302 CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



steamers on acconnl <>1* the superiority of their industry to 

 that of the other West Indian blacks. 



The principal inhabited islands are New Providence, 

 Abaco, Harbor Island, Eleuthera, Mayaguana, Ragged 

 Island, Rum Key, Exuma, Long Island, Long Ivey, and the 

 Biminis, all ports of entry, and the Great Bahama, Crooked 

 Island, Acklin Island, Cat Island and Watlings Island, 

 Berry Island, Andros Islands, and Turks and Caicos islands. 



New Providence, having fifteen thousand inhabitants, 

 contains over one fourth the people of the entire group. 

 On this island is situated Nassau, the capital and only city 

 of importance in the Bahamas. Nassau is a pretty place, 

 and is a favorite resort of American tourists, who reach it 

 from the Floridian coast. It has a population of ten 

 thousand people. Flowers and plants and neat English 

 houses give it a very attractive appearance. Its shops are 

 good, and it has a large and well-conducted American 

 hotel, which is principally supported by American visitors. 

 It was notable during our Civil War as the headquarters 

 of the blockade-runners, some of whom made great for- 

 tunes. 



Great Abaco is one of the most thickly peopled of the 

 islands. Its population in 1881 was 3610. These people 

 are mostly whites, and are interesting to us in that they 

 are descendants of American Tories, some of the best 

 families of colonial times. In order to preserve the purity 

 of the race, however, they have always intermarried within 

 the same family circle, and show a marked physical degen- 

 eration. 



The Andros Islands are the largest of the entire group, 

 and represent nearly a third of the dry land of the archi- 

 pelago. They are, moreover, the most densely wooded of 

 the Bahamas. 



Harbor Island is the most densely populated, having 

 two thousand inhabitants concentrated in a space about 

 two miles in extent, who are descended from the old buc- 

 aneers and have a communal land system. 



