The Tribune | Weekend | 25
Friday, August 12, 2016
Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha Published in 1981, “The Mosquito Coast” is Theroux’s most successful novel
Birdrock Lighthouse
Long connections to Long Cay
T Best-selling A m travel writer an erican novelist Paul d Theroux environmental laws, and that they have ruthlessly killed protected species like the jaguar which raid their cattle. Mark Howell, who owns and runs the Lamanai Lodge, showed me a night film clip of a large male jaguar eating one of his victims. The beast is known to have killed 26 cattle. We looked in vain for the beautiful nocturnal cat although we did see fresh droppings and some recent territorial markings on trees. There are 56 different species of snakes in Belize, but only eight are considered dangerous to humans. Therefore, when we went on walking safaris, we were particularly careful where we put our feet. The narrow rough paths seemed safe enough but the jungle floor, with its mottled shades of dark and light, required particular caution. Apart from looking for jaguar tracks, we saw more Howler monkeys, White Tailed Deer, Great Curassow birds and both the rare Boat-billed Heron and the Tiger Heron. Needless to say we continued to be plagued by mosquitoes. No amount of insect repellent seemed to keep them away. We revisited the Mayan Jaguar temple through a separate path in the
rain forest and came across an old 1856 sugar mill now in ruins with trees growing through its brick foundations. It is rumoured that the British owner paid his workers in rum rather than currency - with the inevitable disastrous consequences. All too soon our short Belize jungle experience ended with another beautiful boat journey back down the New River and then to the Belize City airport by road. What a change from the seclusion of the rain forest, away from the wildlife excitement and the warm friendly Belizean staff. And their exotic Central American cooking. Despite the difficulty getting there Lamanai must surely be one of the most unique getaway havens for fishing, ruin exploration, night safaris, crocodile encounters, and even jaguar tracking. I was homesick for the Belizean jungles even before I had left them. • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is an adventurer and writer resident in the Bahamas. A Sri Lankan-born Canadian-Englishman, he is the author of several books, including “Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari”
his week’s article was inspired by Dr Ian BethellBennett, who wrote about his recent visit to Long Cay (often called Fortune Island), that almost-abandoned island which played such an important part in the history of our Bahamas. Here are some of that island’s unsung heroes. Ian’s great, great grandfather is James Edward Aranha, who is my great grandfather, so Ian is my ‘first cousin twice removed’. If that isn’t complicated enough, James Aranha’s older brother was John Miguel Aranha, who married Helena Augusta Julie Scavella, of Long Cay, in 1881. John Aranha was a long-serving Out Island Commissioner (by whatever titles were in use during his time) and was stationed in several of them, but at least two of their seven children were born at Long Cay (1886 and 1902). Helena Scavella was one of 12 children of Henry Scavella (1805-1884), who was born, and died, at Long Cay. Henry’s father, John Scavella, came from Messina, Italy, and died at Long Cay around 1831. He married Eliza Moss, of Crooked Island, and their five children were born, and died, at Long Cay and Crooked Island. Ian’s article included a photo of the ‘Lighthouse off Long Cay’, which is called Bird Rock Lighthouse and was built by Francis Jessemy de Souza Leal Aranha, the father of James and John Aranha, who was born in Brazil and settled at Inagua around 1849.
John and Helena’s daughter, Elizabeth Blanche Aranha, married Mitchell Stafford Bullard, of Exuma, and I met their son, Frank Bullard, a Canadian by birth, some years ago, when he knocked on my door and introduced himself. He looked so much like my late father, William Aranha (who had been Crown Lands Officer), that I was almost speechless. Although I have flown over Long Cay hundreds of times, I went there only once, when Frank chartered one of my planes to take Sloane Farrington and several engineers to Long Cay, where Frank hoped to develop family-owned land. Sloane, a realtor, was to handle sales. We landed at Pitt’s Town, Crooked Island, and hired two outboarddinghies to take the 10 of us to Long Cay, which Ian describes just as I remember it. In the late afternoon, on the way back to Crooked Island, the engine on our dinghy broke down and it looked like we might spend a hungry night, stranded at sea, hoping that the anchor would hold. Remembering that Sloane and Sir Durward Knowles had been world champions of Star Class sailing, I suggested to Sloane that with my shirt and his sailing skills, he could sail the dinghy to somewhere on Crooked Island - and this is exactly what he did. After a long walk back to the plane, we managed to get airborne before sunset.
• islandairman@gmail.com