chap, iv.] WEST INDIES. 
153 
Section il 
NE VIS . 
This beautiful little spot is nothing more than a 
single mountain, rising like a cone in an easy 
ascent from the sea; the circumference of its base 
not exceeding eight English leagues. It is gene¬ 
rally believed that Columbus bestowed on it the 
appellation of Nieves , or The Snows, from its re¬ 
semblance to a mountain of the same name in 
Spain, the top of which Is covered with snow; 
but it is not an improbable conjecture, that in those 
days, a white smoke was seen to issue from the 
summit, which at a distance had a snow-like 
appearance, and that it rather derived its name 
from thence. That the island was produced by 
some volcanic explosion, there can be no doubt, for 
there is a hollow, or crater, near the summit, still 
visible, which contains a hot spring, strongly im¬ 
pregnated with sulphur; and sulphur is frequently 
found in substance in the neighbouring gullies and 
cavities of the earth. 
The country is well watered, and the land in ge¬ 
neral fertile, a small proportion towards the sum¬ 
mit of the island excepted, which answers howe¬ 
ver for the growth of ground provisions, such as 
Voh II. u 
