CHAPTER XXXV 



BARBADOS 



Insular position of the island. The coralline origin of its soils. Govern- 

 ment and economic conditions. The Barbadians. Density of popula- 

 tion. The struggle for existence. 



STANDING alone in the Atlantic Ocean, one hundred 

 and twenty-five miles east of the Caribbean chain, is 

 Barbados, which might as well be located in the Indian Ocean 

 or the China Sea so far as the resemblance of its natural 

 features to the other West Indian Islands is concerned. It 

 is as solitary as the Bermudas or Azores, and in its social 

 and cultural aspects is equally anomalous. Furthermore, 

 although much has been said in prose and poetry of the 

 coral islands of the West Indies, this is the only one exten- 

 sively populated by man which may be said to be of that 

 origin, with the exception of Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe), 

 and its dependencies of Desirade and Maria Galante. 



The island resembles a pear in outline (the narrow end 

 of which points to the north), and is slightly concave on 

 the east. There are no outlying islands, as many suppose, 

 I irobably owing to the final letter of the name of the island, 

 which suggests plurality. Its area is one hundred and 

 sixty-six square miles. 



In configuration the island is elevated, and yet not moun- 

 tainous, thf highest point, near the center, Mount Hillaby, 

 being eleven hundred feet, from which the land descends 

 in a series of low terraces on all sides to the sea. So gen- 

 tle are the hills that as one drives to the sun unit over the 



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