TOPOGRAPHY OF THE BAHAMAS. 



445 



while 688 sailed from this place chiefly for the Confederate seaports of Charleston 

 and Wilmington. The last venture reached Charleston safely, but was captured 

 in the harbour, which had just been taken by the Federal trooj^s. The risk was 

 tremendous, and 42 steamers altogether were taken, while 22 ran on the rocks to 

 escape capture. But the profits were correspondingly great, and towards the end of 

 the war both captain and pilot received £1,000 a trip, besides a few bales of cotton 

 " bought for its weight in gold." The trade of Nassau increased thirtyfold, but 

 it drew all hands from the fields, which have been mostly invaded by the bush. 



After the storm and stress period Nassau has resumed its modest rôle as a 

 little centre of distribution for fruits and molluscs. In winter it is frequented 



Fig. 214.— Nassatt; 

 Scale 1 : 38.000. 





West oF G 



77°S2- 



77-2\- 



0tol6 

 Feet. 



Depths. 



IC to 32 



Feet. 



32 Feet 

 and upwards. 



— 1,100 Yards. 



by invalids from the States, althougb the climate is at times severe, while the 

 natives themselves suffer considerably from diseases of the respiratory organs. In 

 general the Bahaman climate is most efficacious for nervous affections. 



The American winter visitors reside especially at Dunmore, in the little 

 Harbour Island, near the north-east angle of the long hook-shaped Eleuthera. 

 Harbour Island, the " Montpellier of the Bah-amas," is the only member of the 

 archipelago which is densely peopled relatively to its extent, a circumstance due 

 to its healthy, bracing air. Its 2,000 inhabitants, concentrated in a space scarcely 

 two square miles in extent, are proud of their descent from the buccaneers, and 

 still observe the old rule respecting land tenure : the cultivator alone is recog- 

 nised as the owner, and only of so much as he actually tills. He is not permitted 



