The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-09-09 00:00:00

HERIITUDdS.
ssigAttics 04 THE RERMIJDA INLAND', AND "'ANTI-
I.L t tILY ON THE INLA IND OF 11. 01:01/IiE.

(From Put Artistes ds Olsseuss d7lutarr Nntssruist.)

I embarked at Bourdeaux the sth of February,
11106, fur the Clotted States : the object of my
toynge was to forward to the amperi administrate
tiou •of forests am' waters, it great qmeitity of
grains and plains of forest trees, which 'Mein be
nutitralised 111 Fiance, owl thrive iii the wiculti.
witted hied% where our indigenous trees would net
Ipso. On the 42311 of March, the American veseel
in which I ha.l taken my passage was u•nariNt'. by
the Leeeder. an English vessel of war, coutesetaticil
by Cot:.t. Witheby, who, suspecting it to he freight.
etj b French merchants, sent it to Halifax, the
chef* English station in Nova Scotia, in orate that
the Animosity Judge there might decide whether
it should be detained or not. I alone, air all the
pissengers, had orders to go on board the Leander,
where I remained during the forty-three days that
the cruise lasted. 'Flee vexatious circumstance.
which tent me near six hundred leagues from
Charlestown. Wive me, 11"i'vtit " "Pl"'""itY of
seeing the Ilenau‘l4 Islaiela, where the Loftier put
in on the 7th of April. to lay in a store of
They remained there eight slays, and I obtained
from thc. Captain, who treated um with great pd-
Menem. permission to go no allure several times;
and 1 availed myself of this permission Is 'make
those observations which forte the basis of the pre.
*eta communication.
The number of islands wliit h form the Archipe-
lago of the Bermudas is very considerable, 1061 thu
inhabitants say that they are es wane all there are
days in the yeur. The large,' are not, according
to their account, more than twelve or thirteen iniles
iu length. The smallest look like the points nl
rocks, just appearing above the surface of the wa-
ter; the whole occapyiug a sower of about thirty-
five miles in length, try about twenty-five in
beaultie Towards the north, bauks of rocks, nut
very low beneath the water, cover a surface of near
forty miles, and refiner the upproaeh dangerous to
vessels.
These islands, though not so elevated as the
Azores, prearet at a distance nearly the same &ap-
pearance, offering to the sight lofty and extensive
hills, covered with a souihre verdure. They are
Dot surrounded by a Rat and windy-shore, like the
coast of the Hut-alas, but bordered by high locks,
against which the waves of the ocean break and
foam.
That near which the English vessels anchored is
called St. George. It is also the mane of the chief
establishment. Hamilton is another island, about
fifteen miles distme ; and these are the only towns
that are to he rotted its the Bermudas. There are
Do junctions of houses which may be regarded as
villages.
The island of St. George, the only one that I vi-
itited, is situated to the 'meth of tlie Archipelago.
It in the second iti size, being about nice miles
long, by three miles broad in souse places, and
only a quarter of a mile in others. The 'weight
which separate& its senthern coast from the ieland
of St. Davin, forms the port. the eittranceof which
it greatly contracted by the point of another island.
It is bordered with contiguous rocks of a blackish
colour, whose height varies from five to twenty-fire
feet. As a whole it looks like a long hill, the iu-
equalities of which form 1.0 many little valises.--
U:. Ow lienghts, the soil is arid end ...many, permit-
tieg sometimes the roas► to be visible; on the lower
spots, on the contrary, the eerth is brown, me-
laerous, slightly moist, and rite vigour of the Yo.
getatiott announces the extrease fertility of the
land.
Thrce-fourths of the island are covered with
wool the rest is tartly cultivated ; ex,:ept when
it is so arid that it is not susceptible of it.
The plants natural to the country are net nume-
TOM. ; af.d though my yourueys in the island were
perferntod, I may venture to assert, that the
member of species does not exceed one hundred and
fitly. Among these plants are found matiy of the
ski contineut, which do not Nipper to have been
traosported thither : suds are rerhssrum shsprry,
law:grit/is geeertaicr warearrielic amine. /emote:len la-
ea.rocum, plantago &major, series areas, gestiesa
ernes, oxalis aeetoselle, Ste. With regard to the
other pleats, I had not •iii opportunity of examining
maay of them ; but I collected the grains of all
Oise• which had beta preserved since the lest year;
among others, those of • shrub whose aromatic
leaves have a strong resemblance to sage, whence it
is called ssgestash by the inhabitants ; a pretty
species of lychees, and of a small reredieago, each
twit of which occupies about one inch of ground :
this is the must common plan: of the country. It
is to be• seen every where, soil forms almost the
pole ve-dare of thy place ; for the surface is not. as
in Europe amid the Utiited States, covered 'millet-
r t
ilyowith sh t t
00-graes, stud this family of plants is at
oo scarce.
The jeaipersrs berrstudierts, called by the inhabit-
snits ceder, is the only forest tree in the islands; all
of them are covered with it, and hence that gloomy ,
anti sombre aspect a httli they present at a distatice.
It grows in all sods. and under eeery sort of expos-
ure ; but in the rallies its vegetetem is more vigor-
ous thou on the tors of the hills, and the primordial
branches grow to a much greater height. Its ele-
vation does not exceed forty or Fifty feet, and its
diametii is from one foot ter tifteen inches. Though
the branches here • tendency to approach the
hit Ilk, :hate of the old trees come le contact with
each other. white, army give some idea of the die-
toner ut which tiny •arc placed.
'Chew trees tire tan cut regularly ; they fell one
in any place when they think that it is lit for the
inteodert use, and they leave to nature the care of
renewmg their rayeges; mud certainly to this tiegli-
if Renee limy be attributed the high price of this
r cue d.
Ter period when I was at Bermuda was the
fOllffillg season. The female individuals might
be 1:114413 at the distance of fifteen or twenty pieces.
by the deeper colour of their foliage. The graiiii
lee ripe towards the end of October ; lest they fall
in the course of the winter, mud, seise of my re-
searches, I perceived misty a few twilit the•trees.
should Lave brim very 11114110110 to gather them ; for
1 doubt not that, this tree woul.l lie a great acqni-
signet both for tin Wand of Coreice, stun for some
pindi of our southern deposit/mutes which border

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