Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-22

fifty years ago. when the American government offered s7,5O0, 600 for the 138 square miles of territory in the Antilles. a sum exceeding by $30O.000 the price paid to Russia in the same year q876j for the vast, rich terri tory of Alaska, comprising an. area more than four thousand times as large. The sale was not consum- mated, because the United States Senate failed to ratify the treaty renewed and a price of $5, ,000, ,000 was agreed upon, but this time the Danish Parliament refused to sanction the sale, although the islands had been governed at a loss to the mother coun- try for many years, in fact ever since slavery was abolished in 1s4S, thereby putting an end to the profitable opera | tion of the sugar plantations.
 These three islands of the Virgin l group-St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. | John, in the order of their size and population-were discovered by Co., lumbus in 14s3. Spanish, British, l French, Dutch and Danish flags have f1oated over one or all of the islands at various times. St. Croix, lying 65 miles southeast Of Porto Rico, has an | most prosperous of tine group, with it's I two towns of Christianstad and Fred 1 erickstad. It was held at one time by the Knights of Malta, having been | given to that famous order by Louis 1 XIV of France.
 'iSt. Thomas, which lies only 40 miles east of Porto Rica, was at one time the chief distributing center of 1 West Indian trade, it's importance be- | ing directly attributable to the fact | that the mother country, Denmark, maintained it's neutrality during the ! eenth century. The temporary Occu- 1 patton of the island by the British during several periods of the Napole- onic wars added further to the import ance of the chief port. Charlotte Ann | allie, where merchant vessels rode at | anchor in the magnificent land-loeked harbor while waiting for conveys to | protect them on the voyage across the | Atlantic. This town, with a popula- ton of less than 1O,000, mainly ne- ] groe. is stiI an important coaling sta ! ton for steamers in the West India, trade. With depth of from 27 to S6 feet of water. the roadstead can ac- Icommodatet the largest merchant ships | which sail these seas. The export and import trade has become negligible since the rapid decline of the sugar industry which the Danish govern ment has tried in vain to revive by granting annual subsidies.
 "St. John, least important of the is- lands, lying four miles to the east of St Thomas, has an area of 21 square miles. It is scarcely more than a ten-
 mile mountain ridge with but one | distinguishing feature, Coral Bay, the best harbor of refuge in the Antilles ! Cruxbay, a village of one thousand in- habitants on the northern shore, is the center of population.
 ''While Danish is the official lang Iiage of the islands, English is quite generally spoken. The monotony o1 existence is not infrequently broken by earthquakes and hurricanes.
 t1f Denmark decides to part witf these islands there will remain to he1 only two colonial possessions-G Green
 uand and Iceland, which have an ag- gregate area more than five times as q large as the mother country but witt
 only one-twenty- ty-seventh the popula. ton. The 138 square miles of Den. marks West Indian territory sustain
 nearly three times as many people ai the 46,740 square miles of Greenland