A. FE. Verrilli— The Bermuda Islands; Geology. 83 
B. Evidences of Subsidence derived from Caverns and Sinks. 
Among other structures indicating subsidence are the various 
caverns, with large stalactites and stalagmites, now depressed more 
or less below the level of the sea and filled with sea water, which is 
said to be at least 30 feet deep in some of them. The stalactites 
descend into the sea water in some cases, while stalagmites can be 
seen, through the clear water, rising up from the bottom. 
a. Caverns containing Sea water. 
In the large cavern on Tucker’s Island, the bottom is covered by 
6 to 10 feet of clear sea water, beneath which I saw, in 1901, many 
large pointed stalagmites standing upright, but not reaching the 
surface. Some of these were more than a foot in diameter. This 
cavern, which was then open to visitors on payment of a fee, has to 
be explored in a boat. Its roof is supported by large stalactitic 
columns, many of which are of hardened limestone, thickly encrusted 
with dull-colored stalactitic material, but most of them extend 
beneath the sea water to the bottom. 
Lieut. Nelson, 1840, described a partly submerged cavern as 
follows : 
*“ Tucker’s Island cavern was a perfect bijou; with one splendid 
exception it has hitherto stood unrivalled among the caves of Ber- 
muda. ‘This little cavern had a length of eighty feet, a breadth of 
about fifty, a height above the little lake within of at most fifteen, 
and a depth below its surface scarcely exceeding fourteen. The 
stalactites were remarkably clear and beautiful, varying from the 
massive pendant of six or seven feet in length, to the slender incip- 
ient fragile tube, which crumbled at the slightest touch. It was a 
scene not to be readily forgotten, when we launched a little boat 
into the miner’s first and narrow opening, through which the sun 
shone strongly, and reflecting its light from the face of the water 
upwards and with power to the sparry fretted ceiling of the vault, 
illuminated it im a way which can only be appreciated by those who 
have been eye-witnesses of such effects. This cave was shortly 
afterwards destroyed, as interfering with the safety of the works.” 
One of the most interesting caves, because of its peculiar situation 
and its elegant and profuse pure white stalactites and drapery-like 
sheets of stalactitic material, is Peniston’s Cave, on the land of Mr. 
W.S. O. Peniston. It was not open to the public at the time of 
my visit, and partly on that account its stalactites retained their 
