608 A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



much greater facility with which lumber and fuel can now be 

 obtained from the United States and Canada, than formerly. 



At present, nearly all the lumber used on the islands is shipped 

 from American ports, including the very large amount used for the 

 crates in which the onion crop is shipped. 



The decrease in the cedar timber was one of the causes that led 

 gradually to the use of stone for the construction of nearly all the 

 dwellings, and even for the barns and outhouses. 



Probably the violence of the occasional hurricanes was another 

 important cause that led to the use of more substantial buildings. 

 Moreover, the abundance and cheapness of the limestone, and the 

 ease with which it can be worked, by sawing it into square blocks 

 with ordinary saws, were also very favorable factors in the change 

 from wood to stone dwellings. Governor Butler, in 1620, erected 

 the first stone public building for the "Town House," at St. George's, 

 as an example, as he said, for the people to follow, and thus save the 

 cedar trees, but very few other stone houses were built for at least 

 eiaditv years later. 



The Company had ordered a stone house to be built on Long Bird 

 Island, in 1625, but as Governor Woodhouse objected to it, he was 

 permitted by a letter of March, 1626, to build it of cedar at his 

 discretion. 



In 1676 the English government requested information on the con- 

 ditions of the Bermuda coloiw, asking a series of questions. The 

 official replies from the Bermuda Company, in 1679, contain much 

 information. Among other things it was stated that the houses were 

 nearly all of cedar at that time. The names of the forts then in use 

 were also given, with the number of guns. Among them were 

 King's Castle and Southampton Fort. 



From 1700 to 1810 shipbuilding and commerce were carried on to 

 a considerable extent by the Bermudians,* agriculture having fallen 

 into disrepute, owing largely to the social effects of slavery, it is 

 said, but the lack of a good market was also a great drawback. 

 Cedar was almost exclusively used for the shipbuilding, but it must 

 have been obtained chiefly from the young forests that had grown 

 on the neglected farm lands of the previous century. 



* Their commerce was interrupted from 1793 to 1799, by the French priva- 

 teers, and again in 1812-14 by Americas privateers. After 1822 they had to 

 compete with American vessels in the West Indian trade, and their commerce 

 declined again. 



