THE WKKCKIXG lU'SJIXESS. 28)5 



Colored members looked intelligent, appeared well, and seemed 

 to command the respect of their white associates. 



WKECKS AXD WEECKIKG. 



Much may be truthfully said in commendation of the delicate 

 silken web of the spider, as its gossamer threads, gemmed with 

 tiew-drops, glisten in the morning sunlight, — but to many gay, 

 sportive insects it is a trap of death. Little do they think of the 

 lurking peril as they fan the warm air with their tiny wings, and 

 voice their happiness in gentle murmurs. Thus in the clear 

 warm waters of a summer sea, the Bahamas attract by their 

 beauty, and lull and disarm suspicion by their soft and languid 

 air. But a more dangerous place is nowhere to be found in all 

 the paths of commerce. Xumerous islands, keys, rocks and 

 reefs, deceitful currents and cross currents, and extensive shoals 

 and banks, constitute only a part of the perils which ever lurk 

 in these much frequented waters, for wreckers have succeeded 

 the pirates, and the salvage of the salvors, and the legal and other 

 expenses, not unf rcqucntly absorb all that the destroying elements 

 and engulfing waters have left. Deprived of the means of sup- 

 port which the varied industries of colder climates so lavishly 

 furnish, hundreds of the Bahamians wait and watch for wrecks, 

 as our northern cats wait and watch for summer birds. 



The government officials and the courts of admiralty, under 

 the broad aegis of colonial revenue acts and mjxritime law, are 

 handsomely provided for in the division of the spoils of the sea, 

 so that in many cases the owners in distaut States have to thank 

 Nassau for little more than a convenient and sufficiently roomy 

 burial place for their property and their hopes. 



The number of wrecks reported in seven years, from 1858 to 

 1864, was 313, of which 259 were claimed to be tota,! losses — • 

 which means, we suppose, total so far as their owners were con- 



