THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AND ST. CROIX 313 



and 1867. For the accommodation of larger ships there is 

 a floating dock belonging to the Royal Mail Steamship Com- 

 pany, which is much resorted to for t lie docking of steamers. 

 The same company has also a huge stock of coal, and a 

 factory fitted up with the necessary appliances for keep- 

 ing its fleet in repair. The Hamburg-American Packet 

 Company makes St. Thomas its Wesl India headquarters 

 and coaling-station, and many American and European 

 steamers stop there. It is still the terminus of the north- 

 ern route of the Royal Mail auxiliary steamers, which 

 branch out in every direction from Barbados. Steamers 

 also run at frequent intervals from St. Thomas to Porto 

 Rico, thirty-eight miles to the westward; also to San 

 Domingo and Haiti. The island is in telegraphic com- 

 munication with Europe and the principal islands in the 

 West Indies, and is the headquarters of the West India 

 and Panama Telegraph Company, which connects with the 

 United States. 



Nearly every language is spoken in St. Thomas, English 

 predominating. The official language is Danish, but 

 Spanish, Dutch, and French are also spoken. Trollope 

 describes St. Thomas as a "niggery, Hispano, Dano, Yan- 

 kee Doodle sort of place, with a general flavor of sherry- 

 cobbler." 



St. Thomas has been declining for many years, for vari- 

 ous reasons. The supplanting of sailing-ships by steamers 

 was the first great blow; then the construction of cables 

 was detrimental to the business of the place as an inter- 

 mediary port. Between 1870 and 1880 trade took wings, 

 the old commercial importance of the island disappeared, 

 and Denmark tried to sell it to the United States, offering 

 it and St. John for ^4,7")(),000. The inhabitants, sharing 

 the universal desire of the West Indian people for annexa- 

 tion to the United States, gave their unanimous consenl 



to the arrangement, bu1 OUT government declined fco ratify 

 the purchase. As a final blow, the Royal Mail Steamship 

 Company, the great English distributing line, which is so 



