Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/115

 land of the archipelago. Traversed by a lofty range in the direction from northeast to south-west, it presents its north-west slope to the trade winds, which in these waters are nearly always deflected towards the continent. Hence this slope receives an ample rainfall, which supports a vigorous vegetation in the valleys. The population, which increases rapidly, might be doubled or trebled without exhausting the agricultural resources. But the opposite slope, which receives little moisture, is arid and almost destitute of vegetation. Here little meets the eye

except blackish rocks, red clays, and white pumice scoring the hillsides like streaks of snow. Volcanic cones with craters are dotted all over the island as thickly as on the flanks of Mount Etna. Over twenty are visible to ships rounding the north-east cape to enter the port of Saint Vincent. The main range terminates westwards in the Topo da Coram, the culminating point of the island, with a crater on its summit, according to the marine charts 7,520 feet high. Its flanks are scored right and left by deep ravines, and on the west side it falls abruptly