756 



WEST INDIES. 



square miles, and in 1891 had 182,306 inhabit- 

 ants. It is the headquarters for the British 

 troops, which numbered 35 officers and 854 men 

 in 1893. The chief exports are sugar, rum, and 

 fish. The total value of the imports in 1891 was 

 1,067,617, and of the exports 814,254. The 

 revenue of the colony was 163,905, and the ex- 

 penditure 176,800. 



Trinidad has a Legislative Council of 8 official 

 and 10 nominated members. The Governor is 

 Sir F. Napier Broome. The area of the island is 

 1,754 square miles. Population, 200,028. The 

 dependent island of Tobago has an area of 114 

 square miles and 18,387 inhabitants. There 

 were 6,657 births, 5.012 deaths, and 986 mar- 

 riages in Trinidad in 1890. The cultivated prod- 

 ucts are sugar, cacao, coffee, yarns and sweet 

 potatoes, and cocoanuts. There is a considerable 

 export of asphaltum obtained from a pitch lake 

 in the center of the island. The labor of Indian 

 coolies is much utilized, and in 1890 there were 

 4,921 immigrants, mostly of that class. The 

 revenue for 1891 was 488,000; expenditure, 

 490,000. The imports were valued at 2.097,000, 

 and the exports at 2,059,000. The imports of 

 Tobago were 23,945, and the exports 24,241 in 

 value. 



The Leeward Islands have a Federal Legisla- 

 tive Council of 10 elected and 10 nominated 

 members. The Governor is Sir William Fred- 

 erick Haynes Smith. The island of Antigua 

 produces sugar and pineapples ; Montserrat, 

 sugar and lime juice ; St. Kitt sand Nevis, sugar; 

 Anguilla, cattle, pineapples, vegetables, and salt ; 

 the Virgin Islands, sugar and cotton ; Dominica, 

 sugar, fruit, cacao, and timber. The total area 

 of the islands is 701 square miles. The popula- 

 tion in 1891 was 127,723, comprising 99,333 pure 

 blacks, 23,320 colored, and 5,070 white people. 

 The financial and commercial statistics for 1891 

 are as follow : 



The Bahamas have a Representative Assembly 

 elected by popular suffrage, restricted by a prop- 

 erty qualification. Sir Ambrose Shea is the 

 Governor. The area is 5,390 square miles, and 

 the population at the last census was 47,565. 

 There were 1,900 births and 1,052 deaths in 1891. 

 The products are sisal fiber, sponges, cotton, 

 fruit, shells, pearls, and ambergris. The export 

 of pineapples in 1891 was valued at 44,842 : of 

 preserved pineapples, 3,793 ; of sponges, 58,- 

 682. The total imports were valued at 190,670, 

 and the total exports at 128.010. The revenue 

 was 52.813, and the expenditure 55,804. The 

 sisal-hemp industry has been developed chiefly 

 by the efforts of the present Governor, who went 

 to the Bahamas in 887. The sisal aloe grew 

 abundantly in the islands, and was a troublesome 

 weed, known as the pita, which the farmers dug 

 up and burned with other underbrush in order 

 to clear the land for, oranges and pineapples. 



The sisal aloe (Agave rigida), known also by the 

 Spanish name of jeniquen and the Indian names 

 of mayguay and sacqui, is a native of Yucatan, 

 where it is now also grown for its fiber, but does 

 not reach the perfection of the Bahama product, 

 which is equal to the best Manilla hemp. There 

 are more than 12,000 acres planted, and the cul- 

 tivation is rapidly increasing. The Government 

 has granted a bounty to producers, and has lim- 

 ited for ten years the amount of land to be 

 granted by the Crown for this purpose. The 

 price of the land is fixed at $4 an acre, except 

 to the colored people, to whom the Government 

 offers a 10-acre plot for each family for the nom- 

 inal price of 5s. an acre, payable out of the first 

 crop. Few of them have availed themselves of 

 this opportunity to become independent. The 

 best of the hemp goes to London, where it brings 

 30 to 40 a ton, while the cost of production is 

 about 12. The minimum yield has been about 

 half a ton of cleaned fiber an acre. The plants 

 are set out in rows 6 feet apart each way. 

 The leaves are old enough to cut in four years, 

 and the plants continue productive for twelve or 

 fifteen years, at the end of which each sends up 

 a quantity of suckers from its roots and a spike 

 from the middle, 12 or 15 feet high, bearing a 

 large number of flowers. The seeds of these are 

 scattered over the ground, and the plants that 

 spring from them are set out in nurseries and 

 transplanted to the field at the end of a year, when 

 their leaves are 12 or 15 inches long. The leaves 

 of the grown plants that are suitable for cutting 

 are from 3 to 6 feet in length. The plantations 

 are continually renewed by rows of young plants 

 set out between the yielding plants. The leaves 

 may be cut continuously throughout the year 

 when they have attained maturity, but are usu- 

 ally harvested twice a year. The leaves are 

 crushed between steel rollers, which leave the 

 greenish-white fiber, constituting about 5 per 

 cent, of the bulk. The fiber is dipped in sea 

 water and then bleached white, in two days, by 

 the action of the air and sunlight, sorted accord- 

 ing to length and quality, tied into knots, and 

 pressed into bales of 400 or 500 pounds. 



The Windward Islands are divided into three 

 Crown colonies, under the general direction of a 

 Governor. Sir Charles Bruce at the present time, 

 who resides at St. George's, Grenada. The area 

 of Grenada and the Grenadines is 166 square 

 miles, and the population is 54,062 ; the area of 

 St. Lucia is 237 square miles, and the population 

 is 42,220; the area of St. Vincent is 147 square 

 miles, and the population is 41,054. The chief 

 products of Grenada are cacao, cotton, and spices ; 

 of St. Lucia, sugar, cacao, and logwood ; of St. 

 Vincent, sugar, rum, cacao, spices, and logwood. 

 The statistics of finances and commerce for 1891 

 are as follow : 



The Danish Antilles. The islands of St. 

 Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John form a Danish 

 colony. St. Croix has an area of 74 square miles 

 and 19,783 inhabitants; St. Thomas, an area of 

 23 square miles and 12,019 inhabitants; and St. 



