WEST INDIES. 



801 





and there are small canals in connection with 

 Demerara river. There is a railway from 

 Georgetown to Berbice, twenty-one miles. The 

 telegraph system owned and worked by the 

 Government now comprises about 260 miles 

 of line, with seven cables covering a distance 

 of twelve miles. A telephone exchange is 

 established at Georgetown in connection with 

 the Government telegraph; length of tele- 

 phone lines, thirty-two miles. The regular 

 mail leaves Southampton every alternate 

 Thursday. The public debt on Dec. 31, 1885, 

 amounted to 162,000, the revenue was 

 434,813 in 1885, and the expenditure was 

 respectively 463,942. There were 105 sugar 

 estates in active operation in 1885, having an 

 aggregate of sugar-cane cultivation of 75,344 

 acres, and of plantain cultivation of 3,777 acres. 

 The sugar-crop of 1885 was 107,028 hogsheads. 

 The American trade in 1886 was: imports into 

 the United States, $1,864,596; domestic ex- 

 ports, $1,544,726. The schools are denomi- 

 national, except the estates schools. The num- 

 ber of schools receiving aid in 1885 was 166, 

 with 17,793 pupils, and the aid granted 

 amounted to 15,963. There is a Government 

 college in Georgetown, in which a course of 

 instruction is given similar to that of a public 

 school or first grammar-school in England. 



Jamaica is the largest of the British West 

 India islands ; area, about 4,193 square miles. 

 The Cayman Islands are dependencies of Ja- 

 maica. The population, in 1881, was 580,804; 

 14,433 being whites, 109,946 colored, 444,186 

 black, and 12,240 East Indians. The Governor 

 is Sir H. W. Norman. The American Consul 

 at Kingston is Louis D. Beylard. There are 

 in operation 64 miles of Government railways, 

 constructed at a cost of 775,000. A line of 

 telegraphs connects all the principal towns, 

 having 43 stations. There is also telegraphic 

 communication with Europe. The public debt 

 amounts to 1,257,916. The revenue in 1885 

 was 595,156. The imports in 1885 amounted 

 to 1,487,833 ; the exports to 1,413,722. Ele- 

 mentary education is left to private enterprise, 

 aided since 1867 by a system of grants from 

 the colonial revenue. The number of schools 

 is 663, with 57,557 pupils. The Colonial Gov- 

 ernment maintains a system of inspection, and 

 has provided two training colleges for teachers, 

 which are wholly supported from public funds. 



The Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands, 

 comprising the colonies of Antigua, Montser- 

 rat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Dominica, and the Virgin 

 Islands, were constituted a single Federal Col- 

 ony by an act of Parliament in 1871. The 

 total population in 1886 was 116,050. The 

 Governor is Lord Gormanstown. The white 

 population in 1881 was 1,795; black, 27,219 ; 

 colored, 5,950 ; total, 34,964. The crop of 1885 

 consisted of 14,080 hogsheads of sugar, 6,059 

 puncheons of molasses, and 20 puncheons of 

 rum. The island of Montserrat is about 12 

 miles long and 8 miles broad. It is considered 

 the most healthful in the Antilles. Instead of 

 VOL. xxvii. 51 A 



a legislative assembly, the island has had, since 

 Feb. 26, 1867, a legislative council. Montser- 

 rat is a presidency ; the President is the resi- 

 dent district magistrate, and a Commissioner 

 of the Supreme Court. The population in 

 1881 was 10,087. The principal export is 

 sugar. For some years past a valuable export 

 has been lime-juice, raw and concentrated. 

 There are about 650 acres planted in lime- 

 trees, and the cultivation is extending. The 

 twin islands, St. Christopher (also called tt. 

 Kitts), and Nevis, are separated by a strait 

 about two miles wide at its narrowest part. 

 They are traversed by a range of rugged 

 mountains, which attains its greatest height at 

 Mount Misery, 4,100 feet above the sea. The 

 area of St. Kitts is 68 square miles. Since 

 Jan. 1, 1883, the presidencies of Saint Chris- 

 topher, Nevis, and Anquilla, with their re- 

 spective dependencies, have formed the presi- 

 dency of Saint Christopher and Nevis. There 

 is an. Executive Council for the United Presi- 

 dency, appointed by the queen, and there is 

 also a legislative body of twenty members. 

 The acting President is F. Spencer Wigley. 



The island of Anquilla is about sixty miles 

 northwest of St. Christopher, and has an area 

 of 35 square miles. The population is com- 

 puted at 2,500, of whom 100 are white. Be- 

 side cattle, ponies, and garden stock, the pro- 

 ductions are phosphate of lime and salt. The 

 chief magistrate is J. L. Lake. The Virgin Is- 

 lands are a cluster of rocks. The largest island 

 in the group belonging to Great Britain is Tor- 

 tola; population in 1881, 5,287. The Presi^ 

 dent is F. A. Pickering. A small quantity of 

 sugar is made, and recently many of the land- 

 ed proprietors have planted cotton, which 

 grows luxuriantly, and appears likely to prove 

 remunerative. Dominica is in the center of 

 the Caribbean Sea; it is 29 miles long, 16 

 miles broad, and very mountainous ; popula- 

 tion in 1881, 22,211. The local government is 

 administered by a President, aided by an Ex- 

 ecutive Council of seven members. The Legis- 

 lative Assembly was reduced in 1865 to four- 

 teen members. The imports in 1885 were 

 56,205 ; exports, 52,486. 



Trinidad. This island lies eastward of Ven- 

 ezuela, being separated from the continent by 

 the Gulf of Paria. Its area is 1,754 square 

 miles. Sugar and cocoa are the staple prod- 

 ucts. The climate is healthful; the average 

 rainfall during the past 19 years has been 66-39 

 inches. The mean temperature during the 

 same period was lowest at 76 Fahr. in Janu- 

 ary, and highest at 79 in September and Octo- 

 ber. The population of the island in 1881 was 

 153,128. The chief town and principal port is 

 Port of Spain ; population, 31,858. The next 

 town and port is San Fernando, population, 

 6,335, about 30 miles south from Port of Spain. 

 The harbor is the finest in the West Indies. 

 There is a lake of pitch, 90 acres in extent, 

 about 30 miles from Port of Spain ; it has con- 

 siderable value on account of the asphaltum 



