slope in fertile expanse toward the coast. The lower
lands have all the rich fertility and luxuriant vegetation
of the other volcanic isles, for this section of
Guadeloupe is watered by many streams. Considerable
stretches are well cultivated, the lower levels
being covered with sugar plantations and the hills
with coffee gardens, while tobacco, cotton, and
arrowroot are raised to some extent, and cattle farms
are scattered among the hills. The natural growths
are those common to this range of islands, a variety
of palms, and the “ palmiste” with its spreading top,
mangoes, and tamarinds, the dark green breadfruit
tree, various tropical fruits, and rank vines and ferns,
— all the verdure and bloom of a land of eternal
summer. There is little that is peculiar in the animal
life, but the deadly fer-de-lance, or lance-head snake,
is first encountered here on our southward course.
T h e highest elevation on Grande-Terre is four
hundred and fifty feet, and the whole section consists
mainly of limestone and a conglomerate of sand
and broken shells which contains vegetable and
animal remains, including occasional Carib skeletons,
too recent to be called fossils. This peculiar
conglomerate is much used as a building stone, and
is known as ‘ ‘ maçonne de bon dieu.” The bay b e tween
the sections of Guadeloupe on the north is
called the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin, and that on the
south the Petit Cul-de-Sac Marin ; and the narrow
passage between, which is about five miles long, is
the Rivière Salée, or “ Salt R iv e r .” Vessels drawing
seven or eight feet of water can pass through it, but
it could be readily improved into a serviceable channel.
Near its southern entrance, on the Grande-
Terre side, is Pointe-k-Pitre, the chief port and the
real commercial centre of Guadeloupe. It is accessible
by deep water from the sea, and has the appliances
of a genuine seaport. It contains great
sugar-reducing works, the Usines Centrales, to
which the planters bring their cane and sell it, instead
of undertaking to make sugar as well as grow
the raw material themselves.
T h e capital and political centre is Basse-Terre on
the south-west coast, and upon the heights of St.
Claude is Camp Jacob, a health resort and place of
summer residence, where the governor spends much
of his time. On the eastern coast is L e Moule,
whence considerable shipments of sugar are made,
though it is an exposed roadstead. In the southeast
is a place called Porte d ’ Enfer.
Basse-Terre is about twenty-eight miles long by
twelve to fifteen wide, while Grande-Terre, with
less area, extends thirty-four miles from northwest
to south-east, and twenty-two from north to
south, being of irregular shape with a long peninsula
at the south-eastern extremity. T he six
hundred and more square miles credited to Guadeloupe
include some outlying small islands to the
east and south. While Columbus was coming from
the east near the beginning of November, 1493,
eager for the sight of land, the first discovered was
called L a Deseada, or the “ Wished-for,” which
has been corrupted by the French to D6sirade.
This is of the same formation as Grande-Terre, but
is higher, though containing only about ten square