Viewing page 53 of 64

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

100   Dominica 47.
The government is conducted by an Administrator, assisted by an Executive Council of ten members. The Legislative Council consists of twelve members, four of whom four are elected.
Roseau, the capital, has a population of nearly 7000, and "has little to commend it".
There are three lakes in the south-central mountains. These are known as Freshwater Lake, The Lake, and the Boiling Lake. The latter is a small geyser of boiling sulphur, about 300 feet long by 200 feet wide. It sometimes ejects a column 10 feet high, and has been known to recede to an empty basin. There are sulphur springs near Roseau, and several rather high waterfalls visible from the sea.

We have been quite surprised at the stamps of the Leeward Islands which are on sale here. Many of them are of an issue over 20 years old, with a watermark quite different from that used for the last fourteen years. The set being sold now is: 1/4d (1932), 1/2d (1912-14), 1d (1921-22), 1 1/2d (1929), 2d (1921-22), 2 1/2d (1926-27), 3d (1926-27), 6d (1912-14), 1sh (1912-14), 2sh (1921-22), etc. It will be interesting to see it these same ones are on sale in other Leeward Islands. One would expect Antigua at least to have the complete new (1932) set. It has 1/4d, 1/2d, 1d, 1 1/2d, 2 1/2d, 6d, and 1sh only.
[[end page]]

[[start page]]
101
Dominica is very highly rated for its natural beauty, and its inhabitants lose few opportunities to mention it. They are less ready, however, to speak on its man-made beauty and its "civilizaton". Its natural beauty seems to me to be no more than that of Grenada and much less accessible.
The arrangement on St. Lucia is more like it because it is necessary to go to the more rugged and picturesque parts to find the tropical scenery. The coastal regions around Roseau and even the entire western coast is rather uninviting, in spite of the real grandeur of the mountains behind, and the specially extolled spots are rather isolated and separate. There seems to be no reason for rating the beauty of Dominica about that of either Martinique or Guadeloupe.

Dr. Chapin sent the following information concerning the coin I saw in Soufriere, St. Lucia: "....... The coin described is the Spanish peso, commonly known as a piece of eight, since it had the value of 8 reals as indicated in the inscription [see page 45].... Owing to a dearth of coins of small denominations in the West Indies, the pesos or pieces of eight were often cut into fragments to make change and these fragments were stamped with the name of the locality in which they were made. Such fragments are not very rare or