3-017-321 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The town of Basseterre, Guadaloupe, French West Indies, 1865. Engraving of a sketch showing '...the town or city of Basseterre as seen on approaching it by the main road from the north...The French West Indies, consisting of Guadaloupe and Martinique, with the smaller islands attached to these, have a total population of 300,000, three fourths of it being of negro race...The most valuable products of Guadaloupe are sugar, coffee, and cotton; the scenery in some parts is very picturesque, and the climate generally salubrious and pleasant. It is remarkable that neither serpents nor any kind of venomous insects are to be found in the forests of Guadaloupe; this exemption of the country from the plague of reptiles may probably be accounted for by some peculiarity of the soil or the atmosphere...Basseterre, the seat of Government,...is a town of 9000 persons, situated at the foot of the volcanic mountain called the Soufrière, and having an open harbour or road, protected by Port Richepance and several batteries'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.