miles and a population of 18,400, and belongs to
Denmark, as do the two islands of St. Thomas and
St. John, within the group. St. Thomas is commercially
the most important, and has an area of twenty-
three square miles and a population of 14,400.
St. John, with an area of twenty-one square miles,
has less than 1000 inhabitants. T he other three
Virgins which are more than rocks and reefs are
Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada, and belong to
Great Britain, being included in the colony of the
“ Leeward Islands.” Their combined area is fifty-
eight square miles and their population about 5000.
It is two hundred and fifty miles from the Virgin
group to the nearest island of the chain which constitutes
the Caribbees, or the Lesser Antilles proper,
and the intervening passage attains a depth of
1000 fathoms, making the physical severance complete.
A t the beginning of the long chain are the
barren rocks, one called Sombrero, from its resemblance
to a conical grey hat floating on the water,
and the others “ D o g s ,” from an appearance like a
pack of hounds in full cry. These outlying rocks
are appurtenant to the British island Anguilla, which
has the considerable population of 12,000, with an
area of thirty-five square miles. N e x t to it, on the
south, is St. Martin, which is politically divided between
France and Holland in the proportion of
twenty-one square miles of territory and 3500 inhabitants
to the former and seventeen square miles and
4500 people to the latter. T o the south-east of this
is the French island of St. Bartholomew, or St. Bart,
as it is sometimes called, a crescent six miles long,
having an area ol only eight square miles, and a
inoculation stated as over 2600.
f From this point the double character of the chain
of islands becomes distinctly marked and we have
Barbuda on the easterly line which is connected
politically with An tigua directly south of it T h e y
are British property, and A n tigu a is an island of
some consequence in the Leeward colony, having a
population of 35,000 within its area of one hundred
and eight square miles. Barbuda, however, with an
[area more than half as great, has less than 1000 m-
I habitants. West of these, in the other strand of the
■ chain, are the Dutch islands of Saba and St. Eusta-
i tius. T o the south-east of these in the same line
I are St. Christopher, or St. K i t t ’ s, and Nevis, and
I then Montserrat, all belonging to Great Britain. St. I K it t ’s has an area of sixty-five square miles and a
I population of 45,000, Nevis fifty square miles of ter- I ritory and 12,000 inhabitants, and Montserrat thirty -
I two square miles and 10,000 people.
This brings us to the French island of Guadeloupe,
I the largest in area of the Lesser Antilles, if we leave I out the really South American island of Trinidad.
It is in effect two islands separated b y a narrow
I passage, and in it the strands of the chain come to ft
gether as in a double clasp. I t has an area of six
I hundred square miles and a population of 135,600,
I and belonging with it politically and physically are
I the outlying islands of Desirade on the east, Mane
I Galante to the south-east, and the Saintes directly
I south of its western half. Desirade has but ten
I square miles of land and 1400 inhabitants, but Marie