GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



407 



members sent a petition to the Pope protesting 

 against the persecution of a body which had re- 

 ceived the approbation of other ecclesiastical 

 dignitaries. 



Besides the islands and groups adjacent to 

 Australia and New Zealand, there are Royal 

 Company, Macquarie, Emerald, Campbell, An- 

 tipodes, 'and Bounty islands, lying far to the 

 south, and in all parts of the Pacific scattered 

 groups of coral reefs, producing cocoa-nut prod- 

 ucts, and of guano islands belonging to Great 

 Britain, all of which are under the civil and 

 criminal jurisdiction of the High Commissioner 

 of the western Pacific, who is at the same time 

 the Governor of Fiji. The recently annexed 

 Cook or Hervey islands have about 9,200 inhab- 

 itants. Some of the islands have been acquired 

 as stages for the telegraph route between Brit- 

 ish Columbia, New Zealand, and Australia, or 

 as coaling stations for steamer routes from Van- 

 couver and the Isthmus of Panama to Austra- 

 lian and Asiatic ports. The most important are 

 the Savage or Inue, Manihiki, Swarrow, Dudoza, 

 Roggevein, Union or Tokelau, Phoenix, Maiden, 

 Starbuck, Penrhyn or Tongarewa, Caroline, La- 

 goon or Ellice, Christmas, Fanning, Washing- 

 ton, Jarvis, and Exchequer islands and groups. 



In North and South America and the adjoin- 

 ing seas, besides Canada and Newfoundland, 

 some of the most important of the sugar-pro- 

 ducing islands of the West Indies, the sugar 

 colony of British Guiana, the Bermudas, the 

 Bahamas, the Falkland Islands, and British 

 Honduras in Central America are subject to the 

 British Crown. 



The Bermudas, a group of 360 small islands, 

 of which not more than 20 are inhabited, lie 580 

 miles east of Cape Hatteras and are 677 miles 

 distant from New York. They have an area of 

 20 square miles, one third of which, about 

 4,000 acres, is cultivated, producing potatoes, 

 onions, and other garden products and lily bulbs. 

 They are visited in winter by large numbers of 

 Americans, who are attracted by the climate and 

 scenery. The population in 1889 was estimated 

 at 15,534, of whom 6,155 were whites. The rev- 

 enue in 1888 was 29,872 and the expenditure 

 30,147. The imports amounted to 299,990; 

 exports, 99,650. Nearly the whole of the ex- 

 ports go to the United States, and about two 

 thirds of the imports come from that country. 



The Bahamas, lying off the southeast coast of 

 Florida, are also a winter resort for Americans. 

 There is a representative assembly of 29 mem- 

 bers. Their area is 5,450 square miles, and the 

 population in 1888 of 48,000, three fourths of 

 whom are colored. The sponge fishery was 

 until recently the only important industry. Be- 

 sides sponges, shells, pearls, and ambergris are 

 exported, and now pine-apples are exported in 

 large quantities, either in a fresh or preserved 

 state ; pears are also preserved, and the cultiva- 

 tion of fiber has been begun on a large scale. 

 The largest of the British West India Islands is 

 Jamaica, having an area of 4,424 square miles, 

 with a population of 580,804, including 14,432 

 whites, 109,946 colored, and 444.186 pure blacks, 

 the remainder being Chinese and Indian coolies. 

 The Governor is Sir Arthur Blake. The Legisla- 

 tive Assembly is composed of both elected and 

 nominated members. Of 598,173 acres under 



cultivation in 1888, the sugar-cane plantations 

 occupied 35,303, a decrease of 11,000 in ten 

 years ; coffee, 17,462 ; ground fruits, 73,786 ; 

 Guinea grass, 121,689. Turk's and Caicos isl- 

 ands, attached to Jamaica, are a source of sup- 

 ply for salt that is used in curing fish and pro- 

 visions in the United States, Canada, and New- 

 foundland, about 2,000,000 bushels being exported 

 annually. The Windward Islands consist of 

 Grenada, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and St. 

 Lucia. The three principal islands have separate 

 administrations. Grenada is 120 square miles in 

 extent, with 49,337 inhabitants ; St. Vincent has 

 an area of 122 square miles, with 46,872 inhab- 

 itants ; and St. Lucia has an area of 245 square 

 miles and a population of 42,504 souls. The ex- 

 ports are sugar, rum, cacao, cotton, spices, ar- 

 rowroot, logwood, and timber. The cultivation 

 of the sugar-cane is decreasing, and that of 

 cacao and cotton on the increase. Barbadoes, 

 having an area of 166 square miles and a popu- 

 lation of 171,860, including 15,672 whites and 

 662 military, is the headquarters for the British 

 troops in the West Indies. The chief product is 

 sugar. The Leeward Islands comprise Antigua, 

 having an area of 170 square miles and a popu- 

 lation in 1886 of about 35,000; Barbuda and 

 Redonda, area 62 square miles ; Virgin Islands, 

 area 58 square miles, with 5.000 population ; 

 Dominica, area 291 square miles, with 29,500 

 inhabitants ; St. Kitt's, area 65 square miles, with 

 45,000 inhabitants : Nevis, area 50 square miles, 

 with 12,000 inhabitants ; Anguilla, area 35 square 

 miles, with 11,680 inhabitants ; and Montserrat, 

 area 32 square miles, with 10,000 inhabitants. 

 The total population in 1881 comprised 5,000 

 whites, 23.000 of mixed blood, and 94,000 blacks. 

 Sugar, pine-apples, lime juice, cotton, cacao are 

 exported. Trinidad, with' Tobago, has an area 

 of 1,868 square miles and 209.503 inhabitants. 

 Sugar, cacao, and coffee are cultivated and as- 

 phaltum is exported. The total revenue col- 

 lected in the British West Indies in 1888 was 

 1,623,693 and the expenditure of the local 

 governments was 1,526,992. The imports of 

 all the islands amounted to $5,512,583 and their 

 total exports were 5,733,674. 



British Guiana has an area of 109,000 square 

 miles and a population in 1889 of 278,477, of 

 whom less than 2,000 are Europeans. The reve- 

 nue in 1888 was 461,941 and the expenditure 

 490,556. The imports were valued at 1,586,- 

 055. The export of sugar was 1,606,990 ; rum. 

 93,118 ; molasses, 73,604 ; gold, 55,566. The 

 total exports amounted to 2,024,733. 



British Honduras is a crown colony. It has 

 an area of 7,562 square miles and a population of 

 27,452. The revenue in 1888 was 43,511 and 

 the expenditure 41,587. Besides the staple 

 products, which have always been mahogany 

 and logwood, there is a growing production of 

 bananas, plantains, and cocoa-nuts for the Ameri- 

 can market. Sugar and cotton are cultivated, 

 and the transit trade in India-rubber, sarsapa- 

 rilla, and coffee is increasing. A scheme for 

 improving the sanitary condition of Belize has 

 been improperly carried out, resulting in an out- 

 break of virulent yellow fever, for which the 

 inhabitants blamed the Governor. 



The Falkland Islands, 300 miles east of Magel- 

 lan Straits, have an area of 6,500 square miles, 



