A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



599 



b. — The Bermuda Cedar (Jimiperus Bermudiana Linne) ; its 



History. 



Figure 41. Plate LXVIII ; Figure 2. Plate LXXIII. 



When the Bermudas were first visited by Europeans, all the 

 islands that had any soil upon them, including most of the smaller 

 islets, were thickly covered with the cedar. Even to this day, much 

 of the beauty of the landscape depends upon the cedars that still 

 densely clothe many of the small islands, adding much to their 



Figure 41. — Bermuda Cedar: a, branehlet with young berries; b, with larger 

 berries ; c, a branehlet with male flowers ; d, a berry slightly enlarged. 

 After Hemsley. 



apparent height and size, and contrasting, by their dark green, 

 graceful foliage, with the surrounding rocks and water. After these 

 small islands are stripped of their cedars, they at once look rough, 

 rocky, and barren. 



The poet, Thomas Moore, when he wrote at these islands, in 1804, 

 well appreciated this effect of the cedars on the landscape, and espe- 

 cially of those that crowned the small islets in St. George's harbor. 

 (See p. 446.) 



This cedar is by far the most abundant and most important of the 

 native trees of the Bermudas. It is almost restricted to these islands, 

 and until recently was not known from any other locality, for it is 



