75 



extreme southern part of Eleuthera, where low rocky plains and 

 sand-dunes yielded some species not found further north. 



Little San Salvador, an island some 6 miles long and averag- 

 ing perhaps one mile wide, lies nearly directly east of the southern 

 end of Eleuthera and about 9 miles distant, and here we spent 

 February 25 and 26. It is uninhabited, but some farming is 

 done by people who come from Cat Island, about 9 miles to the 

 east or northeast. The soil is mostly white sand, and indian corn 

 and guinea corn are the principal crops. The island is interesting 

 from the great abundance of the hog cabbage palm {Psmdophoenix 

 Sargentii), its common name referring to the use of its trunk for 

 pig food ; this palm, which formerly existed in quantities on some 

 of the Florida Keys, but has now been nearly or quite exter- 

 minated there, exists on Little San Salvador in thousands, and 

 was in full fruit at the time of our visit, the clustered bright-red 

 three-lobed berries being conspicuous in the landscape. The 

 palm occurs on nearly all the Bahaman Islands, but in the inhab- 

 ited ones is much used for pig food, and is thus liable to extinc- 

 tion ; we already have good specimens in the conservatories both 

 from Florida and from the Bahamas, but a supply of the ripe 



excellent fishing on the reefs about this island and a plentiful 

 supply of several kinds was caught in a couple of hours in one 

 afternoon. 



The northern end of Cat Island was reached during the night 



tions for the next two days, including a walk under the guidance 

 of a native completely around the northern end of the island, 

 covering some 1 5 miles or more, the longest tramp that we in- 

 dulged in, which brought us back to the boat after dark, but 

 with large collections. Cat Island was long supposed to be the 

 land first reached by Columbus and the name San Salvador was 

 applied to it and accepted by the English ; in fact, San Salvador 

 is still the name used by the Bahaman government, or at least 

 by some of its departments, though it is now known that the real 

 San Salvador of Columbus is Watling's Island, which lies some 

 40 miles further to the southeast. It is unfortunate that the 



