ely by the
mild, equable climate which permits the raising of early vegetables and
flowers for English and American markets. Like climatic conditions and a
like industry account for the 2,000 souls living on the inhabited
islands of the Scilly group. Here intensive horticulture supports a
large force of workmen and yields a profit to the lord proprietor. Syros
in the Cyclades fattens on its early spring vegetable trade with Athens
and Constantinople.[947]

In the Mediterranean lands, where drought and excessive heat during the
growing season offer adverse conditions for agriculture, the small
islands, especially those of fertile volcanic soil, show the greatest
productivity and hence marked density of population. Though the rainfall
may be slight, except where a volcanic peak rises to condense moisture,
heavy dews and the thick mists of spring quicken vegetation. This is the
case in Malta, which boasts a population of 2,000 to the square mile,
exclusive of the English garrison.[948] Little Limosa and Pantellaria,
the merest fragments of land out in the mid-channel of the
Mediterranean, have a population of 200 to the square mile.[949] The
Lipari group north of Sicily average nearly 400 on every square mile of
their fertile soil;[950] but this average rises in Salina to 500, and in
Lipari itself, as also in Ponza of the Pontine group, to nearly 1300.
Here fertile volcanic slopes of highly cultivated land lift vineyards,
orchards of figs, and plantations of currants to the sunny air. But
nearby Alicuri, almost uncultivated, has a sparse population of some
five hundred shepherds and fishermen. Panaria and Filicuri are in about
the same plight. Here again we find those sharp island contrasts.

[Sidenote: Relation of density to area.]

The insular region of the Indian Ocean, which is inhabited by peoples
quite different in race and cultural status from those of the
Mediterranean, yet again demonstrates the power of islands to attract,
preserve, multiply and concentrate population. This is especially true
of the smaller islands, which in every case show a density of population
many times that of the neighboring mainland of Africa. Only vast
Madagascar, continental in size, repeats the sparsity of the continent.
An oceanic climate increases the humidity of the islands as compared
with the mainland lying in the same desiccating tradewind belt. Moreover
their small area has enabled them to be permeated by incoming Arab,
Engli