E: That would be those demijohn bottles?
RC: Yes.
E: They would trade that to Travia, or he would trade it over
there?
RC: He would trade the fish in Cuba for liquor.
E: And he would get the rum back the other way?
RC: Yes. He would get a little money.
E: Did he use the rum to buy fish or trade for fish?
RC: No. He would bring that back over here. In 1910 that is
the reason the government moved them all off, because there
was bootlegging and smuggling.
E: Right. There are demijohn bottles all over the islands.
Useppa is covered with broken demijohns or the necks of
them. All of them islands are. Cayo Pelau is loaded with
them. So they were doing more than storing water in them.
RC: They used to have straw around them, but now they do not.
The straw has rotted off.
E: Is that to stop them from breaking?
RC: Yes.
E: Do you know that they only held four and a half gallons, not
five?
RC: No, I did not know how much they held.
E: Yes, they sold for five gallons, but they only held four and
a half. Do you think that during Prohibition that stuff was
still coming in here?
RC: Oh, sure.
E: There are quite a few of them broken bottles down in the
bayou across from the Pink Elephant.
RC: Sure. Why do you think people came down here to go fishing?
They would come to Useppa and stay two or three months at a
time.
E: Was that because it was better liquor than moonshine? Did
they prefer that over moonshine?
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