Notes on the Bermudas. 147 



during the lapse of ages, without any disturbance or fracture of 

 the rock formations. 



This land thus superimposed on the limestone rock of the Ter- 

 tiary period has evidently been formed by the combined action of 

 the sea and the wind — the sea eroding the Polypi corals, 

 grinding their fragments into sand, and washing them up on the 

 beach ; and the strong winds which characterize the latitude of 

 these islands drives with great force and to some distance the sands 

 of the shore upon the higher lands. The sand thus forms great 

 drifts, just as the snow does in our Canadian winter, and becoming 

 cemented by some kind of chemical action, wliich may be wit- 

 nessed in process at the present day, it gradually hardens into 

 a granulated porous rock. 



This being the general geological character of the Bermudas, 

 it may be supposed that there will be found around their coasts 

 numerous bays and estuaries ; being also of coral origin, it may be 

 expected that they will present more or less the appearance of the 

 Lagoons so common to the coral islands of the Pacific. It is wel^ 

 known that the Polypi, or coral animals, when floating free, at- 

 tach themselves to any obstruction that lies in their path, and that 

 around this they deposit their limey secretions ; and these gradually 

 accumulating and rismg in the course of unnumbered generations, 

 take the form of a ring or belt, more or less perfect, according to 

 the form of the ob'Jtructing rock. Most of the reefs that are yet 

 covered with water have this appearance, and rise frequently from 

 a great depth, like a forest of calcarous trees in the sea. According 

 to this principle of coralline life, we find the whole group of islands 

 partaking of this general circular character ; and, including the reefs 

 which stretch out under water a distance of about 10 miles, the 

 whole group assumes the form of an egg-shaped oval, which again 

 we find divided into greater and lesser circles. In the south-west 

 there is the Great Sound, a circular basin of water, with openings 

 narrow and intricate to the north and west, and attached to it 

 there are several smaller basins or harbours of the same general 

 form. To the east of this there is Harrington Sound, a beauliful 

 sheet of water about 2 miles in breadth, forming an almost com- 

 plete circle, and very deep, with but a narrow entrance on the 

 north side — so narrow indeed as not to admit of the full rise and 

 fall of the tide within the Sound. To the noith-east of this again 

 there are Castle Harbour and Saint George's Harbour, connected 

 with each other by a narrow strait. These harbours have several 



