CHAPTER XXXII 



THE ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE 



Beauty of its landscape. A description of the forests. History and 

 present economic condition. The city of St. Pierre. Botanical 

 gardens. Fort -de-France. The fantastic population. 



WHILE the ship is still passing in the shadows of lofty 

 Dominica, the passenger can see the mornes of Mar- 

 tinique rising from the vast expanse of sea to the south- 

 ward. Martinique is the most picturesque in outline and 

 the most interesting of all these wonderful Caribbees the 

 central bead in the great necklace that encircles the throat 

 of the Caribbean Sea, and the most prosperous of these 

 unhappy isles. Some one has given to the island the poeti- 

 cal name of "Les Pays des Revenants, where nature's 

 unspeakable spell bewitches wandering souls like the spell 

 of a Circe." 



This island is second in size only to Guadeloupe, having 

 an area of three hundred and eighty-one square miles. It 

 is completely mountainous, culminating in the peak of 

 .Mount Pelee, 4450 feet high. This is usually wrapped in 

 clouds, but now and then it can be soon, and its vast tlanks 

 sweep in steep but graceful slopes to the sea. Another 

 peak Dear the south end is :U)">0 feet high, while the three- 

 crested Carbet, near the northern coast, rises Dearly to the 



altitude Of Mount Pelee. 



Every inch of this magic island, excepl where man lias 

 made temporary clearings, is draped in forests forests 



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