THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AND ST. CUOIX .'111 



shell-sand overgrown by cocoloba and cactus, largelyprickly- 

 pear. They arc all more or less densely con. -reel by vege- 

 tation similar to thai of all the Lesser Antilles. The trees 

 on the windward sides are rough and shaggy, and are bent 

 downward against the land by the wind. On the leeward 

 or sheltered sides, palms, trees, shrubs, and (lowers grow in 

 profusion, while aloes, cacti, and thorny shrubs occur in 

 the more arid spots. 



Even this small group of islands is divided among vari- 

 ous nationalities, much to their detriment. Crab andCule- 

 bra, which have already been described under the head of 

 Porto Rico, are Spanish. The Danes own the islands of 

 St. Thomas and St. John. Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Tor- 

 tola, and a number of smaller islets belong to Great Britain. 



The English Virgins constitute a crown colony of Great 

 Britain, and are ruled by a commissioner who is responsi- 

 ble to the governor of the Leeward Islands colony, which 

 has its capital at Antigua, They have a total area of only 

 ninety-three square miles and a decaying population, which 

 numbered s.KHi in 1SS1, and 8340 in 1891. Their inhabi- 

 tants are what Great Britain graciously terms peasant 

 proprietors negroes supporting themselves by the cultiva- 

 tion of small crops of yams and other foods upon which 

 the white man could not live, and by fishing. 



In all the islands the majority of the population is com- 

 posed of negroes, above whom are the white colonial offi- 

 cials of the government, who constitute a kind of local 

 aristocracy. The negroes, as a rule, are thoroughly con- 

 tent and orderly, being allowed i\ sufficient degree of 

 democracy in the local government to keep them loyal. 

 Besides these two classes there are a few white creole 

 planters, the remnants of a vanishing stock which was once 

 the chief element of 1 1 io population, but has gradually 

 migrated to more prosperous lands, Leaving behind weak 

 and impoverished descendants excellent people, who arc 

 to be pitied. 



These small islands are now unimportant. The only 



