THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AND ST. CROIX 315 



eane has been grown there. This island was a great 

 stronghold of the bucaneers, but afterward fell into the 

 hands of the peaceful Quakers, who freed the slaves and 

 made them grants of land. The emancipated negroes then 

 deserted the island, and many of the impoverished whites 

 quickly followed them, so that the population fell from 

 eleven thousand to four thousand. Road Town, on the 

 south side, is the capital of the English Virgin Islands 

 Presidency. 



Virgin Gorda, or Spanish Town Island, also British, is 

 nearly eight miles long, of irregular shape, and very nar- 

 row at both ends. It contains fifty-two thousand acres, 

 and has a rocky coast ; it is arid, almost uninhabited, and 

 nearly surrounded by dangerous reefs. Its former con- 

 siderable plantations are now largely abandoned. 



Extending northward from Virgin Gorda are a number 

 of small, uninhabited, rocky islets, which constitute a men- 

 ace to navigation. Anegada, or Drown Island, the most 

 northeasterly of the group, about twelve miles long and 

 two miles wide, is surrounded by the famous Horseshoe 

 Reef. The island is low, and the sea often breaks over it. 

 The few inhabitants are principally engaged in raising 

 goats, sheep, and cattle. The revenue of the island is very 

 small, and the trade is almost exclusively with St. Thomas 

 and St. Croix. 



It has been said that as a great work of nature the Vir- 

 gin Islands seem full of intelligent design ; but as cultivable 

 lands they do not, in their present condition, show that 

 much success has attended the efforts of man. The white 

 men who formerly inhabited them are rapidly Leaving, and 

 the blacks are following them, though more slowly. 



St. Croix, or Santa Cruz, lies to the southeasl of Porto 

 Rico, and due south of the Virgin [slands, Isolated from 

 the other islands, bu1 more An til lean than ( !aribbean in its 

 geognostic aspects. Its area is seventy-four square miles. 

 It lias a high and sharp configuration, with deep cliffs 

 near the Bhore and many low hills in the interior, all cov- 



