342 CUBA AND POETO HICO 



as Point-a-Pitre. There are many small villages, like 

 Porte d'Enfer, and Grand Bourg, the capital of Maria 



( ialantc 



The population of the main island in 1894 was 107,000, 

 three fourths of whom were colored people and blacks. 

 There were also 15,000 coolies. These people are largely 

 French mulattos, of a type which will be more fully dis- 

 cussed in our description of Martinique. 



Dominica stands between the two French islands of 

 Guadeloupe and Martinique, almost rivaling them in size, 

 and is the largest of the British Caribbees. The island is 

 twenty-nine miles long, sixteen miles broad, and has an 

 area of two hundred and ninety-one square miles. It 

 presents the same magnificent scenery as all the Carib- 

 bees, in fact exceeding them in the loftiness of its monies 

 and the beauty of its vegetation ; for here is found the high- 

 est summit of the island chain, known as Morne Diabloten, 

 5314 feet high. From the top of this the scenery is terrible 

 in its grandeur, yet enchanting in its beauty. A little 

 sulphur occurs in old soufrieres in the mornes, and there 

 are several thermal springs, but there are no true or 

 recent volcanic craters. There is a beautiful old crater- 

 lake, however, about 2500 feet lower than Morne Diablo- 

 ten, which, until recently, was still flooded by boiling water 

 from springs bubbling up from the bottom, and every five 

 minutes upheaving in a foaming geyser. In 1880, how- 

 ever, land- slips took place, and much of the water es- 

 caped, the lake having thereby been greatly diminished in 

 area. Within a short distance from the margin it is not 

 less than three hundred feet deep. 



The island is noted for the quantity of its rainfall. The 

 temperature ranges from 70 in spring, winter, and au- 

 tumn, to 80 in summer. The exports are cattle, cocoa, 

 lime-juice, rum, molasses, and sugar. 



Dominica has one miserable little town called Eoseau, 

 picturesquely situated upon its western side. It is at the 

 foot of the mountains, where they drop into the sea, while 



