The Red Cloud chief., 1885-05-22
ssRMuoA.s PEculiARIrlEs.
vsisAss soil xSp Wa&ss. AalDAAs Mo-
Birds. Oaly CSeNL

6SRMUOA'S PECUllARlr1eS.
vsisAss soil xss Wssss. Aslnnas No.
Birds. Oaly Ces1l
In no other part Of fbs~orid. ] think.
4 Dature show such supreme ni:gard-
illness as hrre. She gave the Bermudas
neither soil nor water. neither animal
nor bird. neither fruit vegetable nor
floSer. She simply conferred the most
delightful weather under tie canopy.
and then stood OF and said: such
weather "a that l. q bountiful ouf,i,. il
you DON'T get another thing - il
has proved To the prize weather al
ether things have been added ty Wis
iton- The Only Wild animal known
here are the IA; and the mouse brought
by vessels; the casual and o~lcaSinou.
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 New England is here. piping rs
bravely rs ever. The c2t-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 VII
lase" and the pretty ground dove,
move quietly about And that is all.
Not a native bird among them.
have said that nature gave Bermuda
no soil. Ignatius Donnelly thinks tina,
these islands and the Azores are the re-
mains Of Plato's fablei continent-.he
last jot remaining shove the sea after
the great cataelysm Of one hundred
thousand years ago buried the res; OF
the continent with ia splendid civiliza-
tons 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 moi . bit OF AM of the Others on
these islands. There is not clay enough
for q pipe. or sand enough for n sand
glass. or = stone big or little nearer than
the coast Of Georgia There is nothing
here hui ground coral reefs. carbonate
of lime. disested and deposited by tina,
m~ucilaginous and shapeless creature
called the coral insect This island
IL rs WnlSG a tO tuutu Nu0lh. anu aDolb
As barren. Water soaks into i. like q
sponge. and fve minutes after q sharp
shower one can 90 out walking and find
neither mud nor moisture anywhere.
On some lOwlands this comminuted
coral. with the mixture of elements if
has taken up. is not as hard As else
where: and here il is occasionally cult
waited by the adm:xture with the sol of
a large quantity of fertilizers from Amer
ica- |: can absorb unlimited cargoes
of these stimulants without having its
life much stirred by them. Tickle
this coral reef with a hoe ever 80 Wig
o~rou,ly. it never laughs with a
harvest; and after YOU have poured
into it oceans Of poudret;e and do>ed
il with loan and bound poul,ices
Of warm ground upon its stomach. it
only smiles Il faint and CHASTITY smile.
But, under these circumstances, pOta-
toes. onions. tomatoes and lly bulbs
are planted. and. if they can clasp co.
lets around anything softer than a cast
iron stove lid. they grow. Some things
grow in \ warm climate without much
encouragement ! SAW this week n
lamar nj tree rs large as n good sized
New England elm, thai had been torn
UP BY a hurricane long ago. and stood
Oh its very top. its roots pointing
toward the ky. The branches that
stuck into the ground put forth roots
and gave the wreck q new anchorage.
while the up;hrown roots reverted and
set forth e limbs. and the dense
mass of foliage now shades the ground.
and invites the Sill fruitful giant TO
forget its disaster.
There is no fresh water on the island
except what comes dircc, from the
clouds. The sky is the cist.rn of Ber-
muda. The houses are ali built of the
coral that Is guarried in beautiful white
cubes from the ground anywhere,
seeming fit for tn. sculPtor's chisel;
thea every house is rooted with slant
roof Of the same. and furnished with
abundant tanks. In these the rain is
gathered: and the tanks are 20 very
clean. and the roof is so very white and
the air 80 very free from dust that the
water is the purest in the worId-coid
and pclIucid as il drawn from the
choicest mountain spring. never saw
such delicious water anywhere. Nature
knew what she Was about when she
omitted the Barmudian springs--COr.
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.