THE ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE.
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roofs of the houses built but. a block below. The buildings were all two stories high, usually of masonry, and sometimes bound with iron in view of earthquakes. A primitive Street railway ran through the principal thoroughfare. There were some well-stocked stores, but prices of everything were high, and the people, one and all, were shrewd in dealing with strangers. On the whole, for a tropical city of mostly colored population, the place bore evidence of considerable business activity. Except for the heat and the color of the inhabitants, one could quite fancy himself in a provincial city of old France. There were no buildings of any architectural pretension. Even the cathedral, which, with its two white steeples, a conspicuous object seen from the sea, was very commonplace when seen from within. It is rather noticeable in all the West India islands that the fine arts have been little developed. About 20 miles down the coast from St. Pierre is the smaller city, but capital of the island, Fort de France. It was formerly called Fort Royal, no doubt from its adjacent extensive fortification, but on the abolition of royalty in France its name was changed to the uncouth one it now bears. It is situated on a deeper and better protected bay than St. Pierre, and the country back of it is less mountainous, but otherwise the two places very much resembled each other. (See map page 33.) TOPOGRAPHY OF ST. PIERRE.
The topography of St. Pierre was peculiar. Facing the sea, with no land protection whatever from tides, its harbor was not a safe refuge for ships in time of storm. The beach was so abrupt, nevertheless, that heavy draft steamships found it possible to go within fifteen or twenty yards of the shore, there transferring their cargoes to barges and lighters, which could steam up and down the mile or so of beach directly bounding the city. The buildings began within a few yards of high-tide points, and covered the land, in spite of very abrupt slope for nearly a mile inland. The River Blanche is about a mile and a half above the upper boundary of the city. This is the most important stream of the neighborhood, but it is not navigable.