1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



403 



spot already — in some corner of his lot, and 

 then saws out his " timber. " With a common 

 hand-saw, and a cross-cut saw used by two 

 men, he gets out material very rapidly. The 

 picture shows how deep down the}' go below 

 the surface ; it also gives you glimpses of the 

 cedar brush that grows all over these rocks. 

 On the highest point in the picture you can 

 see where somebody cut out building-material, 

 may be a hundred years ago. As more is 

 wanted they have moved lower down the side 

 of the hill, and got down where it is cleaner. 

 This rock, when it is first uncovered, saws 

 much easier than when it has been exposed to 

 the air. The blocks are cut out and then 

 stood in the sun to season. For the roof, and 

 even for the ceilings of the rooms, they cut 

 the stones quite thin, say an inch or an inch 

 and a half thick. The rock is so porous that 

 the rain would probably go through the roof 

 were it not whitewashed. This whitewash, 

 on exposure to air, soon turns into an insolu- 

 ble carbonate of lime, and then it sheds water. 

 For a similar reason the walls are also treated 

 once a year to whitewash ; and as there is no 

 frost, if you keep your house whitewashed it 

 will never wear out. There are plenty of 

 colored people always ready to keep every 

 thing whitewashed up in style, and there is 

 really no excuse in Bermuda for having any 

 thing look dilapidated. Just keep it white- 

 washed — fences, out-buildings, etc., and they 

 are always as good as new. 



Hamilton, Bermuda, is near the center of 

 the island — that is, the island strings away 

 out ten or twelve miles in two different direc- 

 tions ; but wherever you go you are near the 

 sea-water all the while ; and on many of the 

 hills you can see water on both sides. This 

 soft porous rock reminded me of the neighbor- 

 hood of Mammoth Cave. In fact, there are 

 some very pretty caves on the island. Wal- 

 singham Cave, not far from Devil's Hole, is 

 one of them. Right beside it is the old home 

 and residence of the poet Tom Moore. Right 

 near the mouth of the cave is a large calabash- 

 tree mentioned in one of his poems. Inside 

 of the cave are basins or wells of sea-water ; 

 and this water is so still and so transparent 

 that one may easily look down thirty or forty 

 feet, and see objects on the bottom. When 

 lighted up by blazing palmetto branches this 

 submarine view is very beautiful. The coral 

 rock on the bottom is of varied colors. The 

 white sand sets off every thing and makes it 

 a veritable little fairyland. 



The hotels in Bermuda, like those in Florida, 

 are mostly kept open only during the winter 

 season. As every thing has to be brought in, 

 prices are three or four dollars a day — some of 

 them five. While off on a trip to Saint 

 George's we took dinner at an English hotel, 

 or boarding-house, called Mount Erie. It 

 may interest some of the readers of Glean- 

 ings to know what we had for dinner and 

 how it was served. The dining-room had 

 little tables for just six people. We were 

 waited on by a very pretty young colored 

 woman. There were seven courses in all, the 

 dishes being all taken away and new ones 

 brought for each course. The first course 



was soup with little fishes about three or four 

 inches long, called "grouts." Course No. 2 

 was roast beef and Bermuda potatoes. The 

 potatoes were boiled with the jackets on, and 

 they popped open like kernels of corn. The 

 contrast between the red jackets of the Ber- 

 mudas, with their snowy insides, made them 

 look rather pretty. Course No. 3 was string 

 beans and baked tomatoes. Now, I am not 

 usually much of a hand for tomatoes ; but 

 these were, I should judge, first boiled and 

 then baked, and baked brozon, and I tell you 

 they were tiptop. Course No. 4 was cheese 

 and crackers. The crackers were excellent, 

 and the cheese was the kind that comes in 

 round balls about the size of a cocoanut. Of 

 course, it was tiptop. Course No. 5 was fruit 

 - — bananas, apples from America, etc. Course 

 No. 6 was English plum pudding ; No 7 was 

 coffee. The coffee was not served till we left 

 the table. A colored girl followed us into the 

 sitting-room with an extra quality of coffee — 

 cream and sugar to match. The expense for 

 — I came pretty near saying dinner ; but if 

 you want to be in style you must wait till 

 toward dark, or after dark, for your dinner. 

 What I have described was simply lunch, and 

 this lunch cost 75 cents, our money. I sup- 

 pose dinner would be more. I did not have 

 any dinner while in Bermuda, for I found it 

 policy to stick to my beefsteak, especially 

 for the last meal in the day. 



After lunch we climbed to the top of Mount 

 Erie, and were entertained by seeing one of 

 the Queen's gunboats fire shot after shot. We 

 could first see the smoke, then the splash of 

 the ball in the water ; and as the shot gener- 

 ally skipped, another splash half a mile or so 

 from the first one, and then, last of all, we 

 heard the boom of the cannon. It seemed a 

 little funny that we should see the smoke and 

 the splash in the water long before we heard 

 the sound of the gun. Little did I think that 

 day how soon gunboats and cannon were to 

 be the absorbing topic of America, if not of 

 the whole world. On another trip in a differ- 

 ent direction we came so near the English 

 fleet that was just then anchored off the island 

 that friend Morrison got permission for us to 

 visit briefly an English man-of-war called the 

 Destroyer. Little did I think, while going 

 over this neat little craft, that we were so soon 

 to discuss such warlike structures with so 

 much interest. This boat was about a hundred 

 feet long; but in the widest part it was a little 

 less than twenty feet. The inside was done 

 off in little cabins, in exquisite style, and 

 every thing for comfort. But I noticed the 

 gangway where we climbed down could be 

 shut up water-tight ; it made me think of 

 going down into a tea-kettle and shutting the 

 cover down as tight as a cork in a bottle. 

 The polite and gentlemanly commander took 

 us all through, and answered all our questions; 

 but I was too much " rattled " to ask him how 

 they got air to breathe when the sea was so 

 boisterous they had to be " corked up. ' ' Some- 

 body told me they pumped air in, for the 

 inmates to breathe, by means of tubes that 

 run up to the mast-head, which, of course, is 

 always out of the water. The Destroyer is 



