The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-08-12

1ngly lovely. To those who know IN
Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence
the Bermudas will seem quite familiar
so strong is the resemblance. The frs
beauty that attracts the eye is the won
derful color and clearness of the sea. lik,
beryl, emerald and sapphire sparkling
on silvery oed Next, YOU are struel
by the peculiar and beautiful appearance,
gwen to the landscape by the snow,
whiteness of the square-roofed building.
-iorts, barracks, churches and houses
cleaning like snow among the dusky
sage green foliage of the cedar. About
SO0 isles and islets lay before us. only
ioO oil which are recognized by Govern
ment survey, and but four of any import.
ance whatever. Three of these. IrelaSd
Island, the Main Land and st. George 3,
are connected by bridges and magniii-
cent causeway, about half mile long,
winch cost f32, 900. These connected
islands are in the form of horseshoe
St. Georges being at one end, the dock
yard at the other and Hamilton not far
from the middle of the circumference of
the shoe. The town of st. George 8
looks pretty from the sea; but ashore it
rs found to be small and crowded, and
the streets mere lanes
The climate of Bermuda is trying, but
upon the whole good. 1t is sufficiently
pracing in winter to make warm cloth
ing necessary, but seldom cold enough
Tor hire. Few of the houses have CRATES
or stoves in the parlors, and on chilly
days, If kept indoors, one MISE, the
CHEEKY glow of the fire. The winter
season is more like the Indian Summer OF
America than anything else. When the
south wind blows, men and beast are
depressed. Horses trip, and their riders
scarcely care to keep them on their legs.
You go to bed in good spirits and awake
feeling like a washed-out rag. What is
the matterP During the night the wind
has gone from north to south. You care
for nothing and nobody. If enough en-
orgy be left to complain you say with the
aesthetics: " Hollow! hollowi hollow!
despair droopingly. am limp" The
dampness is another disagreeable feature.
Boots and shoes and kid gloves. and ev-
erything that will mould, are ruined If
not constantly worn or watched. Mould
and cockroaches are great enemies to
books, destroying their bindings very
quickly. Ants and other insects are also
trying to Europeans at certain seasons.
People in this mild and equable eli
mate live to a great age. / saw several
Old men between eighty and ninety
years old daily parading the streets quite
rs matter OF course. | also knew of
numbers of very old people who were
unable to walk out, but were in good
health and in perfect possession Of all
their mental and most of their physical
faculties. The people in general are
healthy 1t is great mistake to suppose
that yellow fever has home in Ber-
muda. 1t has been there several times
but on each occasion it originated from
infection from outside.
1t is probable that the good health OF |
the Bermudans is largely due to their |
use of rainwater for all purposes, no
other being available. In all the islands |
there is neither lake nor rivulet. Tho |
rain is collected in large, cemented |
tanks, built under the houses. Every
roof has to do duty in collecting water |
Tor man and beast; and on the hill-sides
you will see large spaces laid with stone,
ccmented and edged. from which the |
rain water runs into large tanks below.
These are generally built for some special
purpose, as for barrack supplies Or wash
ing establishments.
One is surprised to see so little land
under cultivation, cedar clothing the
hills, with an occasional fiddle-wood and
calabash tree, and oleander, tamarisk,
and mangrove skirting the marsh lands
everywhere. OF the twelve thousand
acres of land in the largest islands, less
than third are in tillage and grass, the
rest remaining in wood, marsh and
natural pasture. The fact, however.
that most of the land is rocky, or very
thinly covered with earth, accounts to a
very large extent for this apparently neg
lected state of cultivation.
The comparative absence of smaller
forms of animal life in Bermuda renders
solitary walking an insupportable lone
Illness. In the sombre cedar woods, no
squirrel sits aloft and re-
licves the dreariness by his chattering
and scampering; no song-birds. such as
there are in England, fill the air with
melody, Innumerable ants noiselessly
pursue their endless labors; and no
sound breaks the silence but an occa-
'ional chirp from cricket or grasshop-
per, the hum of the cicada, and the occa-
'ional whirring wings of some silent
bird. But when tired of quiet woods
Ind gardens, the visitor in Bermuda will
ind much that is interesting on the sea-
shores. The beaches are lovely, white
IS snow, and Astounding in shells, no
ess than two hundred and sixty-nine
varieties being found in this little isle.
The sea-weeds are wonderfully delicate
md beautiful, and fish in endless variety
warm in the waters.
The Government of Bermuda consists .
i Governor, Legislative Council, and
House of Assembly. The questions in :
lebate are seldom of great Importance, ,
md the law-making is singularly eau :
ious and tentative New laws are put :
IN trial for certain time before being :
inally approved. 1t quite gay place :
n winter, chiefly from the presence of