478 



MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



1635 b}' Esnambuc at the foot of Mouut Pelée, on the north-west coast. Other 

 nourishing towns are Lamentin, near the capital, on Fort-de-France Bay ; Saint- 

 Esprit, farther south on the same inlet ; Diamant and Marin on the south coast, 

 Trinité, Le Robert and Le François, on the east side ; and Macouba, at the northern 

 extremity of the island. 



Although the interior is entirely mountainous and still mainly covered with 

 primeval forests, Martinique is one of the most densely-peopled spots on the 

 globe. On the arable lands the people are packed together as closely as in such 

 industrial centres as Lancashire, Flanders, or Saxony. The whites and Asiatics 

 number about 10,000 and 15,000 respectively ; all the rest, over 150,000, are 



Fig. 226. — LixES of Navigation axb Submarine Cables in the West Indies. 



Scale 1 : 32,000,000. 



Submarine Cables. 



Regular Lines of Steamers. 

 _— 6-20 Miles. 



blacks or people of colour, perfectly acclimatised, and steadily increasing by the 

 natural excess of births over the mortality. But large numbers of young men 

 emigrate to France, Haiti, and the United States, so that the female exceeds the 

 male population by about 10,000. The proportion of illegitimate children is 

 about two to one, and scarcely one-fifth of the people have received any instruc- 

 tion. 



As in Guadeloupe, the staple product is sugar, the cane plantations covering 

 about 100,000 acres, or one- fifth of the whole area. Hence the exports consist 

 almost exclusively of sugar, rum, and tafia, estimated at a total yearly value of 

 from £720,000 to £800,000. A little cacao is also cultivated, but coffee has been 

 almost completely abandoned. The so-called " Martinique coffee " of commerce 



