sandstone and a chalky soil containing remains of
infusoria; but six sevenths of the area is of coralline
limestone. A t one point the trachyte core of the
huge cone appears above ground, and there are still
traces of old volcanic action. The polyps have not
ceased their work, or rather their growth, and the
island is almost encircled with reefs. In some places
the fringe is three miles wide. There are few deep
channels in this coral rim, and navigation is dangerous
for those not familiar with the passages.
This island is twenty-one miles long from north
to south, and about fourteen miles across at the
widest part, expanding toward the south into a
rough pear shape. It is fifty-five miles around the
shore, not following the indentations, and the area
is one hundred and sixty-six square miles. A low
ridge runs through the land nearly north and south,
culminating somewhat north of the middle point in
Mount Hillaby, which is only 1 145 feet above the
sea-level; but the surface in general is undulating,
with a great variety of hill and dale of the gentler
kind, and none of the abrupt declivities and wild
ravines of the Antilles. It is a “ rolling country,”
and a verdant one. The ingredients of the soil,
derived from coral limestone and ancient volcanic
ashes, moulded with the remains of thousands of
generations of vegetable life, produce a mixture of
inexhaustible fertility. Once it was covered with
forests, but these have been swept away, and nearly
the whole surface has been long under cultivation,
which has reduced the indigenous flora to comparative
insignificance. There are palm trees and
remnants of tropical growth, but they are not conspicuous,
and the gardens are variegated with exotic
trees and plants, and a kind of bloom that suggests
old England.
T he streams are few and insignificant, and the
porous and well-drained ground is free from miasma.
The island is healthy, fanned by the steady
trade-winds for three quarters of the year, though
it has its hot “ sp ells ” and its w e t “ spells,” like
other tropic lands. T he driest month is March
and the wettest is October, and there are all gradations
between without a distinct line limiting the
wet and dry seasons. Much of the time one needs
an umbrella against the sun or against the rain, but
there are weeks of breezy and delightful weather.
The fauna has been as much modified as the flora.
There are no wild animals and few reptiles, and even
the insects are comparatively innocuous, as the result
of that civilisation which subdues the luxuriance
of nature and subjects the soil to the wholesome
processes of cultivation. The animals and fowls are
mostly domestic, and even the wild birds are not
specially tropical, but the surrounding waters abound
with fish whose habitat has not been changed.
Barbados was isolated even in its discovery and in
its history, and the origin of the name is lost in obscurity.
Columbus knew not of it, and it is not certain
that its discoverers were Spanish. It has been
assumed that the word “ barbados ” is Portuguese,
meaning “ bearded,” and that wandering navigators
of Portugal came upon the island first and fixed its label
; but “ barbado ” is Spanish as well as Portuguese