C H A P T E R X X X V
ST. LUCIA AND ST. VINCENT
TW E N T Y miles across the clear water south of
Martinique lies St. Lucia. A t its northern
end stands that Gros Islet, or Pigeon Rock, as the
English call it in their prosy manner, from which
Rodney watched for the signal that De Grasse had
issued from Fort Royal Bay, as it then was, on those
memorable days after Yorktown. On the north-west
shore of the island itself is the harbour of Castries,
many a time the headquarters of the British fleet in
these waters, with a magnificent entrance between
two headlands and an amphitheatre of wooded
mountains at the back. T he island is nearly oval in
form, with its axis pointing east of south, and its
greatest length is forty-two miles and its width
twenty-one. The area is two hundred and forty-
two square miles. I t is almost filled with wooded
mountains running in a jagged ridge through its
length, and rising in a succession of volcanic cones
with fantastic variations of form. T he highest elevation
is over 4000 feet, but the shaggy covering of
forest, with its varying hues, goes to the very top,
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