THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 583 



fishing, sponge-fishing, salt-raking, and the gathering of guano and marine 

 curiosities. Cotton-planting barely survives, and the old, alluring industry of 

 wrecking has almost passed away. Besides these things some of the inhabitants 

 depend largely upon the hotel business, for Nassau, with her salubrious climate, 

 is a health resort of importance. Not only private individuals but even the 

 Colony itself has engaged in affording attractions, and providing comforts for 

 tourists in the winter season. The local government made very liberal con- 

 cessions to the present owner of the two largest hotels in Nassau in order to 

 induce him to locate here. If finances are an index, the Colony is now enjoy- 

 ing a period of comparative prosperity. In the ten years up to 1902 the public 

 revenue increased more than 32 per cent, imports nearly doubled and exports 

 increased by one-third. In the same period the public debt increased consid- 

 erably. A cable now joins Nassau with the coast of Florida, thus, as it were, 

 bringing the place much closer to the outside world. Grradually the Colony is 

 gaining improvements, that tend to make its island capital a more desirable 

 place in which to live. But the emigration to the States of many of the more 

 active spirits in the population often engages the attention of those who have 

 local interests at heart, fearing lest it be taken as evidence of the lack of oppor- 

 tunity for the pursuit of attractive careers in this Colony. 



