THE GECLOGY OF BERMUDA. 23 
from the Northwest point to Gates his Bay, as by this Map your Lady- 
ship may see, in which Sir George Summers, who coasted in his boat 
about them all, tooke great care to expresse the same exactly and full, 
and made his draught perfect for all good occasions, and the benefit of 
such, who either in distresse might be brought upon them, or make 
saile this way. It should seeme by the testimony of Gonzalus Ferdinan- 
dus Oviedus, in his Booke intituled, The Summary or Abridgement of 
his generall History of the West Indies, written to the Emperor Charles 
the Fift, that they haue been indeed of greater compasse (and I easily 
beleeue it) than they are now, who thus saith [here follows the extract 
from Oviedo, as above given, except that, by a mistake of copyist or 
printer, the breadth of the group is given as sixteen leagues, instead 
of six]. True it is, the maine Iland, or greatest of them now, may be 
some sixteene miles in length East North-East, and West South-West 
the longest part of it, standing in thirtie two degrees and twentie min- 
utes, in which is a great Bay on the North side, in the North-west end, 
and many broken Iands in that Sound or Bay, and a little round Iland 
at the South-west end.”* 
The second extract is from the narrative of another member of the 
expedition.t ‘This Iland, I meane the maine Iland, with all the broken 
Tlands adiacent, are made in the forme of a halfe Moone, but a little more 
rounder, and divided into many broken Ilands, and there are many good 
harbors in it, but we could find but one especiall place to goe in, or 
rather to goe out from it, which was not altogether free from some 
Danger, there there is three Fathoms water at the entrance thereof, but 
within, six, seauen, or eight Fathoms at the least, where you may safely 
lie Land-locked, from the daunger of all Winds and Weathers, and 
moore to the trees.”¢ 
To me these descriptions appear to justify a very positive conclusion 
that there las been no considerable subsidence since 1609; and, of 
course, all geological probabilities are against so rapid a subsidence as. 
* Purchas, op. cit., Part 4, p. 1738. 
tA discovery of the Barmudas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels, by Sir Thomas 
Gates, Sir George Sommers, and Captayne Newport, with Diuers others. Sil. Jourdan. 
A reprint of this narrative bears the title: A plaine Description of the Barmudas, now 
called Sommer Ilands. With the manner of their Discouerie Anno 1609, by the ship- 
wrack and admirable deliuerance of Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Sommers. Lon- 
don, 1613. Hakluyt, op. cit., Vol. V., pp. 551-8. Tracts and other papers relating 
principally to the Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America. 
Collected by Peter Force. Vol. III., No. 3. Lefroy, op. cit., Vol. I., pp. 14-21. 
t{Hakluyt, op. cit., Vol. V., p. 557. Force, op. cit., Vol. III., No. 3, pp. 13, 14. 
