Love and the Caribbean: Tales, Characters and Scenes of the West Indies (Armchair Traveller Series)

In 1926 the author traveled around the world. The tourist season of the Caribbean ends in April. Martinique was under French rule and is a far north of the line, equator, as Tahiti is south of it. The island's prosperity depends on rum and sugar. Martinique is a busness center. When Waugh wrote of it in 1928 there were a few influential Creole families. Society was formal. The tourist has to rely on first impressions, as does the book reviewer. The small fish of the tropics are deceptive. The countryside of Martinique is varied.

The population of every tropical town is either commercial or administrative. Dominica is the loveliest of the islands of the Antilles and the most difficult to manage. It is very mountainous and very green. At least in 1938 it had no smart hotels. Jean Rhys had been born in Dominica.

If you want to see the street carnival go to Port of Spain, Trinidad. St. Pierre had been the loveliest city in the West Indies. It was destroyed by the volcano at Pele. Jamaica was a vast playground. In the old days of sugar plantations it was adorned with windmills. Montserrat was discovered by Columbus in 1493.

Barbados has none of the high mountained splendor of Trinidad. At least in 1947 it struck Waugh as the most English of the islands. Barbados had an integrated family atmosphere in his estimation. Barbados and Antigua had superb beaches.

Angostura is produced in Trinidad. In the West Indies there is no such thing as a leisure class. There is a lack of privacy.

Waugh feels that because Toussaint l'Ouverture was self-educated he was called a genius. He drove the English out of Haiti and was called a patriot. He was the descendant of an African prince.

In 1947 Waugh writes that due to the generosity of the Carnegie Trust most of the islands are supplied with excellent reference libraries. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 marked the elimination of Spain as a monopolist on the Caribbean scene. There was general prosperity in the sugar islands. During the Napoleonic Wars more British soldiers lost their lives in the West Indies than in Europe.

The liberation of the slaves ended the prosperity of the West Indies. Waugh compares the Amerindians Columbus found to the Polynesians. They welcomed the proud Spaniards. The Spaniards, however, were obtuse. They sought treasure, gold, and to spread the gospel. Within twenty years the entire Indian population of Hispaniola had been wiped out. Orginally there had been two million. The extermination may be understood in that it all happened at the time of Inquisition.

In St. Vincent, Windward Islands, the Caribs were unsubdued at the time of French Revolution. The book is billed as a selection of Alec Waugh's best island histories. It is very fine.


Interesting book written between 1929 and 1955.   June 11, 1997
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book is an excellent choice for those with a working knowledge of the West Indies who want a more complete perspective of the area. The chapters are taken from several of the author's other books, written between 1929 and 1955, thus provide a much more enlightening view of the Caribbean during this period than more recently written books