i6 



one of her nymphs rise to the surface from this abode of cool 

 dehghts ; but more frequently the clear aquamarine-coloured 

 waters part and close, bubbling over the dusky form of a sturdy 

 negro diver in search of pink conch-shells or stag's-horn corals 

 for some belle from England or the States, whose pretty exclama- 

 tions of surprise and delight, ' Oh, see ! ' and ' Oh, my ! ' sound 

 cheerily enough on the summer air. 



" Involuntarily the world-renowned description of the bottom of 

 the sea was brought to my mind : — 



" Methought I saw . . . 

 Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, 

 Inestimable stones, unvalu'd jewels, 

 All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea. 

 Some lay in dead men's skulls ; and, in those holes 

 Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept 

 (As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems. 

 That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, 

 And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by." 



Clarence's Dreatn, Richard III. 



A very extraordinary fact about the vegetation in 

 the Bahamas is, that it grows with its roots almost 

 entirely exposed. The island is of coral formation, and 

 only very lightly coated with earth, but such is the 

 abundance of the dews and the fertilizing quality of the 

 atmosphere, that it suffices for a plant to have but one or 

 two feelers caught in the pores of the coraline rock, as it is 

 called, for it to grow and flourish. I have seen big trees 

 with all their roots, save one, above ground. Some trees 

 I have noticed growing on the garden wall, horseback 

 fashion, with one half of their roots on one side and the 

 rest on the other. I am assured that there is so much 

 decayed animal matter in the coraline that it is one of the 

 richest of soils ; and the cause of the fertility of the island 

 is doubtless the heavy dews which fall irrimediately after 

 sunset. A number of " air-plants " grow in the woods, and of 



