and other authorities, and the evacuation of the
island was effected so that the United States flag
was hoisted over the government buildings at San
Juan on the 18th of October as a symbol of the new
sovereignty under which the island of Puerto Rico
then passed.
A part of the army of occupation, including
those who had been wounded in the slight engagements
that had occurred with Spanish detachments
on the first advances upon the southern towns, and
those debilitated with malarial fever, were sent
north, but about 8,000 troops remained under the
command of General Brooke, who was acting as
military governor. Local administration was maintained
on the old system and the supreme authority
was continued in the military commander, pending
the action of the Congress of the United States with
reference to the future government of the new acquisition.
L ate in the year 1898 General Brooke left
the island for another command, and General Guy
V . Henry was made the military governor. A n
Assembly was held, which consisted of delegates
from the cities and towns to the number of seventy,
to formulate the wishes of the people with reference
to their future government.
C H A P T E R X X V I I I
L E S S E R A N T I L L E S , C A R I B B E E S , W I N D W A R D ,
L E E W A R D
'T 'H E designations “ Lesser Antilles ” and “ Car-
1 ibbees ” are both loosely applied to all the
small islands of the West Indies to the east and
south of the four large islands known as the Greater
A n tille s ; but those which are not colonial dependencies
of some European power, having passed from
Spain to Venezuela with the independence of that
republic, are not rated politically even as West
Indies. Geographically, these islands appertain to
at least three different systems, and should be in
some way distinguished accordingly; but names are
a matter of history rather than of science or logic.
T he group to the east of Puerto Rico, called “ The
V irg ins ,” rises from an extension of the submarine
formation which runs through the Greater Antilles.
T he separating channel, known as the Virgin Passage,
is relatively narrow and shallow, while this
group is separated from the true Caribbean chain by
a chasm 6000 feet deep and two hundred and fifty
miles across. This chain consisting, as we have
287