146 ISLES OF SUMMER. 



'the evening from eight to eleven o'clock; Friday at the '* Govern- 

 ment House," (the Governor's residence,) and Tuesdays at the 

 houses of the other members. They play nothing but whist, and 

 loyally follow the English custom of joutting up sixpenny stakes, 

 ''just to increase a little the interest, and keep things lively," 

 as my informant expressed it. We were also told that on these oc- 

 casions "they never drink to excess, and no excess of any kind 

 is indulged in." Excess, as applied to drinking, is a very flexible 

 uncertain word. Such of the high officials as we saw drink could 

 not be called " hard " drinkers, for we never saw men drink more 

 easy than they did, or appear to take to it more naturally, or en- 

 joy it more. In carrying capacity, also, they are at least the 

 peers of their American cousins. The belief is wide spread, that 

 spirituous liquors moderately used as a beverage in warm climates, 

 are conducive to health. "Where malarial poisons are exhaled, 

 quinine and alcoholic drinks are considered by many absolute 

 necessaries. AVe have no doubt about the value of quinine as a 

 tonic and malarial antidote, but have no sufficient basis of fact 

 in regard to the use of alcohol, in such cases, upon which to form 

 an opinion satisfactory to ourselves, or of value to others. It is a 

 question which has two sides. If that which we saw drank was 

 used for sanitary reasons, the quantity imbibed indicated a 

 country most alarmingly unhealthy. The treatment we thought 

 partook of the ''heroic." 



Nassau formerly had a yachting club, and in all probability its 

 organization remains, but nothing occurred while we were there 

 to indicate that it still lives. It certainly was torpid if not dead 

 — chloroformed by climate. Xo regattas, as of yore, pleasantly 

 disturbed the ocean tides, or the dreamy quiet of the city's every 

 day life. Something of the sadness which follows in the wake 

 of pleasure, and of the melancholy which hovers over departed 

 joys, surrounds and envelopes the yacht club's silent boat-house. 



