GEEXADA. 483 



the arable lands. About 2,000 Indian coolies, introduced by the su gar -growers, 

 reside in the capital and some of the larger villages. Some Portuguese, also, and 

 Azore islanders have mingled their blood with that of the natives, in whom are 

 thus represented the three elements, red, black, and white. 



Kingstown, the capital, is a long straggling town of about 6,000 inhabitants, 

 whose houses and gardens are disposed in three lines parallel with the sea and 

 the foot of the mountains. The roadstead opens southwards over against Bequia, 

 which, with some other members of the Grenadine group, belongs to the admi- 

 nistrative division of St. Vincent. 



The colony is governed by an administrator and colonial secretary, with a 

 legislative council of four official and four nominated unoiEcial members. Its 

 exports rose' from £85,000 in 1887 to £125,000 in 1889, and the population 

 increased from 40,000 in 1881 to about 50,000 in 1890. 



Grenada and the Grenadines. 



The chain of islets and reefs over 60 miles long connecting St. Yincent with 

 Grenada comprises about 600 separate rocks all disposed according to the general 

 axis of the Lesser Antilles, but offering an endless variety in their relief and 

 contour lines. Some are a few square miles in extent, with headlands, inlets, 

 hills, and dells; others are mere rocky cones or patches of verdure fringing a 

 circular beach, or else reefs washed by every tide. The whole group is surrounded 

 by deep waters, and even the narrow channels between some of the islands are 

 navigable by vessels of heavy draught. 



Some of the Grenadines, such as the two largest, Bequia and Cariobacu, have 

 names of Carib origin; one is known as "Little Martinique," but nearly all are 

 designated from their aspect, their form, or some natural phenomenon — Hound, 

 Castle, Sail, Bird, Mosquito, and so on. In the larger members of the archipelago 

 the blacks raise sugar and coffee ; but most of the inhabitants are occupied 

 exclusively with the production of provisions and cattle-breeding. Some of the 

 rocks are held by a single family, "masters of all they survey." The native- 

 built craft, plying between the islands and laden with fruits or fish, pursue the 

 large cetaceans that penetrate amid the reefs. 



Cariobacu, largest of the Grenadines, lies towards the south end of the chain 

 and depends administratively on Grenada. It has an area of 7,000 acres, and 

 the slopes, rising to a height of 1,000 feet, are well cultivated. 



Grenada, southernmost of the Lesser Antilles proper, for Tobago and Trinidad 

 belong geologically to South America, presents a somewhat less irregular oval 

 than St. Vincent, which it about equals in size. The volcanic uplands, culminat- 

 ing in a peak 2,750 feet high, are clothed with forest growths, which here and 

 there reveal the lava streams and basaltic colonnades terminating in superb cliffs 

 on the coast. Still open craters occur in several places, and two romantic lakelets, 

 fringed with bamboos and tree ferns, are also probably flooded volcanic cones. 

 Pleasant villas and country seats are scattered over the valleys and on the slopes 



