INTRODUCTION XXV11 



West Indies, and Anthony Trollope has given a conspectus 

 of the islands in the middle of the present century, just 

 before the epoch of emancipation which upset their indus- 

 trial system ; and this should be read by all who wish to 

 see the changes which fifty years have wrought. Captain 

 Marryat has recorded in fiction, and John Fiske in history, 

 the stories of the bucaneering and freebooting on the 

 Spanish Main. Of the more solid historical works, John 

 Fiske's writings, especially his "Discovery of America" 

 and " Old Virginia and her Neighbors," give admirable 

 summaries of earlier West Indian events and the intimate 

 relations that once existed between the American colonies 

 and the islands. 



Of economic treatises there are several special works, 

 such as M. Ramon de La Sagra's "Histoire physique, 

 politique et naturelle de Pile de Cuba," Humboldt's writ- 

 ings, Tippenhauer's "Haiti," Schomburgk's "Barbados," 

 and several French works on the present and former pos- 

 sessions of France. These, however, with the exception 

 of Tippenhauer's " Haiti," a report of the English Sugar 

 Commission, and various consular reports, were written in 

 the earlier decades of the century, and treat of slave con- 

 ditions which are now obsolete. Captain Mahan, in his 

 various books and magazine articles, has described the 

 present strategic importance of the islands and the great 

 naval battles of the past. 



Of works treating of the natural history of the West 

 Indies there are but few of a general or comprehensive 

 character. Exploration has been sporadic and unsys- 

 tematic, although in these islands is the key to all the 

 higher problems of zoogeography and the evolution of the 

 continents. There is one notable exception ; for years Pro- 

 fessor Alexander Agassiz has personally conducted or in- 

 spired many explorations in this region, and has published 

 valuable technical works thereon. His "Three Cruises of 

 the Blake" a treatise on the wonderful configuration of 

 the sea bottoms and their mysterious life, is a most read- 



