S ALLEN AND HAUHOT'R 



ficulties, and cau8e<l us the loss of several dredges. We were 

 also unfortunate in liavinu; heavy s(|ualls ronie up almost every time 

 we ran out to sea to nuike the deeper hauls. 



Persons who contemplate dredging in the Bahamas should a])ply 

 to the Colonial Secretary for a ])ermit, preferably through their 

 Consul, as dredging is forbidden by law owing to the damage to 

 the 8j)onge industry. 



Several interesting s])ecies of fishes wei'e taken while dredging 

 off the island of Al)af<), among which may be mentioned the rare 

 eel, Sphagehranchii.^ (oi(/iii/hniiis. Young Monocanthi were taken 

 in every haul on grassy l»ottom ; and in rather coarse white sand 

 we obtained Asi/Nonetro/i h(ct(i/aiii(iii. 



We may fittingly close this brief sketch w ith a few remarks on 

 the general conditions of several of the nu)re im))ortant islands 

 which we visited. The "out islands'" are strangely little known 

 even to the people of Nassau, to say nothing of the average Anjeri- 

 can. Much of our information has been obtained from the Annual 

 Report for 190ii, by Sir G. T. Carter lately of the Bahamas and now 

 Governor of Barbadoe. This is illustrated and is far more inter- 

 esting tium the average l)lue-l><»ok ; in fact every person who con- 

 templates a visit to the Bahamas should rc-rtainly senil tor a copy 

 mill i( :h1 it carefully. We will take u[) the several islan<ls here in 

 the order in which we visited them and remark shortly ujton each. 



New Providence, the most important island in the group, contains 

 the capital, Nassau. The islan<l is alxnit twenty miles long and nine 

 miles broa<l. The po|iulation of the whole island (1901) is about 

 12, .')(»() persons. The city is now fre«|uently visited in tlie winter 

 season ai\il the island is therefore well known to .\mericans. 



Abaco an<l the Northern Cays: The main islands are (Jrcatand 

 I^ittle Abaco; according to (lov. Sir (i. T. Carter they liave an area 

 of 77<i sijuare miles. They cxtcntl t'or 94 inili's ami yet the popula- 

 tion is only .'{oOO pcoph', aiul is derreasing. The principal settle- 

 ments art- ( 'hcrokcc Souml, llopi-town on KUxiw Cay, and (ireen 

 Turtle Cay. The first of these settlements is a mere fishing village; 

 the seconil is a port of t'litry ami an important sponging center. 

 Green Turtli' Cay, oiu-t' a flourishing town, is now fast declining; 

 the people are said to lie mo\ ing to i\ey West, VVa. The |)overty 

 outside of Ilopetow n is t'Xtreuie : indeed the reveiuie of Cherokee 

 Sound in 1901 is stated to ha\ e been 1'4 7.^'. There is some valu- 



