Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-01-03
Of The EVENING SrAn.

Correspondence Of The EVENING SrAn.
/ BERMUDA, December, fS82.
The people of these islands are not addicted
TO slang, or at least not to any great extent.
Consequently they are sometimes puzzled to
know what . man from the States Is driving at.
The other day friend introduced . garrulous
| old man of ninety, who was still in good health,
| with the exception Of some corns, aud who once
| owned ships that sailed to every port In the
| world. The next day we happened to be speak
ing Of the corneous centenarian. when / saw
him tn the distance, and remarked, There's
the old rooster, now" 1 was amused to notice
my friend look around for q feathered biped.
A Brooklyn gentleman BARGAINING with q sable
owner Of sailbOat who would not come down
any In his large demand for services. said
''Then you don't tumble to the racket?' The
| man stared, but made no reply. ''Ah. see,
| you don't seem to hook en-" Still the man
gazed, perplexed. THAT is you don't follow
me. Well, you're pretty well oiled, L presume
have good share Of British circulars, and
wouldn't drop to my advertisement If | doubled
| on the steady, that is, the original proposal"
The man clutched a taut cable on the dock
| and held on as If he was under spell, which he
hoped would soon pass Off
The Brooklyn man continued, chow would
bonded BALLAST Don't want to be too liberal nor
too particular Don't want to steer YOU into this
| against your WILL nor hit too hard on the spur
for the stamp, but want the boat. and am will
ing to separate myself from some of my coin to
secure possession. Can YOU hop on to that?"
At this juncture the man fell and the verbal as
sassin began to whistle pathetic air from Mas
cote.
The colored people here have no dialect such
as the colored people In our southern states
in houxa hn<ax,
them all speaking very good English learned
from the military people, and the generally we'll
educated white Inhabitants. Sailors phrases
are current, but there is very little slang of the
aggravated and aggravating form SO ably Guilt
| waited by the young ladies of America. 1t Is
| sweet linguistic simplicity, but the talented
tongues Of American tourists will soon de-
str0y it,
ON THE NORTH SHORE.
Among the ever-pleasing and attractive
| features of the islands are the roads, winding
In and out along the hillsides, and by the bays
| and sounds, always presenting beautiful views
| and glimpses Of land and water, plantations,
village, tropical vegetation. little fields and for
ests, and the grand old ocean. Here grassy
slope is made picturesque by scattered palmet-
tos, further on the marshy limit of the waves Of
the sea beating inland is darkened by thicket
of mangroves and everywhere on the limited I'M
dulating earth, cedar woods clothe ''the still
vexed BermOOthes" with robes Of eternal YER
dure. The wealth Of sky and sea and land is
drawn upon for that which is here so strange
and beautiful, as If it were to compensate the
people for their isolation. for inhabting land
that is the. furthest from land of any on the
globe, with the exception, perhaps, of st. He
lena.
One day. through the kindness of friend.
had ride in his carriage, all by myself. Took
the road from Hamilton along the north shore
to Baileys Bay. where was to pay nv respects
to some relatives Of Mr.. A. s. Pratt of WASH
| ington. The distance was seven miles, and
what a ride it was! On the left. going. the
ocean, still fretted by a storm of the night be-
fore, cleaned and flashed, its waves dashing
against the coral shores and throwing up ftful
clouds OF spray On the right the varying
slopes with their embellishments Of trees.
groves OF bananas and oranges and lemons, and
white houses with their white walls, and rows
of palms, clusters Of bamboos, and masses of
beautiful flowers.
1t is little wonder that Tom Moore, who saw
all this, wrote that here Nature lavished her
purest wave and softest skies
TO make heaven for love to sigh in,
For bards to live and saints to die in"
saw. 1T may be remarked in passing. the
same calabash tree that Moore made famous in
one OF his poems pertaining to America, and it
isn't much Of theme for poet either
Here was laid the scene of Shakspeare's
Tempest. Out there on the reefs is where the
ship was wrecked and where the crew was put
safely under the matches; Among these coral
caverns Ariel" played his pranks, " CaIiban
scowled and grumbed, Miranda" pleaded,
and "Prospero exercised his magic arts
Although the day was fair. every half hour
or SO there was fall Of rain of infntesimal
drops, mere riffs Of spray from the skv, each
accompanied by rainbow OF which there was q
large assortment, In one place the waves beating
against the rocks caused clouds of vapOr to rise
and each as II rolled away carried q rainbow
with it, as If It were laboratory where rain
hnV ffxad
| supply the world. The breezes were as gentle
as the showers, blowing from off the waves and
bringing from them the flavor of the sailed sea.
In some protected bays and inlets the water was
still. showing its rich turquoise blue and emerald
green and the various tints and standings for
which 1t Is here remarkable. Schools of fishes
| spOrted in sight, making the most beautiful
changes of cOlors in the water as they moved
about All along the rugged cOralline Shores
where there were overhanging cliffs and cavern
GUS openings. the waves made sweet melody as
| If they rather enjoyed the task of washing the
Islands from under the languid Bermudians
which they are confidently expected to do in the
course OF few centuries. The contract is well
advanced now.
THE DEVILS HOLE
Near Harrington's Sound, which is passed on
the way to St Georges, is deep hole, fed in
some mysterious way by the tide. in which the
| owner keeps large number of fishes. and
the walled Enclosure to look at them Most Of
the fishes are'groupers, big fellows that weigh
from twenty to forty pounds each They
gather at the edge of the pool to be fed with as
little fear as a drove of hogs, and will eat from
the hand, only the hand has to be exceedingly
careful not to be included with the bait;-seyeral
indiscreet hands have been left there Gliding
in and out in graceful motions and evolutions
We're some angel fishes. beautifully marked with
yellow and blue. and having pendants or stream
ers, one on each side Of the oaudal fin as pretty
az the long feathers Of tile bird of paradise.
They are often caught by fishermen, and are
sold at the uniform price Cf fish, fOurpence-
eight cents per pound. Their beauty does not
exempt them from the common fate. Here were
also green turtles. two or three hundred bowls
of soup each and many other curious creatures
of the vastly deep.
Further on are the WalsiA CHAM caves similar
IN structure and productions to the Luray
caverns OF Virginia and by them Moore's Gala.
bash tree. The caves are visited by vandaIs
mostly. and most of the ceilings have been
robbed of their glittering pendants even the
bulky stalagmites have been broken up BY con-
sci enceless tourists and carried away
SUBMARINE SPE,IMEN.