DOMINICA. 475 



Dominica. 



Dominica was so named by Columbus because be sighted it on a " Sunday " of 

 tbe year 1493, when its sharp verdure-clad peaks rose above the horizon. In the 

 chain of the Lesser Antilles properly so called it is the largest of the English 

 islands, and it fully equals if not surpasses Martinique in the picturesque beauty 

 of its landscapes, its rugged forest- clothed mountains, and foaming torrents. 

 Diablotin, its culminating point, rivals the Grande Soufrière of Guadeloupe in 

 altitude, and according to Bulkeley, who gives it a height of 5,340 feet, it is the 

 most elevated summit in the whole range of the Lesser Antilles. 



Diablotin stands at the northern extremity of the island, overtopping by about 

 2,500 feet an old crater in the interior, which till recently was still flooded by a 

 " boiling " lake, that is, heated by thermal springs bubbling up from the bottom, and 

 every five minutes upheaving the waters in a foaming column. Within a short 

 distance of the margin the tarn was no less than 300 feet deep. But in 1880 great 

 landslips took jjlace, new craters were opened in the hills, the columns of water 

 disappeared, and the lacustrine basin lost much of its beauty. The fissures emitting 

 gases are continually shifting their position, and the rivulet flowing from the 

 lake is swollen along its course by springs of sulphurous water descending from 

 crevasses in the upland valley. 



In 1627 the English attempted to take possession of Dominica in the name of 

 Great Britain, but at that time it was still occupied by some independent Caribs, 

 who prevented the intending settlers from landing. Over a hundred years later 

 it was agreed by the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle of 1748 to regard the island as 

 neutral territory between the French and English, and leave it in the free pos- 

 session of the natives. !N^evertheless it was occupied by some French planters, and 

 it gradually became a French island, despite the wars and the treaties twice award- 

 ing it to England. Even now, after a century of British rule, the English are 

 almost considered as aliens b}' the resident population. 



Roseau, a dull, dilapidated town of 5,000 inhabitants, stands on the leeward 

 or west side, but its harbour, a mere open roadstead, is inferior to that of Ports- 

 mouth, at the foot of Mount Diablotin, near the north-west extremity of the island. 

 Great hopes are entertained regarding the future commercial expansion of Ports- 

 mouth ; but meantime the trade of Dominica is limited to a few exports, such as 

 sugar, cocoa, fruits, lemon- juice, and sulphur, of a total annual value scarcely 

 exceeding £100,000. 



In retaining this island, which lies between the two French possessions of 

 Guadeloupe and Martinique, the British Government has followed the advice of 

 Rodney, who in 1782 had gained a decisive victory over the French in these 

 waters. The English admiral held that its possession would give Great Britain a 

 dominant strategical position in the West Indies. But the contrast which it 

 presents to its French neighbours from the economic standpoint is not flattering 

 to the nation's pride. The Government, as Froude truly remarks, has stricken the 



island with paralysis.* 



* The English in the West Indies. 



