Frenchman's Pass (Rooi Frances)

OVERVIEW

Frenchman's Pass — Franse Pas in Dutch, Rooi Frances in Papiamento — is a narrow cut between coral cliffs at Balashi, north of Spanish Lagoon, near the ruins of the Balashi gold smelter from the island's gold-mining period. It is one of Aruba's oldest place-names.

HISTORY

The name comes from a tradition, not a document: in the early 1600s French raiders are said to have landed and been met here by the island's indigenous Caquetío people under a leader remembered as Gaspeti. Driven back, the islanders hid in a cave nearby; the French lit fires at its mouth and the people inside died of the smoke. No contemporary account of the fight survives; the story is Aruba's, passed down.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Residents around the pass and Spanish Lagoon have long said that cries and voices are heard in the pass after dark, and that the spirits of those who died in the cave linger there. The tradition is recorded by the Aruba Tourism Authority and island historians as folklore. It is a place of memory for the island's first people, and members should treat it as one.

VISITING

Near Balashi, north of Spanish Lagoon. Free to walk; the smelter ruins are a short distance away. Respect the site.