CLARK: LESSER ANTILLEAN BIRDS. 
207 
The modem coral cap of the island has been built up step by step 
on these thalassic oozes as they emerged from the ocean. 
The present island of Barbados dates back no further than the 
period when the process of upheaval brought the deep-sea deposits 
sufficiently near the surface to admit of the reef-builders com¬ 
mencing work. The deep water which surrounds Barbados (sound¬ 
ings of 1000 to 1500 fathoms being shown on the charts between it 
and the Antillean chain, and of over 1000 between it and Tobago 
to the southward) is proof that it has had no continental connection 
since it emerged as a reef from the ocean. 
Barbados is situated in latitude 13° 4' N., and longitude 59° 37' 
W., and is the most easterly of the Antilles. It is about 21 miles 
long by 14 broad, with an area of 166 square miles, being about the 
size of the Isle of Wight. The population is nearly 200,000. The 
chief town is Bridgetown, on Carlisle Bay, near the southwestern 
extremity; the next in importance is Speightstown, in St. Peter’s 
parish, towards the north, with the remaining town, Holetown, sit¬ 
uated between them in St. James. The island is almost entirely 
under sugar cane, there being but a few small bits of woodland, 
remnants of the forests with which it was covered at the time of its 
discovery. The rainfall is said to be about 60 inches, the rain 
usually coming in the shape of transient showers. The dry season 
occurs in the winter and early spring months. 
St. Vincent .— The geological formation of St. Vincent is purely 
volcanic, and all the rocks on the island indicate that origin. A cen¬ 
tral backbone of mountainous country (not a single ridge, as shown 
on many maps) varying in height from 2000 to 4000 feet and 
densely wooded, traverses the island from north to south. At the 
northern end of this ridge is the highest peak on the island, the 
Soufri&re ; next to it is the Morne Garou with an altitude of over 
4000 feet, while at the southern extremity is Mt. St. Andrew, 2500 
feet, overlooking the Kingstown valley. Rocky and wooded spurs 
run down to the sea along the western or leeward coast, ending 
abruptly in high rocky cliffs, that alternate with small sandy beaches 
at the ends of the valleys. The windward side of the island, espe¬ 
cially toward the north, is a broad and fertile tract that slopes gently 
back from the sea for a distance of some four miles to the base of 
the hills of the central mountain range. It is known locally as the 
Carib country from having been, upwards of a century ago, allotted 
to the aborigines for their occupation. 
