80 
that seemed necessary for our trip to the north. Departure was 
made again from Nassau during the night, and Whale Cay, the 
southernmost of the Berry Islands, lying about 4o miles northwest 
Providence, was made in the early morning of January 29. 
The Berry Islands had not to our knowledge, been previously 
visited by botanists; they are a chain of cays, concave to the 
west, located on the eastern edge of the Great Bahama Bank, the 
group being about 25 miles long, its individual islets separated 
only by narrow passages, some of them furnishing good harbors 
Fic. 18. Cactus ( Pilo.ereus) on Frozen Cay, 
for vessels of shallow draft. The exploration of Whale Cay oc- 
cupied us on January 29; it has deeper and more abundant soil 
than many other Bahamian islets, and contains the largest forests 
of Sargent’s palm (Pseudophoenix Sargentii) that we know of, 
aise composed of several thousand trees, many of which 
were in full fruit at the time of our visit; they grow densely 
re with other trees, forming a most interesting cop- 
pice, part of which has already been cleared for a sisal farm, 
