noted in the early part of this volume, of a main
volcanic strand that begins with Saba, and an outer
coralline string that starts with Anguilla and the
Sombrero rocks, terminates with Grenada, five hundred
miles or more to the south, while Barbados
stands off a hundred miles eastward in an isolated
position, and Trinidad and the other islands off the
Venezuela coast belong distinctly to the continental
system of South America. T h e deep-water separation
between Grenada and the nearest of the latter
is about as great as that between Barbados and St.
Vincent.
The old Spanish navigators appropriately designated
the islands which constitute the eastern barrier
of the Caribbean Sea as Barlovento, or “ Windward,”
and those along the South American coast
as Sotavento, or “ Leeward,” with reference to the
regular trade-winds, which blow steadily from the
north-east the greater part of the year; but these
terms have become perverted and misapplied by
English authority. T h e term ‘ ‘ Windward ” came
to be applied to only the lower section of the Carib-
bees, from the fifteenth parallel southward, and was
then used as the designation for a colony composed
of the British islands in that section, which were
associated together under one government. A t
first this included Barbados, but latterly the Windward
Islands colony has consisted of St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Grenada and the Grenadines, and Tobago,
though this last is more properly appurtenant to
Trinidad, which, like Barbados, now constitutes a
colony by itself.
T h e colony of the Windward Islands has a governor
and executive council appointed by the Crown,
but it is divided into four administrative departments,
each of which has an executive and a separate
legislative council of its own. These departments are
St. Lucia, St. Vincent with a part of the Grenadines,
Grenada with the rest of the Grenadines, and T o bago
; but there is no real autonomy or self-rule in
these so-called legislative councils. T he governor
and his executive councillors, representing the
Crown, are all-powerful. The administrator and
colonial secretary who presides over the local council
is an appointee of the governor, and so are virtually
the members of that body. T h e legislative council
of Grenada, where the governor himself presides,
consists of thirteen members, of whom six are appointed
officials and the other seven, though unofficial,
are named by the governor. Of course he
controls a body so constituted in the exercise of its
limited functions. T h e legislative council of St.
Lucia consists of five official and five unofficial members,
but the latter are appointed by the governor of
the colony, as is the official administrator who presides.
T he same system exists in St. Vincent and
Tobago, except that in the former there are four official
and four unofficial members of the council, and
in the latter three of each class; but they all represent
the appointing power and consequently the
imperial government, and in no sense or degree
the people of the colony.
B y way of distinction from this southern group of
islands, those north of 150 north latitude, to and