WEST INDIES. 



783 



The American trade with the Dutch West In- 

 dies has been as follows: 



French. Martinique. The area of Marti- 

 nique is 988 square kilometres; population, 

 Dec. 31, 1884, 167,679. 



In 1883 there were 510 sugar estates, 168 

 coffee estates, and 1 9 cotton plantations ; in 

 1884, 519 sugar estates, 154 coffee estates, and 

 24 cotton plantations. 



A law school was created by decree of Jan. 

 20, 1883, at Fort de France, the number of 

 students in 1884 being 156. There is a lyceum 

 at St. Pierre, founded by decree of May 2, 1881, 

 and an institute for young ladies at the Mouil- 

 lage, inaugurated on JSTov. 6, 1883. There are 

 two normal schools nt St. Pierre, one for boys 

 and one for girls, and spread over the island 

 36 public schools, attended by 6,993 pupils. 



The Governor is M. V. G. Altegre. The 

 American Consul at Martinique is M. Garasche. 



The imports and exports have been as fol- 

 low: 



The exports embraced the following products 

 of the island : 



Guadeloupe. The area of Guadeloupe and 

 dependencies is 1,870 square kilometres; pop- 

 ulation, 197,896. The island is divided into 

 halves by a creek. Basse Terre, the more im- 

 portant portion commercially, is well watered. 

 Grande Terre lacks water-courses, but is the 

 great center of sugar production. The de- 

 pendencies are: Marie Galante, producing 

 about 1,000 tons of sugar, Les Saintes, Desi- 

 rade, St. Martin's, and St. Bart's. 



The Governor is M. L6once Laugier. The 

 American Consul is Charles Bartlett. 



The value of rural property amounts to 

 about 145,000,000 francs, 63,000,000 francs' 

 worth being under cultivation, 70,000,000 

 constituting buildings and sugar-houses, and 

 12,000,000 cattle and draught-animals. There 

 are 1,651 sugar estates, employing 52.294 field 

 laborers. These estates produced, in 1883, 

 43,168 tons of refined sugar; 14,615 tons of 



raw muscovado : 1,743 tons clayed sugar; 70,- 

 815 hectolitres of molasses; and 24,130 hecto- 

 litres of rum ; total value, 44,377,700 francs. 

 The cost of production was 21,460,500 francs, 

 leaving a net profit of 22,917,200 francs. The 

 island has 761 coffee estates, employing 6,206 

 hands, and turning out, in 1883, 705 tons, 

 worth 1,550,000 francs, while the cost of pro- 

 duction was 1,050,000 francs. 



Guadeloupe exports some logwood, tortoise- 

 shell, annotto. and preserved fruits. The an- 

 notto production has been on the increase. 



The imports in 1883 amounted to 26,500,000 

 francs, and the exports to 31,900,000. The 

 American trade with the French West Indies 

 has been as follows : 



Guiana. The area of Guiana is 121,413 

 square kilometres; population, 24,656. The 

 Governor is M. Isidore Chesse. The American 

 Consul at Cayenne is P. Decomis. The income 

 of the colony, in 1884, was 2,123,000 francs, 

 and the outlay 3,346,000 francs. 



Although intrinsically a rich colony, abound- 

 ing in gold, and having a fertile soil and valu- 

 able forests, it has advanced very little in pro- 

 ductiveness and commercial intercourse. 



Gold was discovered in the Appronage dis- 

 trict as early as 1855. It is in part placer-gold 

 and in part quartz-goid. In 1883, 6,543,000 

 francs' worth were produced. 



The forests of French Guiana begin about 

 thirty miles inland, and thence stretch into the 

 interior in impenetrable fastnesses. There are 

 about 150 valuable woods. 



The Maroni Agricultural Company of French 

 Guiana produces valuable fiber from the ramie 

 and other plants. The number of plantations 

 did not exceed 1,427 in 1883, and they only 

 employed 4,100 field-hands taken together. 



The American trade with French Guiana 

 has been as follows : 



Spanish. Porto Rico. This is the smaller 

 of Spain's transatlantic possessions in the 

 West Indies; area, 9,315 square kilometres; 

 population in 1885, 810,394. St. John's, or 

 San Juan de Puerto Rico, the capital, has a 

 population of 25,685; Ponce, 39,052; Maya- 

 guez, 26,705; Arecibo, 26,147; San German, 

 Jauco, and Juana Diaz, over 20,000 each. 



The Captain-General is Don Luis Daban. The 

 American Consul at St. John's is E. Conroy. 



During the latter half of the year the island 

 was visited by a terrible drought and dearth 

 of potable water. In Aguadilla and Arecibo 



