with a breadth of six hundred miles, converge to a
point like a wedge at the eastern end of Puerto Rico.
Just beyond that point are the two small islands
of Vieques (Crab) and Culebra (Snake), belonging
to Puerto Rico, and then a group called the V ir gins,
which belongs geologically to the same system
b y submarine connection though classed with the
Lesser Antilles. With a distinct and comparatively
deep-water separation from the Virgins begins a
double chain of islands, varying in size and form but
tending to an oval, with the longer axis in line with
the chain, which stretches in a graceful curve like a
string of jewels in the glittering sea three hundred
and seventy miles to Grenada. Then there is another
deep and distinct separation from Barbados on the
east and from Tobago and Trinidad on the south,
which are also classed with the Lesser Antilles,
though not belonging geographically to the same
system. Barbados is strictly isolated, and Tobago
and Trinidad belong by submarine connection to the
South American continent.
This long group or chain of islands forming the
barrier between the Caribbean Sea and the open
ocean was called by the Spaniards the Windward
Islands, because they stood against the prevailing
north-east trade-winds; and in contradistinction, the
group strung along the Venezuela coast, which includes
three now called “ Dutch West Indies,” was
called the Leeward Islands. These latter, like T o bago
and Trinidad, are projections of the submarine
extension of South America. The English in their
colonial system have misused the terms “ Wind-
¡ward ” and “ Leeward,” applying the latter to the
lislands belonging to their sovereignty in the northern
fcart of the Lesser Antilles, and the former to those
¡in the southern part. T h e whole chain is sometimes,
and most appropriately, called the Caribbees,
from the aboriginal inhabitants.
L e t us run rapidly down this long line, noting the
¡principal islands on the way, to complete our mental
¡ map of the great American archipelago. It may be
¡well to observe, in passing, the political connection
I of each island that comes under n o tic e ; and to make
view complete we will recall that the Bahamas
land Jamaica belong to Great Britain, that until the
¡war of 1898 Cuba and Puerto Rico were colonies of
¡Spain, and that the island of Haiti, or Santo Do-
Imingo, consists of the two independent republics of
¡H a iti and Santo Domingo, the former occupying the
¡western end of the island with an area of 10,204
»square miles and a population of about i ,000,000,
¡and the latter comprising the central and eastern
parts, with an area of 18,045 square miles and 610,-
8000 inhabitants.
Coming back to the east of Puerto Rico, we regain
the group of islands which Columbus called V T he
»Virgins ” because, it is said, they were first observed
|o n St. Ursula’s day, reminding him of the proces-
Ision of 11,000 maidens who shared the fate of the
■Virgin martyr, according to the legend. Santa
I Cruz is included with this group, though it lies off
I by itself toward the south, and by its submarine
¡ connection is rather an outpost of the great Carib-
Ib e an range. It has an area of seventy-four square