782 



WEST INDIES. 



either 2 or 10 per cent, ad valorem, calculated 

 to produce 58,000. 



The Department of Public Gardens and Plan- 

 tations spent 5,386 in 1884. The several es- 

 tablishments are as follow : The Botanic Gar- 

 den at Castleton; the Government Cinchona 

 Plantation in St. Andrew's Parish ; the Hope 

 Nurseries, near Kingston; the Palisadoes' 

 Plantation, near Kingston ; the Kingston Pa- 

 rade Garden ; the Botanic Garden at Bath ; the 

 King's House Gardens and Grounds. Tne Gov- 

 ernment cinchona plantations have proved a 

 brilliant success since their foundation in 1805. 

 They cover 250 acres, and cost in the aggregate 

 23,000. During the past five years they have 

 yielded returns to the extent of 13,000. The 

 export of cinchona-bark from Jamaica to the 

 end of September, 1884, was 75,533 pounds, of 

 the value of 16,327. Among private planters 

 there are about 800 acres now being planted 

 with cinchona. 



The Bio Cobre Irrigation Canal, irrigating 

 30,000 acres in the plains of St. Catherine's, 

 near Spanish Town, is over thirty miles long, 

 cost 120,000, and involves an annual expen- 

 diture for maintenance and management of 

 only 1J per cent. 



The Government Railway, purchased from 

 the Jamaica Railway Company in 1879 for the 

 sum of 94,400, extends from Kingston to Old 

 Harbor, 23 miles, with a branch to Angels. 3 

 miles. The Government has ordered surveys 

 and estimates for extending the line from Old 

 Harbor, through Clarendon, to Porus in Man- 

 chester, 24| miles, and from Angels, through 

 St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, to Ewarton, 14J miles. 

 The line from Old Harbor to Porus was opened 

 to traffic on March 2, 1885, and the Ewarton ex- 

 tension was also completed in the same year. 



There are in operation in the island 93 post- 

 offices and 41 postal telegraph offices. The 

 postage is one penny a half-ounce, and the 

 charge for telegrams one shilling for twenty 

 words. The West India and Panama Tele- 

 graph Company has its office at Kingston. 



The lines of mail steamships touching reg- 

 nlarly at Kingston are: Royal Mail Steam 

 Packet Company, West India and Pacific 

 Steamship Company, London and Balize Line 

 of steamers, Compagnie G6nerale Transat- 

 lantique, Cunard Steamship Company, Atlas 

 Steamship Company, Jamaica Coastwise 

 Steamship Service, Glasgow Line, and Clyde 

 Line. 



There are published in Jamaica twenty-one 

 newspapers, of which six are daily. 



In 1884 property-tax was paid on 136,880 

 acres under cultivation; 122,959 in Guinea- 

 grass; 332,568 common pasture, including 

 lands in pimento; and 1,335,405 acres wood 

 and barren. Of the cultivated lands, 42.518 

 acres were in sngar-cane, 20,731 in coffee, 

 282 in cocoa, 5,000 in cinchona, 171 ginger, 

 13 arrowroot, 857 Indian corn, 6 peanuts, 2 

 cotton, 62 tobacco, 155 vegetables, 72,084 

 ground provisions, and 2,328 in pimento. 



In 1884 there were in operation 189 sugar 

 estates, the largest of which turnel out 520 

 hogsheads of sugar and 314 puncheons of 

 rum. 



The imports in 1883-'84 amounted to 1,- 

 548,708; the exports to 1,483,989. Of ba- 

 nanas alone, nearly all to the United States, 

 shipments were 1,842,934 bunches, of the value 

 of 191,972. There is a rapid increase in the 

 export of oranges, pineapples, and yams. 



Danish. The area of Ste. Croix is 218 square 

 kilometres ; St. Thomas, 86 ; and St. John, 54. 

 Population of Ste. Croix, 18,430; St. Thomas, 

 14,389 ; St. John, 944 ; together, 33,763. There 

 are 4,862 Lutherans, 5,881 Moravians, 11,344 

 Episcopalians, and 10,025 Roman Catholics. 



Financially the islands form two groups, 

 viz. : (1) Ste. Croix ; (2) St. Thomas and St. 

 John; each group with a separate treasury 

 and with separate revenue and expenditure. 

 For each group the yearly revenue and expendi- 

 ture average between $150,000 and $200,000. 

 All revenues accrue to, and nil expenses are 

 defrayed by, the colonial treasuries, which are 

 so far independent of the treasury of the moth- 

 er-country. 



The Minister of Finance prevailed upon the 

 Danish Parliament to reduce the duty on sugar 

 and molasses coining from Ste. Croix 8 per 

 cent., from April 1, 1885, to March 31, 1890, 

 in view of the unprofitable nature of sugar- 

 making in the island at ruling low prices. 



The American trade with the Danish West 

 Indies has been as follows: 



The amount of sugar imported from Ste. 

 Croix in 1885 was 10,048,008 pounds, worth 

 $250,862; molasses, 238,514 gallons, worth 

 $40,692; rum, 36,458 gallons, worth $16,643. 



Dutch. (For details relating to area, see 

 "Annual Cyclopedia" for 1883.) In 1885 

 the population was distributed as follows: 

 Curacoa, 25,015; Bonaire, 4,031; Aruba, 6,- 

 177 ; St. Martin's (Dutch portion), 3,391 ; St. 

 Eustatius, 2,460; and Saba, 2,370; together, 

 43,444. Of this population, 41,783 were na- 

 tives of the islands. 



The Governor of Curacoa is N. van den 

 Brandhof. The American Consul at Curacoa 

 is Almon Barnes, and at St. Martin's, D. C. 

 von Romondt. 



Among the chief products of the island there 

 were: dividivi, 382,180 kilogrammes; Indian 

 corn, 298,546 litres; sea -salt, 13,000 casks, 

 and 3,498,200 litres in bulk. 



A terrible prolonged drought visited the isl- 

 and of Aruba in 1885, and the famine-stricken 

 population had to appeal to Curacoa and the 

 mother-country for food. 



The import of merchandise into Curacoa 

 amounted, in 1884 to 3.443,594 guilders' worth. 



