70 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the fig and silk-cotton trees, and the looser, stiffer foliage of the 

 almond, add here and there a bolder touch to the landscape, and 

 the unmistakable cocoa palms, seen from afar, adorn the hillside 

 or wave their feathered crests above the beach. 



The town skirts the shore for some distance, covering the slope 

 of a low ridge which lies parallel with it. From the brow of the 

 hill an old fort looks down upon the clustering roofs below, upon 

 the white streets, and the dazzling bluish-emerald waters of the 

 bay. A remote fortress half hidden by mantling shrubbery stands 

 guard on a low bluff to the right, while cottages and fishermen's 

 huts, following the main street eastward, dot the shore for several 

 miles on the opposite side. This picturesque little harbor has a 

 livelier appearance to-day than usual. Dingy sponging boats and 

 leaky-looking fishing craft lie along the wharf and down the bay, 

 or are beached at low tide. There are larger vessels bringing ice 

 from Maine, and the iron-gray sides of an English steamer loom 



FIG. 1. HEAD AND FOOT OF WILSON'S STORMY PETREL. 



up from yonder low dock, where it now discharges its merchan- 

 dise fresh from over the sea. 



Sailing northeastward, Nassau and its shipping are soon ob- 

 scured by the long green bar of Hog Island. This is in turn over- 

 lapped by similar keys, which gradually fade to green lines and 

 dip under the waves. 



For several days the ship speeds on with every sail set. Day 

 and night not a sound is heard but the rustle of waves and the 

 occasional flapping of a sail or sharp report of a rope on the 

 taut canvas. On the sixth day out the sea was nearly calm, 

 like glass, heaving in long, subdued billows, or like a silvered 

 mirror, with slow, undulating tremors spreading far out to the 

 horizon edge. 



We noticed that the petrels now rested for the first time on the 

 water after their long journey by wing. These little waifs appear 

 never to alight except in calm weather. Day after day they fol- 

 low the vessel in search of the stray scraps of greasy food thrown 

 overboard. Now they flit noiselessly alongside, then dash on 

 ahead or fall back astern, and so over the same course again hour 



