of the caribs of four centuries ago the quaint city basks in age-old dignity a place of perpetual summer where life is languorous and no one is ever in a hurry the island of granada was french and part of st george's charm is the influence indelibly stamped upon it by first its spanish then its french conquerors and finally its 18th century british overlords it is in granada that much of america's rich chocolate originates in the form of cocoa beans and the harvesting and husking of the pods keep a large portion of the native population busy and this is how the beans are polished all the while a rhythmic chant is sung and dancing feet keep moving in syncopated time with no suggestion that this is really work into the harbor of fort de france an island schooner foams along in the ever-present trade wind except for those occasional periods of strife or disaster hardly any caribbean island has escaped life has flowed on its easy way on martinique whatever happens the natives continue to make gayles and the city of fort de france shows little signs of martinique's terrible volcanic disaster of 1902 or of the wars raids and insurrections in its history [Music] the imposing hall of justice dominates the city and here is seen a monument to shoulder who freed the slaves of martinique outpost of france in the antilles trinidad has one of the most interesting monasteries in the western hemisphere mount saint benedict caribbean home of the famous benedictine order and here the brothers of the order pursue a wide variety of occupations with the pride of craftsmanship that helps to achieve perfection down the ages the benedictines throughout the world have set a high standard in arts sciences and handicrafts these brothers are making the candles that will symbolize their faith and some will be embellished with the care given a permanent canvas to this mountain retreat come godly men of many lands consecrating themselves to the service of all mankind as has ever been the evol purpose of this ancient order shades of robinson crusoe here's where he was shipwrecked the tiny and picturesque island of tobago crusoe was british and so of course britain still rules with the seat of his majesty's government in the neat little city of charlotteville the complexities of modern life do not bother the natives very much nature has endowed them with a paradise as a home and as long as they have food and clothing what more is needed certainly no washing machines can be sold here though there is no lack of determination to keep the family supplied with clean linen tobago once uninhabited is still a place of few people and an isle of peace and beauty though it has strategic importance in the chain of outposts encircling the panama canal [Music] guarding the harbor of san juan puerto rico stan's ancient moral castle built by the spaniards in 1541 and since the spanish-american war an american army post the state its imposing dome dominates the ancient city of san juan a symbol of the island's progress now a territory of the united states puerto rico is the only land under the american flag on which columbus ever set foot here the past and present meat for instance the oldest street in the western hemisphere and nearby one of the new world's oldest churches seen through a gate dating from the 1500s the spanish club center of spanish culture in the old city is guarded by the famous laughing lines of great antiquity there are places here where beautiful orchids grow wild and flame with an exotic beauty is one of puerto rico's important crops and the berries come from small delicate bushes protected from the tropic sun rain and winds by taller shade trees grown and trimmed with care curacao nestled in the caribbean 40 miles off the coast of venezuela is a dutch possession with its quaint all-world capital willemstad this is one of the most important colonies of the netherlands and willemstad has been a port and a busy port for more than a century dutch is the official language of course but the natives speak popumento a combination of dutch spanish english french portuguese and indian practically a universal language under the flag of the netherlands curacao has prospered because of the coral rock formation of curacao cemetery graves are built tomb like above the ground this burial place dates from 1769. before oil came to curacao the manufacture of palomar hats was the little island's main industry and even now the natives turn out yearly hundreds of thousands of hats to be shipped all over the world thrust out into the broad atlantic the british island of barbados lies closest to the old world of all the caribbean archipelago it is a veritable sugar bowl with its wide acres of cane and occasionally seen an ancient mill which must be laboriously turned to face the wind when cane is to be ground now the strong trade wind catches the sails which bother the power to turn the ponderous crushers within the structure the turning sail subsided from afar and soon the fresh-cut cane begins to arrive every stalk heavy with a sweet liquid sap that will reach markets of the world in many forms now it pours from the crushers to be collected and made ready for processing into raw brown sugar all that is picturesque and of the old order contributes to the conviction that columbus found so much more than a new route to india he opened the door to a new world a wonder world and an inviting portal to the enchantment of a caribbean holiday