1036 



VIRGIN ISLANDS. 



VIRGINIA. 



1028 



island, in the western bight of a deep bar, which is 5 miles long and 

 3J miles wide, and constitutes an excellent harbour, beiug perfectly 

 land-locked on all sides. The town consists of only one long irregular 

 street, which incloses in a curve the base of a projecting point of land, 

 aad lies close to the water's edge. The houses are mostly well built. 

 To the north of the western extremity of Tortola is Jott van Dyke'i 

 Island, which is more than 3 miles long and about 1 mile wide. It 

 resembles Tortola in soil and productions. To the south of Tortola, 

 about 4 miles from the island, extends a row of islands from Broken 

 Jerusalem on the east-north-east to the western extremity of St. John. 

 They are all rocky and elevated, but small. The largest, St. Peter' t, 

 has an area of 1890 acres. Between this row of islands and Tortola is 

 Sir Francis Drake's Channel, which is of difficult navigation on account 

 of the numerous rocks and shoals, the strong tides, and the heavy 

 swell of the sea. 



The Danish Virgin Islands, St. John, St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, and 

 numerous islets, are situated between 64 40' and 65 10' W. long. 

 The island of .<t. John lies about a mile distant from Tortola : it U 

 about 8 miles long, and on an average 3 miles wide. The surface is 

 very uneven, the mountains reaching a height equal to that of the 

 Tortola eminence*. Sugar, coffee, and cotton are cultivated on level 

 tracts near the sea-shores. In the interior maize and ground pro- 

 visions are cultivated. There are several good anchorages, the best of 

 which is Coral Bay. St. John, a small town at the western extremity 

 of the island, possesses a good harbour. The inland of St. T/umuu, 

 wet of St. John, has an area of about 30 square miles. Its uneven- 

 nan of surface renders a considerable portion of it unsuitable for 

 agriculture. The soil is mostly a dry loam. Maize, ground pro- 

 visions, and fruits are cultivated to some extent. Host of the white 

 inhabitants of thU island and of St. John are of Dutch origin, and 

 Dutch is the common language. The town of St. Thomas is built on 

 the north shore of a fine bay, which has good anchorage for 200 

 T****l. Being a free port, open to all nations, it is an important 

 entrepot for articles of plantation consumption, and ia the chief mart 

 of the inhabitants of the Virgin Islands generally. The town is 

 fortified. The population i* about 3000, of whom about 400 are 

 whites. The most important of the Danish possessions is Santa Cruz, 

 ijrois, in the Columbian Archipelago. Though it does not pro- 

 perly belong to the group of the Virgin Islands, it U usually reckoned 

 along with them. It lie* between 17 40' and 17' 50' N. lat., 64 30' 

 and Ci' W. long., and is 24 mile* long and nearly 8 mile* broad in it* 

 widest part, containing an area of about 110 square mile*. Along the 

 northern shores there U a chain of hills, of which the eastern extre- 

 mity spread* over the whole width of the island. The island is com- 

 paratively fertile, the sugar-cane, cotton, and provisions beiug produced. 

 The island is traversed in it* whole extent lengthwise by three good 

 road*. The greater number of the white* on the island are of English 

 origin, and English is the language most generally spoken. The 

 population i* upwards of 30,000, including about 2500 white*. The 

 capital of Santa Cruz i* Chriiiianittidt, also called the Basin, which 

 stands on a small bay on the northern shore. This town, one of the 

 beat built in the West Indie*, stand* on the gentle declivity of a hill. 

 The street*, which are parallel to the sea, are wide and straight, and 

 rise like terrace* one above the other. Christianstadt U the seat of 

 the governor of the Danish posaesuons in the West Indie*. The 

 government-house ha* the appearance of a palace, and there are 

 several other handsome public buildings. There are four churches 

 (Danish, Dutch, English, and Roman Catholic), and two elementary 

 schools for poor boy* and girl*. Frederickttadt, at the western extre- 

 mity of the island, ha* a population of 1500, and a good roadstead. 



The Spanish Virgin Islands are a short distance from the eastern 

 coast of Puerto Kico, and consist of two island* of moderate extent, 

 and of several islet*. The northern island, called CuUbra (Snake 

 Iland), or Passage Island, has an area of about 10 square mile*, i* 

 rocky, and rises to a moderate elevation. The product* are sugar and 

 coffee. The population is only about 300. The southern island, 

 called Bie-iuf, or Crab Island, extend* from east to west about 16 

 miles, and i* between 3 and 4 mile* wide. On the northern aide is a 

 reat lagoon, which usually dries up at the close of the dry season. 

 The western part of the island i* rocky and billy. About two-thirds 

 of the surface of the island i* low, level, and overgrown with trees 

 and bushes. 



Climate. These island* have two rainy and two dry season*. The 

 short rainy season begin* in May, and last* from 15 to 20 day*. The 

 heat in this season U equal to that of the summer in Southern 

 Europe. In July and August the heat is considerable, the thermo- 

 meter in August usually marking 92 at noon. In September the rain 

 comes down like a deluge, and speedily makes the surface of the 

 islands sheet of water. Between July and October hurricanes 

 occur. The summer or dry season commences generally in December, 

 and from this period till the month of April showers are rare, and the 

 heat i* moderate. This is the most healthy and the moat agreeable 

 season of the year. Earthquakes occasionally occur, but the shocks 

 are generally slight On the northern shorn* of these islands a very 

 heavy swell, called the 'ground-sea,' is experienced between October 

 and May, and sometimes later. This swell has worn away much of 

 the lower part* of the northern shores, leaving the cooaU lined in 

 many places with high rocks or clilli. 



0(Xl. DIV. VOL. IV. 



Productions. The chief articles of export are sugar, rum, a little 

 cotton, and salt from Auegada. Maize and guinea-corn are cultivated. 

 The castor-oil plant aud tho tamarind grow wild, but are also culti- 

 vated. Other wild-growing and useful plants are the Aloe perfoliata 

 and the Ayare Americana. In the forests are many useful trees, 

 among which are mahogany- and fustic-trees. There are no wild 

 quadrupeds, and birds are rare. There are two or three kinds of 

 turtles. Fish is plentiful. 



History. Santa Cruz and the Virgin Islands were discovered by 

 Columbus on his second voyage, 1494. They were then inhabited, 

 and Santa Cruz was the most northern island in which the Caribbees 

 had established themselves ; but towards the end of the 16th century 

 no inhabitants were found on them. In the 17th century these islands 

 became the resort of buccaneers ; some Dutch buccaneers began to 

 settle Tortola in 164S, but were expelled from the island by the 

 English in 1666, aud since that time the island has always been ill 

 their possession. The island of St. Thomas was settled by the Danes 

 in 1672 ; and a few years later the Danes also possessed themselves of 

 St. John. These islands were taken by the British in 1801, but were 

 restored in the following year. They surrendered to the English in 

 1807, and continued in their hands till 1815, when they were again 

 restored to the Danes. The British islands are under the authority of 

 the governor of St Kitts, but they have a separate legislative assem- 

 bly, which meets at Road Town. The Danish islands are under the 

 care of the Danish governor residing at Cbristiaustadt ; and the 

 Spanish islands are dependencies of PUERTO Rico. 



VIRGINIA, one of the United States of North America, extends 

 between 36" 30' and 39 43' N. lat. (with the exception of a long 

 narrow slip of land which extends between Pennsylvania and the Ohio 

 River as far north as 40 38' N. lat), 75 15' aud 83 30' W. long. 

 It U bounded E. by the Atlantic Ocean and the Potomac River, which 

 separates it from the state of Maryland and the district of Columbia ; 

 N.E. by Maryland; N. by Pennsylvania; N.W. by Ohio; \V. by 

 Kentucky; S.W. by Tennessee; and S. by North Carolina. The area 

 is 61,352 square miles. The population in 1850 was 1,421,661, of 

 whom 54,333 were free coloured persons, and 472,528 slaves : the 

 density of population was 23'17 to the square mile. The federal 

 representative population in 1850 was 1,232,649, in which number 

 three-fifth* of the slaves are included. This, according to the present 

 ratio of representation, entitles the state to send 13 members to 

 Congress. To the Senate, like each of the other states, Virginia sends 

 two members. 



Sea-Coatl. From tho northern extremity of the Currituck Sound, 

 which is included within the boundary of Virginia, to Cape Uenry, 

 about 30 miles, i* an unbroken line of low shelving sandy shore. From 

 Cape Henry, which is a low Band-hill, it ia about 12 miles to Cape 

 Charles ; and between these two capes is the entrance of Chesapeake 

 Bay, which extends inland about ISO miles. Chesapeake Bay is de- 

 scribed under MARYLAND, to which state the greater part of it belongs. 

 From Cape Henry to Windmill Point, a distance of about 45 miles, 

 the coast of Virginia presents a succession of projecting headlands, 

 inclosing many bays, some of which extend far inland, and preserve a 

 considerable width and depth to a distance of from 20 to 50 miles from 

 tho sea. These larger bays are the icotuarie.i of rivers, and admit large 

 vessels, so as to constitute good harbours. The smaller bays are 

 formed by indentations of tho shores, and uio-t of them have sofa 

 anchorage for coasting vessels. The headlands between the bays have 

 low itnd frequently swampy shores, but at some distance from them 

 the country rises from 15 to 20 feet That part of Virginia which 

 lies east of Chesapeake Bay, and U called tho ' Eastern shore of Vir- 

 ginia,' is skirted on the side of the Atlantic by a number of low sandy 

 islands, which towards the north form one row, but towards Cape 

 Charles two or three parallel rows. They are inhabited by a few 

 fishermen, and the straits which separate these islands from one 

 another afford some passages for small coasting vessels. The coast 

 opposite these islands supplies shelter and i;ood anchorage, and that on 

 the side of Chesapeake Bay has some good harbours for small vessels. 



Surface, Soil, Climate, Agricultural i'roductiota. Nearly one-half of 

 the surface of Virginia is mountainous. The Appalachian or Alleghauy 

 Mountains run through it obliquely from south-west to north-east, 

 spreading along the southern boundary over the western, and towards 

 the north over the central, districts of the state. From the eastern 

 base of this mountain region there extends to the shores of the Atlantic 

 and of Chesapeake Bay a plain known as the Atlantic Slope, which 

 along tho shores of the sea is a low undulating plain, and at the back 

 of it a higher hilly country, which reaches to the Blue Ridge. These 

 two plains constitute the maritime and the higher slope of the Atlantic. 

 That portion of Virginia which lies to the north-west of the mountain 

 region, between it and the livers Ohio and Big Sandy, is much more 

 hilly than the eastern plain, and may be called the hilly region of the 

 Ohio and of the Kanawha. The following table exhibits a rough esti- 

 mate in square miles of the respective areas of thesj four regions : 



1. Maritime or Lower Slope of the Atlantic . . 8,000 



2. Hilly or Upper Slope of the Atlantic . . . 17,000 



3. Mountain Region of the Appalachians . . . 26,300 



4. Hill; Region of the Ohio and Kauawba . . . 10,000 



3 u 



C1.300 



