Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/33

Rh fertile gardens, and its belt of palms, sometimes intersected by stream-fed valleys which open on the sea-shore — forms a most pleasing foreground to the grand amphitheatre-like mountain ranges. A good road surrounds the entire island, which is divided into eighteen districts, each under a chief and a municipal council of which he is president. A railroad is in contemplation. By the last census the population of the entire island was 9194, one-eighth being French and foreigners. The majority of the natives profess the Protestant religion.