INTRODUCTION. 



The numerous Bahama Islands form an archipelago situated east 

 of Florida and north of Cuba and Hispaniola, comprising 29 islands, 

 661 cays and 2387 rocks with a total land area of about 4424 square 

 miles; the nearest island to the Florida coast is Gun Cay, distant 

 about 40 miles nearly east from Cape Florida; the island nearest 

 Cuba is the little Cay Sal, about 35 miles north, across the Nicholas 

 Channel, while the nearest to Hispaniola is Great Inagua, lying 

 about 60 miles north of Cape St. Nicholas. 



The axis of the archipelago is in a general way northwest and 

 southeast, with a total length of over 600 miles ; the greatest width, 

 disregarding the islands of the outlying Cay Sal Bank, from Gun 

 Cay to Man-of-War Cay, Abaco, is about 150 miles. 



The most northern cays of the Little Bahama Bank north of the 

 Great Bahama Island are in north latitude about 27 30' ; the south- 

 ern side of Great Inagua is in north latitude about 20 55'. Gun 

 Cay is in west longitude about 79 20'; cays of the Turk's Islands 

 are in west longitude about 71 10'. 



The many islands and cays stand on banks, in shallow water, 

 with oceanic depths among and between them. The region has, 

 doubtless, been subjected to alternate periods of uplift and depres- 

 sion in past geologic time, but the vertical movements have prob- 

 ably been relatively small; during times of uplift, some of the 

 present islands may have been connected, but there is no evidence 

 that there ever was land connection with either Florida, Cuba or 

 Hispaniola. 



Most of the islands are low, but hilly and rocky, the ranges of 

 hills usually running lengthwise of the island ; on New Providence, 

 the hills rise to. about 100 feet elevation; on Cat Island, aneroid 

 barometer readings indicated altitudes up to 205 feet (published 

 records of greater elevations on Cat Island were not substantiated 

 by our observations) ; on Watling's Island, hills rise to about 140 

 feet. Most of Andros, the Great Bahama and Abaco are low and 

 nearly level. At points where the hills come to the sea there are 

 bold rocky headlands, such as Columbus Bluff, at the southern end 



