THE most numerous and widely scattered of all the
European colonies in the Caribbean are the possessions
of Great Britain. Two outposts on the mainland, one
in South and one in Central America, constitute 88.7
per cent. of the superficial area of these holdings,
but in historical importance and in present economic
and political significance these are outdistanced by
the islands which stretch in a great bow over 1,900
miles of sea from Trinidad at the mouth of the Orinoco
to the Bahamas off the coast of Florida. In the days
of sailing ships these islands were a valuable line of
outposts from which British commerce could be pro-
tected. They were also before the days of beet sugar
a great source of supply for the sugar of Europe. Their
present importance is relatively less. The abolition of
slavery has, in some, made the problem of the labor sup-
ply acute, and capital, with the rise of substitutes for
cane sugar, has found them less profitable fields for in-
vestment. Until recently, indeed, their future seemed
anything but bright.

The total area of the British Caribbean colonies is

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