292 THE ATLANTIC.
and pliysical, for five days, Sir George Somers at
length sighted land, and the wind lulling a little,
they ran their ship ashore, where she became a
complete wreck.
“ We now found that we had reached a dangerous
and dreaded island, or rather islands, called the Bermudas,
considered terrible by all who have touched
at them ; and from the dreadful tempests, thunders,
and other alarming events prevailing, are commonly
named the Devil’s Islands.” Sir Thomas Gates, Sir
George Somers, and their companions, found the
islands totally uninhabited, hut capable of yielding
abundance of food. Hogs which had heen set adrilt
hy some earlier visitors, whose names have been lost,
Avere so numerous that thirty-tAvo were brought in by
a party after one day’s hunting. Eish abounded on
the coasts, and were caught Avith the greatest ease ;
and turtles added daily to the luxury of their fare.
“ It is such a kind of meat as a man can neither
absolutely call fish nor flesh; the animal keeps
chiefly in water, feeding on sea-grass like a heifer, in
the hottom of the coves and hays ; and the females
lay their eggs, of which Ave found five hundred at a
time on opening a she-turtle, in the sand of the
shore. They are covered close uj), and left to be
hatched by the sun.”
The party found the islands so pleasant and so
productive, and their ideas ahout Virginia Avere so
vague, that there Avas a very general disposition to
remain Avhere they Avere; and for nearly a year,
during which they were constructing vessels to continue
their voyage, the governor and the' admiral
had great difficulty in keeping their party together,
and in suppressing conspiracies to obstruct their work,
and to prevent their further progress.
Early in May, 1610, however. Sir George Somers
had completed his pinnace, the ‘ Patience,’ and on
the 10th of May the little party set ont, and ahout
midnight of the 18th they “ were sensible of a charming
odour from the land resembling that from the
coast of Spain, near the Straits of Gibraltar.”^ They
reached Port Algernon in safety, but they found the
Virginian colony so badly off for provisions that Sir
George Somers volunteered to return to Bermudas
for supplies; and during that trip he died near the
site of the present town, St. George’s, where there is
a monument* erected to his memory. His nephew.
Captain Matthew Somers, carried his uncle’s body to
England in the old cedar pinnace. Owing to Captain
Somers’ representations, a company was formed in
England to colonise Bermudas, and in 1612 the
first party of settlers arrived, under the charge of
Governor Prichard More.
Since that time Bermudas has been a British
colony, though perhaps not a >very successful one ;
and latterly an important naval and military station.
During the earlier part of its history, Bermudas was
intimately connected Avith Virginia, and the account
given of it in Smith’s ‘ History of Virginia ’ is at once
so quaint and so generally correct that I cannot
refrain from giving a somewhat lengthy extract:
“ Before Ave present you the matters of fact, it is
fit to offer to your view the Stage whereon they vA cre
acted, for as Geography without History seemeth a car-
kasse Avithout motion, so History without Geography
1 ‘ Shipwrecks aud Disasters at Sea.’ London, 1846.
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III I. 11 i' ,
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