598 A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



that all the Palmetto trees be henceforth preserved, and that you the 

 Governor & Councell take care and give comand for planting of 

 them in all the little Islands." 



In 1671, another law was passed against persons destroying the 

 palmettoes " on the small islands " and thus depriving the inhabitants 

 of the means of obtaining the leaves for thatching their houses. 



At the present time, numbers of young palmettoes may be seen 

 coming up, here and there, all over the wooded parts of the larger 

 islands, and if protected they may, after many years, become large 

 trees, if in good soil, but when the soil is thin and barren they never 

 become tall, but grow in the form of a dwarf palmetto, with a trunk 

 only a few feet high, or sometimes even without any trunk above 

 ground. 



In 16*75, it was ordered that some houses thatched with palmetto 

 leaves and standing close to the town hall should be shingled to 

 diminish the risk from fire. Shortly after this the Company urged 

 the general use of shingles for roofing in St. George's. 



On July IS, 1677, an order is recorded in the Parish Register for 

 thatching the Pembroke church with palmetto leaves, each person to 

 bring in "eight dozen good leaves" on the 25th of July, or else pay 

 l sh 4 d , and this order was made a permanent one for the future, 

 whenever the church should need thatching. 



Governor Butler, in commenting upon the destitution and famine 

 in the time of Governor Moore (1614), makes the following remarks: 



" The overcleareing of St. George's Hand, which was the place of 

 their residence, by cuttinge downe the palmitoe trees, to have their 

 heades for foode, a cheife releife of the people at that time, but such 

 a disableinge of the place for tobacco (which is as yet the staple 

 commoditie), as that not only to this day but for many yeares to 

 come it must needes to feele the weight of that stroke ; neither was 

 it possible for the governour to cure or prevent this ill, by any pro- 

 hibition, because the belly hath noe eares." 



Although Governor Butler here refers only to the palmetto, it is 

 certain that the cedars had been cut down quite as extensively, if 

 not more so, for timber and wood, during the same years, and the 

 effect of cutting down the cedars would have been the greater, for 

 it makes the better wind-break, though when young the palmetto is 

 also pretty effectual, and it was often mentioned as being used for 

 division fences or hedges. The removal of the shade from those 

 hills, that are naturally dry, would have increased the dryness in 

 time of drouth, and this was also a cause of increasing barrenness. 



