A WINTEII VISIT TO THE BAHAMA ISLAXDS. 215 



buildings wliieh were made uuder adverse circumstances. The 

 mace which was used as the symbol of Royal authority in the 

 assembly of South Carolina, was carried to Nassau and now does 

 service as such in the Colonial House of Assembly. 



The structure of their social and industrial systems was based 

 upon slavery and, upon its abolition in 1837, every department of 

 industry' and trade was rudel}' arrested and has since languished, 

 excepting during the brief years of the American Civil War, 

 when the facilities which the islands afforded for blockade-running 

 gave such an unnatural stimulus to trade and speculation that 

 everybody plunged in, to be hopelessly stranded when the bubble 

 of disunion was broken. 



Andros Island, Avhich is larger than all of the others put to- 

 gether, was named for Sir Edmund Andros who was Governor of 

 Massachusetts from December 20, 1G86, until April 18, 1689. 

 When the news of the abdication and flight of James the Second 

 reached the colonies, (xovernor Andros was seized by the men of 

 Boston, deposed, imprisoned and sent to England. No judicial 

 decision was ever made in his case, as the authorities were on the 

 horns of a dilemma whether they condemned him or acquitted him 

 of tyrannical proceedings in the Colonies, but he was subsequently 

 appointed Governor of Virginia, where his conduct was marked by 

 more moderation and was generally acceptable. He was subse- 

 quently one of the Lords Proprietors of the Bahamas and died in 

 England in 1714. 



William Shirley was Governor of Massachusetts from 1741 to 

 1756, and was, possibly, until his ill-starred military operations of 

 1755, one of the most popular Royal Governors Massachusetts 

 ever had. Point Shirley is a reminder of the esteem in Avhich he 

 was held in Boston, and of the grand celebration on the 8th of 

 September, 1753, when all Boston seemed intoxicated with the 

 prospect of the establishment of glass-making at the Point, — a 

 prospect which never materialized. In 1759, Governor Shirley was 

 appointed Governor of the Bahamas and so continued till 1767. 

 The rambler around Nassau cannot fail to pass through Shirley 

 street, one of the principal thoroughfares, also named after the 

 Governor. From these considerations, as well as others that 

 might be added if time permitted, Nassau is peculiarly interesting 

 to a New Englander but especially to a Bostonian. 



To one who has never visited the Tropics, the strange condi- 

 tions and species of vegetable life seem most remarkable ; familiar 



