148 Notes on the Bermudas. 



outlets to the north, the east, and the south ; together they are 

 about 3^ miles in diameter, aud are each of them of a somewhat 

 circular form. They are studded with innumerable islets, and the 

 great number of shoals and reefs with which they are filled ren- 

 ders their navigation, as we sometimes found to our cost, a matter 

 of some difficulty and requiring much skill. In the nooks, corners 

 and bays formed by this extremely varied arrangement of land 

 and water, to which the instincts and habits of the Polypi 

 have given their peeuliar and typical form, and in the salt marshes 

 and little lakes which are formed in the valleys, we find the habi- 

 tats of a great variety of most interesting Marine Fauna and Flora 

 ■ — a perfect paradise, in which an earnest Naturalist may luxuriate. 

 The climate of the Bermudas, from their position, may be 

 termed sub-tropical. The Thermometer in winter seldom falls 

 below 56" Fah. — on a cool evening it may fall to 52°. In the 

 summer months it ranges from 68'^ to about OO''. The atmos- 

 phere is at all times very humid, and frequently disagreeably so. 

 Spring aud Autumn are most paradaisical seasons in Bermuda. The 

 iieavens,the earth and the sea thee appear in th eir most gorgeous robes, 

 and from the highest peak of the land, as from a noble and beautiful 

 pedestal, they may be surveyed in every direction stretched out in 

 all their solemn grandeur. In the flora of such a climate it may 

 be expected that we shall find the productions of both the tempe- 

 rate and the tropical zones. Vegetation puts on here a decidedly 

 Oriental garb. The beautiful fan-shaped Palmetto, the grace- 

 fully luxuriant Banana, the bright blood-red Pomegranate, 

 the deep- green umbrageous Fig, the Orange and the Lemon with 

 their perfumed flowers and luscious fruit, the familiar Grape Vine, 

 and the Oleander, the ornament of every garden, at once strike 

 the eye. Besides these there are the Cedar, (Juniper Verginiana) 

 which covers the islands with its dark ever-green foliage, and the 

 sage bush with its tiny waxen flowers and pleasant odor — the most 

 proliffic of weeds and the plague of the farmer. There are also 

 a great abundance of Cacti among which we have seen the mag- 

 nificent night-blooming Grandiflorus. Several fine species of 

 Acacia and the curious fruit-bearing, reticulate-branched Cala- 

 bash, also the pride of India — a deciduous tree famous for its 

 summer shade — the wrinkled Pawpaw and the graceful Coffee 

 plant with its pretty flowers, all indigenous to the tropics, grow 

 and flourish here. In the kitchen garden, melon, pumpkin, squash 

 and cucumber vines, with tomatoes and sweet potatos, &c., grow in 



