Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-05-07
TEE BERMUDAS.
THE FAIRY ISLANDS Or THE
SOUTHERN SEA-.
Corai-Topped Submerged Mountains
"A Strange Land-Worh of
Coral Insects.

may not know, but 1t Is. Around Bermuda
reyo!ve in their happy orbits England, Can
ada, Australia, India and all the domin-
ions of the Queen. The first man I saw on
landing was a soldier. The last men visi-
BILE as looked out of the window Just nov
were so or 40 soldiers. Everywhere ere
uniforms, flags cannon, stacked arms.
Amputate Gibraltar and you have Ser
muda Every hillock is q fortress The
air is sulphurous with powder. The Little
islands in the bay are barracks Gnd powder
magazines never saw 50 much PomP
and circumstance in my life. The island
is ONLY fifteen miles long and one mile
wide, but section Of tte British army ia
stationed here, under Maior-Gencral. and
the West India feet Of men-0f-war winter
here under an Admiral There are only
300 acres under cultivation, supporting
only people enough for a good village, but
with only SEQ votes there are over go
Office holders; and there is q Parliament
III the Upper and Lower House, and ~
mem bers, and tEcy make laws enough for
the government Of the whole eastern hem
isphere. And on Sunday from the top OF
every house that Is any house Is uuIurled
the Union Jack in all its glory
ooRAL-roppED sUBMEEGEB MOUNTAIN.
Less than three DAYS from New York
and have landed upon the very top of Q
mountain higher than Mount Blanc. Eter-
nal flowers, instead Of eternal snow, crown
lis summit The whole mountain IS sub
merged beneath the Atlantic, and down lis
Shiny sides play mullet and Dream, club
I feb +
ish calIeOns. and far below float. poised in
the compact deep, the gold and silver coin
lost by merchant men or wasted by pirates
centuries ago The twenty square miles of
coral which constitute the visible peak of
this mountain have been contributed by
the hUmblest Of terrestrial ma6Ons-& sue
Cessful effort Of an insect Of the sea to pre-
venl 4 continent from disappearing forever
from the eyes Of man. The little, half
Organized, inSeUsate hIt OF muciage known
as the z1oYhyte,' has caused this vast
extinct volcano 10 burst into bloom; and
here, where the yaWuing crater was, all
tropic fruits and flowers ind their perfect
maturity in the middle Of the northern
winter On this crescent OF 500 midget
islands, or coral reefs, nature has not been
lavish Of her gifts. She gave it no soil, no
rock, no water, no animal life, no Yegeta-
ton. As far as can be seen, all the beauties
and cr2CeS that now attract thousands of
tourists a year, were eI0tics, except the
marvellous weather. There is scarcely any
thing even now that can be called soil.
What there IS has been distilled from the
sea by the little z0ophyte. These islands
no, let las say, TINS instead, for that named
Bermuda IS the largcst,aHG the one on which
reside most of the I4.0c0 inhabiJaHt5-is
MERELY = WHITE CORAL REEF.
With thin skin Of verdure on It's surface.
The coral has assumed various forms. In
one place it IS simply caicareous sand drift
cd up from the coral sea and blown inland,
on another sUndry parts Of the marine lime
stone nave been washed oQt by the rain, !
leaving a rough bony skeleton like the
scorla Of volcanoes iii still another the |
other Inorganic substance which coral con
tains-besides carbonate Of limc-such IS
the proxidc OF iron, alumina and silica.
have united n what Is called red earth, "
which, mixed with vegetable mold. con
tributes the principal soil Of the islands
This lest Is only one per cent. OF the whole,
but It IS enough 10 form several sizeable
pockets and mask the naked coral in i good
many places The island is thick studded
with trees, shrubs, flowers grass OF name
less sorts and uunumbered varieties, al
brought here from ot,.er lands, I suppose. |
for even the cedar which crows everywhere |
and seems indigenous. is exactly like .na I
Virginia CESAR, and was cv-TcnrIv trans
planted sU1cT ~ Sir George Son1e-s. who
settled Bermuda from that colony during
Captain John Smiths honeymoon. som
ers explicitly relates that ne found no liv-
ing being on the islands, except drOFes OF
wild hogs, resulting from . pair left here
by q previous navigator. They" he SAID,
" have Oyerrun and possessed all Of the
lands This shows that though Sir
George says nothing about the build, it was
the ordinary British hog familiar 10 tour
lists. The only wild animals here at pres
cnt are mice and whales, if they viii permit
me 10 mention them together
THE ONLY FRESH WATER HERE
Is that which tails from the clouds. There
is a law compelling the inhabitants to save
it. Every house must have 50 many square
feel Of roof, always made of slabs Of coral
Every roof must have SO much caves
trough, also of coral Every caves trough
must have a bigceral cistcrn Of correspond
ing capacity. Then every knoll, being
without soil and barren, is skinned Of its
slight yerdure, wLiieWashed, and used, not
for an advertising board but for q rain
shed, and around It's base Is a trough Of
cement, running The water into . coral
c'7 vi, l,,,,, ,.st., .4,I;o;..s ,,.,.-
- r, h. 80 ~ tI' ,,1,,';j
-, -, sif - -., -
-, - - = : -, - -
limpid, IS if drawn from the choicest noun
- a,, o-nogoJ ~ tI,o e,,,s,5 -
SIM in this latitude is sometimes hat-but
you may open the hot door on jhe hot side
and dip up some water. and find IL quite Is
cold as it - wholesome to driuk-almost as
cold IS ice water. The secret Ct it IS that
the tanks are built Of the porous coral, and
this serves IS . rapid eYap0ra.o-, ike the
porous chalk bottles Of Guad4lajara in
Mexico.
now 70 BUILD HOUSE.
r, va o,,,,.-,. o,,.,;4, or +b. Tr,i+o.l
S. - 80 70, - -,-,-,lrt;[,,-
Of lodi ,,r-,,~i..,,'-s rs - kic-s tbe,
I.aIf ~. b6-55 ~ ~, l,,,,, ~, Jc,,sos
r. Gya in. nc,. :. - 5;afr,,rt. F.
eyeTvb55v owns o,orr ~. sSJ !. atr5 ~.