Geographic Notes 



73 



Rico. Less than one-tenth of the people 

 living on the islands are white. No 

 color line is drawn, and w T hites and 

 blacks enjoy the same privileges in the 

 churches, schools, and in business. In- 

 termarriage is quite common. Every- 

 body speaks English, and while the 

 official language is Danish, English is 

 used in the schools and courts. Nearly 

 everything that is used for the table — 

 flour, fruits, vegetables, salt canned 

 meats — is imported for the most part 

 from the United States. 



On the island of St. Croix there are 

 a number of fine sugar estates, the pro- 

 duct of which all goes to New York. 

 The islands, however, are not cultivated 

 to their former extent, and are now 

 almost bare and covered only by a 

 scrubby vegetation, from amidst which 

 the ruins of plantations can here and 

 there be discerned. The climate of the 

 islands is quite healthy, contagious dis- 

 eases but rarely troubling them. 



The old-time prosperity arose from the 

 fact that while the other nations owning 

 possessions in the West Indies were 

 fighting, Denmark remained strictly 

 neutral. In the large land-locked har- 

 bor of St. Thomas, a free port, priva- 

 teers, men-of-war, and merchant vessels 

 could meet in safety and obtain sup- 

 plies. Its importance as a distributing 

 point has since been gradually declin- 

 ing, and the general depression affecting 

 nearly all the West Indies has been 

 sharply felt. 



The possession of St. Thomas by the 

 United States will give this country a 

 more strategic position in the West In- 

 dies. The harbor is more accessible 

 and more easily defended than the San 

 Juan harbor of Porto Rico. 



THE COUNTRY OF ABYSSINIA 



IN November, 1900, Emperor Menelik 

 invited Hugues Le Roux, the dis- 

 tinguished Frenchman, to visit his coun- 

 try. The Emperor desired Abyssinia 



to be visited by a European of distinc- 

 tion and experience, who should be able 

 to judge with impartiality the degree of 

 culture of his people, the wisdom of his 

 laws, and the nature of the agricultural, 

 commercial, and other resources of the 

 kingdom. Entering Abyssinia under 

 such circumstances, M. Le Roux natu- 

 rally received every opportunity and 

 assistance. He spent the earlier months 

 of 1 go 1 visiting the Emperor at his cap- 

 ital and later in performing some very 

 important explorations in southern 

 Abyssinia, supplementing the work 

 south of the Blue Nile which Mr. Oscar 

 T, Crosby, of the National Geographic 

 Society, had done north of the same 

 river. M. Le Roiix has written the 

 expected volume, describing what he 

 saw and learned. The volume, hand- 

 somely illustrated, is to be published by 

 Librairie Nilsson (Paris) and is one of 

 the most interesting on the king, people, 

 and country of Abyssinia that has 3 r et 

 been published. A map giving his ex- 

 plorations in detail was published in La 

 Geographic for October 15, 1901. 



MINERAL PRODUCTS OF THE UNITED 

 STATES EST 1901 



IF all the petroleum produced last 

 year in the United States was put 

 in standard barrels and the barrels 

 placed in a row touching each other, the 

 line would completely belt the earth. 

 Enough coal was produced to give three 

 and one-half tons to every one of the 

 76,000,000 persons in the United States, 

 and enough gold to give every American 

 one gold dollar. In coal, in iron, in 

 steel, in gold, in silver, in every mineral 

 product except copper, the products of 

 the United States last year reached the 

 highest record in the history of the 

 country. 



The silver production of 1901 reached 

 59,653,788 ounces, against 57,647,00a 

 ounces in 1900. The pig-iron produc- 

 tion is estimated at 15,800,000 long tons, 



