CLASSIFICATION OF THE WEST INDIAN ISLANDS 25 



St. Vincent, Grenada and Grenadines, Barbados, Virgin 

 Islands, Montserrat, St. Lucia ; French islands : St. Bar- 

 tholomew, Guadeloupe, Martinique; Dutch islands: St. 

 Eustatius, Saba, Curacao, Buen Ayre, Aruba ; French and 

 Dutch : St. Martin ; Danish islands : St. Thomas, St. John, 

 Santa Cruz. 



Two islands are divided in government. Santo Domingo 

 consists of two independent republics, Haiti and Santo Do- 

 mingo. Seventeen square miles of the little island of St. 

 Martin belong to Holland, and twenty-one square miles 

 to France. Of the Spanish islands, Cuba is a dependent 

 colony without local self-government; Porto Eico was an 

 integral part of Spain, participating in the rights of the 

 mother-country, until recently, when, in 1897, it was 

 granted a system of autonomy. 



The French islands of Maria Galante, Desirade, the 

 Siantes, and part of St. Martin, with Guadeloupe, form an 

 administrative colony, having a representative governor 

 from France, aided by local representative assistants. 

 Martinique is similarly organized. 



The administration of the British islands is divided 

 among several distinct and colonial governments, inde- 

 pendent of one another, each with local representative 

 assemblies and a governor and colonial secretary appointed 

 by the crown. The Bahamas constitute one of these, the 

 seat of administration being located at Nassau. Jamaica, 

 with Turks Island and the Caicos and Cayman Islands 

 attached for administrative purposes, is another. 



St. Christopher, Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, 

 Kedonda, Dominica, and the British Virgin Islands con- 

 stitute the English Leeward Island administrative group, 

 with the seat of government at St. John, Antigua. St. 

 Lucia, which is French in its language, manners, and re- 

 ligion, is a British dependency, which was until recently 

 governed as a conquered possession by a quasi-military 

 governor with the aid of a council. It is, however, in some 

 measure dependent upon the governor of Barbados. St. 



