FroRA OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND ANDROS 3 
the Contrary they are always covered with perpetual Verdure and 
the Trees and Shrubs grow as close and are as thick cloathed 
with Leaves as in the most luxuriant Soil." In some places the 
soil is reddish and this is considered the most fertile. 
Six weeks of our stay were spent at Ryswick, a country place 
that we rented on the shore about three miles east of Nassau. 
Although the greater part of this time was given to the zodlogical 
work, stiil between times we collected over two hundred species of 
plants, crossing the island several times and exploring it in many 
directions. The collection, of course, included many cosmopolitan 
weeds and introduced plants that were found in Nassau and its 
environs. Among the latter, growing commonly about the city 
were the glossy-leaved almond tree (Terminala Catappa), the 
graceful Spanish cedar (Casuarina equisetifolia), the buttressed 
ceiba or silk-cotton tree, the sand-box tree (Hura crepitans), 
and the beautiful flamboyant (Poinciana regia) with its fern-like 
foliage. 
Having completed the zodlogical work that had been planned, 
we made a diligent study of the chart, and finally decided to visit 
Andros next as the largest and least known of the islands and the 
one from which no botanical collections had ever been made. 
Although the nearest part of Andros is only twenty-five miles 
from New Providence, we could get but little information con- 
cerning it until we met Mr. Alexander Keith, of Edinburgh, who 
had a sisal plantation on Andros. To him we were indebted for 
many favors both at this time and later. A “norther” delayed 
our sailing for ten days, but we finally reached Andros March 14, 
and remained there until July 3. : 
Andros is by far the largest island of the group, being nearly 
one hundred miles long and forty or fifty wide in its broadest part 
and having an area of over nineteen hundred square miles. It is 
in reality not one island but a group of islands, the larger north- 
ern portion being separated from the southern and central parts 
by shallow channels known as “Бе в.” There is a northern, а 
middle and a southern bight but they are so filled with cays that 
the whole archipelago, as it might be termed, is called by the gen- 
eral name of Andros. In its prominent physical features, Andros 
resembles New Providence, although its greatest length runs north 
