SOMBREEO, ANGUILLA, ST. MAETIN. 463 



in importance with social and political revolutions, the oscillations of trade and 

 changes of tariff. Nevertheless, as in the last century, sugar is still the staple 

 crop, and the capital invested in this industry is estimated at £50,000,000. 

 Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Barbados even yield a greater average quantity 

 than in the most flourishing days of the old régime. 



Coffee, for which Martinique was at one time famous, has ceased to be the 

 staple in any of the islands, while cacao has taken the first rank in Grenada. 

 Montserrat and Dominica prepare lemon- juice ; St. Vincent is largely occupied 

 with the production of arrowroot, and in most oi the English islands growers are 

 paying increased attention to bananas, oranges, cocoa and kola nuts, and other 

 fruits. Collectively, the produce of the Lesser Antilles represents an annual 

 value of about £8,000,000, and supports a sea-borne trafiic estimated at 2,000,000 

 tons. 



II. — The Insular Groups. 

 SoMHRERO, The Dogs, Anguilla. 



Sombrero, northernmost of the Lesser Antilles, looks at a distance like a 

 gre^dsh " hat " floating on the sea. It is a mere rock, regarded as of no value till 

 some American, traders came to work the guano deposits resting on still more 

 valuable beds of calcareous phosphates. After long dijDlomatic discussions the 

 island was restored to Great Britain, the deposits having already been largely 

 exhausted. 



The British flag also flies over the neighbouring clusters of the Dogs, so named 

 from their resemblance to a pack of hounds in full chase over the waves, and 

 Anguilla, which probably owes its name to its serpentine form, though Aguila is 

 the designation given to it by Herrera. It is sometimes called Snahe Island, 

 and is continued north-east by the islet of AnguiUetta. Being constantly swept 

 by the trade winds, these low islands are very healthy, and the inhabitants, almost 

 exclusively blacks, are chiefly engaged in breeding little ponies that graze the 

 saline pastures along the beach. They also export salt, phosphate of lime, tobacco, 

 maize, and cattle, chiefly to the marine depots of St. Thomas. 



St. Martin. 



Immediately south of Anguilla follows St. Martin, which rests on the same 

 submarine bank, the intervening channel nowhere exceeding 100 feet. It is a 

 lofty island, culminating on the north side in Paradise Peak, 1,920 feet high. 

 Other peaks follow southwards, while westwards stretches the low-lying peninsula 

 of Terres-Basses, connected with the mainland by two curved sandy beaches, which 

 present their concave sides towards the sea ; between them is enclosed the deep 

 basin of Simpson's Lagoon. Other smaller inlets indent the north-west, east, and 

 southern shores, and penetrate far into the upland glens. 



St. Martin is the only member of the Lesser Antilles which owns two masters, 

 the northern section, about two-thirds of the whole, belonging to France, the rest 



