The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-05-15

Ne Bera4aaas are situated IN tie y eskeff
Atlantic, IN SO deg. ! 5 min. 4. latitude ane
ga deg. 81 min. W longitude, distant abou
5000 miles from England, and upwards o
600 miles from.the nearest pointbf the Nortl
American coast, Cape Hatterasl and-wha
Mr.. Barrow omits to notice upwards Of $50
miles 10 the northward Of tile very northern
most point Of the West India group, Greal
i Abaco il the Bahamas1 and being a cluster
of between 800 and 400 rocky islands and is
i lets, living far out in the North Atlantic ocean.
in nearly the same latitude as Madeira on one
side of the ocean and Charleston on the other
! The islands are formed by the rugged sum
nit of a mountain which shoots up abruptly
from the ocean depths, soundings being lost at
a very short distance from its Shores except in
a southwesterly direction where at distance
of ten miles, the summit Of another such sub
merged mountain is found 60 feet below the
surface, the two elevations being in all proba-
bilily the loftier peaks of suboceanic range.
The peak which constitutes the Bermudas ar
riyes at the water level in the shape of an IT.
regular oval about 90 miles by ID, the direc-
ton of the longer axis being nearly n. E. and
S. W, about Is miles of the southeastern
side of the oval and curved line Of about
miles in length trending northwards from the
southwestern extremity Of the sixteen miles
| from the series Of islands knowr as the Ber-
mudian group, the remainder Of the eircum-
ference consists CT an irregular Struggling
chain of rocks, some of them dry at low tides,
and called reefs, boilers and breakers. The
islands are of small size, the largest being
fifteen miles long and at its widest part three
| 4 Il IN
sists entirely of low rocky hills, never attaining
q greater elevation than 800 feet above the sea
level, with intervening valleys. The rocky
SUBMITS of the hills are crowned with nnumer-
able dwarf cedars, and an amazing growth Of
the wild sage, whilst the intervening valleys
are filed with fine loamy red earth of It
depth varying from two to seven feet, of won
derful fertility, and capable of producing
every species of vegetable and horticultural
growth with little or no trouble beyond the
mere turning and cleansing of the soil. There
| are neither rivers nor brooks very deep
chasm about five miles from the northeastern
extremity Of the islands bearing a consider
nble resemblance to the crater of all extinct
volcano and messing two and a half miles by
one and a half, forms a salt water lake of sin
gu!ar beauty, and communicates with the sea
by narrow opening in its rocky Sides In
few spots-some four in al-the low levels of
the intervening valleys form swamps of mod
crate dimensions thickly ovcrgrown with man
groves. The entire subsoil is honeycombed
with caves, the strata are tossed about and
Iumbed over each other in extraordinary con-
fusion, and opinions are divided among those
who have considered the formation in geo.
logical point Of view, between a volcanic orr
gin, coral formation and a structure of sand
stone orlmestone. The first theory finds no
very great favor, of the second it may be re-
marked that investigation has shown the struc-
ture of the Bermuda Islands to be essentially
different from that of the coral islands of the
Pacific and other waters, as described by Dr.
Darwin and Capt. Fitzroy. The stone quarred
in the island, and universally used both for
walls and roofs, is of several kinds, the two
principal divisions being into hard and soft.
The latter which is the sort used in buildings,
is exceedingly porous, and when first laid bare
is, like Bath stone, very soft and easily worked
with common saw it hardens on exposure,
but always retains its porous character, SO that
walls and roofs are liable to be extensively i'm
pregnated with moisture by rains or a humid
found sometimes as hard as quartz, and strikes
fire from the crowbar, is blasted out and
worked into platforms for guns, &c. There
are few wells and what there are have been
sunk little, if at all, deeper than the sea level
From the porous and honeycombed nature of
the soil, as we'll as from their unavoidable |
to the sea, these wells are more or |
less affected, as are the swanps, by the rise
and fall of the tides, and the water is braclish.
The almost universal water supply for the
whole islands is derived from rain water, which
S collected partly from the roofs of the build
ngs, which are well coated with a thick wash of
inc, and partly from hill sides, considerable
racts Of which are eyelled and also coated
With lime-the water being in both cases col
ected in tanks either cut in the rock Or built
Up.
Thunder storms are not unlrequent, and of
;ourse contribute their agency towards clear
ne the atmosphere. Hurricanes occur, but at
are intervals-about the time of the equinox
There was one in October, 1866-thc last pre-
'ious one was i'll 1889. H..
As a proof Of the opinion formed of the sa-
ubrity of the islands, by those whose prox-
nifty and intelligence give them better means
f observation than Mr.. Barrow seems to have
nioyed, it may be mentioned that when the
ivil war in America closed the usual winter
escorts in the Southern States for consumptives
nd other inyaIids from the Northern States,
'ermuda was the first place named as the sub
tltute and there is no doubt that il would
ave become a regular Slniorium for the