EUROPEAN  POSSESSIONS  211

ists  who  visit  it  and  what  we  purchase  from
and  ship  to  its  shores.  Its  chief  exports  are
Easter  lilies,  potatoes  and  early  vegetables,
4,000  out  of  12,000  acres  being  under  cultivation, ­
  yielding  the  islands  $500,000  yearly.  Of
its  $2,775,000  imports  this  country  supplied
$r,600,000,  England  $750,000  and  Canada
$350,000.
None  of  these  islands  is  self-sustaining.
They  need  the  necessities  of  life;  flour,  foodstuffs, ­
  hams,  meats,  vegetables,  butter,  lard,
candles,  oil,  shoes,  cotton,  textiles,  drugs,  soaps,
toilet  articles,  glassware,  machinery  and  corrugated ­
  iron.
The  Quebec  Steamship  Company  and  the
Royal  Mail  Steamship  Company,  sailing  from
New  York,  stop  at  the  leading  cities  of  the
larger  islands,  an  inter-island  steamship  service ­
  being  provided  for.  The  Lamport  and
Holt  line  touches  both  at  Trinidad  and  Barbados ­
  on  their  northward  trip  and  the  United
Fruit  Company  boats  stop  at  Jamaica.  The
Hamburg-American  Line  ships  call  at  many
of  these  islands.