INTRODUCTION. XXIII 
recollected the time when Ireland and Boaz were inhabited by fisher- 
men, who lived in huts made of boughs of cedar, and brush for sides, 
and having the roofs thatched with palmetto leaves. 
The Islands in the Sound.—The large sheet of water, which is inclosed 
by the curve of the land running from Paget Parish to Ireland Island, 
is known as ‘‘The Great Sound.” It contains several islands, generally 
of small size, but the larger ones are very picturesque. Tucker’s Island, 
which lies close in shore near Somerset Bridge, is well worth a visit, 
and the visitor should not omit to notice a lovely little cavern upon it. 
Marshal Island and Godet Island lie east of the latter, and around 
their shores may be obtained many fine specimens of sponges, zoophytes, 
and small crustaceans. : 
Brackish Pond, an extensive morass about two miles east of Hamil- 
ton, on the skirts of which grow some fine specimens of cedar trees, 
while amongst the close thicket of shrubs and palmettos which tenant 
its interior some giant ferns and aquatic plants of divers species occur 
which are not seen in the open. In this dense region the ornithologist 
will find a good collecting ground, as owing to the difficulty of travers- 
ing the treacherous bog hardly any one disturbs the solitude which 
almost continually prevails here. Here also, up in the branches of the 
old cedars, and occasionally in the shrubs around, may be procured the 
curiously constructed nest of the tree rat (Mus tectorum), a species re- 
cently added to the Bermudian fauna. 
