18 JONES GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE BERMUDAS. 



Art. II. On the Geological Features of the Bermudas. 

 By J. M. Jones, F. L. S. 



IRead JVbw. 6, 1865.] 

 The geological features of the Bermudas are at once interesting 

 and peculiar. The group may be styled a series of sandy islets, 

 more or less covered with cedar trees ; for wherever you traverse, 

 either along the shore or on the more elevated land, sand lies 

 beneath your feet, and the cedar tree is rarely absent. 



It does not require much stretch of the imagination to conceive 

 the origin of this group, as formations always in progress in 

 different parts of the islands give a clue to what has otherwise 

 proved a mystery. 



I have already given an opinion as regards the original formation 

 of these islands in the " Canadian Naturalist'" for February, 1864. 

 Granting a primitive foundation, most proba,bly the result of 

 volcanic action, at no great depth beloAV the ocean surface, the 

 current of the Gulf stream would supply ample material to form a 

 basis on which the gradual process of islandic formation would be 

 slowly perhaps, but surely developed. 



It is to the coral zoophyte, however, that minim in Nature's 

 chain, that the Bermudas owe their existence as a settlement fit for 

 the human race to dwell in. Without its presence the massive 

 barrier reefs which lie around far in advance of the main land 

 actinsT as walls of defence asrainst the encroachments of the 

 tremendous seas which break upon them, Avould not exist ; and the 

 inhabited districts, where now the neat white dwellings stand 

 snugly ensconced in groves of cedars, would soon be changed to 

 scenes of desolation ; for like the locality known as the " Sand 

 Hills" in Paget's parish, the sand would be thrown on shore by the 

 violence of the waves, and the driviug gale would hurry it along, 

 burying houses and cedar groves in its course, as it has done in the 

 locality I have alluded to. 



Speaking of sand it may be well in the first place to consider 

 the composition of the Bermuda sand. Take it as it lies upon the 

 beach, and you will perceive, without the aid of the lens, that broken 

 coral and shell are the principal ingredients. Fink coloured sub- 

 stances are also seen intermixed. They are fragments of nulliporcs 

 which coat the reefs and shore rock in abundance. The nuUipore 



