8 A. FE. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 420 
areas of the lagoons that are entirely free of reefs. (See map, fig. 26.) 
These clear, sheltered waters are ideal places for yachting. With a 
small launch and a native pilot one could spend many delightful 
days cruising among the innumerable small and picturesque islands, 
and studying the structure and varied life of the curious reefs and 
“boilers”; but nearly all of our work was done with row-boats. 
The outer reefs, five to eight miles off the northern and western 
shores, present an almost unbroken barrier to the great seas. They 
are laid bare in many places at low tide, and other larger areas are 
then only covered by two or three feet of water, so that the seas 
break heavily upon them. 
After entering the great lagoon, through the main ship-channel, 
the steamers have to go nearly the whole length of the islands, along 
the north shore, not far from the land, and then make abrupt turns 
beyond Spanish Point and through narrow and crooked passages 
between the numerous small islands, to enter Hamilton Harbor, 
which is thus admirably protected by nature. 
Bermuda is an important British naval and military station, and 
many of the hills and small islands are surmounted by forts, new or 
old. Some of the early ones were built before 1622. These are now 
useless and in ruins, but some of the ruins are very picturesque and 
curious. 
On Ireland Island, nearly opposite Hamilton Harbor, is the navy 
yard, with the famous great floating dry-dock,* the marine hospital, 
and other public buildings. More or less of the English naval 
vessels can always be seen anchored near there, as well as war vessels 
of other countries. 
The appearance of the landscape, along the eastern and northern 
parts of the islands, as one sees it from the steamer, is far from 
promising, and is, indeed, apt to be rather disappointing to stran- 
gers. For much of the land lying near the north shore was long 
ago entirely stripped of its originally dense forests of cedar and 
palmetto, and has become so dry and barren, by the washing away 
of most of the soil, that nothing will grow there, except scattered 
* A much larger new floating dry-dock has been recently built in England to 
take the place of the old one. It was launched on the Tyne, Feb. 8, 1902. The 
new one is 545 feet long; 5314 feet high; 100 feet wide inside, or 126 feet 
over all, and it can lift a vessel weighing 15,500 tons, or if necessary, 17,500 tons; 
walls 13 feet thick. It has about twice the capacity of the old one, which was 
built in 1869. The latter is 381 feet long and 84 feet wide inside, with a lifting 
power of 8,000 tons. 
