Narrative of BAiiAisrA Expedition. 193 



The town of Spanish Wells is on the llrst of a chain of 

 islands which border the mainland of Eleuthera on the north, 

 and extend to Egg Island on the west. The island itself is 

 probably not more than a quarter of a mile broad, but ex- 

 tends two or three miles east and west. There are no hills, 

 the greatest elevation being not over fifteen or twenty feet 

 above high water. On the north side a beautiful sand-beach 

 runs almost if not quite the length of the island. Here one 

 ■can see the process of converting coral sand into rock in 

 almost every stage from the loose sand to the hard limestone 

 rock. For a considerable distance the sea is undermining 

 some high banks of partially solidified sand. The entire 

 island is made up of this sand and rock. On the south a nar- 

 row channel divides this island from Eleuthera, and affords an 

 ■excellent refuge for small boats. The harbor itself is east of 

 the island, being protected on the east by a high point of 

 Eleuthera. The channel to the harbor is very narrow, and at 

 the time of our visit was partly blockaded by a wrecked brig, 

 which was allowed to remain directly in the centre of the 

 •channel. Here, as elsewhere in the Bahamas, the largest 

 trees are the cocoanut palms, which line the beach on the 

 north and form quite a respectable grove to the west of the 

 town. This grove is noticeable from the fact that most of the 

 trees lean to the east or north-east, a reminder of a hurricane 

 that swept over the island some years ago. 



The town itself consists of a number of houses, set down 

 with almost no regard to the points of the compass, and 

 jumbled together in what appears to be the most hap-hazard 

 confusion. They are mostly frame houses, as square as a box, 

 with low, pyramidal roofs. Very few of the windows were 

 glazed, most of them being without sashes, but protected by 

 heavy storm-shutters. The house itself is almost always- 

 raised about two feet above the ground on low posts. Back 

 •of each residence is the oven, a sub-conical structure, about 

 ■eight feet high, and whitewashed on the outside. There is a 

 good-sized church, built of coral rock, where a devout con- 

 gregation assembles to worship after the manner of John 



