28 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 



cocoanut groves, and in the distance is seen a lower ridge, known as the 

 Blue Hills. To the north we look over the harbor, half a mile in width, 

 to Hog Island, a cay about four miles long, perhaps half a mile wide, 

 and about twenty feet high. The eastern end is separated by a narrow 

 piece of water, known as the "Sea Garden," from Athol or Long 

 Island, locally known as Quarantine Station, a cay about two miles 

 long and but a quarter mile wide, and continued eastward by narrow 

 shoals. West of Hog Island is the channel, or, as it is called, "the 

 bar," on the other side of which a number of small cays continue the 

 same general direction as the longer axis of the island. Seaward of 

 Hog Island, and separated from it by about one mile of water, is Salt 

 Cay, an island about two miles in length and a quarter in width. Far- 

 ther to the north and outside of Quarantine Station is Rose Island, 

 another long narrow cay. Outside of all lies the reef. These facts 

 have been given with perhaps more detail than is interesting, but which, 

 nevertheless, is necessary, as it has a bearing upon what follows. 



Andros Island is the largest of the Bahama group, being over 

 ninety miles long and between forty and fifty miles wide. The northern 

 portion is separated from the southern by a broad shallow sheet of 

 water that contains many cays, large and small, and the passages 

 through from the eastern to the western coast are known as bights. 

 It is interesting to note that Andros is not only the largest of the Ba- 

 hama islands, but the largest coral island in the world, its northern 

 half alone having a superficial area of over 1200 square miles, while 

 the area of the whole island, so called, is over 1900. It lies near the 

 eastern edge of the bank that faces the tongue of ocean referred to 

 above. 



The eastern side of Andros is occupied by a ridge, of which the 

 highest point that I visited, and I think the highest on the island, is 

 marked on the chart as Salvador Point, locally known as Bearing 

 Point. Its height I had no means of determining, but I judged it to be 

 about 100 feet. At the extreme southern end, as at Grassy Creek, 

 this ridge is absent and the land is low. 



When one has crossed the ridge, which is covered with angiosper- 

 mous trees, he enters a large forest of Pinus bahamensis which occu- 

 pies the greater portion of the interior of the island. The land is here 

 almost level, and in some places, as near Loggerhead Creek and Wide 

 Opening, there are extensive lakes of fresh water. Upon passing 



