XX INTRODUCTION. 



burning" bush [Poinciana pulcherrima), and tbe gaily colored leaves will 

 be found to be merely the elongated petals of the flower. At the bend 

 of the road round the harbor head, and immediately by the guard wall, 

 in the dark, offensive looking mud, several mangrove trees grow, having 

 attached to the roots and lower parts numbers of an oyster-looking shell 

 {Perna ephippium). A little further on, on the right-hand side of the 

 road, will be observed a fine tamarind tree ( Tamarindus indica) standing 

 in a neat little garden, while on the left, just beyond the tanks, runs 

 along the wall side a hedge of the "snuff jilant" {Buddleja aniericana). 



Paget Sand Hills. — This sterile locality, which is an extremely wild 

 and lonely spot, is well worth a visit, and close examination also, for 

 here can be seen the mode adopted by nature to form the Bermudas; 

 viz, drifting sand gradually increasing its deposits and elevating the 

 land; thereby overcoming cedar groves and cultivated ground, and in 

 one place even the dwelling of man. 



On arriving at the northeast corner of the sand hills, the encroach- 

 ment of the drifting sand will at once be perceived, as the mass, some 

 10 feet in depth, is now gradually covering a small garden. According 

 to the observations made by persons residing close to, this overwhelm- 

 ing body has advanced over the cultivated land about 80 yards during 

 the last twenty-five years. At the northeast corner of the hills will be 

 seen, among some oleander trees near the top, the chimney of a cottage 

 which formerly stood there, inhabited by a colored family. It is now 

 wholly buried in the drifting sand, save the chimney, which alone rises 

 above the mass to show the position of the structure. 



With the exception of a few irregular patches here and there, and the 

 long reach of white sand gradually encroaching on the cultivated ground 

 at the northeast corner, the whole slope, which some twenty years ago 

 was almost wholly clear drift sand, with a few patches of bent grass 

 in scattered spots upon it, is now clothed with wild plants and shrubs, 

 as well as young cedars, which will no doubt in a few years attain goodly 

 dimensions, and, with the aid of the universal underwood of sage-bush, 

 put an end to the further encroachments of the sand drift. 



On the western side of the sand hills there is now a i)lateau of about 

 half an acre, or perhaps more, of hardened drift sand, forming gradually 

 into rock. On its face are cracks filling with drift sand, showing that 

 the sun doubtless affects this hardened surface. Elevated protuberances 

 of a foot or so in height, rise amid this plateau, having each a hole or 

 depression at the center. These denote the sites in which cedar trees 



