Pierre and which
are not unlike the old Roman houses which in all stages of ruin and
semi-preservation are found in Pompeii to this day.
Behind the general group of the houses of the town loom the Governor's
residence and the buildings of the botanical gardens which overlook the
town.
Kingstown is the trading centre and the town of importance in the
island. It contains the churches and chapels of five Protestant
denominations and a number of excellent schools. Away from Kingstown,
and the smaller settlement of Georgetown, the population is almost
wholly rural, occupying scattered villages which consist of negro huts
clustering around a few substantial buildings or of cabins grouped about
old plantation buildings somewhat after the ante-bellum fashion in our
own Southern States.
One of the tragedies of the West Indies was the sinking of old Port
Royal, the resort of buccaneers, in 1692. The harbor of Kingstown is
commonly supposed to cover the site of the old settlement. There is
a tradition that a buoy for many years was attached to the spire of a
sunken church in order to warn mariners. Three thousand persons perished
in the disaster.
DESCENDANTS OF ORIGINAL INDIAN POPULATION
The northern portion of the island, that desolated by the recent
volcanic eruption, was inhabited by people living in the manner
just described, the great majority of them being negroes. The total
population of the island is about 45,000, of whom 30,000 are Africans
and about 3,000 Europeans, the remainder being nearly all Asiatics.
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