VIRGIN ISLANDS, an island group for merly known as the Danish West Indies, situated about 40 miles eastward of Porto Rico and comprising 50 islands or islets, only three of which are of sufficie_nt site to be lmown, except locally, even by name. The three major islands of the group are Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix or Santii Cruz.
Saint Thomas lies nearbt in a direct line east and west, and is about 13 miles long, vrith an average width of a little more than two miles. It is the most important of the group because of the fine harbor at Charlotte Amalie on the south side; moreover its location on the direct line of communication between European ports and the entrance of the Panama Canal, as vvell as the direct line for vessels plying be tween ports of North and South America, makes it a logical distribution centre for goods sent to the Lesser Antilles. Its distance from New York is 1,400 miles; from Colon 1,020 miles; from La Guaira, Venezuela, 480 miles. The commerce of Saint Thomas itself —although its imports constitute about 70 per cent of those for all three islands —amounts to less than $1,000, 000. The chief imports are foodstuffs and wearing apparel; exports, bay rum and a few hides. Charlotte Amalie is the only town on the island. Population of Saint Thomas is about 10,700.
Saint John — area 21 square miles— lies about four miles east of Saint Thomas. In size and importance the least of the major islands, it nevertheless possesses a harbor at Coral Bay which, according to engineers, re quires only development to make it a rival of the better-Unown harbor at Charlotte Amalie. A very small acreage is devoted to sugarcane, but the chief industry is the growing of bay leaves and the distillation of the bay oil from which bay rum is made. The Inhabitants, numbering less than 1,000 in all, are colored or of mixed blood, with a few exceptions.
Saint Croix, the largest, wealthiest and most daddy populated of the islands, lies about 40 miles southeast of Saint Thomas and has an area of 84 square miles. Upon it are the two towns, Frederiksted and Christiansted, locally known as Westend and Bassin. Christiansted (population about 4,500) was the seat of the Danish colonial goverrunent, and the largest government house in the Lesser Antilles is located on the main street of Christiansted near the wharf. Frederiksted, though smaller (population about 3,000), is much more im portant commercially. The southern districts of Saint Croix are well suited to the applica tion of modern agricultural methods, and here are found the large sugar estates, as well as a considerable acreage of sea-island cotton. The
roads are excellent and many of the sugar estates are connected with the factories by in dustrial railroads. The total population of Saint Croix is given as 14,000, about 10 per cent being whites of unmixed blood.
The climate of these islands is healthful. For the year ending 30 June 1915 the records furnished by the director of the colonial agri cultural experiment station in Saint Croix show that the coolest weeks were 18 to 31 January with a maximum temperature of 83° F. and a minimum of 65° F., and 8 to 14 March, maximum 82° F. and minimum 66° F. The hottest weeks were 31 August to 6 September, with 91° F. as maximum and 76° F. as mini mum, and 7 to 13 September, with maximum 92° F., minimum 74° F. No records of rain fall are available for any of the group except Saint Croix. On that island, the average an nual rainfall for 63 years was 31.26 inches. Steamers of the Quebec Steamship Company running from New York to British Guiana stop at Frederilcsted in each direction. Their first port going south, as well as the last going north, is Saint Thomas. Until the middle of 1914 eight steamship lines were making regular calls at Saint Thomas. Monthly service between Saint Thomas and Porto Rico was forrnetmirintained by a steamer of the Compagnie rale Transatlantique. The pro visions of the coastwise shipping laws exclud ing vessels of foreign registry now apply to this service. Saint Thomas is headquarters of the West India and Panama Telegraph Company (Ltd.), whose duplicate cables 'extend to the west coast of South America and connect at Jamaica with cables from the United States and Europe. Two newspapers are published in Saint Thomas and three in Saint Croix. Both of these islands are provided with telephone service. The largest amount of sugar that has been exported from the whole group in the last 15 years was recorded in 1903, when the total was 19,275 short tons. The estimate for 1916 was 16,000 short tons. The manufactures are bay rum, sugar, molasses, rum, concentrated lime juice, etc. There are two banks— the National and the Saint Thomas Savings Bank. The islands originally belonged to Denmark, by which they were sold to the United States in 1916 for $25,000,000. Ratifications of the treaties of sale were exchanged on 17 Jan. 1917 and the United States took possession of the islands on 31 March 1917. Consult Brock, H. G., Smith, P. S. and Tucker, W. A, (The Danish West Indies) (Special Agents Series, No. 129, Wash ington Government Printing Office, 1917).