Evening star., 1924-05-18
WINDWARD ISLANDS
NOTABLE IN TROPICS
France and England Fought Bit.
terly for Possession of Group
/ Nearly 200 Years.
MOST RESIDENTS BLACK
Britain Has Important Naval Base
on St. Lucia.
RESIDENTS
BLACK

OF the least known, to Americans,
or British territories in the new
world. A bulletin from the head
quarters here of the National Geo
graphic Society describes it.
Windward islands means differ
ent things on different maps" says
the bulletin, "and to add to the con-
fusion, several other quite distinct
names are applied to the whole and
TO parts of the islands that sweep in
great arc from Porto Rico to the
top OF South America The entire
group OF little islands is known most
properly, perhaps, as the Lesser An
TILES the Greater Antilles consist
ing OF the larger islands, beginning
with Porto Rico. that reach back
toward the Gulf of Mexico.
All of the southern half of the
Lesser Antilles is sometimes called
the Windward islands, the term in
Guiding Martinique, st. Lucia, ST. Vim
cent, Grenada and even Barbados, To-
oaso and Trinidad Britain's Wind
ward Islands colony however, means
something definite; the three fair
sized islands, st. Lucia, ST. Vincent
and Grenada, and the tiny islets near
Grenada known as the Grenadines.
Long Cause of Warfare.
About this little group of islands.
france and England fought more
Stubbornly than about any other bit
OF american territory. Over and over
again they changed hands, between
1000 and 1914, as the West Indian
neets of first one and then the other
of the two great nations were vic
torious. Since the latter date all three
OF the islands and the Grena dimes
have remained British possessions
The Windward islands are we'll in
the tropics, being in the latitude of
Nicaragua, the Philippines and south
ern India; and they are as charming
examples of tropical isles as can be
famous, and over the sharp peaks,
deep valleys and more gentle slopes
OF all, is thrown an intensely green
mantle of tropical trees. shrubs and
grasses. All were peopled by the
war-like Carib Indians when Column
bus and other Spanish navigators
olscoVered them. But these were
largely killed off, or transported dur
ing the next few centuries by Brit
lsh and French settlers. Most of the
black. and are traceable' to the slave
ships that brought over their Afri-
can cargoes during early colonial de-
Veiopment On St Vincent, which was
natives,
ships were wrecked and the suryi-
Nors mingled with the Caribs so that
on that island there is a more pro-
nounced Indian strain than elsewhere.
Few White OmcinIs.
ON each of the islands is a small
minority of white officials, landown-
ers and business men. Each of the
three larger islands has it's own local
government machinery under a Brit
tsh administrator, and over all is the
governor, who resides in ST GEORGES.
cnlet city of Grenada, The govern
ments are crown colonies the off,
cials being appointed from London.
France held on longest to ST. Lu-
cla. and in the enthusiastic days Of
Napoleon hoped to make it the capi-
tai of the Antilles and the Gibraltar
of the Caribbean But the hope died
When the treaty of 1914 gave st.
Lucia to Great Britain, and now only
Martinique and Guadeloupe and it's
lslets remain of the once important
French Antilles.
st. Lucia, twentyseven miles long
oE twelve wide. might be said to
exist solely for its harbor-Port Cas-
tries. This superb haven-probabI bIv
unsurpassed by any harbor in the
Americas, was to have been Frances
Gibraltar Britain has made it one
OF her most important naval bases
I'D Scaling stations and has heavily
r fortified it. A narrow bottle-neck
pa assage OF deep water leads to what
IS in effect a great, deep lake of salt
water Deep-draught ships of war
or trade tie up directly to the piers,
o.. ~hich lie mountains of coal Ar
mics of black men and women coal
the ships by carrying laden baskets
ABOARD. Most of the population of the
island is concentrated in Castries
dependent on the coaling activities.
while large part of the back conn
aDandOnad 70 will
but 1t Is threaded with good roads
that WIND among its picturesque hills
and tropical forests.
Volcano Killed 1000.
est. Vincent, the middle of W..
three islands, had a terrible tragedy
in the eruption of its own volcano
at the time that Mount Pelee de-
tated a large area Of country in
Martinique in 1902 The northern
third of ST. Vincent was devastated
and ,I,e nearly 1000 lives We're lost on
tropical foliage is creeping back over
the ash heaps to hide the evidence
of this holocaust.
"St. Vincent has in its botanic gar
hemsphere ttIe tooWn to she
we're introduced first tropical prod
ucts from the rest Of the world
which. distributed from there. have
established some of the most i'm
.portant and lucrative industries of
the West Indies and the Americas.
Various vegetables and fruits and
spices are in the list.
Grenada, southern most of the
three islands, is the most beautiful
and most charming. and at the same
time, the best developed. 1t forms
almost true ellipse twenty miles
long and nine wide. Its port at
st Georges cannot compare in USE
fulness with that of st. Lucia. but
it is a perfect gem of harbor on
trance and a small land-locked basin.
From the basins rim. st. Georges
grows up ridge and down the other
side, it's housetops. half hidden
among the palms. forming gigantic
stairsteps. And the roofs only echo
steep that many of the streets are
steps. Much of the town is beyond
the ridge; and the British, unwilling
to be forever climbing In the warm
climate, have put through a tunnel
that saves many steps
Cocoa and NutmeEs Abound.
"Grenada was long under French
control, and many traces OF Gallo In
duence still linger in architecture
customs and religion. Good roads
torn a network over Grenada as over
the other Windward Islands. Over
them one may bowl In motor cars
beside the numerous well-kept nut.
meg and cocoa plantations that turn
ont .Grenada's chief products Many
tourists learn for the first time or
these delightful jaunts that nutmegs
come from a luscious fruit that Is
itself made into jam; and that cocoa
beans are hidden away In the heart
described as 'squashes growing on