4-22 



A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



forests of dark cedar, with scattered palmettoes intermixed, and with 

 tracts of cultivated land. Many white stone residences can be seen, 

 often partially hidden by the dark cedars, but made conspicuous not 

 only by the natural whiteness of the native limestone, of which they 

 are nearly always built, but also by frequent coatings of whitewash. 

 The roofs are also generally covered with large, thin, overlapping 

 slabs of limestone, coated with cement, so as to shed the rain-water, 

 which is the sole reliance for domestic purposes. All the houses have 

 large water-cisterns. 



Springs, and streams' of fresh water, do not exist there, nor real 

 wells, though in some low places shallow pools or pits are often exca- 

 vated in which rain water collects, suitable for cattle, and sometimes 

 for domestic uses, though it generally rests on an understratum of 



Figure 3. — Eoadside at Fairy Lands near Hamilton, in March, 1901 ; young 

 Cocoanut Palms and Hibiscus Hedge. 



sea-water, a foot or two below, and can be used only when the tide 

 is but partly out, and even then it is slightly brackish in most cases. 

 The water in such "wells" rises and falls with the tide, and if the 

 wells be dug at all below the sea-level, salt water is always reached. 

 Hamilton, the capital, is a small but interesting town, situated on 

 a high slope facing the harbor. It contains some fine residences and 

 public buildings, and many beautiful gardens tilled with tropical 

 trees, shrubs, and flowers, in great variety. The public garden is 



