INTRODUCTION. xix 
an extinct crater, leading up to Mount Maitland, the highest 
summit of Grenada. 
There yet remain Tobago and Trinidad, but they are bits 
of the South American continent, left stranded on the corti- 
nental shelf. 
Isolated from all the other islands, perhaps the least attractive 
of them, stands Barbados, a voleanie cone, entirely surrounded 
by coral terraces, which completely hide the cone. (See Figs. 
39, 46.) ' In this the most flourishing of the English islands 
the negro population is very dense. Barbados is comparatively 
as thiekly populated as Belgium, and every inch of the soil is 
cultivated. It is 4 huge sugar plantation, dotted over with 
windmills and sugar-houses. Bridgetown has somewhat the 
appearance of an Italian town. ts streets are crowded with 
negroes, who, like their West Indian brethren, are noted neither 
for morality nor cleanliness. Only about one tenth of the 
population is white. "There is a large garrison, so that Bridge- 
town has its parade, cricket-ground, clubs, and all that renders 
a British colony dear to an Englishman in exile. 
The northeastern islands, Antigua, Barbuda, and Sombrero, 
we did not visit. They are geologically more recent, and are 
placed upon the eastern edge of the shallow plateau forming 
the northern extremity of the submarine bank upon which the 
Windward Islands rise. Of course they held out no induce- 
ment to the “Blake” expedition, which was in search of the 
deep water on the lee side of this plateau. 
For the third cruise I joined the * Blake,” commanded by 
Bartlett, at Newport, late in June, 1880. According to instruc- 
tions, we proceeded to the northeastern edge of George’s Shoal, 
where we ran our first line of dredgings from the hundred- 
fathom line to a depth of nearly 1,250 fathoms. Our second 
line was run to the southeast, off Montauk Point. This was 
interrupted by bad weather. We were compelled to put into 
Newport, and completed the line on our return from the South. 
This line extended to about 1,400 fathoms. 
On leaving Newport for the second time, we steamed directly 
for Charleston, S. C. A line of dredgings was run from the 
hundred-fathom line normal to the coast, directly across the 
