West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-06-05
seRMUDA's PECuLlARIrles.
Neither soil Nor water, Animals No
Birds, Only Coral

Neither soil Nor water. Animals Nor
Birds, ONLY Coral
In no other part of the world. think,
did nature show such supreme niggard-
inesS as here. She gave the Bermudas
neither soil nor water, neither animal
nor bird, neither fruit, vegetable nor
flower She simply conferred the NEST
delightful weather under the canopy.
and then stood on and said: such
weather aS that is bountiful outfit. iS
you don't get another thing" So II
has proved. To the prize weather all
other things have been added bv yis
itors. The only wild animal known
here are the rat and the mouse, brought
10y vessels the casual aud olcaginous
whale, and the bat, that has blown
across the Atlantic by accident There
is no game whatever, and never has
been. OF birds, the splendid cardinal
OF the tropics is here. The blue robin
of New England is here. pipinp AS
bravcly rs ever The cat-bird has put
IN an appearance, and SO has that even
greater nuisance, the English sparrow,
the pirate of the winged world. Two
Spanish birds. the "chick OF the VIII
laSe' and the pretty ground dove.
move quietly about. And that is all.
Not native bird among them.
! have said that nature gave Bermuda
no soil. lgnatius Donncly thinks that
these island, and the Azores are the re-
mains of Plato's fablel continent
last joi remaining above the sea after
the great cataclysm of one hundred
thousand years ago buried the rest of
the continent with its splendid c,viliza-
uous forever In that case, | should
suppose there would be some real soil
some rocks, some drift. some sand. some
clay. some alluvium, some vegetable
mold. There is very little of the last
and not bit of any OF the others ON
these islands. There Is not clav enough
for pipe. or sand enough for n sand
glass, or stone big or little nearer than
the coast of Georgia. There is nothing
here but ground coral reefs, carbonate
of lime, digested and deposited bv that
mucilaginous and shapelcss creature
called the coral insect This island
is as white as so much chalk, and about
as barren. Water soaks into il like "A
sponge, and five minutes after a sharp
shower one can 90 out walking and find
neither mud nor moisture anywhere.
On some lowlands this commiuuted
coral. with the mixture OF elements il
has taken up, Is not as hard as else
where; and here 10 is occasionally cult-
waited by the admiXture with the soil of
large quantity of fertilizers from Amer
lea. II can absorb unlimited carOoes
OF these stimulants without having its
life much stirred by them. Tickle
this coral reef with hoe ever so Wig
orously, il never laughs with n
harvest; and after YOU have poured
into If oceans of poudrctte and dosed
IT with loan and bound poulticcs
OF warm ground upon its stomach. IL
only smiles faint and CHASTITY smile.
But, under these circumstances, pota-
toes, onions, tomatoes and lily bulbs
are planted, and, if they can clasp root
lets around anything softer than a cast
iron stove lid, they grow. Some things
grow IN warm climate without much
encouragement ] saw thi, week a
tamar'nd tree as large as a good sized
New England elm, that had been torn
up BY hurricane long ago, and stood
ON its very top. It's roots pointing
toward the sky. The branches that
stuck into the ground put forth roots
and gave the wreck a new anchorage.
while the upthrown roots reverted and
set forth new limbs, and the dense
mass OF foliage now shades the ground,
and invites the still fruitful giant TO
forget its disaster
There is no fresh water on the island
except what comes direct from the
cloud-. The sky is the cistern of Ber-
muda. The houses are all built of the
coral that is quarricd in beautiful white
cubes from the ground anywhere,
seeming fit for the sculptor's chiscl:
then every house is rooted with slant
roof OF the same and furnished with
abundant tanks. Iu these the rain is
gathered and the tanks are 20 very
clean, and the roof is so very white and
the air 20 very free FROM dust that the
water is the purcst in the wOrld-cold
and pellucid as if drawn from the
choicest mountain spring. / never saw
such delicious water anywhere. Nature
knew what she was about when she
omitted the Burmudiap springs. Cor.
CtHCiHHnti COanicrcini Gnzefle