THE GEOLOGY OF BERMUDA. 21 
isnothing moreremarkablein this narrative than the statement that they 
made account at the first that they were cast away hard by the shore, 
being high cliffs, whereas they found themselves seven leagues off. It 
is a positive proof that the north-west reefs, only a few points of which 
are now above water at the lowest spring tide, were then some feet 
above it. The expression high cliffs must be interpreted by the circum- 
stance of seamen in a small boat approaching a dangerous shore, with 
a heavy swell on, rendering it dangerous and difficult toland. But if 
they were only 10 feet high, the amount of subsidence in less than three 
centuries, shown by their present submergence, is a most significant 
geological fact ; and Henry May has rendered an invaluable service by 
mentioning the circumstance. The map in Purchas, published 1625, 
confirms it. It shows three distinct islets, that have now disappeared, 
along the line of the northern reefs. The North Rock of Bermuda, 14 
feet high, and some smaller rocks near it, are all that remain. to attest 
the accuracy of these early descriptions.” The statements of May ap- 
pear to me rather to warrant exactly the contrary inference. If the 
northern reef formed then aline of cliff nearly or quite continuous, Iam 
unable to understand how he could have supposed himself hard by the 
shore when really several leagues from it. But, on the supposition that 
the vessel struck near some islet or group of islets like North Rock, the 
account becomes perfectly intelligible. The rocky islet could easily have 
been mistaken in the storm for a line of cliff, and the mistake would 
speedily become obvious on starting to row to the supposed shore. The 
7 leagues of distance is, of course, the exaggerated estimate of men who 
were rowing a heavy-laden boat, with a raft in tow, on a stormy sea. 
That there may have been several islets scattered along the line of 
the north reef, which have now succumbed to the action of the waves, 
is on all accounts exceedingly probable. May’s statement that the 
island is divided into broken islands, and his estimate of the dimensions 
of the island on which he found himself, and which he supposed to be 
the principal one of the group, though the description is not sufficiently 
definite to afford any very reliable conclusions, certainly favor the belief 
that the land was then not appreciably higher than at present. An 
elevation which would convert the north reef into a continuous line of 
cliff, would very seriously modify the broken character of the southern 
side of the atoll, connecting most of the islets by continuous dry land. 
The last notice supposed to indicate a subsidence within histori¢ 
