156 Notes on the Bermudas. 



build ships and boats. They are famous iTsliermen, daring boat- 

 men, and skilful pilots. They do all the loading and unloading 

 of ships. They cultivate almost all the land, and raise ninety- 

 nine hundredths of the potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and arrow- 

 root, which constitute the commercial wealth of Bermuda, and these 

 are no inconsiderable items. They have been all but excluded 

 from any influence in the government. The Legislature were so 

 frightened in 1834 that they raised the property franchise to an 

 amount beyond the reach of any excepting a few of the most 

 foitunate of the colored race. That they are somewhat ignorant 

 we grant ; but what schools have been provided for them ? A 

 few miserable things. "We shall ever stand up for the blacks. 

 Our opinion is, that had they the government of the island in 

 their hands for five years, they would not manage legislation 

 worse than the whites, but would unquestionably put some life 

 into the old stagnant system of Colonial polity. 



The government of the Islands is the old irresponsible form 

 of administration, which, till within a few years, prevailed in 

 all the British Colonial possession. There is a Governor 

 appointed by the Crown, and a Council or Upper Chamber, 

 whose members, eleven in number, hold office for life, and 

 are nominated by the Colonial Office. The Parliament pro- 

 per, or House of Assembly, consists of four representatives 

 from each of the nine tribes or parishes, into which the coun- 

 try is divided. These members of the Legislature must be 

 residents, and must hold property in the parishes which they re- 

 present. For the Franchise there is also required a property qua- 

 lification of considerable amount for Bermuda. The judiciary is 

 formed upon the English model, and consists of a Court of Chan- 

 cery, a Court of Errors, and a Couit of General Assize. 



Taking the Natural History of the Bermudas as a whole, from 

 man, the crown and top of the Vertebrata, to the tiniest of the 

 Porifera — from the " Cedar to the Hyssoj)," in the domain of 

 Flora — and from the greatest to the least striking aspects of the 

 inorganic land and sea, we find much to love and to admire, and 

 reasons innumerable for unbounded praise to the God who made 

 them all. 



