442 A. E. Verrill — The Hermnda Islands. 



hills of the Main Island nearer at hand. Castle Harbor is a beauti- 

 ful body of clear water, four to five miles across, containing numer- 

 ous coral reefs, which afford very favorable places for studying the 

 reefs and collecting specimens of many kinds. Living Brain Corals 

 and some other kinds can be seen from the causeway, in shallow 

 water. 



But the causeway itself has an interesting history from a scientific 

 point of view. It was completed in 1871, at the cost of £28,000. It 

 is about a mile and a half long and was originally almost entirely of 

 stone masonry, with several archways at different points and a swing- 

 bridge of iron, 123 feet long, near the eastern end. 



During the great West Indian hurricane of September 12, 1899, it 

 was almost entirely demolished during the night. No one, so far as 

 known, saw it go down. It was soon afterwards rebuilt, but much 

 of the new work is of timber. A naturalist would reasonably expect 

 that the timbers, when below half tide, will be eaten up by the 

 Teredos or "Shipworms" in a few years, for they are sufficiently 

 common at the Bermudas. 



It is said that the great seas and high tide that destroyed this cause- 

 way came in from the southwest, through the rather narrow channel 

 between the islands that guard Castle Harbor on the south side, and 

 passed entirely across this shallow bay before reaching the masonry 

 of the causeway. If so, one can hardly imagine the size and violence 

 of the seas that dashed against the fully exposed cliffs of the south 

 .shore during that fearful night. It is certain that considerable 

 changes were effected there at that time, and much loose material 

 was washed away in many places. 



Great damage was done, at the same time, to the wharves and 

 buildings at St. George's, and to the causeway and other naval works 

 at Ireland Island. Many large trees were blown down all over the 

 islands, numerous boats were destroyed, and a large part of the build- 

 ings were more or less damaged, many were unroofed, and some 

 blown down. No lives were lost, as there must have been had not 

 the dwellings been built with thick stone walls. 



No such severe storm had occurred here for just sixty years, but 

 the great hurricane of Sept. 11, is:39, was very similar. 



The causeway is interrupted, toward the eastern end, by Long 

 Bird Island, which owes its name to the immense number of "Egg- 

 birds" or Terns that bred on it when the Bermudas were first settled. 

 These birds and their eggs and those of the Cahow were among the 

 principal sources of food supply for the earliest settlers, and on one 



