Anchoring progress in tradition.

• Author: Iaconetti, Joan
• Position: St. Vincent and the Grenadines

SIX MILLENNIA AGO, LONG BEFORE KING TUT RULED EGYPT, BANDS OF CIBONEY INDIANS LEFT THE COAST OF VENEZUELA TO PADDLE NORTH. GUIDED BY CLOUDS HOVE RING OVER THE PEAKS OF ISLANDS HIDDEN BEYOND THE HORIZON, THEY REACHED AND SETTLED ON GRENADA, SAINT VINCENT, AND SAINT LUCIA.

THE SIGHT OF SAINT VINCENT TODAY, BY SEA OR BY AIR, IS LITTLE CHANGED FROM WHAT THE CIBONEY, AND LATER THE ARAWAK AND CARIB INDIANS, SAW NEARLY SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO: A MOUNTAINOUS TROPICAL ISLAND, BURSTING WITH VEGETATION, RINGED WITH VOLCANIC BLACK-SAND BEACHES AND SURROUNDED BY SEAS OF BRILLIANT TURQUOISE.

Saint Vincent has been called the Caribbean's last frontier, one of the most undeveloped and unspoiled islands in the chain that stretches from Puerto Rico to Trinidad. And though modern-day Vincentians share their Carib ancestors' reputation for being fiercely independent, political changes in the larger world are increasingly affecting this remote archipelago.

Saint Vincent is home to nearly 99,000 people, with another eight thousand scattered among the Grenadines. Most Vincentians are of African, East Indian, Carib (a few full-blooded Caribs still live in the north), and Portuguese descent. Half the population is under the age of twenty. Saint Vincent is shaped like a kite, and its "tail" is made up of some thirty-two Grenadines islets, seven of which are inhabited.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained independence from Great Britain in 1979, and remain part of the British Commonwealth. Vincentians have integrated centuries of British heritage into a West Indian way of life: Boys and men still play impromptu cricket on the beach, and Queen Elizabeth's portrait still graces each denomination of eastern Caribbean currency.

Despite its rich soil, Saint Vincent has never had a surplus of food, notes Dr. Earle Kirby, formerly of the Ministry of Agriculture. The islands' topography has limited the development of a plantation economy; therefore, society never became stratified. Education is free through the primary level but not compulsory (most families need their children to work in the fields or on fishing boats) and available through the teen years. Few families can afford to send their children to Barbados or Toronto for higher education, though many would like to. No matter what their income, each family has its own home sitting on enough land to grow food to eat and to sell.

Like their ancestors, nearly all Vincentians are sailors and fishermen, whether by trade or daily necessity. Having never been "fished out" by industrial fishing boats, marine life still supports hundreds of men who transport and sell their catch (dolphin fish, tuna, lobsters, and more) to the large hotels of Saint Lucia and Martinique. Those who do not depend directly on the sea for a living become farmers or work in construction or for the government. The sea has become more crowded during this century, thanks to two of Saint Vincent's most important sources of income: bananas and cruising sailors.

Yachtsmen have long come here for some of the finest sailing waters the world has to offer. Live-aboard ketches and chartered boats from Saint Lucia pass through customs at Wallilabou Bay on the leeward coast, and fill--but rarely crowds--the dozens of anchorages throughout the Grenadines. The government, taking advantage of the sailors' need for local nautical and boat-building expertise, will soon open a new yacht harbor at Ottley Bay, north of Kingstown, to repair and refurbish oceangoing yachts.

A similar venture, also financed with Italy's help, is being talked about for Union Island, the southernmost Grenadine and...