A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 479 



old road, traces of which are still visible. The Mangrove Swamp 

 between the beach and the present road, was until then a garden." 



The mangrove swamp referred to no longer exists. It has either 

 filled up or there has been a farther encroachment of the sea, since 

 1838. (See under Geology.) 



Without questioning the accuracy of Nelson's statement in regard 

 to this bay, it should be noted that on Norwood's map of 1618-22, 

 Shelly Bay is represented with very nearly its present size and form. 

 This would indicate that the sand-hills described by Nelson had been 

 formed subsequently to Norwood's survey, and that being of loose 

 sand, when they w r ere destroyed, after 1810, the original outline of 

 the bay was simply restored. This bay is a very shallow, open, and 

 exposed cove, facing north, with a wide sand-beach, and such changes 

 would not be unlikely. 



Probably the far greater activity of the sand-dunes in the time of 

 the Greater Bermuda was due partly to more violent winds and 

 larger areas of sea beaches, but there may have been a total lack of 

 sand-binding vegetation at that time. (See Geology.) 



The drifting sands have often buried and killed cedars and other 

 trees in modern times, as described by Matthew Jones above. 



When this occurs the rain-water trickling down the sides of the 

 trunk, and perhaps along the roots, carries with it dissolved lime- 

 stone (calcium bicarbonate), which it deposits in its course, and thus 

 hardens the sand into a crust around the trunks and roots of the 

 trees, so that when the wood decays a hollow mould is left, which 

 may then be filled with loose sand, producing a cast of the trunk or 

 roots of the trees. 



Such casts, large andsmall, are common in the rocks of the islands 

 at all levels, from below the sea to the highest hilltops, and they can 

 be seen in actual process of formation. Many of them are thought 

 to be the casts of stumps of palmettoes or some other palm tree, now 

 extinct. (See under Geology and plates Ixxxiv-vi.) 



The drifting sands sometimes blow into the sea and accumulate in 

 such quantities, in sheltered harbors, as to till them up to a great 

 extent. Tucker's Town harbor, originally called Stokes' Bay, which 

 is now very shallow, Avith extensive sand-flats, bare at low tide, is 

 said to have been deep enough, at first, to admit merchant ships of 

 moderate size. Its appearance indicates that it is still filling up, for 

 the upper part of the beach merges directly into the still active 

 sand-dunes of the shore. 



Mi\ Nelson, also, says that before his time (1833) the channel at 

 Crow Lane had been very much filled up, but this was probably by silt. 



