A, E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 449 
the largest. It is one of the islands on which the “ Cahow,” a 
remarkable extinct bird, peculiar to the Bermudas, bred in vast 
numbers when the islands were first settled. It burrowed in the 
earth, like the petrels, but its flesh and eggs, unlike those of petrels, 
were prized as food, and the species was exterminated in a few 
years. In Governor Butler’s “ Historye” he states that it was 
nearly exterminated in 1615, when there was a great scarcity of 
other food. (See Part III, chap. 29.) This island was also notable, 
in the early history of the islands, as one of the places where a 
Yellow-wood tree was found, bearing a cross and a brass memorial 
tablet, and hence it was supposed to have buried treasures upon it. 
(See Part III, ch. 26, c, under Deforesting.) 
Cooper’s Island is now largely cultivated. it is one of the few 
places where the great Land-crab (Cardisoma @uanhumi) ean still 
be found, burrowing its large, deep holes in the sandy soil. A much 
smaller kind ( Gecarcinus lateralis), with similar habits, is also found 
in abundance, as well as on most of the other islands where there is 
loose sandy soil. (See ch. 32.) 
The next island of any importance is Nonesuch, which is smaller 
than Cooper’s. It contains about seven acres. The quarantine 
station is situated on this island. 
The Ruins of the Old Forts. 
Farther to the westward are several small, barren, uninhabited 
islands that are chiefly interesting because of the old ruined forts 
upon them. Some of these were built by the earliest settlers, 
between 1612 and 1621, with great labor and pains, to protect the 
entrances to Castle Harbor. The settlers lived for many years in 
constant dread of an invasion by the Spanish fleets, or privateers, 
and considered these forts of paramount importance. This fear, on 
the part of Governor Moore, was natural and justifiable, because of 
the instructions of the Company, from the beginning. 
The colony had only been located a few months when in Decem- 
ber, 1612, the Company sent out a special ship to warn the governor 
to prepare “ with all expedition,” to defend the islands against the 
Spanish, “‘ whom they understood ere long would visit them.” Later 
they blamed the governor for spending so much labor on the forts. 
The earliest platforms, forts, and redoubts were built of cedar 
timber, but some of the platforms built by Governor Butler, 1619- 
22, were of stone. And perhaps some of those built in 1626 and 
1627 were also of stone. 
Trans. Conn. Acap., Vou. XI. 29 APRIL, 1902. 
