NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 33 



worn into innumerable peaks and pinnacles like a miniature mountain 

 range, the points and edges of the pyramidal projections being sharp 

 and clean. As we walked back from the edge of the cay, every grada- 

 tion could be found between the miniature peaks and the cylindrical 

 masses higher up. And I believe that the latter are what remains 

 after the edges of the little peaks and pyramids have been slowly worn 

 away by the action of atmospheric agencies ; for we have only to round 

 off the points and deepen the connecting ridges to produce the vertical 

 cylindrical masses. But in order that this could have occurred, it will 

 be necessary to suppose that the island has been elevated, and this, as 

 I hope to show, I believe has been the case. 



Outliers 



In many places near Andros, as at Mastic Point and Golden Cay, 

 there are cays separated from the island by water but a few feet in 

 depth, and in some places these cays make a prolongation of a point 

 with which I believe they were formerly connected, and have been cut 

 off, not by subsidence, but by erosion. There are other cays, as those 

 near Nassau, that, as I hope to be able to show, owe their origin to 

 another source. 



Caves 



One of "the sights'' at Nassau are "The Caves," about seven 

 miles west of the city. One of these is an irregular opening in the north 

 side of a hill that faces the sea. The floor is considerably above high- 

 water mark. In the back of the first chamber is a small opening through 

 which can be seen a deeper chamber, in the bottom of which is water. 

 This chamber is said to connect with the cave on the opposite side of 

 the same hill. This second cave is a long chamber about fifteen or 

 twenty feet in height, and the roof contains holes through which the 

 roots of trees pass and fasten into the floor below. The side wall of the 

 cave for a distance of about four feet from the ground projected about 

 six inches beyond the upper part of the wall, thus forming a shelf that 

 was quite level and ran the entire length of the chamber, a distance of 

 perhaps one hundred feet. I could only explain the formation of this 

 shelf by supposing that it represented the contact between two depos- 

 its, and that the upper had yielded more rapidly than the lower to ero- 

 sion. 



