THE ISLANDS OF GUADELOUPE AND DOMINICA 339 



temperature is 78 F., the minimum being 61 and the 

 maxnium 101. 



The eastern or windward island is known as the Grande- 

 Terre. Geologically it is entirely different from the 

 Basse-Terre, belonging to the Anguillan type, previously 

 described. It consists of a calcareous plain, some two 

 or three hundred* feet in height, which has been cut into 

 numerous circular islands by erosion. The highest point 

 on this island is only four hundred and fifty feet. This 

 region is now the seat of extensive sugar-estates. The 

 coast of Grande-Terre is constantly increasing through 

 coral growth and the washing of the debris upon the 

 shores. This consolidates and is quarried for building 

 purposes. The process of consolidation goes on so rapidly 

 that small objects are constantly embedded, and the supply 

 for building renewed. The Grande-Terre is almost a con- 

 tinuous plain of sugar. 



Attached to Guadeloupe are several adjacent outlying 

 islands Maria Galante, Desirade, and Les Saintes. Maria 

 Galante and Desirade are calcareous, like Grande-Terre, of 

 the Anguillan type, but more largely made up of elevated 

 coral-reef rock. The former is a few miles south of 

 Guadeloupe. It is so terraced that it resembles an old 

 Babylonian tower, surmounted by a plateau six hundred 

 and seventy-five feet high. The island is forty miles in 

 circumference and supports seventeen thousand people. 

 Desirade lies to the east of Grande-Terre. It is a little 

 Island with a terraced platform, very similar to the round 

 hills of the mainland. It is ten square miles in area and 

 supports fourteen hundred people. Les Saintes, to the 

 south of Basse-Terre, are fragmentary igneous rocks dis- 

 posed in the same direction as the whole interior chain of 

 the Caribbees. These picturesque islets culminate in La 

 Chameau, altitude ten hundred and forty feet. They were 

 once the health-resort of Guadeloupe, and then- summits 

 are crowned with old fortifications. The basin of the 

 Saintes is still an important French naval station. 



