StJRIED LAKDS. 41 



been and is one of the grinding mills of tlie gods, and tliat dura- 

 tion or extent of time is only a conception of man. It is said to 

 require under favorable circumstances a tbousand years to make 

 five perpendicular feet of coral limestone, and that coral rock 

 exists in the Pacific ocean two thousand feet thick. In contrast 

 with such almost infinite durations, well may the Chinese phil- 

 osophers and sages compare the life of man with the little insig- 

 nificant span of the measuring worm. 



The important pa'.t taken by the Bahama shell fish in the 

 formation of the banks and rocks of the Bahamas is indicated 

 by their very great abundance. Major-General Nelson states 

 that "at Six Hills (Caicos Group) the mass of Conch Shells 

 {Strombus gigas) is so great and sufficiently cemented together 

 as to form not only a rock, but an island several hundred feet in 

 length," 



While the highest land in the Bahamas is 230 feet above the 

 sea, generally the hills on the larger islands are much under 100 

 feet in height, and from 10 to 50 feet on the islets. They abound 

 with "pit holes" and "rock marshes." The water upon the 

 lower flats is brackish and rises and falls, though not contem- 

 poraneously with the tide, or at a uniform rate. There arc many 

 ordinary and mangrove swamps, small and shallow, more or less 

 connected with the sea. So far as there is any soil it is found in 

 tlie little pockets in the rocks, and is scant and fertile. There 

 are also large areas of "pine barrens" where the pine and the 

 palm flourish side by side — the north and the south to tliis 

 extent meeting and mingling harmoniousl}' in the floral world. 

 Lakes of salt or brackish water mirror the heavens and add a 

 new charm to the landscape upon many of the islands. Amlrus 

 alone boasts afresh water lake and a few small out-flowing fresh 

 water streams. The rocks are all calcareous, soft and easily 

 worked below the surface, white and dazzling when first quar- 



