C H A P T E R X X X
A N G U I L L A , S T . M A R T I N , S T . B A R T H O L O M E W ,
B A R B U D A , A N T I G U A
BE TW E E N the broad, deep channel that separates
the submarine plateau of the Greater
Antilles and T he Virgins from the submerged mountain
system whose crests appear in the double line of
the Caribbees, and the clear passage of forty miles
which crosses that system north of Guadaloupe, lies
an irregular group of a dozen inhabited and cultivated
islands divided in ownership between Great
Britain, France, and Holland. Part of them are in
the inner range of igneous and volcanic peaks, which
must have sprung originally from a vast rift in the
earth’s crust far below the present surface of the
water. The others are in the outer and less elevated
line of calcareous and coralline structures, built upon
a ridge which remained below the level at which the
waters finally came to rest. The latter begin farther
to the north than the others, and the first in the
series after the barren and wind-swept ‘ ‘ Sombrero ’ ’
and “ T h e D o g s ,” whose only marketable products
are guano and phosphate of lime, is Anguilla.
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This name means “ snake,” and is supposed to be
due to the appearance of the long, narrow, low-lying
strip of land weltering in the se a ; but it is generally
attributed to Herrera, the earliest historian of the
Spanish-American colonies, who really called the
island Aguila, or “ E a g le .” I t is about sixteen
miles long and varies from half a mile to three miles
in width. I t is a breezy, healthy piece of ground,
but its 2500 people are mostly negroes engaged in
breeding cattle and ponies, and raising small crops
of Indian corn and tobacco, though salt and phosphate
of lime figure among its meagre exports.
These reach a market at St. Thomas. There is
another and smaller strip running off to the northeast,
called Anguilletta, or the ‘ ‘ Snakelet. ” A n guilla
belongs to the presidency of St. Christopher-
Nevis, and a stipendiary magistrate represents
public authority among its peaceable inhabitants.
Barely five miles south of this little English
island, across a shallow channel, is St. Martin, the
only land in the Antilles divided in its allegiance
between two European powers. It has an area of
thirty square miles and a population of nearly 8000.
About three fifths both of area and of people are
French and two fifths Dutch, though in point of fact
a large proportion of the settlers were English, and
their language still prevails. T h e division between
France and the Netherlands was peaceably made in
1648, and has remained undisturbed through all
subsequent commotions. T he French part is in the
north, and there is a considerable elevation there,
rising to 1920 feet in Paradise Peak. There are