280 ISLES OP StJMMER. 



fortunate ones, we repaired in good season to the appointed place, 

 inspired by a natural curiosity to witness the " giving up of the 

 ghost" by an integral and important part of the law making 

 power of this out-lying portion of the Queen's possessions. 



The Senators, (or colonial lords.) grayo, dignified and prepos- 

 sessing in their appearance, took possession of their high-backed 

 arm chairs, and in low tones conversed with each other, until 

 the sound of approaching footsteps indicated the arrival of their 

 more youthful and less experienced superior in official rank and 

 honors. 



In the presiding officer's chair, (which was decorated with ban- 

 ners and bunting,) the Governor was soon comfortably seated and 

 enthroned. His military dress and sheathed sword were mildly 

 suggestive of the power which upholds government, and gives 

 effect and potency to law. He received, as before, the speaker 

 and members of the lower house, the former accompanied by his 

 large and conspicuous mace of office, brought to Xassau from 

 South Carolina by the royalists after the revolution of 177G, 

 while a clerk or secretary carried the parchment rolls upon whicli 

 were engrossed the unsigned bills of public acts which had suc- 

 cessfully run the gauntlet of the two houses. Each roll was 

 successively handed to the speaker, who, in an audible voice, in- 

 dicated its character by reading its title, and handed it to the 

 Governor, who signed it in the presence of both houses of the 

 colonial parliament, and thus, by his approval and signature, 

 united with the legislative branch of the govcrnmont in making 

 it a law of the colony. There were in 1879 but five rolls, so that 

 only five laws were enacted at one entire session of the Bahama 

 Lesrislature. We had no means of determining to what extent 

 this extremely short law crop was chargeable to the climate. In 

 the crisp, cool air of the north, crime is tirelessly active, and con- 

 stantly assumes new and unexpected forms, rendering additional 



