1890. ] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 5 
group—viz., the islands of San Salvador, Rum Cay, Atwood’s 
Cay, Mariguana, and Little and Great Inagua—are differently 
situated from those previously mentioned, rising almost ab- 
ruptly from the deep ocean. 
The time spent in the Bahamas was a little more than six 
months, two of which were passed in New Providence and the 
rest in Andros. The former is well known as the seat of goy- 
ernment and as a health resort. It lies on the northern edge of 
a portion of the Great Bahama Bank, and is about twenty miles’ 
long and seven in width. A ridge runs along the northern side, 
the highest point of which is 1U9 feet above sea-level, and is 
occupied by an old fort—Fort Fincastle. Here a fine view of 
the general features of the island may be obtained. To the 
south stretches a low, level country dotted here and there with 
cocoanut groves, and in the distance is seen a lower ridge, 
known as the Blue Hills. To the north we look over the har- 
bor, 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 
guarter-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. Sea- 
ward 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. Farther to the north and outside of Quaran- 
tine 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 ne- 
cessary, 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 Bahama islands, but the largest 
coral island in the world, its northern half alone having a super- 
ficial area of over 1,200 square miles, while the area of the whole 
island, so-called, is over 1,900. 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 
