miles of area. A n island of sixty-five square miles
nearly south of Grande-Terre and east of the lower
point of Basse-Terre was named Marie Galante for
the vessel commanded by Columbus. I t rises in a
succession of terraces to an elevation of six hundred
and seventy-five feet on the eastern side, and has a
circuit of fifty miles. It has a poorly sheltered harbour
called Grand Bourg. A little farther west a
cluster of islets, made from broken craters and lava
heaps, were called Los Santos, “ T h e Saints, because
first seen on All-Hallows. The highest is
named L e Chameau, and rises to iooo feet or more,
with fortifications on the top. In fact,“ T h e Saints ”
have been converted into a military and naval station
and armed for the defence of the colony, and they
have “ in their midst ” a deep basin specially adapted
for the safety of naval vessels. This has been called
“ the Gibraltar of the A n tille s .”
Columbus kept on his way up the eastern side of
the large double island, which the natives called
Curucueria, and made a landing. He named it
Guadalupe, in honour of Santa Maria de Guadalupe
in Estramadura, and here he made his first
acquaintance with the fierce Caribs. He was delighted
with the land, but reported its people to be
bloodthirsty pagans and cannibals. T he warriors
being mostly absent on some expedition, he rescued
some female captives from the north, took a Carib
or two along, and went his way. T h e Spaniards
seemed to pay no more attention to this particular
island, and in 1635 two French adventurers, named
L ’Olive and Duplessis, tried to take possession.