St Vincent

St Vincent, one of the British islands in the West Indies, Windward Group, 105 miles W. of Barbadoes. Area, 132 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 40,548; (1891) 41,054, of whom over 3000 were whites and Hindu coolies, the rest being Negroes and people of mixed blood. The island is traversed from north to south by a chain of volcanic mountains, which rise in the volcano called the Souffrière (a violent eruption in 1812) to 3000 feet. Many of the valleys are fertile, and the shores are rich and productive. Only one-seventh of the entire area is under cultivation. The climate is healthy. Sugar, rum, cocoa, spices, and arrowroot are the principal products. The exports fell from £124,587 in 1889 to £67,392 in 1896. The imports were £98,212 in 1889, and £71,490 in 1896. The chief town is Kingstown (pop. 4547), at the head of a bay on the south-west coast. The island is ruled by a governor and a nominated legislative council of eight members. St Vincent was discovered by Columbus in 1498, and was then inhabited by Caribs. These people were left in possession down to 1783, although Charles I. gave the island to the Earl of Carlisle in 1627. In 1797 the Caribs, rebelling with French aid, were transferred to the island of Rattan in the Bay of Honduras. St Vincent, with the other Windward Islands, suffered greatly from a hurricane of almost unparalleled violence in 1898. The home government voted a free grant to St Vincent of £25,000, with a loan of £50,000, to relieve the sufferers, who also shared in the fund of £43,000 raised by the Lord Mayor of London.