The Mountains of the West Indies. 79 
thousand feet in height. The mountains of Porto-Rico 
are not very lofty, the highest not rising much above 
3,600 feet ; but the scenery is pretty in many 
places, and always very bold, though lacking that 
indescribable charm which characterises that of the 
larger islands. 
Leaving Porto-Rico, we next arrive at the group of the 
Virgin Islands, which is composed of a cluster of small 
islands, islets, rocks and coral reefs. The principal 
islands are St. Thomas, Tortola, and St. Croix. St. 
Thomas is scarcely more than a barren, elevated rock of 
some size. It is almost destitute of any sort of 
cultivation, and depends entirely on its favourable 
commercial situation for its importance. There are, 
nevertheless, some very pretty bits of scenery to be 
found. Tortola, on the contrary, is of no importance 
whatever, but is an exceedingly lofty island for its size, 
and affords some scenery amongst its towering crests 
and along its rocky shores that may fire the artist's soul. 
It lies encircled by some score or more of islets and 
elevated reefs, and it would be difficult for imagination 
to conjure up a scene of more perfect loveliness than 
that from the high peaks and ridges of this island 
at about daybreak. Picture yourself standing there, 
two thousand feet above the sea, and gazing around, 
as the dim gray of the morning twilight begins to 
yield to the light of day. Beneath your feet the 
bases of the hills seem to rise black and gloomy from the 
dull, grayish water, which is broken into foam just 
where the waves lazily curl around the coral reefs that 
stretch outward from the shore. Far away to the north 
and east lies Virgin Gorda like a great black snake, and 
