This island is the most southern of the Antilles with one exception, and next to Barbados the most windward,—a position to which some importance has been attached, both commercially and in a military point of view, especially in relation to the adjoining island and more southern,—the great island, as De Foe calls it, of Trinidad—and the gulf of Pera, and from the circumstance of its having at least one excellent harbour,—” Man-of-War Bay,” capable of sheltering the largest fleet.

In point of size, though very different in form, it is about equal to Barbados. Its extreme length is stated to be about 32 miles; its extreme width about 9 miles. Its character throughout is hilly rather than mountainous, its scenery pleasing and gentle rather than bold, its highest hills hardly reaching to an elevation of 2000 feet, and their declivities though often steep, seldom rugged or broken into rocky precipices; indeed the absence of naked rock excepting along its coast, especially its abrupt northern one, has been pointed out as one of its remarkable features. Another of its remarkable features is the abundance of wood, and the luxuriance of its vegetation, and also the abundance of water. Seen at a distance it has the appearance of a forest, no naked summits being to be seen and not a single naked spot, except patches here and there in the vallies, and on the sides of the hills under cultivation and cleared in consequence; and in travelling through it, every valley is found to have its running stream, the largest of which when swollen by heavy rains, are either impassable or fordable with difficulty and risk.