VIRGIN ISLANDS

VIRGIN ISLANDS, situate between 17° 40', and 80° 40' N. lat., and between 64° 30' W. long. Sir Francis Drake is said to have called them the Virgin islands in honour of Queen Elizabeth; but this is a mistake, for they were called Las Virgenes by Columbus, in honour of the eleven thousand virgins in the Romish ritual. The principal of these is Santa Cruz, a Danish possession about twenty-one miles long, and about five broad, which has an area of more than 100 square miles. It is one of the best cultivated islands in the West Indies. Sugar is its staple commodity. The population of the island is reckoned at 32,000. St Thomas, another Danish island, about twelve miles long, with an area of about fifty square miles, possesses a safe and capacious harbour, and carries on a considerable trade. The population amounts to about 8000. St John's is the only other possession of Denmark in this group of any importance. Its population is about 2500.

The principal British islands are Tortola, Virgingorda, and Anegada. The exportable products chiefly consist of sugar and molasses. Tortola is about twelve miles long and

four broad. Anegada and Virgingorda are each about 10 miles long. Besides a number of very small islands, Cuba or Passage island, and Vieque or Crab island, belong to Britain. The latter is sixteen miles long and four broad, but is uninhabited. The British, Danes, and Spaniards have the right of cutting wood in it, and fishing on its coast. The climate is more healthy than in the average of the West India islands. Excepting Tortola, the other islands contain a very small number of inhabitants.