The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-09
THE RERMVTDAS.
Land Glaciers Swallowing UP woods and
Houses.

The Bermuda Islands rest upon n founda
| ton of coral, which was raised I'D from the
depths OF the ocean by the tiny COral-builders
until The rock or reef appeared above the sur
face. The attrition of the waves then broke
and ground the upper portions down to sand
! in which vegetation finally took root. and by
It's perpetual growth and decay formed in
| process of time rich and stable soil, capable
and at last man himself. The only rocks on
| the islands are limestones of every degree of
hardness which have been consolidated from
the fine grains of cOral-sand This sand sur
rounds the islands for n distance of about
twenty miles, and is continually washed in by
the sea. andFpilcd up by the wind in huge drifts
or dunes, often forty or fifty feet high
Driven about in every direction by the ttful
bree2es, the SaDd-heapS assume every sort of
fatfaSttGal fOrm--the sIlCcpSgve strata being
deposited one above another in the most con-
fused manner, and when soliditied into rock,
presenting an extraordinary appearance of
irrogularity.
Atsomo points on the islands tremendous
sand glaciers exist, which travel inward at q
slow but. steady pace, gradually overwhelm-
ing every object lying in their path. At FL
bow bay. on the southern shore of the main
island, one Of these rivers of sand, having a
die9pth Of about twenty-five feet is little by
little fatally tnundatng the land At the
time the scientific sta Of the Challenger Wis
tied this glacier, n light breeze was blowing
inland, and by holding UP a sheet of paper
perpendicular to the surface, the passage Of
the sand was shown by its rapid banking ,p
against the windward side of the paper Sir
Wyville Thompson relates that while his
party was observing the phenomenon, the
owner of q garden which was being built under
the glacier was standing with his hands in
his pockets, as IS too much the habit of his
race contemplating the approach of the mex
Orable intruder. He had made some attpmpt
to stay its progress by planting q line Of
ol0anders and small cedars along the ton
of the slope. A neighbOr, little more
energetic or more seriously monaCed, man.
aged to turn the flank OF the sand by this
means, Just rs 1t was on the point Of engulf-
ing his house; but another was either too
late In adopting precautionary measures, or
perhaps submitted hOpelGssly to his fate for
all that now remains Of his cottage is the bare
top of one of the chimneys projecting above
the white sand like q tombstone. with O great
bush of Oloander dropping over it. On it's
path upward from the beach. this glacier
has overwhelmed n wood of CeClars
The only way of stopping it artificialIy
seems to be to cover it with vegetation. If
planted in large numbers, and tended and
WatCred for time, it seems that Oleandcrs and
the Juniper will grow in pure sand, and, if
they once take root, the motion of the sand
ceases. Some native plants, which form a
peculiar vegetation, sending out enormously
long runners or roots, 4" then take
hold Of 1t, and it becomes permanently fixed.
The outer aspect of the sand hill, of course
slopes downward toward the sea, and
wherever its progress landward-its growth
has been arrested, the tendency OF the inCO-
h"rent mass is to travel back again by grHyi-
tatiOn, and the action of the rain; accordingly
1t Is not unusual to be told that one Of these
co1HecS is gradually disappearing"