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2 9 6 THE ATLANTIC. [CH A f. IV.
voted by Parliament Avas 50,584/.—27/. 4s. IIA for
each of 4,203 slaves. The nuinher of the civil
population in 1871 Avas 12,426, of Avhom 5,030 were
Avhite, and 7,396 coloured. The coloured element in
Bermudas is by no means entirely African. In the
earlier days of the settlement many labourers and
slaves were brought from Virginia and other parts of
North America; and one may often recognise the
aquiline nose and characteristic features of the North
American Indian, now, hoAvever, except in one or two
families, very much masked hy negro intermixture.
Approaching the islands from the sontliAvard, their
general effect is someAvhat sombre. The land is low,
rising nowhere to a height greater than tAvo hundred
and sixty feet, and hy far the greater part forming
gentle undulations at a height of from twenty to
sixty feet above the sea level.
Although very valuable crops are raised, it is hy a
system of market-gardening in isolated patches rather
than hy agriculture, and the islands cannot be said to
be generally or uniformly cultivated. A great part
of the higher land is covered Avith a natural pasture
of inferior grasses, mixed with a low scrub of what
they call wild sage, a species of Lantana, which has
heen introduced in comparatively late times, and has
spread in a Avonderful way, so that it is u o a v a perfect
nuisance. The Avhole area of the islands is not more
than 12,000 acres, and of these only ahout 1,200 are
under cultivation.
The principal islands are well wooded, but the great
preponderance of the Bermudian cedar (Juniperus
bermudiana), Avith a close and rigid foliage of the
darkest green, gives a gloomy character to the Avoods;
as Ave got a little nearer, hoAvever, and the Avhite
houses of St. George’s and the white tents of the encampment
on Prospect Hill came into view, and the
long fringing beach of bright coral sand Avith its outer
border of intensely blue Avater breaking into dazzling
white surf, the gravity of the scene was greatly
relieved.
As w e s h a l l s e e h e r e a f t e r , t h e r e i s a t o t a l w a n t o f
s p r in g s a n d w e l l s o f f r e s l i Avater o n t h e i s l a n d , a n d i t
h a s b e c om e a n a lm o s t u n i v e r s a l c u s t o m t o r o o f t h e
h o u s e s w i t h t h i n s la b s o f w h i t e l im e s t o n e , a n d ,
f u r t h e r , t o AvhitcAvash b o t h r o o f a n d w a l l s ; t h e
r a in -w a t e r c o l l e c t e d o n t h e r o o f , a n d k e p t c l e a n a n d
f r e s h b y t h e c o n s t a n t l y r e n e w e d AvhitcAvash, i s c a r e f
u l l y l e d in t o a t a n k , a n d f o rm s t h e o n l y s u p p ly o f
p u r e w a t e r . E v e r y h o u s e o f a n y p r e t e n s io n i s p r o v
id e d w i t h s u c h a t a n k , a l s o c o v e r e d w i t h a s l o p in g
w h i t e w a s h e d r o o f , Avhich, w h i l e i t c h e c k s e v a p o r a t
io n , a d d s t o t h e c o n t e .n t s o f t h e t a n k b y i t s OAvn r a in -
c a t c h . T h e Avhite r o o f s a r e a l t o g e t h e r p e c u l ia r , a n d
a s t h e h o u s e s a n d c o t t a g e s o f t h e r u r a l p o p u l a t i o n a r e
s c a t t e r e d o v e r t h e w h o l e i s l a n d , s o a s a lm o s t t o r u n
in t o o n e c o n t in u o u s s t r a g g l in g v i l l a g e , t h e w h i t e
s q u a r e s g l e a m in g a m o n g t h e d a r k t r e e s p r o d u c e
r a th e r a p l e a s in g e f f e c t , a n d o n e Avhich i s c e r t a in ly
v e r y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f B e rm u d a s .
Saturday, Apiril btli.—A lovely clear morning ;
the sea perfectly smooth, and the sky almost cloudless.
I t was so early in the season that the temperature
(68° E. in the shade) Avas not oppressive. The
view from the ship—the ‘ Camber,’ the government
basin with the ffoating dock, the largest in the world,
and the substantial buildings of the dockyard, and
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