32 WONDERS OF THE DEEP 



pirates, Captain Woodes Rogers was sent to the 

 island with a force sufficiently strong to destroy 

 the nest of pirates infesting the shores, a service 

 which was promptly effected by that old buccaneer. 

 During the War of American Independence (1776- 

 1783) the islands frequently changed hands. 



The abolition of slavery in the West Indies 

 and in all other tropical possessions within the 

 British Empire, in the year 1807, which was the 

 outcome of the political agitation organised by 

 William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson. and other 

 social reformers against slavery in any of the 

 countries under the British Crown, caused many 

 of the extensive cotton and sugar-cane plantations 

 to be abandoned because many of the natives, now 

 that they were free, refused to work at all, pre- 

 ferring to devote themselves to the cultivation of 

 small patches of maize, yams, and other tropical 

 produce. 



Blockade-runners made good use of Nassau 

 during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. This 

 occurred as the result of the closing of the 

 southern ports of America by the Federals. While 

 the blockade-running lasted, the island enjoyed an 

 unexampled prosperity, the value of the trade 

 having risen from about a quarter of a million to 

 nearly five and a half millions. 



When Columbus passed through the islands he 

 was struck with admiration at the character and 

 fine bearing of the natives, and in one of his 

 letters to King Ferdinand of Spain and Queen 



