St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-26

Succession Vi Hills. MANY vi tuclu SLcop,
and rising as high as $50 feet above the
level of the sea. The roadways wind
between and around and up and down
and in and out in way that is very de-
ceptive as to distance travelled, and at
fOrding an endless and most pleasing
variety of scenery. The ocean is nearly
always and everywhere in view, and
water makes up part of every scene.
The constant variations IN the combina-
tons of land and sea give a beauty and
a variety of which the behOlder never
wearieS. The water here is beautiful,
and the colors which it takes on are for
ever changing with the varying of the
sky and the wind. When there is
calm and the sky is clear the sun shin
ing down upon the water gives differ
ent color to every different degree OF
depth, making picture of beauty upon
which the eye never tires of looking.
Boating is, of course, favorite diver
sion. and few are the
BERMUDA BOYS
who cannot sail a boat and swim until
they are picked up when overturned
from One,aS is not infreQuently the case.
Although the people are always on the
water in SailbOatS and rOwbOatS, and
houses stand hard by to deep waters
edge, and children play upon the
lodges. yet there is very seldom case
of drowning,
Yacht races are favorite holiday di
version, the fine waters of Hamilton
harbOr, dotted with scores of islands,
atfOrdlng fine field for display of the
yachtman's skill and the yachts sailing
capability.
The month of March witnesses the
great yachting event of the year. the
race for the Princess cup by the yachts
of the Bermuda Royal Yacht club. The
Princess Louise spent few months in
the islands couple of winters ago, and
gave this cup to be sailed for annually.
This event brings out the whole popula-
ton of the islands, as does a county
fair in Minnesota. Every man who
owns a boat, or who can hire one for
the occasion. is out with his wife or his
sweetheart to witness the race. And it
is pretty sight, and particularly enter
tanning to one who beholds 1t for the
first time. The occasional capsiZing of
a yacht, loaded with more canvas than
she can carry, adds spice of novelty to
the scene. So far as l know, these
events are kept free from gambling.
and they are patronized and participated
in by the best young men of the islands.
indeed all the sports here, even to the
horse racing, seem to be in the hands OF
those who conduct them for the sport
there is in them and as wholesome
recreation, and are Singularly free from
those associations which serve to bring
such things into dlSrepute amongst us
in America.
The hunt is also favorite diversion.
and every two weeks there is meet
and run" on horseback by party of
ladies and gentlemen, of four or five
miles through fields and over fences to
some place where the finish is appoint
ed. These hunts are simply an Occa-
sion for social intercourse and exchange
of social courtesies, and amount to little
more. on the part Of the participants
in the hunt. than jolly gallOp in merry
company over few miles of field and
wood, taking a stone fence now and
then and leapIng three hurdles at the
finish, if you wish to. and then shaking
hands with a company of ladies and
gentlemen, who have gathered to see
the finish, and take cup of tea and
piece of cake, usually on the lawn, and
chat together pleasantly for an hour and
then go riding home. The course of the
hunters is marked out with Strewn bits
of paper the day before, and the riding
is by the permission of landowners, and
so directed as to do no injury to grow
ing crops. The turf is not so tender
here as with US, and a horses hOOf
makes little impression on 1t.
AN AMERICAN FARMER
would not tolerate what what would ap-
pear to him such mons nse, and besides
the hunters could not take our high
American fences.
Bermuda is the summit of a subma-
rine mountain. After the earthquake
had finished the coral began, and build
| ed till he had got to the waters level.
| Then the sun and the wind and the
| waves and the air began. and 10! after
many ages, these beautiful little islands.
| The stone that crops out every where
| is a soft white stone, easily cut into
building blocks, and crumbling beneath
| the weight of wheels into roads as COM
pact as stone and as smooth as floor.
| Porous as sponge, it absorbS the rain
| fall with wonderful quickness, and very
| soon after the hardest rain the roads
are hard and dry. There is scarcely
such a thing as mud, at any rate no such
| mud as we frequently have. What mud
| there is is this stone ground to powder,
| making a substance resembling white
sand, but fine as flour.
Three main roads run the length Of
| the iSlandS-the north. middle and
south roads. The former and the latter
| skirt the ocean and furnish miles and
miles of delightful drives, where you
| can look out upon the great, wide sea
upon the one hand and the green hills
and bloom-embowered groves on the
other. Oleanders grow everywhere,
| forming hedges between lands and
serving as windbreaks. They grow in
| the truth to say that [ have seen ole
ander trees thirty feet high. When
| they are In the iull pride Of their bloom
| they cover the whole landscape with
perfect blaze of gorgeous glory.
The cedar is the everywhere present
tree, but the graceful palmetto peeps
| out here and there, and occasionally
| date and cOcoanut palms interSperSe the
monotony of the cedar. Private yards
are filed with all manner Of tropical
| fruits, plants and trees. The Pride of
India is the favorite shade tree, while
| the fiamboya. poinsetta, the various
| palms and the graceful bamboo are
| everywhere seen. OF fruits. lemons,
| lines, logunOts, cherrimoyalis, oranges,
| pawpawS, tamarinds, bananas and
| plantains abound.
FARMING
| is done in January and the three fol-
| lowing months, potatoes, onions and
tomatoes forming the principal crops
raised. The earlier varieties of these
have already been marketed and shipped
by the weekly steamer to New York,
| where they command fancy prices from
the dealers, but not as a rule for the
| farmers here who toll to raise them.
The entire population of the Bermudas
is about $4,000, and it has not materially
increased for some years. The islands
are thickly settled, there being but
| fNf ,hot,
tant. and only one acre in five under
cultivation. Sixty per cent of the popu-
lation are colored, slavery once prevail
ing, but being abolished by the enamel
patton act of 1886. The political or
| ganization is miniature of England;
there being house of parliament con-
sisting of two bodies corresponding to
| the lords and the commons. A gov
ernor general and colonial secretary
are appointed by the crown. and these
| together constitute the government.
| There is a prOperty qualification for