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“...THE POCKET GUIDE TO THE
WEST INDIES
Chapter I
GENERAL INFORMATION
The West Indies : Their Position and Names : Geology :
Climate : Health : Food and Beverages : Meals : Ex-
penses : Money : Banks : Insurance Policies : Amuse-
ments and Sport: Roads and Motoring.
The West Indies consist of a chain of islands varying
in size from 44,178 square miles, the area of Cuba, to
small islets of only a few acres in extent, which stretch
in a curve from Florida to the northern coast of South
America. Beginning at the north-west with the
Bahamas, they end at the south-east with Trinidad, off
the coast of Venezuela. They owe their name to the
fact that Columbus when he first sighted them believed
that he had reached India by a western route, as he
had for long hoped to do. The name Antilles, which is
also given to the islands, is said to be derived from
Antilla, or Antiglia, a mythical land which was believed
to exist in the west, and is placed on ancient charts
about two hundred leagues to the westward...”
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“...returning from St. George’s at 1.30 p.m. Weekly
passenger and mail communication with Carriacou is maintained
by sloop. Motor-launches for bathing expeditions and expedi-
tions to the leeward coast can be hired from Chykra’s garage
at reasonable rates.
SPORTS. The Grenada Cricket Club has a very picturesque
ground a quarter of a mile from St. George’s, where cricket and
lawn tennis are played. At Grande Ance Bay, which is reached
by boat in fifteen minutes from the Carenage, there is a fine
stretch of sandy beach, from which the bathing is perfect, while
a delightful freshwater douche can be enjoyed at the " Spout ”
in the Carenage. The roads are too hilly for cycling to any
extent. Boats can be hired at the Carenage. The sea fishing
is good, and the rivers can be fished for mullet, brochet, sard,
and mud-fish. The natives use avocado pears, green grass-
hoppers, red bananas, and sometimes worms and cockroaches
as bait. The St. Andrew’s Racing Club, founded in 1897, holds
flat races pe...”
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“...GRENADA
163
George’s, there is an exquisite stretch of sandy beach
from which the most delightful sea-bathing can be
enjoyed. .The Government have provided a landing-
| stage, and the use of a bathing house can be had for a
charge of 6d. per head. Another favourite bathing-
; P’ace is at the Spout, where ships watered in the old
days. Here a freshwater douche from the old pipe-line
! can also be enjoyed.
Government House stands on rising ground about
I 32o feet above the sea-level, overlooking the town and
harbour, from which it is a mile distant. Built in 1802-
1807 it was modernised in 1887 and a new wingwas added
in 1902. The view from the terrace is unsurpassed. On
the Governor’s reception day visitors are always made
welcome. .
TT-««°üd with an easy gradient leads to the Hospital
1 Hill Forts on a plateau 400 feet high adjoining the town
ion the north. Here the British under Sir George
I (afterwards Lord) Macartney made a brilliant stand
I against the French under Count d’Estaing in...”
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“...John Moore, the hero of Corunna, two years
later. i
The Mome now looks peaceful enough; but truth
to tell it presents rather a melancholy appearance. Its
officers’ quarters are deserted, its barracks empty, and
even its former tennis courts are rapidly becoming over-
grown with bush. But the glorious view still remains
and well repays the ride. It is more extensive than that
obtained from the terrace of Government House,
including as it does the superb mountain ranges of the
interior, a long stretch of the coast-line to the south,
and the summits of the Pitons (see page 181) in the
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distance. J
The Vigie, a quarter of an hour’s drive from Castries,
or five minutes’ row by boat across the harbour, is
scarcely less full of historic associations than the Mome. ,
Probably the most desperate fighting which it witnessed
was in 1778, when we captured St. Lucia from France. I
The lines of the English, who, under General Meadows,
had entrenched themselves there, were, on February
18th...”
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“...be made at Black Rocks (12 miles
from Basseterre). These rocks consist of huge masses of
lava standing out in the sea, against which the deep blue
1 water dashes itself into white foam. The rocks extend
; along the coast for a distance of about half a mile.
Continuing the drive past the village of Dieppe or Deep
! Bay, two fine sugar estates, Willetts (right) and Belmont
I (left), are passed, and to the left one obtains a fine view of
1 the central mountain to the edge of the crater, with a
£ stretch of well-cultivated sugar lands on its lower slopes,
i At a distance of about five miles across the channel on
I the right is the little Dutch crater island of St. Eustatius.
I Proceeding, the rugged mass of Brimstone Hill (779 feet)...”
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“...Man’s
Eyelid, and when it went to drink or/ported it/elf in the
deep Bottom, it fully di/cover’d it, and the Rocks all
about receiv’d a wonderful Lu/tre from the Fire i/fuing
out of that precious Gem.”
There is a rude shelter by the side of the lake, where
ponies can be tied up while the visitor proceeds afoot to
the famous Rosalie View. Here there is one of the most
magnificent vistas in the West Indies. From a fore-
ground of tall tree-ferns, rubber trees, and a wealth of
tropical foliage, stretch eight or nine miles of densely
wooded valley and mountain, ending in the dim and blue
distance with the surf-fringed shore of Rosalie Bay on
the windward coast.
A visit to the Boiling Lake, which was rediscovered
about thirty years ago by a party of three, headed by
the late Dr. H. A. Alford Nicholls, C.M.G., is a more serious
undertaking. The lake is really an active volcano, and...”
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