^12 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The first public functionary one meets is the custom-house officer, 

 who is obliging and discreet, and who receives and passes 3'ou with 

 so much courtesy and dispatch that a pleasant impression is left on 

 your mind which goes to relieve your vexation at the volunteer 

 porters who have persisted, unbidden, in pawing over 3'our luggage 

 and making their needless exertions the basis of a claim for a 

 shilling. If every traveller could bear a frown, or say no, this 

 fruitful source of irritation would soon cease. Arriving at the 

 hotel, which like everything else in a British colony is a Royal 

 Victoria, and which is roomy, comfortable and excellentl}^ managed 

 by a Connecticut hotel-keeper, you speedil}^ make yourself at home 

 iind begin to look about you. 



One observes, particularly about Nassau, the quaint and 

 'Colonial aspect of the enclosures and buildings ; the peculiar walls, 

 breast-high, formed of pieces of coral limestone laid dry and then 

 well plastered over with lime-mortar, giving to each enclosure all 

 of the effect of exclusive proprietorship that would be given b}' a 

 tight board fence. Most of the buildings, both public and private, 

 are built of regular blocks of limestone which is easily quarried 

 and dressed into any desired form with a hatchet and saw. 



The streets of Nassau are regular, clean, and well laid out. The 

 abundance of trees which line the streets tend greatly to relieve the 

 bright glare of reflected sunlight, which rather oppresses the 

 Northerner when experienced for the first time. 



One of the agreeable features of a Avinter experience in these 

 islands comes from the uniformly equable temperature of air and 

 water. During the entire month of February, 1891, the thermom- 

 eter fell below 70° on only one occasion, toward the end of the 

 month, when for a part of the day it fell to 65°. The temperature 

 at sunrise averaged from 70° to 72°; at noon from 78° to 82°; at 

 sunset from 74° to 76°. The temperature of the ocean was, in the 

 morning, 70° to 72° and at evening from 74° to 76°. It was 

 claimed by old citizens that the lowest temperature ever known 

 was 64°. The bitterly cold wave which passed over the whole of 

 the United States and covered Florida with frost, had only refrig- 

 eration enough left, when, in the last week of February, it crossed 

 the Gulf Stream and reached Nassau, to reduce the temperature 

 for a short time to 65°. Such an equable climate is not only 

 beneficial to invalids but is a source of enjoyment to those in 

 Jiealth. It enables a careful gardener to suppl}^ the table with a 



