Elementary education is chiefly in the hands of the various denominations, whose schools are assisted by government grants-in-aid. There are, however, a few secular schools conducted by the government, and government-aided secondary schools for girls and a grammar school for boys. The schools are controlled by a board of education, the members of which are nominated by the government, and small fees are charged in all schools. The governor of the Windward Islands resides in Grenada and is administrator of it. The Legislative Council consists of 14 members; 7 including the governor are _ex-officio_ members and the rest are nominated by the Crown. English is universally spoken, but the negroes use a French _patois_, which, however, is gradually dying out. Only 2% of the inhabitants are white, the rest being negroes and mulattoes with a few East Indians. The capital, St George, in the south-west, is built upon a lava peninsula jutting into the sea and forming one side of its land-locked harbour. It is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, up the sides of which climb the red-brick houses of the town. At the extremity of the peninsula is Fort St George, with a saluting battery. The ridge connecting Fort St George with Hospital Hill is tunnelled to give access to the two parts of the town lying on either side. The population in 1901 was 5198. There are four other towns--on the west coast Gouyave, or Charlotte Town, and 4 m. N. of it Victoria; on the north coast Sauteurs; and Grenville at the head of a wide bay on the east. They are all in frequent communication with the capital by steamer. The population of the entire colony in 1901 was 63,438. _History._--Grenada was discovered in 1498 by Columbus, who named it Conception. Neither the Spanish nor the British, to whom it was granted in 1627, settled on the island. The governor of Martinique, du Parquet, purchased it in 1650, and the French were well received by the Caribs, whom they afterwards extirpated with the greatest cruelty. In 1665 Grenada passed into the hands of the French West India Company, and was administered by it until its dissolution in 1674, when the island passed to the French Crown. Cocoa, coffee and cotton were introduced in 1714. During the wars between Great Britain and France, Grenada capitulated to the British forces in 1762, and was formally ceded next year by the Treaty of Paris. The French, under Count d'Estaing, re-captured the island in 1779, but it was restored to Great Britain by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. A rebellion against the British rule, instigated and assisted by the French, occurred in 1795, but was quelled by Sir Ralph Abercromby in the following year. The emancipation of the slaves took place in 1837, and by 1877 it was found necessary to introduce East Indian labour. Grenada, with cocoa as its staple, has not experienced similar depression to that which overtook the sugar-growing islands of the West Indies.