Bulky foods (yams, potatoes, carribee cab bages, etc.) are practically all used for local consumption. The administration has decided to encourage new cultures, principally the growth of coconuts and lemons, as much to provide against inconveniences caused by de pendence on a single crop as to develop the resources of the colony. In normal times France receives nine-tenths of the production of the lands of the colony.
The dependencies of Guadeloupe include : Desirade, a rock of little productive capacity; Marie Galante with Grand Bourg, a fairly safe anchoring ground; the Saintes Archipelago, a mass of rocks which have been given the name of "The Gibraltar of the West Indies') on ac count of their high strategical importance; Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin, of which France possesses two-thirds: Saint Francois, Sainte Anne and Port Louis.
Martinique.— Martinique was discov ered by Christopher Columbus on Saint Mar tin's Day. The Spaniards did not settle there and the natives remained in possession of the island until 1625. At this time Pierre Belain of Esnambuc, while returning from a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico, obtained from Cardinal de Richelieu authority to constitute the "Com pagnie des Iles d'Amerique; on his return to Saint Christopher he endeavored to colonize the neighboring Islands and landed at Martinique on 1 Sept. 1635. In 1650 the Compagnie des Iles d'Amerique sold its islands for 1:60,000 to Duparquet who became their lord and master. On his death, war broke out be tween the French and the Caribs, which ended in the extermination of the latter. In 1664 the Crown purchased the islands from the heirs of Duparquet and ceded its rights to the Com pagnie des Indes Occidentales. During the suc ceeding years, Martinique was attacked by the English and the Dutch, which resulted, in the dissolution of the Compagnie and the return of the islands to the Crown. Cultivation was un dertaken but very soon Martinique had other serious preoccupations and for more than a cen tury was obliged to defend herself against the furious onslaughts of her enemies. In 1762 the island fell into the hands of the English who restored it to France one year later on the sign ing of the Treaty of Paris, but at the price of the loss of Canada. In 1793 the Royalist party surrendered the island to the English who kept it until the Peace of Amiens was•signed. The English reoccupied it during the Empire Wars of 1808-14 and finally during the "Hundred Days." Since the treaty of 20 Nov. 1815 Mar tinique has always remained French and after the abolition of slavery in 1848, by a number of laws—not affecting however its colonial life— it has participated more and more in the public life of the mother country as one of her pos sessions.
Martinique which has an area of 987 square kilometers (385 square miles), the greatest length of which is 70 kilometers (44 miles) and the average width 31 kilometers (20 miles), is divided into two parts — two peninsulas united by the isthmus which is situated between the ecul de sac" of Francois and the ucul de sac" of Fort-de-France. Its mountain range really
consists of two high peaks, one in the north and one in the south, connected by a small chain of mountains much less in height. All these mountains, which bear the name of or %tolls* are of volcanic origin and we need scarcely recall here the awful calamity caused by the eruption of Mount Pelee in Sep tember 1907 which completely devastated the southern part of the island. Cyclones similar in character to those which play such havoc with the other West Indian islands do not spare Martinique and they are generally accom panied by a tidal-wave.
From a political point of view, Martinique is divided into two districts, the capitals of which were until 1902 Fort-de-France and Saint Pierre.
Commerce, Trade, etc.— Exportations amounted in 1913 to 28,896,814 francs ($5,779, 362) out of a total trade of 51,041,129 francs ($10,208,225). In this total products from the land figure to an amount of 25,900,000 francs ($5,180,000). Sugar-cane is the principal crop of the island, the exportation for 1913 amounting to 40,000 tons, which is slightly higher than that of 1912. The exportation of rum, which occu pies the second place in the trade of the island, amounted in value to about 7,000,000 .francs ($1,400,000) in 1912, rising in 1913 to 12,000,000 francs ($2,400,000) for 18,823,000 litres (4,973, 026 United States gallons). Next in importance is the cultivation of cocoa which is exported in berries to an amount of 524 tons of a value of 1,071,000 francs ($214,200). Coffee beans are ex ported to the amount of 9,587 kilogrammes • (21,091 pounds), valued at 23,932 francs ($4,786). Vanilla figures for an exportation of 3,259 kilogrammes (7,169 pounds), repre senting 76,373 francs ($15,274) ; cinnamon 1,875 kilogrammes (4,125 pounds), valued at 1,234 francs ($246). The fresh-fruit trade has not yet attained that importance of which it is capable (40,675 francs, $8,135) ; the principal fruits exported being bananas (10,000 francs, $2,000) ; pineapples (15,000 francs, $3,000) and oranges (1,400 francs, $280). Oil from Indian wood is a fairly active industry, the results for 1913 being 2,649 kilos (5,827 pounds), represent ing a value of 23,495 francs ($4,699). In the category of farinaceous products, fecula and potatoes show exportations of 11 and 77 tons, respectively. The manufacture of citrate of lime is no longer in the experimental stage and the results obtained are highly satisfactory, the exportation amounting to 2,000 kilogrammes (4,400 pounds). All the citrate is shipped to England.
France accounted for 51.4 per cent of the trade movement in Martinique in importations, and 93 per cent in exportations; business with other countries amounts to 46.08 per cent and 3.78 per cent of the importations and of the exportations, respectively.