A SPRING VISIT TO NASSAU. 



771 



unusual sight met our gaze. A dozen or more boys in small boats, 

 scantily clad, were clamoring, "Boss, please now a penny!'" and 

 as the passengers threw small coins, the nearly naked boys dived for 

 them into the exquisitely clear green water, often catching them 

 before they reached the bottom. They are expert swimmers, as the 

 following story will show: A few years ago a wrecking crew was 

 ordered from New York to take the cargo from a sunken vessel ; but, 

 before they arrived upon the scene, the natives had descended to 

 the hold of the vessel with grappling irons, attached them to the 

 cargo, and raised it. 



As soon as we landed, our baggage was examined by the custom- 

 house officers — important-looking colored men dressed uniformly 

 in dark-blue trousers, 

 with a red stripe 

 down the side, white 

 linen jackets, and 

 white pith hats. Boys 

 of every age and 

 various cast of fea- 

 tures, showing their 

 gleaming white teeth, 

 begged to take our 

 parcels to the hotel. 

 As we sat in the cage- 

 like shed which serves 

 as a customhouse we 

 were at once im- 

 pressed with the 

 sense that the island 

 of New Providence 

 was indeed a foreign 

 land, most pictur- 

 esque, fascinating, 

 and distinctly tropi- 

 cal, with its tall 

 cocoa palms here and 



there waving above the other trees and the house-tops. Our 

 attention was particularly attracted to the trees about the wharf 

 and along the 'main street. At first we thought they were mag- 

 nolias, and it was hard to believe they were not members of that 

 family, so striking a resemblance do they bear with their large, shin- 

 ing leaves. They are known as almond trees, the Demerara almond 

 (Terminalia catappa), but are not the almond of commerce. 



A conspicuous tree, resembling the pine, is the cassowary 



Cocoanut Palms. 



