Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-04-25
THE sERMUOA ISLANDS.
A Glimpse Of Our Little British
NeighbOr, With Notes Con
corning Its
People, IFS business, It's Scenery
and Visiting Princess.
Springfield Republican.

which the guilt stream is crossed rem
| der heavy seas probable in the wind
season, when the voyage is most likel,
to be made; and few passengers sal
from port to port without being sea
sick. The distance is short, however
and the entrance into the harbor is
sufficient reward for whatever annoy
ances may have been suffered. Tn,
Orinoco, which is the best boat sailing
from New York for these islands, car
ordinarily make the passage between
5 o'clock Thursday afternoon and l.
m, Sunday, If heavy seas and con
trary winds are encountered, and i
becomes necessary to ease off a poin
or two from the course, the time is {
triAe heightened; but it is safe to cal
culate on three days voyage.
On recent trip from New York 9
sailor at the mast head sighted the
lighthouse on st. David's Island
almost the northern extremity of land
at about 10 clock Sunday morning
and within half an hour (the boat was
making about thirteen knots) the Der.
mudas rose into view, a long, indis
tinct chain oflow hills,which extended
over the entire visible horizon. Soon
the white houses upon the slopes anG
in the little valleys could be seen, q
welcome sight after so many hours in
a heavy sea which often dashed ovel
the hurricane deck and seemed for a
moment to paralyze the staunch little
ship with its weight of twenty, thirty
or perhaps forty tons of water. As
the coral reefs which surround the
islands we're neared, the pilot boat
with its crew of negro sailors, who had
lively work to keep ahoat among the
waves, but back with a black pilot
who knew the face and whereabouts
of every rock in the Bermudian sea-
Passengers who had hardly left their
berths since the screw began to re,
vOlve, hurried on deck, and before
long the blue reef waters were
reached. There is no gradual shading
and blending Of color which would
indefinite the line where the reef and
ocean waters meet. 1t is clearly de.
fined as distinct cloud lines in the sky
the ship passes at one revolution Of
the screw from the back waters of the
Atlantic, turbulent, majestic and il,
limitable, into a sea of the most beau.
! tiful sky blue which mortal eyes ever
looked upon-clearer than the sky OIL
| New England June, ripping under q
breeze which was gale in the open
sea, but in the shelter of the islands il
just strong enough to make fringe oil
white along the shore and ornament
the face of the waters with delicate
white caps here and there, rising, dis,
appearing and bursting up again tC
send off small showers of snowy spray
over the transparent blue.
1t is ebb tide and the ship mus
come to anchor until 8 o'clock. Then
she sails to the southeast, having
passed the quaint old town of St
Georges. and bears around the islands
which are shaped like a fish hook with
the point facing the west, steams
around Ireland island. where her mai
estys great dock-yard lies and takinr
a toTturous route among many islands
covered with q luxuriant growth Of
cedars, finally sails into the bay Of
Hamilton. 1t is Sunday, but the
population Of this whitest town in the
world is gathered at the wharfs. The
ship comes to anchor about thirty feet
from the docks, clumsy gangWay is
rugged in a clumsy manner, and
the passengers walk ashore among
negroes Of all dark degrees, thread
their way among little donkey carts
and larger drays, and, unmolested by
yelling hackmen and hotel runners
find their way to the Hamilton House
the only hotel Of consequence on the
islands. 1t was built by the town
corporation, which still own and lease
it to Yankee managers who, despite
their thriitiness, have until this pro.
pitious season invariably come out al
the little end of the horn.
The town Of Hamilton is not pecu.
liarly quaint nor striking. Its streets
at times remind one of pictured
tropical scenes, however; negro
women, with gaudy turbans, stalk
about carrying heavy burdens upon
their heads; diminutive donEeys
trudge along dragging loaded drayI
and full grown negro drivers, and the
tropical touch is given by palmettos
oleanda hedges in fragrant bloom
pawpaw trees and banana bushes
Our northern vegetable friends are
common, however, growing side BY
side with southern plants. Only the
apple refuses to flourish here, and
such crippled trees as have struggled
to visible height look disconsolatt
enough in the shadow of some vigor.
Gus palmetto trunk that waves its
glorious green fans in sort of lordly
disdain over the little stripplinI
which, it would seem, has witherec
and shrunk away out OF sheer dis
cOuragement. In the interior. thai
is, a mile from the seashore. tn,
cedars grow to a considerable size: anC
the Bermudians (Ber-moo-iyum the,
call it here) are very choice, as thel
ought to be, of their Indigenous tree
The soil, which is shallow layer o
earth upon the coral reefs that form
the islands, is wonderfully rich; ant
the onion and potato, the only con
siderable products Of the country
grow finely and with little care
The grape, in the MADEIRA. lik,
climate, might be grown easil,
upon the natural vineyard slopes an,
finds ready and profitable market i
New York; but the Bermudian has n
more enterprise than the Georgia cor
cracker, and bowling under the burde
Of his onion and potato patch, refuse
! to better his business or try a simple
inexpensive experiment. He will Al
: ways carry his grist to mill with
/. stone in one end of the bag, becaus
? his grandfathers did-that is, he woul