|
a,
r .t
T reliable
UNIVERSITY ,needs
no
OF FLORIDA r
L LIBRARIES '
'6
f
act SetUl-rs
I"
3 ^niut.
HOED.
ine8s.
1HIS VOLUMiE AEN
WICADF R MEP
BT TIE W ~f~l SITY OF ie Revised
Editi F ME LW m LESSER
ANT ......, O.. J.... v, u, ,0 ue ruolishers.
Agent for West India Advertisements:-Mr. R. G. McHUGH,
Editor and Proprietor of "The Voice of St. Lucia," Castries,
St. Lucia, B.W.I.; from whom Copies of the Guide may be
obtained.
N.B.-AU previous Advertisers if desirous of continuing their Notices, must renew
them for the Revised Edition.
ADVERTISEMENTS. 1
THE. GUARANTEED ANALYSIS OF
JENSEN'S "C.P." GUANO
Does
not
exhaust
but
enriches
the
soil.
AMMO NIA (ORGaAMC) 6e to 7}
PHPHOSPHATES (BONE) 20 to 22
POTASH (SULPHATE) 7 to 8
SBREST SUBSTITUTE
FOPPEIRUV4AN GUANO J
SIX
PRIZE
MEDALS
Awarded
1888.
1888.
SJ.JENS PI Tt b
S09 PANCML ucM v..aLE. E
LONDON. ENCLANO...,.
Full particulars may be obtained of the following Agents:-
BARBADOES & DEMERARA:- TRINIDAD:-Gordon Grant & Co.
Thos. Daniel & Co., Ltd. I ANTIGUA:-G. W. BEnnett & Co.
JAMAICA :--. H. McDowell Kingaton.
or of J. JEKSEN & Co., LTD. 109, FENGHURCH 8T., LONDON.
THE necessity for COLONISTS and OTHERS to nave a reliable
LONDON AGENT as a Centre for all requirements, needs
no explanation; and
OWEN T. BULKELEY,
*t
acts a
3Etu
GO
IMS VOLUME K~iN
MICROF itMEDf
/ lT TIE iKl SITy Of
Editi FLQIRA LiaWalII l.
ANT .....- -w uo a. ...ca tRv, ,
igentt
E.d,
di:g. SetUtler
FES.
flatine.
AWARDED.
iness.
ie Revised
LESSER
ue ruulishers.
Agent for West India Advertisements:-Mr. R. G. McHUGH,
Editor and Proprietor of "The Voice of St. Lucia," Castries,
St. Lucia, B.W.I.; from whom Copies of the Guide may be
obtained.
Nl.-Afl previous Advertisers if desirous of continuing their Notices, must renew
them for the Revised Edition.
ADVERTISEMENTS. 1"
THE GUARANTEED ANALYSIS OF
JENSEN'S "C.P." GUANO
is
aAMMONIA (ORnAMe) C6 to 71
PHOSPHATES (BoNE) 20 to 22
POTASH (SULPHATE) 7 to 8
Does
not
exhaust
but
enriches
the
soil
SIX
PRIZE
MEDALS
Awarded
in
1888.
S-J P 40f 9 P*C~uNCW STREeT.'
jl LONDON. ETCLANO. a-- j
Full particulars may be obtained of the following Agents:-
BARBADOES & DEMEBRAA:- TRINIDAD :-Gordon Grant & Co.
Those. Daniel & Co., Ltd. ANTIGUA:-G. W. Bennett & Co.
JALMAIA :-J. H. MoDowell ingston.
Or of J. JEKSEN & Co., LTD. 109, FENCHURCH ST., LONDON.
2 ADVERTISEMENTS.
ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET GO.
West Indies and Pacific (via Panama),
Colon (Aspinwall), Savanilla, Central American and
South Pacific Ports, San Francisco, Japan,
China, and British Columbia.
The Company's Steamers leave Southampton, with Her Majesty's
Mails, on every alternate Thursday, conveying Passengers and Parcels, also
Specie and Goods, under through Bill of Lading, direct to
BARBADOS,
thence to Jamaica and Colon (Panama).
Passengers and Mails for the Islands of the Lesser Antilles, are
here transferred to the Company's Intercolonial Steamers free of extra charge.
An additional Steamer leaves once every four weeks for
BARBADOS, ST. LUCIA, TRINIDAD, LA GUAYRA,
PORTO CABELLO, CURACAO, SAVANILLA,
CARTHAGENA, COLON, LIMON, & GREYTOWN.
Brazil and River Plate Mail Steamers :-
The Royal Mail Steam Packets also leave SOUTHAMPTON,
carrying Her Majesty's Mails, for Vigo, Lisbon, Pernambuco, Bahia,
Rio de Janeiro, Mont Video, and Buenos Ayres every alternate
Thursday; and every fourth Thursday for Carril, St. Vincent, Cape
Verdes, Maceio, and Santos.
LIBERAL REDUCTIONS IN FAVOUR OF FAMILIES & TOURISTS,
Tourist Tickets issued to all places comprised in the Company's
Itineraries, affording Travellers for pleasure and health every
facility for visiting the various ports touched at by the Company's
Steamers.
For particulars, apply at the offices of the Company, 18, Moorgate
Street, London, B.C., Southampton, and Manchester.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
WHAT IS LIME JUICE?
T HIS question is rendered necessary from the prominent
attention it is attracting as the Best Temperance Beverage. The
answer is that it should be the Juice of the Lime Fruit without admixture.
In Montserrat alone is the Lime Tree cultivated for this purpose, and great
care should be taken to obtain this brand (as supplied to the Government),
and not any of the numerous concoctions sold under the name of Lime Juice
Cordials or prepared Lime Juice, &. Ask for MONTSE HRAT,"
and take no other. It can be had everywhere, can be diluted and sweetened
to taste, and is far stronger than any other.
MONTSERRAT"
(TRADE MARK)
PURE LIME-FRUIT JUICE
In IMPERIAL QUARTS and PINTS.
Many other Refreshing Drinks can be produced with the Montsetrat"
Lime-Fruit Cordials-a list of which follows:-
LIXETTA, or PURE LIKE JUICE CORDIAL.
Aromatic, Clove, Strawberry, Raspberry, Sarsaparilla,
Pineapple, Jargonelle, Peppermint, Quinine,
ALSO
Lime-Fruit Juice Syrup.
CAUTION!
MOTTSERRhAT"
(TRADE MARK)
LIME-FRUIT JUICE & CORDIALS.
The success of the above has caused many IMITATIONS to spring up,
many of them UTTERLY WORTHLES3 Concoctions. It is, therefore, of
the utmost importance to Traders as well as the Pudlic to see that the trade
marks of the MONTSERRAT COMPANY (Limited), and the names of the
SOLE CONSIGNEES, are on the Capsule of each Bottle. The word Mont-
serrat" is also duly registered as a trade mark. Legal proceedings will be
instituted against all persons infringing the Trade Maiks as above named.
SOLE CONSIGNEES-
EVANS, SONS, & CO., Liverpool.
LONDON: CANADA;
EVANS, LESGHER & WEBB. I EVANS & SONS (LIMITED), MONTREAL.
b
ADVERTISEMENTS.
West India & Pacific Steamship Co.,Ltd.
PASSENGER ARRANGEMENTS.
The Company's Steamers are despatched punctually on the
following routes, viz. :-
Weekly, on Saturday-To BARBADOS, TRINIDAD, LA GUAYRA,
PUERTO CABELLO, CURACOA, SANTA MARTHA, SAVA-
NILLA, CARTHAGENA. COLON, AND NEW ORLEANS.
Every Four Weeks, Sailing on Thursday, via Bordeaux-To
COLON, VERA CRUZ, TAMPICO, PROGRESS, AND NEW
ORLEANS.
Every Four Weeks, Sailing on Thursday-To ST. THOMAS,
PORT-AU-PRINCE, KINGSTON, AND NEW ORLEANS.
For dates of Sailing, see Company's Sailing Lists, published
monthly.
From
SALOON FARES TO WEST INDIAN PORTS. Li"erpoo
and
Inland Towns.
To Barbados, Trinidad, St. Thomas, Port-au-Prince, and &. d.
Kingston .......................................................... 20 0 0
,, La Guayra, Puerto Cabello, Curacao, Santa Martha,
Savanilla .......................................................... 22 0 0
Carthagena and Colon ........................................... 22 0 0
,, Progreso, -Vera Cruz, and Tampico .......................... 25 0 0
New Orleans, by direct Steamer, 20, via Mexico or
Colon ................................................................ 25 0 0
From New Orleans to Liverpool direct 20.
A Deposit of 5 is required to secure a Berth; the balance to be
paid before embarkation.
The above Fares include the use of Bedding and Linen, Stewards' Fees, and all Charge,
except for Wines, Spirits, Malt Liquors, &c., which will be supplied on board at moderate prices.
Children and Servants at reduced rates.
TICKETS available for Six Months, for the Tour of the West Indian or Mexican Ports,
returning to Liverpool, viA New Orleans (or such other route as the steamer may take), and
entitling the holder to break the journey at any desired port, are issued from Liverpool only,
Puce Forty Pounds.
PACIFIC COAST.
Through Tickets are issued, viA Colon and Panama, to all Ports on the West Coast of North
and South America in connection with the Steamers of the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Co., and of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Co.
For further particulars apply to TEMILETON, SONS & Co., St. George's House, Eastcheap
and in Liverpool, at the Company's Office, The Temple, Dale Street.
SAMUEL WRIGHT, Manager.
ADVERTISEMENTS. 5
S. W. SILVER & CO.,
67 CORNHILL, & 29 OLD BOND STREET,
LONDON,
Supply every Necessary for Use on board Ship
and in the West Indies, &c.,
INCLUDING
CIjOTI ING,
SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR VARIOUS CLIMATES,
Cabin Furniture, Deck Chairs,
TRUNKS, BOXES, FIREARMS,
AMMUNITION, LOADING IMPLEMENTS,
TOOLS, &o., &o.
PASSAGES SECURED.
LISTS oF NECESSABIEB for Voyage to and Residence in ALL PABrB OF THo
WORLD.
INSURANCES EFFECTED.
Passengers' Baggage and Goods of all kinds
Received, Packed, and Shipped.
S. W. SILVER d Co.'s CIRCULAR NOTES, IN DUPLICA TE,
PAYABLE ALL THE WORLD OVER.
S. W. SILVER & Co.'s
HANDBOOKS AND MAPS TO THE VARIOUS COLONIES.
67 CORNHILL, AND 29 OLD BOND STREET, LONDON.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
MANLOVE, ALLIOTT, & O0., LTD.,
Colonial Engineers,
NOTTINGHAM,
LONDON. GLASGOW.
MAKERS
OF ALL KINDS
OF
SUGAR
MACHINERY,
Mills,
Gearing,
Engines,
Clarifiers,
Tanks,
Evaporators,
Concretors,
Bag Filters,
FilterPresses,
ENGLAND.
MANCHESTER.
AND EVERY
REQUISITE FOR
SUGAR
PLANTATIONS
AMD
SUGAR
REFINERIES.
Double Effects,
Triple Effects,
Vacuum Pans,
Air Pumps,
Centrifugals,
Boilers,
Tramways,
Weighbridges,
Buildings, etc.
Also Makers of Steam Laundry Machinery, Atkinson's Patent
"Cycle" Gas Engine.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON APPLICATION.
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:-
MANLOVES, NOTTINGHAM.
AD VERTISEMENTS.
ODAMS' FERTILIZERS,
MANUFACTURED BY THE
NITRO-PHOSPHATE
AND
ODAMS' CHEMICAL MANURE CO.,
IlWIITED,
Omsisting of Tenant-4rrmers occupying upwards of 150,000 Acres of Land.
By Special Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen.
Fertilizers for all the Crops of the Farm and Plantation.
SPECIAL EXPORT FERTILIZERS,
FOR
SUGAR-CANE, TEA, COFFEE, TOBACCO, COTTON, &c.
ANALYSES GUARANTEED.
Superphosphates, Crushed Bones, Bone Meal, Sulphate
of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Potash Salts, and all
other Manurial Substances supplied.
Manures Compounded to Order of any given Composition.
Chief Offce:-116, FENCHURCH STREET, LONDON.
Factory:-ODAMS' WHARF, VICTORIA DOCK, LONDON, E.
General Manager.-C. T. MACADAM, F.C.S. Secretary.-HENBT CLAYDEN.
8 ADVERTISEMENTS.
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & C0.'S PUBLICATIONS.
A WEST INDIAN SANATORIUM AND A GUIDE TO
BARBADOS. By the Rev. J. H. STTroN MoXLY, Chaplain to the Forces. Small poet 8vo.
cloth extra, 3s. 6d.
THE LAND OF THE PINK PEARL; or, Recollections of
Life in the Bahamas. By L. D. POWLES, late Circuit Justice in the Bahama Islands.
1 vol., demy 8vo., with Map, cloth, 10s. 6d.
"Mr. Powles deserves thanks for a pleasant book on an insufficiently appreciated corner of
the world."-Daily Telegraph.
TENTING ON THE PLAINS; or, General Custer in Kansas
and Texas. By ELIZABETH B. CCSTEB, Author of "Boots and Saddles." Royal 8vo., with
numerous Illustrations, cloth, 18s.
THREE CRUISES OF THE BLAKE.' By ALEXANDER AGASSIZ,
Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass. 2 vols., royal 8vo.,
fully Illustrated, 42s.
It is impossible to speak too highly of the results of the three cruises, with which Professor
Agassiz deals. The volumes are illustrated by about 550 illustrations, besides coloured
maps and diagrams, admirably executed, and add greatly to the utility of a work which is
creditable alike to the industry of the United States Government and to the industry and
scientific training of Professor Agassiz."-Times.
POPULAR WORKS OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.
THE GREAT LONE LAND. By Colonel W. F. BUTLER, C.B.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 7s. 6d.
THE WILD NORTH LAND. By Colonel W. F. BUTLER, C.B.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo., Is. 6d.
HOW I FOUND LIVINGSTONE. By H. M. STANLEY. Illustra-
tions and Maps. Crown 8vo., 7s. 6d.
THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. By H. M. STANLEY.
Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo., 12s. 6d.
THROUGH MASAI LAND. By JOSEPH THOMSON. Numerous
Illustrations. Crown 8vo., Is. 6d.
TO THE AFRICAN LAKES AND BACK. By JOSEPH
THaosoN. Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo., 7s. 6d.
THE THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN REGION. By
C. R. MARKHAM. Illustrated. 10s. 6d.
THE CRUISE OF THE CHALLENGER.' By W. J. J. SPRY,
R.N. illustrated. Is. 6d.
BURNABY'S 'ON HORSEBACK THROUGH ASIA MINOR.'
With Map. 10s. 6d.
SCHWEINFURTH'S 'HEART OF AFRICA.' Illustrated.
2 vols., 15s.
MARSHALL'S 'THROUGH AMERICA.' Illustrated. 7s. 6d.
THE CRUISE OF THE FALCON: a Voyage iu a 20-ton Yacht.
By E. F. KNIGHT. Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo., Is. 6d.
THE QUEEN'S HIGHWAY FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN.
By STUART CUMBERAhD. Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Is. 6d.
"Harper's Magazine is an extraordinary shillingsworth."-Wlustrated London News4
HARPER'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
DEVOTED TO ENTERTAINING GENERAL LITERATURE.
160 Royal Octavo Pages, with over 60 finely executed Woodcut Illustrations in each Number.
PRICE ONE SHILLING MONTHLY. At all Booksellers' and the Publishers',
Messrs. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON, Limited,
ST. DuNsTAr's Houss, FETTEa LANE, E.C.
AD VERTISEMENTS. 9
R. WAYGOOD & CO.,
ENGINEERS,
Manufacturers of
SUGAR MILLS & MACHINERY,
DRIVEN BY
Steam, Water, or Cattle Power.
ENGINES, BOILERS, AND PUMPS,
Water- Wheels and Cattle Gear,
COFFEE AND RICE MACHINERY,
HYDRAULIC AJD SCREW PFREppES.
APPLY FOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES.
WOlEsCS:
FALMOUTH ROAD, OT. DOVER STREET,
LONDON, S.E.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
OHLENDORFF'S
DISSOLVED PERUVIAN GUANO
GOLD MEDAL. GoLD MEDAL.
AND
Cane Manures
ARE THE BEST
FOR THE
SUGAR CANE.
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS.
REDUCED PRICES.
PERUVIAN GUANO,
GENUINE, AS IMPORTED.
OFFICIAL ANALYSIS.
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Potash, Nitrate of Soda,
Sulphate of Potash, Concentrated Superphosphates, and Special
Manures for the various Colonial Crops, all with guaranteed
Analysis.
THE
ANGLO CONTINENTAL
(LATE OHLENDORFF'S)
G TA 3 C0 WO CEL W s,
London Agency,
15, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C.
Sole Importers of Peruvian Guano in the United Kingdom and other
countries, under the new contract with Chilian Government.
~.~Z7Lrn
A TROPIC BEACH.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
A
GUIDE FOR SETTLERS
IN THE
BRITISH WEST
INDIES,
AND TOURISTS' COMPANION.
BY
OWEN T. BULKELEY.
WITH SKETCHES FROM THE "ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS," AND
OTHER SOURCES.
"I conceive that no mission could be nobler and worthier for those interested
in these islands, than to bring a prosperity to them at all proportionate to
their resources of material wealth and natural beauty."-D. MOsrIS (from Address
delivered before the London Chamber of Commerce.)
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
LIMITED,
St. Dutstan's Rouse,
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1889.
[All rights reserved.]
LATIN
PA-IRICA
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
srAmFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ... ... ... ...
AREA, POPULATION AND PRICE OF CROWN LANDS IN THE
LESSER ANTILLES (INCLUDING TRINIDAD) ...
LINES OF ROUTE ...
THE VOYAGE ... ... ......
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES
(INCLUDING TBINIDAD) ...
BARBADOS ...
TOBAGO ... ...
TRINIDAD ... ...
GRENADA ... .
THE GRENADINES ...
ST. VINCENT ...
ST. LCIA ... ...
DOINICA ... ...
MONTSERRAT ... .
ANTIGUA ... .
NES ... .
ST. KITTS
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, AND
INFORMATION FOR INTENDING SETI
THE CULTIVATION OF SUGAR, CAC
OTHER INDURIES ...
THE COLOUED RACES ...
EDUCATION AND RELIGION
VEGETATION AND ANIMAL LIFE
... ... ... 20
... ... 21
... ... ... 29
.. ... ... 34
... ... ... 47
... ... ... 53
... ... ... 54
... 60
74
... ... 80
... ... ... 91
... ... ... 98
... ... ... 102
IIOME ... ... 108
CLERS .. ... 111
AO, AND COCO-NUTS ... 124
... 147
... ... ... 177
... ... ... 187
... ... ... 198
XII. DOLLAR AND STERLING TABLE, WITH EXPORT DUTIES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
A TROPIC BEACH ... ...
MAp OF THE LESSER ANTILLES ... ...
SKETCH MAP OF LINE OF ROUTE ...
THE TUG "ALEXANDRA" LEAVING THE SHIP AT
BYE" ... ...
BABADOS ... ... ...
STREET SCENE, BARBADOS: THROWING MONEY ...
MAP or TRINIDAD ... ...
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD ......
ST. VINCENT ...... ...
ST. LUCIA ... ...
ECUELLING ESSENCE P OM LIMES ..
PLYMOUTH, MONTSEAT ...
GATHERING LIME ......
BRINGING HOME THE FBUIT ... ...
OLVESTON LIME-JUICE WOBKS, MONTSEBBAT
SELLING THE POOL TICKETS ON BOARD THE S.S.
ICE-STALL IN A WEST INDIAN MARKET ...
MENDING ROADS ... ... ... ...
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BARBADOS ... .
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, TRINIDAD ... ...
THE HIGH WOOD ... ... ...
... Frontispiec
... To face 9
11
NETLEY: "GOOD-
... ... 15
... To face 21
... 25
... To fae 34
S ,, 39
,, ,54
.. ... 62
... ... 81
.. ... 84
... ... 85
... ... 89
... ... 90
"MOSELLE" ... 118
... ... 179
... 182
... ... 189
... ... 193
... 199
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
"The handbooks were equally barren. In them I found nothing but
modern statistics pointing to dreary conclusions, and in the place of any
human interest, long stories of constitutions, suffrages, representative
assemblies, powers of elected members, and powers reserved to the Crown.
Such things, important as they might be, did not touch my imagination;
nnd to an Englishman, proud of his country, the West Indies had a far
higher interest."-J. A. FROUDE, The English in the West Indies.
IT is a notorious fact, acknowledged by writers of every
shade of opinion, as well as by official statistics, that while
the white population of the British West Indies is annually
decreasing, the coloured folk are as steadily increasing.
Various are the causes assigned for this dwindling:
witness Sir Graham Briggs's assertion in 1883, that "the
inevitable tendency of this rule (of the consignee's lien*
in the Encumbered Estates Court) is, of course, to wipe
out the resident proprietors;" or Mr. Froude's recent
statements regarding the future domination of the negro
on the Haytian pattern, as checking immigration thither;
or again the opinion of Mr. Burnley, in 1842, since backed
i.e. precedence to the "merchant's open account," over mortgage-
settlement, or any other claim, without reference to date.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
up by Mr. Salmon, in 1888, that "no men of wealth and
independent feeling will submit to remain in a country,
where they find themselves and children virtually excluded
from official rank, emolument, and political influence:"
all of which reasons, no doubt, find their several supporters.
As antagonistical are the opinions expressed with
regard to this exodus: some considering the passing
away of the old regime and the increase of peasant
proprietors a sure advance in prosperity; while others
deplore the break-up of the sugar monopoly, and look with
dismay at the increasing status of the coloured people.
Thank Heaven, there are still plenty of energetic men
left in our fair West Indian colonies; and the "pale
complaining beings" must either be got "to believe that
their prosperity depends but little on statutes and govern-
mental interference," but rather upon their own honest
exertions, or they must give place to better men.
One thing is certain, that if the white population is to
again increase, it must be through the introduction of new
blood, and, moreover, of those unacquainted with, or by
no ways influenced by, past prosperity or present depres-
sion; and whenever an energetic new-comer endeavours
to push his way, there must be no obstacles placed in his
path. What says Charles Kingsley?-" West Indians
are inclined at once to envy and to pooh-pooh the super-
fluous energy of new-come Europeans," and so pull them
down to their own level of inactivity, and consequent
depression.
Let there be no mistake about the negro: he is
generally willing enough to work for good wages, and at
permanent employment; though where he is a peasant
proprietor, he cannot be expected to neglect his own
holding, just when the white man requires his labour. I
agree heartily with Mr. Froude, that "the real want in
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
the islands is of intelligent Englishmen (or Scotchmen or
Irishmen) to employ and direct them," and that "the
negroes do not care for politics, and would be pleased to
see them swept away to-morrow, if they were governed
wisely and fairly." I think also that Mr. Salmon hits
the nail on the head in stating, "The negro is apt to be a
lazy fellow in that island, where he is little or none the
better for working hard;" and that he gives the best
reason for his laziness in the following: "but the causes
for this are the low wages offered, combined with the dear
food."
What could be the reason," asks Dr. Nicholls, "why
young Englishmen went planting to so many other
countries, went even to Ceylon and Borneo; while com-
paratively at their own doors, within a fortnight's sail of
Plymouth, there was this island (Dominica), immeasurably
more fertile than either? Again, in writing of the same,
Mr. Froude declaims: "Here was all this profusion of
nature, lavish beyond example, and the enterprising
youth of England were neglecting a colony, which might
yield them wealth beyond the treasures of the old sugar-
planters; going to Florida, to Texas, to South America,
taking their energy and their capital to the land of the
foreigner, leaving Dominica, which might be the garden
of the world, a precious emerald set in the ring of their
own Antilles, enriched by the sacred memories of glorious
English achievements, as if such a place had no existence."
And these remarks are applicable to most of the islands.
Well, what is the reason? Certainly not a political
one! I can give two reasons why our young men do not
emigrate to the West Indies. Firstly, that no popular
information with regard to the advantages of emigrating
thither is, or has ever been, vouchsafed to them in the
matter; there being no Agent-General for these colonies,
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
who would both attend to the interests of those residing
there, and be able to afford to intending settlers and
others full information and statistical abstracts concerning
the several industries, and value of land, etc., in the
different islands. Secondly, from lack of such knowledge,
that old prejudices and erroneous ideas regarding climate
and that old bogey "yellow fever," as well as mistaken
impressions as to the impossibility of Europeans working
in these settlements, have deterred those who would from
emigrating thither.
From Pere Labat, Michael Scott, and other narrators
down to present illustrious authors, we have had various
entertaining, instructive, and political works on West
Indian topics in general, which have one and all drawn
transient attention to these fair but neglected colonies;
but, as far as I can ascertain, no one (excepting Mr.
Morris) has endeavoured, by affording practical informa-
tion on the subject, to induce new settlers to make trial
of the resources of these islands.
Other colonies of more recent date are all duly repre-
sented by their Agents-General, and issue through the
offices of the same pamphlets, maps, statistics, lines of
route, etc., etc., which, placed before the very eyes of those
persons undetermined where to settle, must exercise a
very great influence in bringing them to a decision; and
which, by their glowing descriptions and fervid induce-
ments to settlers, do more to increase the population of
their several countries than any State-aided emigration
could possibly accomplish.
My advice is, to flood the country with literature of a
cheap and attractive character, on the advantages attend-
ing immigration to the British West Indies; and it is in
order to further this purpose, and to remove old erroneous
prejudices, that this Guide is now issued.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
With a view therefore to induce a new energetic set
of men to reclaim these beautiful islands from the down-
ward path they have too long been pursuing, and to
encourage those already settled there, I have endeavoured
to put together a few practical facts concerning the
advantages offered by these colonies to the intending
settler, together with allusions to industries, new, old, and
yet untried, which I trust may be found of service, and
lead others to exert themselves in a similar direction.
Further, and in order to eschew as far as possible the
political side of the question in the body of the book,
I would ask the Home Government, in view of the in-
creasingly democratic aspect of West Indian society,
what (if any) steps are being taken to meet the wishes of
the vast majority of the people? As I am confident,
from all I have heard, seen, and read, that a little attention
to their reasonable discontent at having no popularly
elected representatives (Barbados excepted) would go far
in the way of encouraging the present colonists to become
industrious planters and merchants (for I take it that no
man negligent in his own affairs would ever be elected to
look after those of the community), I cannot too earnestly
or emphatically urge that, with certain well-defined,
judiciously guarded reservations, the non-oficial members
of the Exeeutive should be elected at the polls by the people.
My grateful thanks are due to the proprietors of the
Illustrated Londonr News for so generously placing at my
disposal Mr. Melton Prior's recent sketches in the West
Indies, and to Messrs. Macmillan and Co. for the three
engravings, "A Tropic Beach," "St. Lucia," and "The
High Woods," from Charles Kingsley's "At Last;"
also to Messrs. Evans, Son, & Co., of Liverpool, for their
views in Montserrat; then to Messrs. Harrison and Sons'
Colonial Office List I am indebted for much of the history
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
relating to the Lesser Antilles, and to the Barbados
and West India Directory, and Messrs. Silver and Co.'s
"Handbook of the West Indies," for some interesting
local details, as also to the Kew Bulletin for some succinct
particulars of botanical industries; while to Mr. Hamel
Smith, of 109, Fenchurch Street, I owe my first introduc-
tion to the West Indies and the cultivation of cacao.
I have invited well-known British firms to advertise in
this book, so that intending settlers may know where to
procure what they may need in these colonies, and in
order to counteract, as far as possible, the effect produced
by the numerous foreign advertisements so freely cir-
culating in our West Indian possessions; for our colonists
may rest assured of the willingness of their own countrymen
to supply them with all they may need, at as reasonable
prices as, and of superior quality to, those goods they now
so freely purchase from other countries.
I shall be pleased to receive from any of the islands
additional information likely to interest intending settlers,
which will duly appear in a future revised edition
(probably in the autumn of 1891), and I shall greatly
esteem the receipt of both friendly and other critiques,
which may assist me in any way in improving this
Guide.
N.B.-To Tourists, Invalids, and Yachtsmen.
"If some fashionable doctor could be got to sing the praises of these
islands, much good would result."-J. 0. GIBBONS.
To the visitor, a new and enchanting field is opened
out by a tour up or down these islands, as good hotels
and boarding-houses may be found in most of them, and
others are springing up, so that he may be certain of
procuring bodily comforts; while to the invalid a balm
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
of content and exemption from suffering is in store,
together with the satisfaction of knowing that in almost
every island there are natural medicinal springs similar
to those of Aix les Bains and other Continental spas.
Both should start during November, when tropical heat
and rains will have given over, and the islands will be
putting on their brightest and freshest appearance. Each
island should be visited, and arrangements made before-
hand (through an agent) for board and lodging at the
same; and from ten days to a fortnight, or a month at
the larger islands, will be found none too long a stay in
order to properly explore the beauties of the same.
The sportsman may always find game (in Trinidad,
alligators) to bag, the angler abundance of strange fish
for his hook, the equestrian and pedestrian daily delightful
rides and rambles; while those who are geologists,
mineralogists, botanists, zoologists, or conchologists had
better take a final farewell of their friends at home, for
they will be hardly able to tear themselves away from
the extraordinary attractions presented by these paradises
of the West.
To the yachtsman, I cannot do better than quote
Messrs. S. W. Silver and Co., who write:-
"Winter afloat in the West Indies is most like a
glorious summer, and at such a time, when yachts and
steam-launches are laid up at home, the trip should be
taken. With a well-found private yacht, either steam or
sailing, the islands could be visited in succession with
ease and comfort. With a harbour handy to run into
every fifty miles or less, with abundance of provisions
available on every side, with the hospitality for which
West Indians are proverbial awaiting each visitor from
the old country, with magnificent and ever-changing
scenery and wealth untold of plant, animal, bird, and fish
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
life, the islands ought to become a favourite haunt for
the English tourist."
The intense luxury in, and beneficial effects resulting
from sea-bathing in the tropics-the water being of ex-
traordinary clearness and rarity-form an additional
inducement for visitors to do the grand tour, and it is
satisfactory to know that our medical men are advising
invalids to proceed thither.
In conclusion, let me urge upon West Indians in general
the absolute necessity for bringing their Islands more
prominently before the British public, by advertising
largely in each and every favourable medium that may
offer; for, as a matter of fact, would-be settlers and visitors
have no inducements to proceed thither, the several
hotels, boarding-houses, natural attractions, and so forth
being comparatively unknown to any but the inhabitants
themselves; whereas other places, unworthy of competing
with the Lesser Antilles in health-giving qualities and
superb scenery, are advertised the whole tourist-world
over, thus attracting thousands to their coasts.
Why should West Indians for ever be content to "rest
under a cloud ? for if the sweet" has in a single instance
turned to "bitter," let it rather be a stimulus to exertion
in other directions, one of the chief of which should be
the disclosure of the best means of attracting visitors, to
winter in their midst.
( 9 )
II.
AREA, POPULATION, AND PRICE OF CROWN LANDS.
THE following are the principal islands of the Lesser
Antilles (including Trinidad):-
Area in I Price of Crown
British West Indies. Square Popula- Capital. Pre
Miles. tio. Lands.
1. *Barbados .. .. 166J 180,000 Bridgetown. None.
2. Trinidad and ... .. 17541 178,270 Port of Spain. 1 per acre.t
*Tobago.. .. .. 115 18,000 Scarborough. 10s. per acre.t
3. Windward Islands, viz.-
(a) Grenada .. .. 133 47,364 St. George. Little or none.
(b) St. Vincent.. .. 132| 42,000 Kingstown. 1, 2, to 5 per
acre.t
(c) St. Lucia .. .. 2371 47,791 Castries. 1 per acre.t
1. Leeward Islands, viz.-
(a) *Dominica .. .. 291 29,500 Roseau. 10s. per acre.t
(b) Montserrat .. .. 321 10,500 Plymouth.
(c) Antigua .. .. 1085 35,000 St. John's. Little or none
(d) St. Kitts and .. 68 remunerative.
SN } \ 45,000 Basseterre.
(e) Nevis 50
(f) The Virgin Islands 571 5,000 Tortola. 10s. per acre.t
No export duties.
t Payable by easy instalments. In Dominica, free grants are contem-
plated under certain conditions. N.B.-Where there are no Crown lands
available, land may be purchased under private treaty, very often at
reasonable terms; though where exceptionally well situated, as much as
from 50 to 100 per acre is required.
III.
LINES OF ROUTE.
Port.
Barbados
Tobago ..
Trinidad
Windward Islands, viz.-
St. Vincent
St. Lucia
Leeward Islands, viz.-
Dominica
Montserrat
Antigua
Nevis .. .
St. Kitts .
Virgin Islands-
St. Thomas (a Danish
colony), from whence
there is irregular com-
munication.
Names of Leading Companies.
Royal Mail videe advt.).
West India and Pacific
videe advt.).
Direct Line.
Harrison Line.
Same as to Windward
Islands.
Same as to Barbados.
Royal Mail and Direct
Line.
Royal Mail and Direct
Line.
Royal Mail to St. Kitts;
frequent communica-
tion by schooner, at a
small fare, between
St. Kitts and Nevis.
West India and Pacific.
Port of Embarkation. Fares. Duration of Voyage.
Southampton 1st class, 25, 35, 13 days.
(alternate Thursdays). 43 10s.; 2nd, 20;
3rd, 15 (men only).
Liverpool (weekly). 1st class, 20. 16 days.
London.
Liverpool.
Same as to Barbados. Same as to Barbados. 14 days by Royal
Mail.
14 days by Royal
Mail; 18 days
by West India
and Pacific.
S About 15 days by
Royal Mail.
S About 16 days by
Royal Mail.
,About 17 days
by Royal Mail.
Liverpool (monthly).
15 to 16 days.
U-.. NN,,,1-ard -n1 I--d .I1.nds. p ...na.r. I,-1 th R-1ra Mdi! tt tt R-1 I...
Pi .II.-- T~,r ~Trll.illl.l 111111 1-1,1111.().
111
( 13 )
IV.
THE VOYAGE.
HAVING myself travelled exclusively by the Royal Mail
Steam Packet Company's line of route, perhaps a brief out-
line of events likely to occur during the voyage will be of
interest, and I therefore cannot do better than relate my
own experiences on board the good ship Moselle (Captain
Jellicoe). After securing his berth in good time prior to
the date announced for the departure of the steamer, so
as to avoid hurry and confusion at the last, the intending
settler or visitor, finding his way to Southampton Docks,
will embark on one of the company's vessels, which with
common luck will convey him within the fortnight to
Barbados. We will suppose, for the benefit of the tourist,
that having embarked for Barbados, he will thence pro-
ceed vie Tobago to Trinidad, whence, after thoroughly
doing that superb and interesting island, he intends
voyaging leisurely up and down the Windward and
Leeward groups, stopping here and there as inclination
suits him, until he rejoin the homeward-bound Trans-
atlantic liner at Barbados. By adopting this route, I
shall be enabled to unfold, for the benefit of future
settlers, the peculiar beauties of each island, together
with succinct details of their several industries, accom-
panied by hints as to the development of new productions.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
On arriving at the docks, our luggage is duly labelled
with the name of the island destined to receive us, and
proceeding on board the tender, we are soon alongside
our floating home. Before finally starting, there is ample
time for comfortably settling down, and, if alone, for
making the acquaintance of our cabin companions; if
absolutely necessary, the courteous agent of the company,
who is on board till the departure of the vessel, will allow
one to change cabins, which is often a much-to-be-desired
indulgence on his part. Having settled these little
matters, there is found laid out in the spacious saloon, an
excellent cold luncheon, of which passengers and their
friends are alike invited to partake; and this is a very
gracious attention by the authorities, which enables all to
enjoy a last social entertainment, and is productive of that
hilarity and cheerfulness which in some measure breaks
the pang of parting. And here it may be well to note
that, at the first dinner on board, one must be careful to
select a seat at some particular table, where either friends
or kindred spirits may be found; for, having once made
such choice of quarters, one is very naturally expected to
keep to the same, in order to avoid confusion during the
voyage. There is generally a sort of esprit de corps among
the occupants of a table, a good fellowship which, if
properly responded to, makes the time pass pleasantly,
and often results in lifelong friendships.
Off Netley, we receive the mails from shore, the tug
which brings them lying alongside, till our friends, with
many adieus, some of a cheerful, hopeful nature, others
with sad falling tears, have all left the ocean steamer;
then the anchor is raised, the screw propels itself through
the hissing waters, and we are off. I may reasonably
trust that the disaster of a fog, which brought us to
anchor again almost immediately, and hung like a pall
THE VOYAGE.
over the ship for three whole days, obscuring the vision
further than a few yards on either side, may not be
experienced by any reader of this Guide; for the effect is
decidedly depressing, and apt to damp the spirits of the
9
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
most cheery on board. The only consolation we- derived
from this delay was our being enabled to surprise our
friends at home with letters apparently from the deep,
and by not alluding to the fog, give them cause for con-
jecture as to how we contrived to daily post our corre-
spondence.
Having duly sighted Eddystone Lighthouse, and taken
a last lingering farewell of old England, as the Lizard
Point gradually dies away in the dim haze, we turn our
attention to our fellow-travellers, make ourselves ac-
quainted with the good ship fore and aft, and, if good
sailors, enjoy prodigiously, with appetites sharpened by
the keen north-easter that wafts us on our way, the
excellent and often sumptuous fare provided for our
consumption; indeed, meal follows meal with striking
regularity, and the very tablecloths appear loth to leave
their respective boards. While the captain and officers
who preside over all, and in full fig dine with the pas-
sengers, are most courteous, gentlemanly men, ever ready
to advance the temporary interests of their charges, the
stewards will be found most attentive, and real friends in
time of need, while obliging civility attends any nautical
or other information obtainable from the ship's crew.
As to the amusements on board, they are both diverse
and original, much depending on the character and indi-
vidual resources of the passengers; and yet there is no
intrusion-social parties are respected and privacy not
invaded. Still, it becomes all to join in promoting
pleasure and entertainment; and improvised concerts,
private theatricals, and evening dances, to say nothing of
trials by jury, and local newspapers, are the cause of much
innocent enjoyment, mild flirtations, and general merri-
ment, without which a voyage would be monotonous
indeed. Quoits, bowls, and billiards, specially adapted to
THE VOYAGE.
the requirements of the ship itself, with chess, draughts,
and cards, find their several admirers, while smoking is
permitted in a saloon specially devoted to that purpose.
Having been so fortunate as to become the first winner
of the exciting daily lottery as to the good ship's speed, I
naturally view the same with considerable favour, at the
same time cautioning inexperienced ones against bidding
too freely for supposed lucky numbers. The modus
operandi is as follows:-All who wish contribute half a
crown or two shillings to the pool; the numbers, starting
from about 285 to 330, are then drawn for, and subse-
quently put up to auction, those considered as likely
distances for the ship's run fetching very often considerable
prices; half the sum attained for any ticket going to the
owner, half to the pool. When the sun has reached its
meridian, the observation is taken, calculations made (woe
betide that young officer whose sum total differs from
that obtained by his superior), and the result posted on
the companion ladder, and happy is that traveller who
possesses the lucky number.
The voyager is probably awakened, until accustomed
to the noise, at four o'clock in the morning, by the
"swabbing of the deck over his head, and is glad of the
steward's entrance at six, with cups of coffee, tea, or cocoa;
but until eight he is best in his cabin, his room being
preferable to his company by those whose duty it is to
clean, scrub, and make generally tidy. At eight one
gets the long-looked-for bath, either in the bathroom, or
on deck under the full stream of the hose. But the
passenger will soon become accustomed to the regular
daily routine, even to the Sunday morning service in
the saloon, where the captain is, as elsewhere, supreme,
and acts as his own chaplain; however, as there is often
a clergyman on board proceeding to his distant parish,
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
one then gets the benefit of a sermon befitting the
occasion.
MIany of us were accustomed to angle, with all kinds
of indescribable lines, for whatever the ocean would yield
of its animal or vegetable treasures; and if fish were not
caught in prodigious numbers, save when by chance the
engines were stopped, at all events rare seaweeds, and
portions of the world-famed Sargasso, or gulf-weed, with
its attendant zoophytes, molluscs, and the like, rewarded
the patience and dexterity of their captors.
After passing the Azores-a sight of which we failed
to obtain-the approach of the tropics was daily heralded
by the increasing warmth of the sun, and delightful
mildness of the north-east wind; until at length it
became necessary to raise the awning over the deck, and
from winter wraps there suddenly emerged, as from
the chrysalis state, full-fledged butterflies-the men in
the familiar white suits affected by those accustomed to
hot climates, and the ladies in every variety of summer
attire; while all felt their spirits invigorated by the
seemingly miraculous change from mid-winter to fairy
summer. And so on from day to day, till the Barbadian
passengers are seen on the alert (tell it not in Askelon
that top-hats are de rigueur for landing here!), and the
sailors are busy bringing up their belongings from the
hold, and getting the mails ready for conveyance ashore.
Now at last we sight a real tropical coast, and gaze
with profound interest at its rapidly approaching shores,
and presently we quietly drop anchor off Bridgetown,
Barbados. Here the new-comer will enjoy all the
pleasurable excitement that the first sight of strange
land, vegetation unknown and undreamed of, and a race
of men noted for their black skin, woolly hair, and thick
lips, may engender in his hitherto untravelled imagi-
THE VOYAGE.
nation by the change of steamers at Barbados; will
learn to appreciate the welcome cessation of the burr
caused by the ship's screw; and will have to part with
many pleasant fellow-travellers, partners in sickness and
health during the various vicissitudes attendant on the
crossing of the Atlantic, whom the different steamers will
convey away, each to his own island home. And it is
with no ordinary feelings of regret that we leave the
hospitable liner, where maybe we parted from those
nearest and dearest to ourselves off the shores of the dear
old home, found comfort and enjoyment in the society
on board, and nothing but kindness from those respon-
sible for our welfare; so that the last tie seems broken
when we shake hands and bid adieu to its courteous and
friendly commander.
Apropos of mal de mer, before undertaking a voyage
the "new-chum" should place himself under a good
medical man, who will so diet him previous to embarking
that, if attacked with sea-sickness, the same will soon
pass off, and he will be all the better afterwards. Soda-
water, pure and simple, and Huntley and Palmer's
plain milk or lunch biscuits, will be found the best diet
whilst suffering from this temporary derangement; in
fact, a private tin of this justly celebrated firm's biscuits
will be found very handy by the traveller, when, for one
reason or another, he is "off his feed."
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
V.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
"BEAUTIFUL islands, where the green
Which nature wears was never seen
'Neath zone of Europe; where the hue
Of sea and heaven is such a blue
As England dreams not; where the night
Is all irradiate with the light
Of stars like moons, which, hung on high,
Breathe and quiver in the sky,
Each in its silver haze divine
Flinging in a radiant line
O'er gorgeous flower and mighty tree,
On the soft and shadowy sea!
Beautiful islands, short the time
I dwelt beneath your tropic clime;
Yet oft I see, in noonday dream,
Your glorious stars with noonday beam,
And oft before my sight arise
Your sky-like seas, your sea-like skies,
Your green bananas' giant leaves,
Your golden canes in arrowy sheaves,
Your palms, which never die, but stand
Immortal sea-marks on the strand,
Their feathery tufts like plumage rare,
Their stems so high, so strange, and fair!
BARBADOS.
-~F~---s-- ---
. . ...2 1 .
n6-
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
Yes, while the breeze of England now
Flings rose-scents on my aching brow,
I think a moment I inhale
Again the breath of tropic gale."
H. N. COLERIDGE.
BARBADOS.
Barbados is supposed to have been discovered by the
Portuguese, who named it Los Barbados, on account of
its bearded fig-trees; but we find no historical mention as
to its being a British colony until the year 1625, ever
since which it has remained a faithful and loyal depen-
dency of the mother-country. Hardly so big in size as
the Isle of Wight, and of very similar elevation, it has a
big British heart, as we are told in Captain Marryat's
"Peter Simple," beating with patriotic spirit in black
and white bosoms alike. "King George nebber mind
Bonypart so long as Badian tand tiff," was the proud
boast of insular darkiess," all through the great French
war. It may interest the intending settler there to
learn that, the colony being jocularly termed Bimshire,"
he will henceforth belong to those rejoicing in the
euphonious sobriquet of "Bims." The island is almost
encircled by coral reefs, which extending in some parts
nearly three miles to seaward, prove dangerous to navi-
gation even in fair weather, and when the stormy winds
and blinding rains of the tropics are in full blast, too
often are the cause of shipwrecks and consequent loss
of life.
As soon as the anchor of the Atlantic liner is dropped
and the medical official grants us a clean bill of health,
the decks are instantly boarded by officers of the
company and friends of the passengers, while visitors
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
also row from shore, anxious to participate in the general
welcome invariably offered on the arrival of the mails
from Old England. In fact, it is gala day" at Barbados.
We are moreover instantly besieged by a fleet of craft
of all descriptions, manned by shouting, swearing, and
apparently pugilistic darkies. The din is indescribable.
As we look over the steamer's side and watch the swarms
there, waiting permission to storm the deck in quest of
passengers and their impedimenta, we must think of the
time when their grandparents or parents were slaves,
and then we shall cease to wonder that-having been so
suddenly freed from the white man's thrall, some fifty-
six years ago, without due preparation for their after
duties as co-citizens with their former oppressors-they
and theirs should still remain their coarse manners and
expressions; yet the ameliorating influences of education
have already worked wonders, and much is expected from
the rising generation. However, if we cultivate their
acquaintance by taking a row ashore, we shall find that
they only require a little firm civility, and are, as a rule,
as obliging as our own countrymen. And here I may
quote sundry useful hints to travellers from the Barbados
and West Indian Directory:-
"The Barbados boatmen will set you wild with their
offers of services. Most of them are good and reliable
chaps, who will stick to the bargain once made; but
should you fall on some unscrupulous scamp, who after
bargaining with you for, say, two or three shillings,
carries you in the bay, and when half-way to or from the
steamer refuses to row on unless you pay him a dollar
or a dollar and a half at once, as sometimes happens,
just hail or signal a police boat, which is all day and
night at hand, and your unscrupulous scamp will at once
be taken in proper charge by the the authorities. If
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
you make up your mind to go to one of the hotels, hail
the water-clerk of the hotel which you have chosen, to
take you ashore in the hotel boat; it will save you
trouble, inconvenience, time, and money. If, again, you
wish for a guide to direct you to the principal places of
interest, engage a reliable one, through the proprietor of
the hotel where you are stopping; also, do not jump into
the first cab you meet in the street, but order a livery
carriage at any of the hotels, and in every case make
your bargain beforehand. Once more, if you find yourself
followed about and annoyed by a pack of dirty-looking
street boys, just hail a police constable and put the
matter in his hands. Our advice to you is, to have
nothing to do with the street boy; he is always most
assiduous in his offers of assistance to foreigners, but is
most untrustworthy."
Let me add one warning. Remember the negro is a
man and a brother, that in the West Indies there is no
distinction of colour, and that rude remarks or uncon-
cealed laughter may involve you in much-to-be-regretted
unpleasantness.
On landing, we at once experience the full blaze of a
tropical sun, and, after a somewhat desultory stroll, are
thankful to betake ourselves to the refreshing coolness of
the Icehouse, which is a rendezvous for all; where the
news of the day is discussed, and cooling drinks dispensed
to the ever-thirsty West Indian. From the verandahs
one.can watch the motley crowd below, principally com-
posed of negresses dressed in the most gaudy finery, and
parading with the airs of princesses the narrow tortuous
streets of this badly arranged town. Large flat trays,
piled with fruits and sweetmeats, are cleverly balanced
upon the heads of these strutters, and every one is munch-
ing a hard section of sugar-cane. As Tom Ciingle
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
affirms, "a negro carries everything on his head, from a
bale of goods to a wine-glass or teacup;" and, indeed,
when wheel-barrows were first imported, to lessen the
labour and strain of conveying heavy burdens, the negroes
filled them, but merely to carry them on their heads,
though now using them like ordinary mortals; and it is
to this universal practice, common alike to both men and
women, that we must attribute their upright stature and
firm tread. It is a favourite amusement to throw from
the verandah copper and even silver coins to be scrambled
for by the darkies below; old and young, men, women,
and even children, doing everything they can to induce
one to throw a coin into their hats, hands, or aprons,
many a handsome dish of fruit coming to grief in the
struggle for money.
At the Icehouse the traveller will be initiated into the
mysteries of the concoction so dear to the inhabitants of
" Bimshire." It is thus described by Mr. Froude: Cock-
tail is the established corrective of West Indian languor,
without which life is impossible. It is a compound of
rum, sugar, limejuice, Angostura bitters, and what else I
know not, frisked into effervescence by a stick, highly
agreeable to the taste, and effective for its immediate
purpose." I can assure my readers that life is quite
possible, and indeed much happier, without recourse to
cocktail or other similar stimulants, to the frequent in-
dulgence in which may be traced much of the want of
success, and consequent depression, amongst settlers in
these islands.
After promenading the town and its environs the
visitor may-so proceeds our Directory-perhaps come
in for the sight of a cricket or polo match on the
Garrison Savannah, and the gay spectacle of the Bridge-
town elite enjoying its promenade on the breezy Hastings
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES. 25
"Rocks," sometimes to the music of the garrison band,
sometimes only to that of the waves that dash up along
PIP
the white sand and sprinkle the greensward with their
silver spray.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
There are many handsome buildings in or near Bridge-
town, including the Codrington College, the Hospital and
Lunatic Asylum, while the Green, or Trafalgar Square, is
adorned with the statue of Nelson. St. Anne's, with the
garrison, and Fontabello are its suburbs. There is also a
fine cathedral, and on a Sunday it is a sight to witness
the magnificently dressed Creoles thronging its spacious
nave, the coloured congregation keeping to the side
aisles; and it is to these real ladies and gentlemen, who
make up what is termed "society," that the people owe
their civilizing and refining influences. And here at the
outset let me state that the word "Creole" simply
signifies "of native origin," and is as applicable to a
white as to a coloured person, or to a cow or boat.
"Although Barbados boasts no lofty mountain ranges
to be scaled by aspiring tourists, no Grandes Souffriers
into whose bottomless abysses they may descend, no path-
less primeval forests to be penetrated, she has yet much
to offer in the way of scenery, natural and cultivated;"
and if the traveller has a day or two for leisure, before
proceeding on his way, he cannot do better than make
different excursions over the island, directions for which
will be found in an admirable little book, entitled "A
West Indian Sanatorium," by the Rev. J. H. Sutton
Moxley, Chaplain of the Forces.
The "Animal Flower Cave;" the "Boiling Spring,"
where you may set fire with a lucifer to the surface of
the water, which at times is covered with carburetted
hydrogen, and boil your tea-kettle or eggs; "Yarico's
Pond," and other marvels will amply repay a visit; while
a drive to the old parish church of St. John's, with its
strikingly homely interior, and exquisite panorama below
the chasm on which it is perched, will gratify and delight
the visitor. Again, ologists of all descriptions will find
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
matter of entertainment and interest; the geologist
especially in the calcareous marl of the interior, where
entire coral seams may be observed in some of the road
cuttings, placed one above the other, just as they were
formed beneath the ocean, prior to volcanic disturbances.
The climate is very healthy, and adults commonly
reach the allotted term of man's existence, though among
the coloured labouring classes the mortality up to twelve
years of age is high. The population is now estimated at
180,000, of which rather more than a twelfth are white.
Barbados, being a low, flat island, is consequently a
perfect garden for the cultivation of the sugar-cane,
everything else having to give way before this one
particular product, which in its unique development has
been at one and the same time the curse and blessing
of the planter. Absenteeism and want of energy, more
than any deterrent effect from foreign sugar bounties, are
the main causes of failure; for industrious planters still
and will succeed, as well they may, when we consider
that the emancipation of the slaves, which caused such
disastrous results to cane-growers in the abjacent islands,
made comparatively little difference in Barbados, the
majority of the negroes continuing to work as hired
servants, owing to lack of provision grounds on which to
squat, and being diligent, if not always straightforward
characters. The sugar crop averages about 60,000 hogs-
heads, and 30,000 puncheons of molasses yearly, some
500 mills being in-operation.
Mr. Froude, in his recent book on the West Indies,
writes: "Tied to sugar-growing, Barbados has no second
industry to fall back upon." A truce then to such ties!
What, no product capable of being raised, but sugar,
and from a soil that will grow almost anything ? Surely
there are abundance of other paying crops, that would be
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
worth the while of estate proprietors to grow. Let us
look back, we find no mention of sugar as a marketable
commodity till about the middle of the seventeenth cen-
tury; indigo, cotton-wool, ginger and aloes, with several
kinds of woods, forming the staple articles of production
and export; and now, at the present time, it is actually
the fact that maize, rice, tobacco, and numerous other
articles, to say nothing of fruit and vegetables, are im-
ported into the island, when there is land in every way
suitable for their cultivation lying idle, or being forced to
produce a crop which often is not worth the labour be-
stowed upon it. Why should not the encumbered planta-
tions of Barbados be freed from this everlasting drudgery
of cane-growing, and be opened out to men of energy and
small capital? Depend upon it, "God helps those who
help themselves;" and if only a few resolute agriculturists,
unaccustomed to pin their faith on the success of a single
product, but trusting to the many crops capable of reach-
ing perfection in such a climate, were to once gain footing
in Barbados and the other islands of the Lesser Antilles,
we should soon hear of such a revival of trade, that thou-
sands would flock to so desriable an El Dorado. Then
despondent dreamers of impending ruin and undesirable
negro republics would again pluck up courage, and trust
to their own determined energies, as their forefathers did
before them. In writing thus, I must not be supposed to
depreciate the great sugar industry of Barbados, where it
may be grown to a profit; but to suggest other crops,
when such is known for a fact to be otherwise.
My remarks under "Other Industries" will be found
to contain hints as to successful cattle-raising, which
should commend themselves to any enterprising Bar-
badian; especially where the requirements of a garrison
ought to encourage local industries, and where an
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
intermediate green crop eaten off by cattle would both
improve and re-invigorate the land, proving a useful
catch-crop in the place of yams, which impoverish the
soil. Briefly, then, sugar, arrowroot, and aloes, with
1000 worth of whale-oil, and 3000 worth of petroleum,
form the sole exports of one of our oldest colonies.
So Barbados is the garden of the West Indies, as far as
greenness is concerned; but it is of one product only. It
is a society place, and possesses all the externals of civili-
zation; but it is, at present, no place for a poor man or
small capitalist. So let us pass on, thankful for the insight
it has given us into tropical nature, and, weighing anchor,
steam towards Tobago, which we shall probably reach by
breakfast-time the next morning. We throw up rockets
and Roman candles on passing our old Atlantic steamer,
the Moselle, to which the crew respond, and a very pretty
effect is the result; while we cheer and bid farewell until
we can hear each other no longer, and then repair to our
new berths, tired out with the strange excitements of the
day, and with a fixed determination of rising early, in
order to miss nothing of the new experiences of the
- borrow.
TOBAGO (NOW ONE COLONY WITH TRINIDAD).
After a probably less comfortable night than enjoyed on
the large ocean steamer, we are apprised of the vicinity
of land by the gradual declension of the ship's speed, and
on looking out through the porthole of our cabin, per-
ceive a rugged and not altogether inviting-looking island,
that to be compelled to sojourn in, merely for the purpose
of cultivating the toothsome cane, must surely be pro-
ductive of melancholia; but which, under a judicious
agricultural system, promises to compete with Dominica
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
in the steady flow of emigration, which must ere long be
attracted to these fertile spots.
This is Tobago, the reputed island of Robinson Crusoe
and his man Friday, an Arrowak who may have been
brought a prisoner from Trinidad by the Caribs; and we
are fully authorized in accepting this island as the locale
of Daniel De Foe's immortal narrative, from the descrip-
tions he vouchsafes of its climate, geographical position,
and of the Caribbean savages who visited its coasts; each
and every detail of which could not by any possibility
have happened at Juan Fernandez off the south-west
coast of South America, where Alexander Selkirk is
commonly reported to have passed his lonely residence.
What a blessing to eat one's breakfast in still waters,
and to devour for the first time real tropical fruits, oranges
and bananas fresh gathered, and, prince of all, the Avocado
pear, or "midshipman's butter"-this latter term ex-
plaining its delicious properties!
Tobago has had a very eventful history, and has been
bandied about betwixt French and English like a shuttle-
cock; its colonists being noted for their most determined
and gallant defence against the former in 1781, only
yielding to overwhelming superiority of numbers. Colum.
bus in 1498 discovered the island, then occupied by the
original barbarians who peopled these Windward and
Leeward groups, the yellow Caribs; and the British flag
was first planted in this colony in 1580; but not until
1814 was the island finally ceded in perpetuity to the
British Crown. The formation of the island is volcanic,
and on a nearer inspection, especially if we advance a
It is a well-known fact that a Mosquito-Indian of the name of
William, who was of the celebrated buccaneer William Dampier's follow-
ing, was inadvertently left alone on the island of Juan Fernandez for three
years; and hence no doubt the mistake as to the locality of Selkirk's island.
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
little into the interior, we find its physical aspect irregular,
it is true, but interesting, having conical hills and ridges,
which descend from a common base or dorsal ridge, 1800
feet high, and eighteen miles in length. Two-thirds of the
island are still covered with primeval forest, comprising
many varieties of hard wood and ornamental trees, a great
portion of it being almost unexplored. Briefly, it has an
area of 114 square miles, or 73,313 acres, of which about
10,000 acres are under cultivation. Scarborough is its
principal town, on the south side of the island, having in
its vicinity the ungarrisoned Fort King George, 425 feet
above the level of the sea, and a lighthouse; Georgetown,
on the south-east, having been the former capital, while
Plymouth, opposite which we anchor, is the principal
port of the island, the bay being rather dangerous of
navigation, owing to the presence of a rock, termed the
Beef Barrel, which might easily be displaced by the
explosion of a few charges of gun-cotton and dynamite.
It goes without saying that sugar and molasses form
its staple product, though the exportations of the raw
material have sunk from 15,327 hogsheads in the year
1805, to the present insignificant quota of some 4000
hogsheads per annum. Tobago has suffered greatly at
the hands of those absentee monopolists and others who
would grow nothing but sugar, and, when its cultivation
failed, betook themselves to other places more remunerative
for their selfish pursuits. Similarly with Barbados, we
find, on looking back into the past, that the cultivation
of the cane is but of comparatively recent date, the first
sugar being exported in the year 1770; and as in striking
contradiction to this perverse one-crop system, it is stated
that as late as the year 1780 no less than 2,619,000 pounds
of cotton and 27,000 pounds of indigo were shipped to
England; whereas, I believe it to be a fact that at the
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
present time, in the majority of the islands, there is not
sufficient cotton produced to stuff the mattresses of the
people. Still, where all looks dark, there is a glimmer
of hope, for coco-nuts have been shipped to the value of
nearly 3000, and attention is now being turned to the
production of cacao and coffee, for which the soil and
climate are admirably adapted.
Now, if this be really the island of the "monarch of
all he surveyed," surely his example of industry and
perseverance in the face of apparently insurmountable
difficulties should have stimulated Tobagians, of all
people in the world, both past and present, to greater
exertions; and this colony, if any, should have led the
van in matters agricultural. The veracious narrative
relates how the "solitary man," from less than a handful
of barley, in four years harvested a sufficient crop for his
sustenance, having two seed-times and harvests, and
moreover instructs future settlers to be sure and plant
previous to the wet season;" the same with rice; again,
he dried grapes and stored them. Here is a new industry !
He found plenty of wild tobacco, and subsequently
successfully cultivated the same; he moreover rejoiced
in the juice of the lime.
Where, O Tobagians, are your lime groves? where
your tobacco plantations? where your golden acres of
barley, and your fields of rice ? He speaks, moreover, of
an osier-like wood; also of the excellent candles, produced
from the boiled-down fat of his goats. Where are your
manufactory of wicker-baskets and your tallow-chandlers ?
But why should I write further? "The Life and Adven-
tures of Robinson Crusoe" is within the reach of all;
therefore let me but urge the planters of Tobago to invest
in this shilling history of what pluck and endurance will
accomplish, and who knows but what the example may
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
become contagious, and this island, more read about than
any other portion of the universe, will yet show the way
to the future prosperity and renown of these fair but
neglected inheritances? Like Betteridge, in Wilkie
Collins's Moonstone," let them refer to its pages when
in doubt and perplexity, and assuredly they will not fail
to derive some benefit by so doing.
The proximity of Tobago to Trinidad, some twenty
miles distant, as well as its being within easy access of
Barbados, two centres of civilization and commercial
enterprise, is worth considering by settlers on the look-
out for both cheap and good land. Indentured coolies
may be had for the asking; so that intending colonists
may reckon on cheap and effective labour. "The system
of resident owners of small and moderate-sized holdings,
cultivating and personally superintending the cultivation
of their property, is what is wanted in this island, and it
will doubtless hereafter spread to it. This and other
islands offer a really good field for the enterprise of
young Englishmen." These are the remarks of one who
ought to know his subject well, and I cordially agree
with Mr. Salmon in the matter.
Now that Tobago is joined with Trinidad as one colony,
a new life is naturally opened out to her, and one of her
chief industries should be the more systematic providing
of her important sister colony with cattle and sheep;
sundry foods, such as coconut cake and cotton cake, the
raw material of which is in such profusion, or could
quickly be produced, should be manufactured on the
island, to supplement good feeding on the native
pasturage, while old plantations could be sown down with
Guinea and Para grass, maize and other sorghum, which,
eaten off green, is so highly nutritious for stock.
It is my firm conviction that these colonies, one and
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
all, would prosper better if their produce was kept more
for local needs; and when those were satisfied, the surplus
could be exported; for if we grow merely to sell, the land
must be impoverished in consequence. Therefore let
future settlers in Tobago grow in order to feed, and the
fertilizing gained by having the stock eating off green
crops cannot fail to put new heart into the land, and so
prepare it for other sowings. There is, again, a dearth of
manufactories in these islands, and as they necessarily
employ many hands, wherever they can be started as
suggested above, in connection with the making of feeding
cakes for cattle, they should be got to work as soon as
possible. There has been too much trusting to simple
cultivation of the raw material, without suitable ap-
pliances for reducing the same to the needs of the com-
munity at large, and I am confident that manufactories,
such as suggested above, could not but help in again
bringing prosperity to these islands.
The matter is further treated of under St. Lucia and
Nevis.
Off once more, with the knowledge that about four p.m.
we shall be at anchor off Trinidad, and soon feel the solid
ground once again beneath our feet, and that we may
revel in the novelties that at all times will meet our
view.
TRINIDAD.
And now that earthly paradise looms in the far distance,
and anon we are steaming along its northern coast, in the
green-dyed sea caused by the intermingling waters of the
Orinoco. The nearer we approach, the more we fall in
love with its lofty, irregular, and fantastic-shaped moun-
tains, teeming with varied-coloured foliage that beggars
description, and descends to the very water's edge in
MAP OF
TIE ISLAND OF
TRINIDAD.
Railways thus ---
Teleg.rap "----
N
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
twisted, matted creepers; while caves, grottoes, and over-
hanging rocks are completely entwined with flowers, the
whole presenting a mass of the richest floral bouquets
that the most inventive and powerful imagination can
picture. Such is the vision that meets and astounds the
eye of the bewildered gazer, until he longs to be able to
distinguish any one plant away from its entangling yet
lovely companions, and to cull from this gigantic nosegay
specimens to which he cannot ascribe a name, and of the
half of which he will never learn the true botanical
designation. Here also he will be delighted with his
first sight of the pelican, fishing in flocks, and darting
with inconceivable rapidity on to the water, seizing the
finny prize in their long hollow bills.
And now we steer between the well-known Bocas, pre-
cipitous islands, divided from the mainland by the furious
action of the trade-sea, but which have retained their
pristine gorgeousness of vegetation, and form a fit and
triumphal entrance to that highly favoured island of
Trinidad. It is interesting, whilst having this panorama
before us, to learn that the three mountain peaks which
we now behold gave Columbus the confirmation of his
pious intention of naming the first land he should sight
after the Blessed Trinity, in accordance with which the
island was designated Trinidad, on July 31, 1499.
Having now anchored in the spacious harbour of Port of
Spain, the traveller hires a boat, places himself therein with
his belongings, and is pulled on shore, taking care to avoid
imposition when settling with the boatmen, by insisting
on the production of the official tariff. He is landed at
the Custom House wharf, where his luggage being quickly
passed by a courteous official, he is at liberty to proceed
to his destination. Of course, should he have previously
decided upon putting up at any particular hotel or
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
boarding-house, he would hail the boat attached to such,
and ignore all other offers of assistance.
The Indian Paradise, as this beautiful island has been
called, ranks second in size among our West Indian
colonies.' Groves of palm and citron-hedgerows of
sweet-smelling spice woods-fields in which the golden
fragrant pine-apples lie thick as turnips do in our prosaic
furrows-air bright all day with humming-birds and
butterflies, all night with the phosphoric glow of
luminous insects-contribute to make a scene of enchant-
ing beauty. Then who has not heard of the far-famed
Pitch Lake of La Brea, formerly ranked as one of "the
wonders of the world," which covers ninety-nine acres, and
contains millions of tons of soft asphaltum; owing its
origin to buried vegetable matter, which in a temperate
climate like our own would have become peat, but here
in a tropical country forms an admixture of asphalt and
oil, which being forced down by the weight of the soil
above is compelled to come to the surface, and so oozes
up continually? Yet one can walk all over the lake, the
firmer portions of pitch forming stepping-stones; you
may also dip your hand in the oozing liquid, and it will
be withdrawn without stain of any kind, owing to
the presence of sand in the mixture, which in commerce
necessarily renders this pitch less valuable than others.
This Pitch Lake is not precisely a thing of beauty, but
that it is of practical utility is proved by the fact that
a syndicate of English and American capitalists pay
12,000 annually for the privilege of winning pitch from
its comparatively inexhaustible basin. An Indian tra-
dition, related in Joseph's "History of Trinidad," has
it that La Brea was formerly dry land, and inhabited
by the Chaima tribe of Indians; but that the "Good
Spirit," incensed at their having wantonly destroyed the
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
humming-birds, supposed to have been animated with
the spirits of their deceased relatives, sank the whole
village one night; the Pitch Lake representing the spot
where it formerly stood.
The Mud Volcanoes, another natural curiosity of the
island, are situated at a place rejoicing in the pre-
historic name of Monkeytown, distant a few miles from
Princetown, which can be reached by rail. They are a
ludicrous sight, being conical mounds about three feet
in height, and vomiting forth muddy water with the same
ardour that Vesuvius or Etna pour forth their floods
of lava. The vicinity of these insignificant craters is
strikingly described by the old negro who acted as guide
to Kingsley: "Dere de debbil's wood-yard, war him
come out at night, and walk 'bout; and who declined
making one of a nocturnal hunting-party, on the ground
of "too much jumbies h'ar! "
The tourist should not leave the island before
undertaking the ride over the Saddle, a hill dividing
Maraval Valley-where is the Moka estate, which should
be the best grazing-land in Trinidad, from its well-
watered situation, though now, I believe, under cacao-
from that of Santa Cruz; the scenery being most beau-
tiful, and the view from the summit sublime. The
"Blue Basin" is also another favourite excursion, and
picnic parties thither are of frequent occurrence.
Trinidad is about the size of Lancashire, being 1754
square miles, or 1,152,000 acres, andit is situated about six-
teen miles to the eastward of Venezuela; the Gulf of Paria
separating it from the continent of South America. Less
than one-tenth of its area is cultivated, although as a
British colony it is older than Victoria, Queensland,
or New Zealand. This is entirely owing to the former
pernicious rule of the Spaniards; and, indeed, were it
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
not now a British possession, it would in these days have
been a second Cuba, or a hatch-plotting centre for that
revolutionary republic of Venezuela. As a matter of fact,
when I was myself staying at one of the hotels, at least a
dozen Venezuelan colonels used nightly to meet their
head-centre there, and privately plot the overthrow of
the then President and his Government.
Until 1783 no progress whatever was made; then, owing
to representations made to the Court of Spain, concerning
the extraordinary fertility of the island, special advan-
tages were offered to all foreigners going to reside there,
the adoption of the Roman Catholic religion being the
sole condition imposed. There was consequently a large
influx, soon augmented by numerous French refugees,
driven from St. Domingo and other places by the terrible
events of the French Revolution; the latter accounting
for the preponderance of the French element in a colony
which never belonged to France. However, thank
Heaven! in 1797, after the dispersal of the Armada,
Admiral Harvey frightened the Spanish admiral into
burning his ships, and General Abercrombie led four
thousand men to the easy capture of the Port of Spain;
since which Trinidad has become an increasingly thriving
colony. It would ill become me, even in writing so
briefly on these stirring events, were I to glorify the
British arms at the expense of the wise and patriotic
Spanish governor, Chacon, whose name appears with that
of the two officers mentioned above as co-signee to the
articles of capitulation. Suffice it to say that he ex-
hibited marvellous sagacity during his rule, under cir-
cumstances that would have tried the fortitude and
diplomacy of the bravest among ourselves; that he was
disgracefully served by his countrymen, and, after a life
of exile and penury in Portugal, was honourably acquitted
PORT r0 SPAIN, TRINIDAD. 2bfaep. 39.
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
of all blame; but he was on his death-bed, in a wretched
Portuguese inn, when his son brought him the news that
his honour was cleared at last. I am sure that, should
any of the noble Spanish families now living in this
beautiful island ever have cause to take up this book,
they cannot but feel grateful to Charles Kingsley for the
noble words which follow: "Thus ended-as earth's best
men have often ended-the good Don Alonzo Chacon.
His only monument in the island is one, after all wre
perennius; namely, that most beautiful flowering shrub
which bears his name-Warsewiczia, some call it; others
Calycophylium; but the botanists of the island continue
loyally the name of Chaconia to those blazing crimson
spikes which every Christmas-tide renew, throughout the
wild forests of which he would have made a civilized
garden, the memory of the last and best of the Spanish
governors."
Port of Spain, at which we land, is the chief town, con-
taining no less than 35,000 persons, out of a population
for the whole island of about 170,000. It is a magnificent
tropical city, boasting of two cathedrals, a most imposing
Government block of buildings, a town hall, court house,
and theatre, with military and police barracks that
would make our men at home envious could they but see
them; to say nothing of the street-rows of stores and
other places of business, and substantial and picturesque
private houses, both in the town and suburbs of Lavent-
ville; Belmont, and St. Anne's.
The harbour is gradually receding, so to speak, from
the land, and an alluvial ground of rich matter will
eventually flank the town on its sea side. Port of Spain
stands low, but well above the water; an imposing square,
with a double row of tropical trees down the centre, fronts
the quay; and on either side are well-built houses, the
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
lower part of concrete, which-from having, as a rule, no
windows for the display of stores as in our own towns,
everything being kept well behind the counters-rather
present the appearance of rows of stables; but the upper
portions are of wood, with overhanging verandahs com-
pletely shading the pavements; no glass in the windows,
save here and there for exigencies of climate, but wooden
jalousies; and upstairs it will be particularly observable
that there are no fireplaces.
The stores, or shops, are full of every kind of provision,
and all trades are carried on as in our own country. Goods
are by no means expensive; but the most costly fabrics
may be obtained; and the Ice-house, common to every
town of importance in the West Indies, dispenses its
necessary staple to the daily crowds below; while above,
partakers of drinks innumerable slip particles of the
same into their various compounds.
The fair population are dressed in the very latest Paris
and New York fashions, and the coloured folk in the
gaudiest turbans, stiff petticoats, and graceful scarfs that
Manchester can supply; every one apparently eating
something all day, and this although there are some
eight thousand human beings in Port of Spain without
visible means of existence; these latter eating when they
can get anything, and sleeping in the sun when they
can't.
The temperature averages from 72 at dawn to 88 at
noon, and occasionally reaches 930, while at the beginning
of the year it sinks as low as 68 at night. I remember,
when sleeping at a cacao plantation at a high elevation,
that I woke shivering, and, as there were no blankets,
was glad to pull my coat and mackintosh over me as a
substitute; and indeed one gentleman, to whom I am
indebted for much kind hospitality, was accustomed to
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
close the openings of his carriage when driving by the
Queen's Park after leaving his place of business for
the day.
In fact, my experience of the climate of Trinidad-
where for three months I moved about much as at home,
rode miles in the heat of the day, was never indisposed
for a single hour, never tasted quinine or a single cock-
tail, and only when in the outlying districts put a dash of
whisky in the water, of which I drank freely-enables
me to recommend it as one quite suitable for Europeans
to dwell in and enjoy. I consider the above statement
necessary, in case the detrimental impressions with regard
to climate left upon Mr. Froude's mind might deter
readers of his book from proceeding to this most charming
island. This is what he writes: "To walk is difficult in
a damp, steamy temperature, hotter during daylight than
the hottest forcing-house in Kew. I was warned not to
exert myself and to take cocktail freely. In the evening,
I might venture out with the bats, and take a drive if I
wished in the twilight. Languidly charming as it all
was, I could not help asking myself of what use such a
possession could be either to England or the English
nation. We could not colonize it, could not cultivate it,
could not draw a revenue from it." I must beg to differ
in toto from Mr. Froude, both as regards the climate and
the political future of Trinidad, but I think the following
passage sufficiently explains his objections to the former:
' When the sky cleared, the sun was intolerably hot, and
distant expeditions under such conditions suited neither
my age nor my health." For a living example to the con-
trary, we have its indefatigable Governor, Sir William
Robinson, playing cricket in the sunshine; and turning
to Charles Kingsley, who lived an untiring active life
during his Christmas visit thither, we find him saying,
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
"An atmosphere in which the mere act of breathing is a
pleasure;" again, "It is not true that the climate is too
enervating. I have seen enough in Trinidad to say
that in the West Indies, as elsewhere, a young man may
be pure, able, high-minded, industrious, athletic."
Then, with regard to the political future of Trinidad, I
quite think that when its resources are fully known to
the young men of Great Britain and Ireland (and I trust
sincerely that, however feebly, this Guide Book may dispel
many erroneous impressions, and open up the West
Indies generally as a very mine of unexplored wealth to
the energetic and experienced agriculturist and manu-
facturer), we shall still see Rodney's "ten-acre men," as
advised by him to colonize St. Lucia in 1778, who, with
their capital of a hundred pounds apiece, and by their
examples of thrift and industry, will gradually wean the
coloured population from their present idle state. Men
of larger capital would soon follow, and the negroes,
finding, as at Barbados, that work and good pay were in
the long-run more profitable than sloth and no funds,
would "work with interest and goodwill, and cling to
their employers with an innocent affection." Failing so
welcome an immigration, I should be inclined to adopt
the views of Mr. L. Earn, a recent American traveller,
who thinks that "in Trinidad, where immense English
capital has been invested, and where the coolie popula-
tion is intelligent and powerful enough to supplant the
African, that the former will become the masters of the
future;" and the following pregnant statement by another
writer, "that it must be remembered that while the negro
families increase very slowly, the coolies increase very
rapidly, being more kind and careful parents," would
seem to bear out the above opinion. If such eventually
be so, Mr. Froude's ideal West Indian Government on
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
the real East Indian basis would here, at all events, be
easy of accomplishment.
Outside the town, on either side the way, are the
private residences of the merchants-very picturesque and
delightful places, raised above the ground, and embowered
in a richness of vegetation to which the contents of the
most beautiful conservatory one ever saw bears but a
poor comparison. The tramcar, a most admirable con-
veyance for residents on business intent, should be care-
fully ignored by the visitor during his first walk out of
the town, otherwise he will miss a proper sight of these
bowers of bliss. We presently arrive at the Queen's
Park, commonly called the Savannah (as all open plains
are named in Spain), boasting the largest racecourse in
the world, and round which, a distance of some three
miles, all who can drive in every conceivable conveyance
at four p.m.; and here the richer residents live; Govern-
ment House, a palatial structure of native limestone,
built on the Indian model at a cost of 45,000, standing
at the further side, flanked by lofty hills, and situated in
a Botanical Garden second to none in creation, in
which are to be found plants and trees from every tropical
land. The Police Band discourses sweet music here on
stated occasions, while society disports itself as in Hyde
Park or Kensington Gardens. After passing the
Savana," says the Barbados and West Indian Directory,
" we traverse the lands formerly known as the St. Clair
Estate, and now taken over by the Government and con-
verted into a cattle farm and dairy on a large scale. The
primary object of this was to provide the Colonial
Hospital and other institutions with pure milk at a
cheap rate; but of late years some very superior cattle
of the East Indian zebu breed have been raised there,
and subsequently sold, thereby improving the breed of
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
cattle in the island, and realizing a handsome profit for
the farm. At the end of December, 1885, the stock
comprised 220 cows, 16 zebu bulls, and 4 Indian
buffaloes. In November, 1886, an English hackney
stallion was added to the stock of the farm." This latter
was not a success, though whether this was owing to his
appearance, climatic influences, or local prejudice, I know
not. A superb jackass, imported at great expense from
Malta by a private resident some years previously, met
with the same fate; and a racing English stallion of
former celebrity was, I believe, not much better treated.
When at Trinidad, I took some interest in the question
of exporting racers from England, and obtained the
opinion of Mr. John Dawson, of Newmarket, on the
subject; and knowing how many gentlemen on the island
are interested in racing, I am sure his statement will be
considered of some value. He wrote as follows:-"I
doubt the speculation of sending horses such a distance
as Trinidad; the expense and risk that would be incurred
in sending them, etc., would scarcely be so good an invest-
ment as keeping those that can run in this country;
having races here of every description, and almost every
day in the week. It seems to me that America is the
most likely country to supply horses for Trinidad, being
so much nearer; and they are breeding almost as much
as we are now."
In addition to the necessarily limited and consequently
meagre description I have given above of the sights and
sounds connected with this splendid island, must be
added a population composed of Africanders, Hindoos,
Chinese, and every European and American race, who
in the crowded streets of Port of Spain are literally
mixed up with cabs and other vehicles of Yankee build,
flocks of tame vultures, tick-birds, dogs, goats, and other
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
strange cattle; and as the stranger wanders "promiscuous
like through this intermingling conglomeration of humans
and otherwise, he gets as bewildering and charming a
scene as can well be imagined; all the time a champagne
atmosphere expanding his organs of sight and hearing,
until he fancies he must indeed be a living actor in some
marvellous "Arabian Nights'" adventure.
San Fernando is the next important town, having a
population of about 6500; it can be reached by rail in
two hours, or by the more enjoyable steamer trip, and the
visitor will find it a thriving little place, albeit suffering
from the usual sugar depression. Arima, a prosperous
little town, the last resort of the conquered Caribs, of
whom there is now no trace, about sixteen miles to the
east of the capital, on another branch of the railway, has
been recently granted municipal privileges by the home
authorities; it is steadily progressing, and is destined,
when the country becomes more developed, to be a place
of considerable importance. With an allusion to St.
Joseph, the ancient Spanish capital, situated about six
miles from Port of Spain, and one of the two junctions on
the line of rail; and Prince's Town, about seven miles
from San Fernando, the list of towns ou the island is
exhausted.
As regards watering-places, Trinidad is well off. The
Five Islands-on which residences are erected that are
hired out at the rate of forty dollars a month-are a
favourite resort of invalids, and newly married couples, too,
are wont to spend the honeymoon in their refreshing
solitude. At Monos and Gasporillo, there are also
residences which can be rented by the mouth; while at
Chacachacave, a sanitorium has been established by Dr.
Chittenden. For those who do not care for marine
seclusion, the valleys of Santa Cruz and Maraccas offer
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
the advantages of easy access to town, together with a
salubrious climate and capital bathing in the crystal
streams that flow through them; and in both these
valleys commodious residences can be hired by the
month at moderate rates.
Turning now to the productions of this truly remark-
able island, we find an encouraging aspect. For Trinidad
has not to depend for its prosperity on the produce of
other lands; its soil is fertile to a degree, and its produce
is extensive and varied. According to the last assess-
ment in 1887, there was-
Acres.
Cultivated in sugar-cane .. .. .. 52,163
,, cacao and coffee .. .. .. 43,363
S coco-nuts .. .. 2,767
,, ground provisions .. .. 18,053
S pasture .. .. .. .. 6,242
and yet, as has been stated above, not one-tenth of its
surface is under cultivation.
Its "cocoa" of commerce is, with that of Grenada, the best
produced in any country, and amounts to a yearly export
of tens of millions of pounds; while its useful coco-nuts are
either converted in the island itself into oil, and their
outer husks manufactured into brushes, mats, etc., or ex-
ported to this country for confectionery and other purposes.
Tobacco is also becoming a fruitful source of industry, and
promises to be a remunerative enterprise, if cultivated
with due care. Its pitch and petroleum have been before
mentioned. Coffee is destined to rival cacao in its peculiar
fitness for cultivation here; and if we add rum, molasses,
valuable timber of every kind, hazel-nuts, and most varieties
of tropical fruits, it surely needs no particular urging on
my part to show what a country (within a fortnight of the
old home) exists, ready to receive any number of enter-
prising young settlers who are on the look-out for a land
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
where they may reasonably hope to succeed, and where so
many have, and are flourishing at the present time.
On a Good Friday afternoon I left this delectable land,
having attended Morning Service at the Cathedral, and
for the last time listened to that most excellent and lowly
Bishop, Dr. Rawle,* a man respected and admired alike by
all denominations. It was, in a sense, sad to say "Good-
bye" to such kind friends and to so beautiful an island;
but once again on deck, one's thoughts turned homeward,
though still with an unsatisfied longing for further strange
and unwonted sights, which one knew would be fully
gratified before we joined the Transatlantic liner at St.
Thomas; for we were purposely going the long way
round, in order to touch at all the principal islands of the
Windward and Leeward groups.
We gazed with regretful interest at Trinidad's reced-
ing shores, with a determination to do our best to induce
others to settle there, confident that a pleasant and hope-
ful life is open to all intending residents who are possessed
of energy and determination to succeed.
GRENADA.
These emerald gems in the ocean, at which we
arrived during all hours either of the day or night, are
one and all, in their several degrees, waiting for the tide
of emigration to turn in their favour; and it is the
general opinion of those at home in touch with popular
sentiment, that the tide is turning, and requires merely
judicious guidance, to presently flow steadily towards
these strangely neglected colonies.
Since appointed Principal of Codrington College, Barbados.
+ Since 1885, the Royal Mail Steamship Company have given up calling
at St. Thomas, so that passengers, after doing the grand tour, must return
to tranship at Barbados, for the homeward passage.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
A most extraordinary and weird scene, in the bright
moonlight, was this flitting from island to island; and
when our signal-gun announced to the silent land that
passengers and letters were close at hand, and presently
in the distance could be heard the splash of the approach-
ing boat, which, soon alongside, received its share of
what we had on board, took its abrupt departure,
ourselves then gliding off again into the space of water,
we really seemed to be taking part in a veritable moving
panorama, and to sort of scan the distance in search of
rows of heads appearing above the foot-lights, beyond the
seething gleam from our lamps on board.
Grenada, the first of these gems, with its capital, George
Town, whose rocks, streets, and, in main part, houses are
composed of lava, reminding one of the unstable forma-
tion of these islands-though not more so than many better-
known and populous centres of commerce-is a most
charming island. When we anchored, shortly before
dark, the spectacle presented by the houses dotted all up
the steep hills, with their red roofs peeping out from
among the palms and bananas, and in many eases flanked
with huge shrubs of frangipani, was a most pleasing one;
and when, in company with a friend and fellow-traveller,
we were presently enchanted with the most glorious
tropical sunset we had yet had the pleasure of beholding,
our feelings of surprise and delight are not to be described.
Grenada was discovered by Columbus in 1498, by
whom it was named Ascension, and in 1674 was annexed
to France; but, after changing hands once or twice, was
restored to Great Britain by the Treaty of Versailles, in
1783. The country is exceedingly picturesque, the green
hills topping one another in all directions; the effect, as
viewed from an inland point of vantage, being similar to
much of the scenery found in Wales; while its successive
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
piles of conical mounds covered with vast forest trees and
brushwood, and its fertile valleys interspersed with
numerous rivulets, make it appear a truly delightful place
to live in. The climate is peculiarly soft and healthy,
the mean temperature being about 82.
A rough road, showing too plainly the want of competent
surveyorship (as displayed in that excellent mountain
military road to Fort George, Trinidad, and similar
undertakings in India), connects the two principal
towns, and, crossing as it does innumerable ravines and
watercourses, is well worthy of being followed by the
tourist; though, for practices of ordinary utility, its break-
neck inclines and dangerous slopes prevent the transit of
heavy goods, which therefore have to go round by sea.
After inspecting various small craters, one inside the other,
the eye is directed upwards to the central peak of Mount
Maitland, 1700 feet high; a most remarkable natural
curiosity being the Grand Etang, a lake in the centre of
a mountain range, seven miles from St. George (George
Town), and which, surrounded as it is by tree-ferns and
bamboos, is extremely beautiful. There is also another
lake, that of Antoine, and near Black Bay are considerable
remains of basaltic columns.
The island of Carriacou, which has an area of 6913
acres, and is joined in government with Grenada, we shall
pass on our way to St. Vincent. It is the largest of the
Grenadines, and is prospering quietly but steadily.
Grenada is, with Trinidad, the land of the cultivation
of cacao, the trade being every year more developed, and
during the last eleven years the exportation has increased
some twelve thousand bags (value, say, 55,000); so the
small capitalist may choose between the two, as far as
this industry is concerned; as may also the intending
agent or resident manager.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
The soil is very fertile; cotton, spices, and coffee,
and from Carriacou ground provisions and live stock,
forming an agreeable variation to its staple products of
sugar and cacao. Whale oil is also exported to the
extent of some five thousand gallons yearly; the Grena-
dines abounding with these sea-denizens during the
spring months.
Special attention is, moreover, being directed to the
more careful culture of the principal tropical fruits, and
considering the annual increase in the trade with the
United States alone in such perishable luxuries, when
sometimes whole cargoes of bananas, plantains, etc., rot
on the voyage, and yet have to be replaced to suit the
growing tastes of the citizens of the West-it does not
require any very keen prophetic vision to foresee one
means at least of renewed commercial activity.
In Grenada, as elsewhere, the example of half a dozen
planters, determined to make a trade in tropical fruits,
and bestowing a like care upon their cultivation, as
formerly upon their orchards in the old country, would
soon put the resident planters upon their mettle, and
anon we should hear of the spacious harbour of the Carg-
nage being thronged with ships of merchandise; for as
" nothing succeeds like success," other industries would
also arise, and necessitate means of transport to far-off
countries; so that not only the "stars and stripes," but
flags of all nations would convey away the products of
Grenada, till her name would again become familiar as
another centre of West Indian commercial enterprise.
Further, Mr. Morris, in his paper on the "Vegetable
Resources of the West Indies," read before the London
Chamber of Commerce, remarks: "Spices, such as nut-
megs, cloves, and cardamoms, have been successfully
established in Grenada, where also Colonel Duncan has
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
shown what may be done with old sugar estates, to
render them most productive and remunerative. This
island is destined to become the Spice Island of the West.
The export of spices from Grenada in 1885 amounted to
987 hundredweights, of the value of 5526."
For the intending settler, it may be interesting to
learn that land, good and unplanted, sells at 20 to 30
per acre; land in the mountains in the interior, unculti-
vated realizes 4 to 10 per acre; land planted in nut-
megs (trees fifteen to twenty years old and upwards) yields
50 to 100 per acre per annum-with a. capital value
even at five years' purchase very great.
What a delightful and withal expressive title for
Grenada-the Spice Island of the West !
In drawing this desirable picture of a resuscitated
colony, I have been careful to ascribe such renewed
vitality to a small beginning, viz. the successful cultiva-
tion of that which is already in wild profusion; for it is
from little ventures that great successes arise; and I
resolutely put my foot down upon any heroic remedial
agencies against depression. I am thoroughly convinced,
both from what I have seen and heard, that were the
West Indies now peopled with men imbued with the
spirit of the pioneers of Rodney's time, so far from depres-
sion being the order of the day, the natural resources of
each island would be fully developed; the coloured popu-
lation would have to work, or give place to those who
would; and, faced by such determination to succeed, the
Home Government would perforce select the colonial
legislators of the future from among those who had
demonstrated by their individual successes their aptitude
for attending to the affairs of the community at large.
Meanwhile, as stated in my introductory remarks, I am
all for the thin edge of the wedge being introduced with-
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
out delay,-viz. the popular election of non-oficial members
of the councils-confident that the good sense of the
voters in the several districts would prevent their exercising
the franchise prejudicially to their own interests. For it
must be borne in mind, that were men of inanition and
frothy politics, ignorant alike of success and sober reflec-
tion, called upon to determine laws over those who had
rescued their colonies from the effects of their own mis-
management, such would be tantamount to putting a
premium upon sloth and want of acumen, which would
cause a more serious exodus than has ever yet taken
place; while the energy and capital of new-comers would
be deterred from embarking in a country where, however
otherwise desirable as a field of enterprise, dummy-heads
would be permitted to hold sway over better and wiser
men.
That Grenada is endeavouring to push to the front
again, the following remarks by a recent writer fully
testify: "It is getting remarked for the cacao it pro-
duces. It has had to struggle against much adverse
circumstances. Its present position leaves much to be
desired, but the mere fact of its being no worse off is a
proof of latent strength and energy which should en-
courage its well-wishers. This island possesses all the
necessary elements to ensure success." This, to the out-
sider, may seem qualifying praise, but nevertheless those
acquainted with the depression from which the West
Indies as a body are only now fairly emerging, will
recognize a deeper significance in those words. Add to
this, that the climate is healthy, the death-rate being only
2-21 per cent.; that every occupier of even two or three
acres may, if diligent, be in comfortable circumstances;
that about five thousand small proprietors are actually so;
that the land is enormously productive, bearing cacao,
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
coco-nut, kola, tea, coffee, tobacco, nutmegs, cloves, ginger,
and other spices; further consider that each and every
such product is a source of wealth; also that turtles have
merely to be lifted from the shore, and conveyed on board
steamers, to fetch a high price in the London market; and
that whales can be harpooned among the Grenadines, and
their blubber melted down into sperm oil, while their
flexible bones are ever in demand; and that this colony
merely requires a little extra labour and capital to make
it that desirable centre of commerce which I have
already endeavoured to portray.
Reflecting seriously over these facts, one cannot arrive
at any other conclusion than that when these circum-
stances are fully known and understood by the youth, ay,
and the middle-aged men of serious conviction in Great
Britain and Ireland, many will avail themselves of that
knowledge, by setting out to a land that offers them so
much for so little expenditure of labour and capital.
THE GRENADINES.
To these I must necessarily refer but very briefly. Not
that the energetic men who inhabit them, and prosper in
their quiet way, are undeserving of a whole Guide Book
to themselves; but that, in the limited space I have at
command, I cannot properly do them justice. Suffice
it, then, that on leaving Grenada, and between that
colony and St. Vincent, there lie some six hundred small
islands, stretching in a line for sixty miles or more.
These are chiefly subject to the government of the latter,
though, as previously mentioned, Carriacou, the largest
and most populous, is under that of Grenada. They
mostly bear names descriptive of their distant appearance,
such as Castle Island, Sail Island, Isle of Birds, Moustique;
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
and while the larger ones are suitable for stock-raising,
ground provisions, and the growth on a small scale of
other staple products, the smaller are but bare pro-
tuberances from the sea. Kingsley, who was ever
ready to bear witness to worth for worth's sake, thus
speaks of their inhabitants: "A quiet prosperous race
of little yeomen, beside a few planters, dwell there; the
latter feeding and exporting much stock, the former
much provisions, and both troubling themselves less than
of yore with sugar and cotton. They build coasting
vessels, and trade with them to the larger islands; and
they might be, it is said, if they chose, much richer than
they are-if that be any good to them."
This presents a most tempting picture; and many a
hardy north-country man, or Irish coasting peasant, could
speedily develop trade from any of these tight little
islands.
ST. VINCENT.
This island, with its conical mountains, cleft by leafy
valleys, which rise in a central mass of spires round
which a rocky coast is raised, is remarkable for its having
remained in undisputed possession of the Caribs until as
late a date as 1627; and, in fact, until 1675, no steps were
taken to colonize it. There appear to have been two
distinct races here-the Yellow" Caribs proper, and the
other termed "Black" Caribs. These aborigines, after
being allotted ample territory, and living peacefully and
in prosperous condition under British rule, openly
rebelled against the Government at the breaking-out of
the French Revolution, and, assisted by their allies (the
French), overran the country, burning the cane-fields,
plundering the houses, and mercilessly murdering the
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
English colonists. Succours were sent from Martinique,
then the British head-quarters, and in June, 1796, after
an obstinate struggle, the insurgents surrendered at
discretion to the reinforcements under Sir Ralph Aber-
crombie; and on the llth of March, 1797, the Caribs,
to the number of 5080, were transported to the island of
Rattan, in the Bay of Honduras.
As stated previously, most of the principal islands of
the Grenadines, including Bequia, situated at a distance
of nine miles from the mainland, are comprised within
the government of this colony.
St. Vincent, though exhibiting some features in common
with the other islands, is favourably distinguished from
them by an undulating surface and a succession of
gentle slopes, of which portions are cultivated for sugar-
cane. It is famous for its fearful earthquake of March
26, 1812, followed by an awful volcanic eruption from
the crater of the "SouffriBre," which shattered the moun-
tain and wrought havoc and desolation around; its fiery
streams of lava, and showers of pulverized ashes, repeating
in very truth the scenes attending the overwhelming of
the Cities of the Plain, or those by a similar agency of
Pompeii and Herculaneum. For three days the island
was enveloped in chaotic gloom; while Barbados, one
hundred miles west, was covered inches thick with dust
and ashes, and the light of the sun obscured during the
whole day, its terror-stricken inhabitants being con-
vinced that the end of the world had come. The
story goes that a negro boy, reported to be still living
on the island, was herding cattle on the slopes of this
volcano when the first few stones were scattered down
its sides, and that, thinking another lad was pelting him,
he returned the missiles in the direction of his supposed
concealed assailant; but finding the dropping stones
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
increasing both in size and number, he at length perceived
that "the steam mitrailleuse of the Titans" was pelting
him, and so took to his heels and fled for his life.
Kingstown, the capital, is a long, straggling town, con-
sisting of three principal streets, each about a mile long,
and the whole stretches along the sea and mountains, at
the bottom of an extensive bay. A backbone of densely
wooded mountain traverses it from north to south, send-
ing off spurs on each side; the highest peak, four thousand
feet, being that of Morne A Garon. Trees and other
substances are fi equently found imbedded in lava, and a
rich black mould exists in the valleys, the higher lands
being mixed with volcanic ashes.
The sugar plantations here are but sparsely worked,
though planters still cling to hopes of more remunerative
times, and the result of the Sugar Bounties Conference"
will no doubt inspire fresh courage; but their coolie
importation must be better managed, if they are still
desirous of foreign labour. The island at present is pass-
ing through a most acute period of depression, and estates
may be bought at a reasonable rate; it is very desirable
as a dwelling-place, and healthy, besides having much
picturesque scenery, and the advent of a few small
capitalists of resolute character and energy would do
much in effecting an advance in its trade, besides stimu-
lating those already residing there to fresh exertions on
their own behalf.
It is pleasant to be able to point to St. Vincent as
"the island of arrowroot," the best in the world, but
which unfortunately is rather a drug in the market at
present. It would seem that some other use must be
found for this important staple of industry, if it is to be
cultivated successfully; and from the fineness of its
powder, one would think it could be mixed with coarser
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
meals, and so form a substantial cake for feeding cattle.
The cultivation of cacao is proceeding apace, and there
is ample room for a still further development. But
there is a more important crop than any of these, for
which St. Vincent is well fitted, providing always that a
market can be found for its production. I allude to the
cultivation of tea. The tea-plant in itself is very hardy,
and grows everywhere. The chief problems, however,
are connected with maintaining the plant in a constant
state of growth (that is, securing for it a warm, humid,
and forcing climate) to ensure large 'flushes;' and to
have at hand an abundant supply of cheap labour." It
must, moreover, be grown in well-sheltered situations,
to escape hurricanes, and in localities beyond the influence
of prolonged droughts. Coffee plantations in Ceylon
have recently been turned wholesale into tea-gardens,
and now it is the fashion for every one to drink Ceylon
tea; why then should not many of the old sugar estates
in St. Vincent, situated on the slopes of the thickly
timbered protecting woods, be treated likewise ? Let a
tea industry be, then, established here, to meet the mere
local demand, which might reasonably be expected to
increase; and the avoidance of the existing import duty
of one shilling would more than cover the extra cost of
labour required. Looking at that all-important factor in
the successful cultivation of tea, the condition of the
labour market, we find that St. Vincent actually swarms
with skilled labour, which, for adequate pay and regular
employment, is ever at hand. Of negroes, a vast number
of whom "squat" upon the unsurveyed and unoccupied
Crown lands, there are tens of thousands ; there are about
two thousand coolies imported by the sugar-planters, and
something less than two hundred Caribs, who are noted for
Kew Bulletin for 1887.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
their intrepidity in shipping cargo through the breakers;
in addition to all these, skilled labour other than coloured
could be obtained, for it is but some forty years since
2400 Portuguese labourers emigrated thither, and, I
believe, many of them and their descendants are at the
present time living on the island.
It would appear, then, that this colony offers such
advantages for tea-growing, both as regards climate and
situation, as well as in its superabundance of skilled
labour, that capitalists of fair means should make no
delay in buying up old sugar estates suitable for this
purpose.
Products similar to those of Grenada are to be found
here, and only await the careful cultivation of man to
yield in profusion. The old proprietors having mostly
ceased to reside in the island, their one sheet-anchor, cane,
proving unworthy of such implicit trust as was placed in
it, is a strong inducement for young men to lose no time
in emigrating thither; for here, if anywhere, they will
find themselves untrammelled by the erroneous ideas of
former settlers, and better able, than in more populated
islands, to follow out those principles of thrift and industry
which they have learned at home. The very fact of St.
Vincent being about the least prosperous community of
any in the West Indies, although blest with all nature can
provide for the sustenance of mankind, amply proves that
hitherto the natural resources of the island have been
undeveloped, and that, like Tobago and Dominica, there
is here a wonderful field for enterprise.
At the risk of reiteration, one cannot but declaim on
the folly of thinking that a one-crop cultivation can end
in anything but disaster, no matter what the nature of
the plant, or the climate and soil of the land where such
be grown. For home consumption, then, let everything
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
be grown that the island will produce; and if, in the case
of Grenada, I have advocated special attention to the
practical cultivation of fruit and spices, and here, in
St. Vincent, lean rather to a modification in the use of
its well-known but unremunerative arrowroot, and in
addition have drawn special notice to a new crop, viz.
tea, it is equally my intention to advocate their special
and several affinities for these productions, as it is my
earnest desire to prevent any return of one-crop worship.
Therefore in advising, where the islands are so similarly
situated, different objects of cultivation for each, I would
wish that each should prosper in its own products, and
not, by endeavouring to produce the same, hinder the
well-doing of either community. For the present, then,
at all events, let each colony endeavour to help on its
neighbour, and by embarking in industries different to
those undertaken by the adjacent island, prevent the
markets, both at home and abroad, from being clogged
with the overplus of a mere single commodity.
No misguided traveller or feeble tourist having denied
to St. Vincent its properties as a health-restoring and
peculiarly attractive place of residence, it may be
accepted without demur that its reputation as such is
thoroughly deserved. There are moreover medicinal
springs, from which the settler may drive much benefit;
and if the fer-de-lance is occasionally to be encountered,
and descendants, albeit not pure, of the famous Caribs
still linger on the island, the emigrant need not poke
the one up with a stick, but give it a wide berth, and, to
his surprise, will find the latter of mild temperature, and
of more service perhaps than any other man of colour in
the colony.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
ST. LUCIA.
On the way from St. Vincent to St. Lucia, we again
dropped anchor at Barbados, arriving there on the morning
of Easter Sunday. After the pleasure of once again
breakfasting on land in an English-conducted hotel, and
there being confronted by a huge railway placard, on
which, to my no small surprise, one's own surname
appeared as the designatory title of one of the four
stations of the Barbados Railroad; many of us enjoyed the
privilege of attending divine service in the Cathedral,
and the effect produced by the voices of white and
coloured folk alike, joining in the familiar Easter hymn,
was peculiarly striking to us, coming straight from a
world of waters, where, on board ship, one day is not very
materially different from another. As the s.s. Solent
proceeds on her way, we may well reflect, as we all too
soon lose sight of the thoroughly and highly cultivated
Barbadian shores-marked by its sugar estates, each
with its group of buildings, tall chimney, or windmill, and
cluster of cabbage-palms-how much we owe to this, the
oldest of these British colonies, for her valour and
allegiance in the past, and for her present example of
negro industry, which have so largely contributed to the
former prosperity, and we may hope the future also, of
the island.
St. Lucia, to myself, and, I doubt not, to many others,
the most serenely magnificent of all these precious
settings in the chain of the Lesser Antilles, now presents
itself to the spectator's astonished gaze; and as one
glides softly between its two sentinel Pitons, it is with
bated breath and awestruck vision, and with a new-born
consciousness of our own littleness, that we are aware
of the stupendous vastness of these giant Needles.
ST. LUCIA.
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
Imagine a couple of mammoth sugar-loaves of irregular
and jagged construction, or fools' caps, towering, but
crumpled and indented, rising sheer up out of the water,
with a lovely bay opening out between them, and you
may picture the shape of these twin mountain peaks.
These Pitons rise abruptly from the sea to a height of
nearly three thousand feet, and the engraving represents
very faithfully their appearance, though the town of
Castries, nestling within the bay, cannot really be seen
from the sea.
Once within the bay, all is hushed and still, and the
sweet verdant hills sloping to the bosom of the water
present such a tranquil scene of rest and peace, and
seemingly so safe a haven from all outward trouble, that
one would fain have remained at anchor there, merely to
contemplate its bewitching beauty. I was somehow
struck with a resemblance to the Bay of Douglas in the
Isle of Man, and thus agreeably reminded of
"Our own dear Ellan Vannin,
With its green hills by the sea 1"
As points of interest to the visitor, the active volcano,
about three miles east of the Pitons, presents as weird and
awe-inspiring a scene as it is possible to imagine; the
following quotation from a graphic description in "The
Voice of St. Lucia most accurately bearing witness to its
supernatural aspect :-
"We feel we are approaching one of the Great Mother's
mysterious laboratories. Suddenly there burst upon the
eye, at a turn of the path, a sight, once seen, never to
be forgotten. Hundreds of feet plumb down below the
path, is a gigantic funnel between the grey hillsides, the
bottom of which has been filled up with the debris of
titanic convulsions of nature, in ages past, up to nearly
half its depth, and from this surface arise dense
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
suffocating clouds of sulphurous smoke, the ear becomes
conscious of a deep monotonous rumbling-an unfamiliar
sound by no means reassuring-and the dense damp
heat of the atmosphere is stifling. Anon a gust of dry
cool wind sweeps down the hillside from the north-east,
and catching the edge of the sulphurous veil hanging
over the funnel, lifts it high up the side of the oppo-
site hill. Oh, for the weird pencil of a Dor6 to picture
a scene as wild, as grand, as awe-inspiring as any that
the preterhuman imagination of Dant6 ever placed in
the "Inferno"! At regular intervals in the deep cavity,
filled with lava and crusted with brilliant crystals of sul-
phur, which dazzle the eye in the glint of the sunlight,
a dozen hideous, dark pools belch high from their yawn-
ing mouths columns of black boiling sulphurous liquid,
generated in unknown depths by agencies we wot not of,
with deep menacing rumblings, and with a resistless force
that splits the thick lava-crust into smoke-venting
fissures, and makes the very mountain tremble. Around
all is burnt up and dry. The calcined branches and
trunks of dead trees overhang the cavity, or rise in
fantastic shapes from the bed of lava in which they are
half buried; strange, craggy, torn, and broken rocks peer
over the brink into the water, grey with lava and cinder,
and with curious metallic streaks marking the run of
their fissures."
Then there is the Sant of Anse Canot," where, in the
midst of most gorgeous tropical scenery, a waterfall of
some fifty feet descends in front of a spacious cavern in
the rocks; while the fact that the Lesser Piton has been
successfully climbed by a party of gentlemen of all ages
may fire the tourist to a similar achievement; but the
Gros Piton, no matter what imaginative legend may
attach to the same, must for ever remain an inaccessible
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
cone. Pigeon Island, a headlong rock, six miles from the
harbour, which played so important a part in the naval
wars for supremacy-behind which Rodney's fleet lay at
anchor, while he daily reconnoitred from the summit for-
the approach of the French fleet-is a capital watch-
tower, and has accommodation for five hundred men.
As the prosperity of Barbados is greatly enhanced by
the frequent arrival of the Atlantic liners, so would that of
St. Lucia be much stimulated by a similar advent of the
mails direct from England. Most advantageously situated,
as central between the groups of Leeward and Windward
Islands, with a superb harbour and healthy surroundings,
St. Lucia may justly claim the honour of being the one
island really suitable for such a purpose; and indeed the
different steam companies are now fully aware of the
repugnance of many passengers, in being carried straight
from Europe into the little narrow harbour of St. Thomas,
so accurately stated by Kingsley to be "as veritable a
Dutch oven for cooking fever in, with as veritable a
dripping-pan for the poison, when concocted in the tideless
basin below the town, as man ever invented."
As a matter of fact, of late years, the advantages of the
harbour of Castries, the safest in the West Indies, have
been increasingly appreciated by steamships, as a port of
call and coaling station; and the British Government
having wisely chosen it as such for the British Navy,
recommending the expenditure of 60,000 for putting the
port in a state of effective defence, the colony responding
cheerfully and ungrudgingly by deepening the harbour
and building up solid walls of concrete to enable the
largest vessels of the Royal Navy to lie alongside, is
an additional reason for the mail steamers to make direct
for this port, as well for its central position, safe harbour,
and healthy surroundings, as for its facilities for easy
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
coaling. I should like to hear of Barbados and St.
Lucia being visited alternately by these mail Atlantic
liners, so that each should receive in turn the benefits
arising from the presence, however brief, of such floating
hotels in their waters.
Moreover, St. Lucia will soon be an important centre
of society, for the rebuilding of the barracks to accommo-
date a garrison of one thousand soldiers has put more life
into the place; and the merchants know well what a
stimulus to the local provision trade alone will be given by
their presence. So what with the sailors, soldiers, and, it
is to be hoped, passengers of the Atlantic liners, St. Lucia
will ere long become a fashionable watering-place and a
prosperous commercial station; and we may be sure that
the adjacent islands will not fail to reap some benefit from
this agreeable state of affairs.
Before touching on the products capable of cultivation
in this island, let us turn to its past history; from which
we gather that St. Lucia remained in the possession of
the aborigines until 1635, when it received its first
French settlers, who were followed in the year 1639 by
some English emigrants, but French and English alike
were all murdered the following year by the Caribs.
However, in 1642, the French again took possession, and
concluded a treaty of peace with the natives in 1660.
After this, the island was conquered and reconquered,
time after time, by the two great contending parties of
French and English, until, in 1782, Rodney took up his
position in Gros Ilet Bay, with a fleet of thirty-six sail of
the line, from whence he pursued Count de Grasse, and
gained the memorable victory of the 12th of April in that
year. However, the Peace of Versailles again restored
the island to the French; but on the declaration of war
against revolutionary France, the West Indies became
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
the scene of a series of naval and military operations, and
St. Lucia was surrendered to the British arms in 1794.
But in 1795, when so many of these colonies were over-
run by the mutinous Caribs, the slaves, and their allies the
French, it became necessary to send twelve thousand troops
under Abercrombie and Admiral Christian, to their aid;
and from April 26 to May 26, 1796, St. Lucia was the
scene of an obstinate and sanguinary contest, which re-
sulted in the insurgents laying down their arms and sur-
rendering as prisoners of war. As if all this were not
enough to make this island a confirmed British colony, we
actually find that in 1802 it was again restored to France
by the Peace of Amiens ; however, in the year following, on
the renewal of hostilities, it capitulated, and since June
22, 1803, has continued under British rule.
It must never be forgotten that to Rodney's wise
counsel may be assigned the fact of our now being in
possession of this impregnable island, instead of the
neighboring French colony of Martinique, which was
so long the head-quarters of the British troops.
In consequence of seemingly authoritative reports as
to a reputed unhealthiness, detrimental to St. Lucia's
prosperity, having been circulated in the past-although
the mere fact of the British Government having selected
this island as the head-quarters of a large garrison is of
itself a sufficient denial-I feel bound to state that official
statistics prove such slanders to be utterly groundless.
For a tropical place of residence, St. Lucia is singularly
healthy; its harbour is sweet and clean (one of the very
reasons why I recommend all vessels to come direct here,
instead of courting fever in the abominable stew-basin of
St. Thomas), and its soil well drained, while its climate
is most beneficent; Europeans working with comfort in
its cacao and other shady plantations. But figures and
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
facts published and approved by authority speak for
themselves: "The population of St. Lucia is forty-one
thousand, and its death-rate during the last fourteen years
averaged less than 21 per cent. annually."
Again, with regard to the presence of deadly serpents,
truth has been swallowed up in fiction. It is indeed a
theme so common to the imagination or gullibility of the
traveller, that on being buttonholed by a confirmed
narrator of snake stories-and what in the way of all that
is marvellous, truth being a secondary consideration, is
not this tribe guilty of?-he listens with breathless
attention, and jots down in his log-book, for future pro-
duction before an admiring public, anecdotes of the
demon-like atrocity of the fer-de-lance, which, not content
with lying in wait for tender sucklings, in very truth
trails like a bloodhound the track of man, and daily lays
his tribute on the unfortunate inhabitants! How the
narrator enjoys the intense interest of his verdant listener,
forgetting that many persons at home are apt to accept
as gospel truth each and every statement of the traveller,
especially if he be individually known to them, or a
distinguished man of letters; and that, by so stretching
the truth as to afford himself and his friends amusement
at the expense of an unsuspecting one, he is in reality
damaging the future chances of emigration to his own
island home. However, I cannot do better than quote
an authoritative and responsible refutation of this second
slander against St. Lucia, from the Barbados and West
India Directory, which reads as follows:-
"In the way of reptiles, there are several species of
snakes, one variety of which is venomous, and its bite
will cause death in a few hours, unless immediately
attended to. Antidotes, however, are well known to all
the peasantry, which is the class most exposed to the
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
danger; added to which, the snake will not only never
attack, but will always try to get away from man. It will
turn only if trodden on, or itself attacked, or suddenly
disturbed. The Government doctors have also become
experienced in the treatment of snake-bite, and if not
brought in too late, such cases are among the most success-
ful of the hospital practice. When it is considered that the
bulk of the population is rural, that two-thirds of the area
of the country is a dense forest, about which the negroes
are always wandering in search of natural products or
hunting game, and that the yearly deaths from snake-bites
average only one in six thousand of the population, it will
be seen that the exaggerated stories about the number of,
and danger from, snakes in St. Lucia have no foundation."
This is a plain unvarnished statement, from which we
learn that the annual deaths from snake-bites are under
seven in the forty-one thousand population of the whole
island. What do we hear about deaths from similar causes
in India and other colonies ? Do such deter thousands from
proceeding thither. Then why has the presence of a few
venomous snakes in St. Lucia been allowed to prejudice
her fair share of emigration ? Simply from this reason: that
casual visitors being obliged to say something unpleasant
about a country where all else is so good, for fear that
in giving praise without blame their veracity may be
doubted at home, have introduced into their published
books of travel foolish and unauthenticated accounts of
the perils to be encountered from deadly serpents !
Let the timid derive further consolation, if need be,
from the fact that the harmless coibo, a long steel-blue
snake, is especially partial to the flesh of the fer-de-lance,
making a dinner off him on every suitable occasion; and,
further, the imported Indian mongoose makes short work
of the same, swallowing fangs, venom-glands, and all.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.-
Castries is the principal town of St. Lucia, and is at
present too small to worthily represent the capital of so
beautiful an island; however, such can and is being
remedied; while the little town of Souffribre, which lies
on the west coast, was baulked of its chance of rising to
importance, through the abandonment of Messrs. Bennett
and Wood's sulphur works, which were in its immediate
neighbourhood, and were closed on account of a heavy
duty being imposed on exported sulphur; the misguided
inhabitants perceiving imaginary dearth of labour for
their sugar plantations in the future. However, they
have now learned, by a dearly bought experience, that
every fresh expenditure of capital, in no matter what
direction, cannot fail, directly or indirectly, to benefit
their colony.
As stated previously, this is a very central island, and
as such conveniently situated for commercial enterprise,
and, with its extraordinary natural resources, should
tempt many a thrifty emigrant to embark his capital in
some such industry as will presently be alluded to. It is
richly wooded, so that the timber trade should prosper
well; hard woods for furniture and cabinet purposes
abounding; while resinous trees, and the fibrous bark of
many a well-known commercially valuable species, only
require scientific knowledge and practical experience to
make them yield their several valuable properties. The
valleys are all richly fertile, and the soil, always well
watered, is fitted to raise anything that will grow in the
tropics. Virgin land, suitable for growing cacao, coffee,
spices, fibrous plants, fruit, etc., can be bought in any
quantity at 1 per acre, payable by annual instalments of
five shillings. At present only about one-fifth of the
whole island is under cultivation, two-thirds being still
in virgin forest.
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
In fact, new industries may be opened out here, as
well as in most of the other islands. Larger crops of maize
might be profitably grown, for it is not even produced in
sufficient quantity for local needs, seeing that this corn
is largely imported from America: truly, an unhappy
illustration of carrying coals to Newcastle! It would
seem almost superfluous to urge the production of such
common vegetables as peas, beans, etc., which every
labourer at home takes care to have abundance of in his
allotment garden; but somehow the St. Lucians prefer
paying an import duty on these garden crops, instead of
each growing sufficient for family requirements. Perhaps
they will excuse my mentioning the fact that maize
produces a crop in four months after planting; plantains
and bananas, in nine months; while peas, beans, roots, and
other vegetables yield a profusion in an incredibly short
time. What an excellent opportunity for a few market
gardeners to earn a comfortable competency!
But there is a new and special industry, that St. Lucia
is better fitted to successfully carry through than any
other of these West Indian colonies, and it could not fail
to become a most profitable undertaking. I refer to the
erection of a manufactory for the production of coco-nut
cake for cattle foods. Here we have, in the West Indies
generally, the "prince of palms" growing luxuriantly,
and producing, where carefully attended, an extremely
rich harvest of nuts, which as a rule, like every other
commodity, are grown merely to be shipped away to other
lands, where the people appreciate their innumerable
good qualities, and which is simply sending more than
money's worth out of the country. Therefore, in view of the
needs of the garrison of one thousand men, the crews of the
Royal Navy, and those of the three thousand steamers that
yearly visit and mostly coal at Castries, to say nothing of
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
local needs for good prime beef, such an opportunity is
opened to St. Lucia for improving her native breeds of
cattle, and bringing them to that proper state of perfection,
by ajudicious feeding on coco-nut cake, supplemented with
sufficient green food, which if neglected will be taken up
elsewhere, and St. Lucia will for ever have lost her
opportunity of being the principal cattle-food station
of the West Indies. As I have before remarked in
dealing with Tobago, it is absolutely necessary, for the
future prosperity of these islands, that mere cultivation
of the raw material plain and simple should not be the
solitary aim of the colonists, but that manufactories for
the reducing of the same to such ingredients as are really
required for local needs must supplement the successful
growth of their many industries videe pages 145, 152,
and 165).
Let me here recapitulate: Climate and soil alike
most genial; land to be had almost for the asking;
population most favourably disposed towards new-comers,
and all anxious to participate in any fresh exertions to
make St. Lucia popular; a grand opening for manufac-
turers of coco-nut cake to erect a factory on the spot,
and buy up the nuts from the islands in all directions;
and, lastly, for stock-raisers to hurry thither, and, with
capital backed up by former experience, to buy up and
improve the native breeds by judicious crossing with
British stock; while planters may turn their attention
more to suitable pasture-lands of Para and Guinea grass,
so that what with rich pastures and coco-nut cake, the St.
Lucian herds may become celebrated far and wide.
Beef and pork at present sell at from sixpence to eight-
pence a pound, and mutton, such as it is, at eightpence;
while potatoes and their equivalents cost about twopence.
Fish of excellent quality is found in great abundance
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
and variety off the coast, and the rivers teem with fresh-
water kinds. Crabs, crawfish, lobsters, and turtle are
also plentiful. The "new-chum" would soon become
familiar with, and fully appreciate, the delicate flesh of
the iguana, a large variety of green lizard, which is
suggestive of a combination of chicken and turtle; while
the agouti, a sharp little rodent, not unlike a hedgehog
in appearance, is most excellent eating, having a flavour
similar to that of jugged have.
It only remains for me now, in dealing with this truly
beautiful island, to state that there is absolute security
from violence to the person, and little, if any, danger to
property, owing to the absence of a criminal class; and to
make mention of its highly medicinal sulphur springs.
The latter are most efficacious in cases of rheumatism,
ulcers, skin diseases, and in bronchial affections. It may
not be generally known that, when a French possession,
Louis XVI. caused most elaborate baths to be erected
here for the use of the troops in the Windward Islands;
and although these are at present fallen to decay, the
ruined structures are still resorted to by those desirous
of obtaining relief from suffering. Here then, again, is a
future source of considerable profit to any enterprising
company who, by putting these baths into repair and
advertising their remedial qualities, should induce visitors
to pass the winter at St. Lucia. The quality of these
waters is precisely similar to those sought out by so
many thousands at Aix-les-Bains and other Continental
spas, and moreover possess the superior advantage of
preserving their efficacy all the year round. Another
spring of slightly effervescent water, impregnated with
iron, and of perfect limpidity, will hold its own with
the most highly flavoured Harrogate or other olfactory
waters imported from Europe.
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
DOMINICA.
Passing Martinique, a French possession, abundant in
the growth of sugar-cane, and withal a prosperous settle-
ment, where the shipwright may obtain employment, we
cast anchor at Dominica, an island thickly covered with
gigantic trees and ferns, which was discovered by Co-
lumbus on Sunday, November 3, 1493; hence its name.
On approaching its shores, the thickness and richness
of its luxuriant vegetation are strikingly prominent, even
to the eye accustomed to tropical foliage. Its lofty
irregular mountains, the highest in the Antilles-Morne
Diablotin being 5314 feet above the level of the sea-
rise abruptly from the ocean, but, unlike many rugged
peaks, they are completely mantled with virgin forest up
to their very summits; while as the vessel passes along
its coasts, the traveller is delighted with a panorama of
smiling valleys, deep ravines with overhanging cliffs, and
lofty wooded mountains, forming a succession of views of
exceeding beauty and magnificence. When riding at
anchor in its magnificent roadstead, the visitor cannot
fail to notice the intensity of the blue colour of the
water, which will certainly tempt him to row ashore.
With regard to its past history, although nominally an
English possession in 1627, all attempts to bring into
subjection its yellow Caribs proved utterly abortive; so
that by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, it was
mutually stipulated between the French and ourselves
that Dominica should remain neutral, and be left in
possession of the aborigines. Many French planters
meanwhile settled here, who in 1763, when the English
were confirmed in their previous conquest of the island
by the ninth article of the treaty of peace signed at
Paris, were generously secured in their possessions, under
THE ISLANDS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES.
certain easy conditions. In 1771, after an obstinate re-
sistance, the French became masters of the island, and
its trade falling off, great distress resulted; but in 1783
the island was again restored to the English. A final
attempt was made on the part of the French to regain
possession in 1805, and so vividly has the impression of
this invasion remained in the history of Dominica, that
this remarkable epoch, which goes by the name of La
Grange (from the name of the French general), is used in
the island for marking the time of events. We are told
that the regulars and militia fought gallantly, but that
the capital, Roseau, being accidentally set on fire, they
were compelled to capitulate, paying the enemy 12,000
to quit. The Governor, Sir G. Prevost, and the troops
then entrenched themselves at the superior position of
Prince Rupert's, from which, like their native "calling
crabs," which "brandish their long single arms, with
frightful menaces, as of infuriated Nelsons," they dared
the French "to come on;" but the invaders, content with
their tribute-money, departed; and from that period to
the present time the island has not known war.
Roseau, the chief town, has a population of about
4500; while Portsmouth, on the north coast, is appro-
priately named, being a rising port, and destined-when
the island is under better cultivation, and its large
accumulations of sulphur are properly worked-to be the
outport of its industries. Among the natural pheno-
mena of this luxuriant island must be mentioned its
Boiling Lake, some 2425 feet above the sea; and in a
deep valley at its southern extremity, hot-water springs
issue from crevices near its sulphurous openings, in the
Roseau valley boiling up in the bed of the river.
Similarly with Tobago, and in a great measure with St.
Vincent, this neglected island of Dominica presents to
THE LESSER ANTILLES.
the energetic and thrifty small capitalist a chance of ac-
quiring land for next to nothing; and to men like those
who prefer to cut their own way through Australian
"bush," and the "scrub" of other far-away countries, act-
ing as pioneers for future larger capitalists, I cannot too
strongly urge the claims of islands like these, which are,
so to speak," on their beam-ends." It has been suggested
in certain quarters that a company, with a capital of
50,000, could acquire large territory in Dominica, and
so work the land to a profit. I am not a believer in
heroic measures of any such magnitude, being thoroughly
convinced that a yeoman proprietary alone is fitted to
properly work and develop the resources of such islands.
Leave companies to those of the Antilles that have some
large staple industry to attract them, and where costly
machinery necessitates an ample outlay of capital; but
if we wish these almost primeval lands to be thoroughly
developed with regard to all their resources, a yeoman
proprietorship of persons engaged in varied agricultural
pursuits is, to my mind, the only means to such an end.
Mr. D. Morris thus refers to this colony: "The back-
ward condition of Dominica, which is the third in size
of the British West India islands, is simply deplorable.
The greater part is still unopened forest. It possesses such
natural resources of soil and climate, that nothing is
wanting, but the right application of capital and
energy, to make it one of the most prosperous of our
tropical dependencies. Its finances are said to be so low
at present as not to admit even of the simplest attempt
being made to develop local industries." What a chance,
then, for a comparatively poor man over here to become
a prosperous and anon wealthy planter at Dominica!
What are the nearly bankrupt tenant-farmers of the
British Isles about, when a fortnight from their shores
|
