594 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



finer grape fruit than those grown in the Bahamas. Of late years Florida 

 has been a keen competitor, and Jamaica and Cuba also send shipments to 

 the United States market, but a tropical climate is not so suitable for the 

 production of a good class of citrus fruits as a more temperate latitude, and 

 the soil of the Bahamas seems to be specially adapted to their culture, espe- 

 cially in the more northern islands, where climatic conditions are also more 

 favorable. In regard to oranges it barely pays to ship them; large quanti- 

 ties come from California and Florida, and there can be no doubt that the 

 duty of one per cent per pound levied in the United States on foreign supplies 

 places the Bahama growers at a disadvantage." ! 



SALT. 



In former years the salt industry was one of the most important of the 

 Bahamas. Inagua, Salt, and Eum Cays were large ' producers of this 

 article until competition in the United States and lack of capital caused the 

 industry to wane until at the present time it is of little importance. The 

 manufacture is extremely simple: large reservoirs are constructed in the low 

 lands, and canals dug connecting them with the ocean outside. Sea water is 

 then admitted until the reservoirs are flooded, when the gates are closed and 

 the imprisoned sea water allowed to evaporate. The salt is then raked into 

 heaps, bleached in the sun, and sold largely for preserving purposes (Plate 

 XC). It is estimated that 100 acres of salt ponds yield, under favorable con- 

 ditions, 1,500,000 bushels of salt annually. 



VOLUME OF TRADE. 



It will be seen from the above discussion that the volume of trade of the 

 Bahama Islands is not great. The nationalities taking part in the shipping 

 industry embrace British, American, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, 

 Dutch, Cuban, Haitian and Dominican vessels. The following table gives a 

 comparative statement of total shipping in and out of the Islands for the last 

 five years: 



TABLE SHOWING TOTAL SHIPPING IN THE BAHAMAS FOE YEARS 1898-1902. 



Total Number of Vessels. Total Tonnage. Total Vessels and Tonnage. 

 Inward: 



1898 595 



1899 657 



1900 623 



*1901-2 757 



1902 566 



* 15 months. 



3 Loc. cit., 36. 



