118 THE MICROSCOPIST IN BERMUDA. 



on the shore, and the winds have blown into the hills which so 

 beautifully diversify the landscape of these islands. 



Almost my first excursion was to the long stretches of sand 

 beach on the southern shore, about two miles south-west of 

 Hamilton. To my surprise I found the sand there composed 

 almost entirely of minute shells ; some perfect in form, others 

 more or less worn by the action of the waves ; but not a particle 

 of the angular silicious grains which make up the entire body of 

 our own sand both inland and on the sea-shore. All there was 

 calcareous, carbonate of lime ; and it was entirely the product of 

 animal organisms. Back of the beach the winds have piled up a 

 high hill of sand, which they are gradually rolling over on the 

 valley beyond, thus giving an actual example of how all the hills 

 were formed. I examined this sand in many places and found it 

 identically the same with that on the shore. On the way back 

 to the hotel, I examined the stone in the cuts through which the 

 road passes, and found it composed entirely of the same shell 

 substance, loosely cemented together by a deposition of carbonate 

 of lime. Many times subsequently I saw masons or carpenters, 

 one hardly knows which to call them sawing this same stone 

 with our common hand saws into blocks and pannels and cor- 

 nices and all kinds of convenient shapes. It did not dull their 

 saws as much as an oak board would. This then is the material 

 of which the whole islands are composed ; for there is no other 

 kind of stone found there. I saw also the same material which 

 had been excavated from 'fifty feet below the level of the ocean, 

 and which must of course have had that amount of subsidence 

 at least; for this kind of rock forms only in the air. It is tech- 

 nically called ^Eolian Rock, from ^Eolus, the master of the 

 winds, in ancient Mythology. 



I ought perhaps here to tell you when and how to gather this 

 sand, in order to secure the most perfect shells and the greatest 

 variety of the finer and lighter spicules, corallines, &c. Go to 

 the sea shore immediately after high tide, when there has been 

 considerable surf coming in. You will find that the highest 

 wave of high tide has left a little ripple mark along the shore, a 

 mere skimming, not an eighth of an inch thick. But it is the 



