386 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



July $tk. — A well was sunk by the Corporation of 

 Hamilton on the green opposite Dean's Academy, and 

 another on the eastern boundary of the town ; a third 

 was also sunk on the north shore, near Mount Langton, 

 through the benevolence of the Governor, Captain Charles 

 Elliot, R.N., an inscription over which informs us that 

 the work was performed by men of the 42nd Royal 

 Highlanders. By July 25th the Sage Bush, which covers 

 the Bermuda hills, and, to a distant observer, gives them 

 the appearance of grassy verdure, shed its leaves from 

 the effect of the continued drought, thus exposing to 

 sight the rocky and sterile nature of the greater portion 

 of the islands. The Cedars growing on the hills as- 

 sumed a scorched appearance ; the hardy Lemon Trees 

 withered from the same cause ; and the Pride of India, 

 though still wonderfully green and vigorous, began to show 

 the yellow leaf. Grass had long since disappeared. Tanks 

 were mostly dry, and public wells were being sunk in 

 several parishes. 



Water became more scarce every day. The poorer people, 

 who depended chiefly on the brackish water of the public 

 wells for their daily use, were speedily attacked by diarrhoea 

 and fever, which was fast spreading among them. Cows 

 began to die from the scarcity of weeds and water. Our 

 goat and kid had been fed with the boughs of the Pride of 

 India for some time. The whole month had been clear and 

 warm, without a single shower of any consequence until its 

 close, when at sunset on the 31st welcome showers of 

 rain commenced. The thermometer during this month 

 ranged from eighty to eighty-two degrees. 



In the spring, 1875, I received a letter from my friend, 

 John Mathew Jones, dated from Bermuda, giving the 

 following account of a, winter drought in those islands. 

 He states : " We have had a most curious winter, one long- 



