AGASSIZ : BAHAMAS. 61 



part of the island, to the eastward of the lighthouse, we found a number 

 of fantastic isolated pinnacles of ceolian rock left standing high above the 

 present general level of the cay by the denuding action of the trojjical 

 rains. Many of these pinnacles were limestone tables of varying tops 

 and heights, with a slender pedestal still attached to the ground. They 

 owe their origin undoubtedly to the harder character of the surface 

 limestone at certain points. 



On the north side the slope of the island is very gentle. There are 

 many pot-holes and sinks, as well as ocean-holes, on the northern face of 

 the cay, and at the south side the sea has vvashed the cliffs into the most 

 fantastic pinnacles (Plate XXVL), some of them several feet in height, 

 so that a j)art of this shore recalls very vividly the aspect of the surface 

 of Eleuthera near the Glass Window. Only the most scanty vegetation 

 is found at certain points of the island, not enough for tlie food of a goat. 

 A cactus, a few stunted bushes and shore plants, compose the flora of this 

 island. Gun Cay, the Beminis, Great Isaac, and the long line of rocks 

 and sand bars to the eastward of it extending to the Berry Islands, such 

 as North Eock, the East and West Brothers, and the Eastern Isaacs, are 

 probably the remnants of the northern and western edges of a larger 

 island, now only barely apparent above tlie level of the sea, perhaps itself 

 formerly a part of Andros. Off Little Isaac the bottom samples became 

 quite coarse, consisting principally of broken shells and masses of coral- 

 line algfc. When approaching Great Stirrup Cay, about thirty miles 

 southeast of Great Isaac, the bottom was coral sand, with many broken 

 shells, small whitish Mellita hexapora, and light brownish Clypeaster. 

 In fact, the prevailing tone of the whole fauna of the banks proper is 

 of light hue, except where coral patches are found close to the edge of 

 the bank, and nothing is more apparent than the bleached aspect of 

 the shells, echini, or coralline algae characteristic of the bank itself. The 

 darker patches of sponges, corals, and Gorgonians alone apparently form 

 an exception to the general monotony of color characteristic of the bottom 

 on the inner parts of the banks. 



From Great Isaac to the Berry Islands. 



Plate I. ; Plate XII. Fig 4. 



To the eastward of Great Isaac run a series of rocky ledges, the 

 remnants of former cays, running parallel with the trend of the 100 

 fathon> line, distant from it three to seven miles, known as the North- 

 east Rock, the Brothers, Little, Middle, and East Isaacs, Rockawash, and 



