Hurricanes are frequent, and at times do great damage. A storm of several years ago unroofed many of the houses, tore down palm trees and destroyed most of the foliage. Traces of the hurricane may still be seen, but its effect is gradually being obliterated. Many steamers have been wrecked on these islands. Among numerous sailors stranded on St. Thomas was a Frenchman named Louis Monsanto. He founded on the shore of Krum Bay what he calls the graveyard of ships. Lying about are several odd figureheads that once adorned the bows of lost boats. Each has its story of thrilling escapes and tragic loss of life to awe the listener. Marines now police the island, and to them has been entrusted the task of restoring order, mounting guns for the protection of the harbor, and firmly establishing American rule. [Illustration: VIRGIN ISLAND TAXI-CAB AND EXPRESS SERVICE] _An Island Bluebeard_ These islands were once infested by pirates; in Charlotte Amalie we see Bluebeard’s and Blackbeard’s castles. An English pirate who married a woman from Charlotte Amalie went away on one of his piratical expeditions, entrusting to his wife a small box which he told her not to open unless he did not return in six months. After two months, woman’s curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box. She found therein just seven letters, but they were seven compromising letters written by women of Charlotte Amalie. She did not kill her husband, instead she invited the women to an afternoon tea at her home and poisoned all seven. So, you see it was not, in this case, the man who was the “bluebeard,” but the wife--a sort of bluebearded lady. She was arrested, tried and convicted, and was condemned to be burned at the stake. The eventful day arrived. Fagots were piled high about her, the torch was about to be applied, when the pirate ship appeared in the harbor, the pirate and his crew came ashore, and the wife was rescued. Then she sailed away with her husband, and they “lived happily ever after.” [Illustration: ENTRANCE OF THE GRAND HOTEL, CHARLOTTE AMALIE From “The Virgin Islands of the United States of America,” by Luther K. Zabriskie, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Publishers] _St. John and St. Croix_ The smallest of the inhabited islands is St. John. The few people living there are employed in picking bay leaves. The bay tree thrives on the island, and the oil obtained from its leaf is used in the making of bay rum.