THEORIES OE ORIGIN 259 



of others seem to dominate, in the views of Professor Angeio Heilprin in 

 a recent work.* 



It may be futile for the writer to protest that the facts in nature do 

 not support these views, and that their advocacy is obscuring a most 

 simple and beautiful story in nature ; and he will endeavor to show from 

 a close study of the geologic evidence that the Caribbees proper are 

 neither continental nor orogenic, but merely ocean-born volcanoes, built 

 by the oft-repeated simple constructional volcanic process of pile-up, 

 exactly like the recent event in Martinique, independent of the conti- 

 nents, and that they have never been connected with North America or 

 the Greater Antilles. When thus understood and interpreted they present 

 a most simple and interesting story. 



To maintain our position we must present a more thorough review of 

 the geology and geography of the islands than would be necessary were 

 it not for the deep impression which the erroneous conceptions above 

 maintained have made on literature. 



GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENTIATION OF THE WINDWARD ISLANDS FROM THE 

 OTHER ISLANDS OF THE WEST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO 



In previous publications I described what is known of the physical 

 geography and geology of the entire West Indian archipelago, of which 

 the Windward islands are a part.f 



In these papers I have classified the islands into four major groups of 

 islands, namely : (1) The Bahamas ; (2) the Great Antilles ; (3) the 

 South American islands, and (4) the Windward islands. 



The first have been shown by Professor Agassiz to be submerged banks 

 of unknown origin and composition, now covered by wind-blown coral- 

 line sands. The second are primarily true mountain folds, accompanied 

 by old igneous intrusions, which have had many vicissitudes of uplift, 

 subsidence, and deformation. The third are merely disconnected out- 

 liers of the northern edge of the South American continents which have 

 been severed from their mother land as Long island has been severed 

 from the United States. 



The fourth group, which is the subject of the present paper, includes 

 the Windward chain proper, which extends between the twelfth and 

 nineteenth parallels of north latitude across the eastern border of the 

 Caribbean sea from Porto Rico to the Orinoco. 



To those who first look at the map and do not consider the minute 



* Angeio Heilprin : Mont Pele and the tragedy of Martinique, 1903, pp. 2>7-261. 



fThe geology and physical geography of Jamaica: Study of a type of Antillean development, 

 baaed upon surveys made for Professor Alexander Agassiz. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 

 College, vol. xxxiv, Cambridge, September, 1899. 



Cuba and Porto Rico, with the other islands of the West Indies, New York, 1898-1899. 



XXXV— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 16, 1904 



