the superiority
possessed by many, in moral worth and intellectual acuteness, above
their oppressors."--E. S. Abdy, _Journal of a Residence and Tour in
the United States of America from April, 1833, to October, 1834_, pp.
346-348.

BOOK REVIEWS

_The Virgin Islands of the United States of America._ By LUTHER K.
ZABRISKIE, Former Vice-Consul of the United States at St. Thomas. G.
P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1918. Pp. 339. Price $4.00.

This is an historical and descriptive work containing facts, figures
and resources about a country ninety per cent of the population of
which belongs to the Negro race. It is a detailed account of
practically every interest of concern to the tourist, the merchant,
the geographer and the historian. It is made still more valuable by
its one hundred and nine illustrations and two maps which clearly
demonstrate what the United States Government has received in return
for the purchase price of $25,000,000.

The first effort of the author is to give a short sketch of the
history of the Virgin Islands. He then takes up the question of
purchasing the islands. In discussing these political and historic
questions, however, the author is too brief and neglectful of
important problems which the student of history would like to know.
The author no doubt carefully avoided these questions for the reasons
that he was then and still is in the diplomatic service of the United
States. The book is chiefly concerned with the actual government of
the group, the occupations of the people, and the place of the islands
in the commerce of the world.

Largely interested, therefore, in those things which generally concern
a consul, Mr. Zabriskie has written a valuable commercial treatise. He
explains such things as steamer service, harbor facilities, banking,
currency, sanitation, transportation, cattle raising, agriculture,
manufactures, imports and exports. The last part of the book is
exclusively devoted to the most recent history of the Virgin Islands.
There is a discussion of the sale negotiations, the convention between
the United States and Denmark, the announcement of the sale, the
formal transfer of the islands, the farewell service and the temporary
government provided. This part of the book is not merely descriptive.
It contains the actual documents as in the case of the convention
between the United States and Denmark, which is given in the English
and Danish languages.