864 



WEST INDIES. 



ports of 35 per cent., the value of the former be- 

 ing 222,512 and of the latter 168,121. This 

 development is due almost entirely to the exten- 

 sion of the new sisal-fiber culture. There were 

 4,100 acres planted with 2,500,000 of the plants 

 in 1890, arid 1,300,000 more plants were growing 

 in nurseries. The plants take three years more 

 to mature in the nursery. Apart from this the 

 chief product of the soil is the pine-apple. Cotton 

 is grown to a small extent, and sweet potatoes 

 and corn are raised for home consumption. 

 Oranges also are exported, and fruit culture is 

 increasing. Sponge-fishing, formerly the chief 

 industry, is carried on by the natives, who also 

 gather conch shells, pearl shells, turtles, and 

 ambergris. The value of sponges obtained in 

 1889 was 51,886. In 1890 the amount realized 

 was 63,099. The export of fresh pine-apples was 

 valued at 25,553, and that of preserved pine- 

 apples at 4,500. In 1890 the export of pine- 

 apples rose to 49,795, and that of the canned 

 fruit to 6,126. The export of oranges was 

 3,961, as compared with 3,040 in 1889. The 

 value of the cotton crop increased from 1,074 to 

 1,593. In 1891 mail steam communication be- 

 tween the several islands was established. A 

 cable to connect the islands with Florida and the 

 telegraph system of the world had been decided 

 on. The development of the cultivation of sisal 

 fiber is likely to make an extraordinary difference 

 in the position which this group of rocks and 

 islands has hitherto held among British posses- 

 sions. The conversion of what was once looked 

 upon as a useless weed into a source of wealth 

 has been sudden. Only four years ago the natives 

 were complaining of the impossibility of eradi- 

 cating the aloe-like shrub from the lime soil of 

 their plantations. It grew wild everywhere ; its 

 long, intractable leaves obtruded themselves in 

 the midst of every crop ; the most determined 

 efforts at repression were unavailing. The com- 

 mercial experience of Sit Ambrose Shea enabled 

 him to perceive the possible value of such a fiber 

 as that contained in the sisal leaves. Experts 

 from Newfoundland were the first to confirm the 

 opinion which he had formed of the fiber. It 

 was recognized as possessing qualities equal to 

 those of the best rope fibers. Negotiations were 

 entered into for its cultivation. Early in 1890 a 

 bounty amounting to 4 10s. per ton exported 

 was granted for a period of several years, and 

 capital began to flow into the islands. Govern- 

 ment lands which had previously been regarded 

 as waste were taken up for the cultivation of the 

 fiber, and the price of them was raised from 5s. 

 to 4 an acre. Investors were promised that not 

 more than 100.000 acres would be allotted to this 

 culture for the first ten years. Within a year 

 and a half this quantity of land had been taken 

 up. It has been found that an acre of land will 

 produce a yearly crop of about half a ton of fiber. 

 The sisal plants last from twelve to fifteen years. 

 They are planted in rows with young ones coin- 

 ing between them, so that the crop is practically 

 self-renewing, while the soil is inexhaustible. The 

 preparation for market consists simply in crush- 

 ing the leaves through rollers and washing away 

 the juicy matter which is thus reduced to ptilp. 

 Very little labor is required, and, while the price 

 of the fiber ranges up to 34 a ton, the cost of 

 production and delivery averages about 12. 



From the nature of the cultivation, which de- 

 mands little outlay of capital, it is presumable 

 that the laboring population of the islands will 

 desire to take part in it on their own account, 

 and provision has been made that any native 

 head of a family who is not already in possession 

 of land may, upon application to the Government, 

 receive a grant of 10 acres at the old price of 5s. 

 an acre, to be paid out of the first year's crop, 

 1 These grants are outside the 100.000-acre limit, 

 but, in order to guard the natives from the temp- 

 tation to sell as soon as the price of land is found 

 to rise, they are made in the form of an untrans- 

 ferable license of occupation which must run for 

 twenty years before the freehold title can be ac- 

 quired. From the sale of Government land a 

 fund of 50,000 has been created which is avail- 

 able for the purposes of public works, 



Barbadoes. The island of Barbadoes has an 

 area of 166 square miles. The population in 

 1889 was 182,000. The Governor now in office 

 is Sir Walter J. Kendall. There is, besides an 

 Executive and a Legislative Council, a House of 

 Assembly of 24 members elected annually by 

 the colonists. The receipts of the Government 

 in 1889 were 175,000, and the expenses 146,000. 

 The imports amounted to 1,211,000, and the 

 exports to 1,030,000. Sugar is the staple 

 product, and since the colonial sugar was sup- 

 planted in the English market by bounty-fed 

 beet sugar the bulk of the crop, from 87 to 95 

 per cent., has gone to the United States. Ameri- 

 can flour has been used by the islanders to the 

 exclusion of all other sorts, and from this and 

 the import^ of meat, bread, salted meats, horses, 

 mules, oil, corn, oats, meal, butter, cheese, lard, 

 kerosene, and staves and shocks, duties have 

 been collected amounting to 37,000 a year. In 

 order to secure the benefits of the reciprocity 

 clause of the McKinley tariff act the Govern- 

 ment has removed or reduced these duties. 



Trinidad. Trinidad and its dependency, 

 Tobago, lie near the mouth of the Orinoco 

 river. The Governor is Sir William Robinson. 

 The government is that of a Crown colony. The 

 area of Trinidad is 1,754 square miles, that of 

 Tobago 114 square miles. The former had 

 196,172 and the latter 20,626 inhabitants in 

 1889. The products are sugar, cacao, coffee, 

 pea-nuts, cocoa-nuts, and asphaltum, which is 

 obtained from a large pitch lake in the center of 

 the island. Fruit growing is on the increase, 

 and the cultivation of the hemp fiber has been 

 started. In Tobago, which was annexed to 

 Trinidad in 1889. cotton and tobacco have 

 begun to be cultivated. The revenue in 1889 

 was 453,000, and the expenditure $463.000. 

 The imports were valued at 2.094,000, and the 

 exports at 2,309.000. The immigrants, who 

 are chiefly coolies from Madras, numbered 3,252, 

 and the emigration was 688. Commerce with 

 the United States has in late years grown at the 

 expense of the trade with Great Britain arid 

 British possessions. The trade with the United 

 States increased from 591,557 in 1881 to 

 1,"153,563 in 1890 , or from less than one eighth to 

 more than one fourth of the whole trade of the 

 colony. The tonnage entered and cleared has 

 increased from 877.611 to 1,276,970 tons in ten 

 years. Trinidad has 54 miles of railroads and 

 717 miles of telegraphs. 



