I. 



THE BERMUDA ISLANDS. 



My first impression of the Bermudas was one of disappoint- 

 ment. ' I had heard so mucli of the " hundred islands," of the 

 luxuriant vegetation, that I found it difficult to realize that 

 these undulating hills, rising in their garb of withered green, 

 were in reality the far-famdd pearl of the Atlantic. But our 

 visit was timed for the month of July, and possibly the withered 

 condition of the vegetation had something to do with this 

 feeling of disappointment. The clumps of palmettos which are 

 bunched against the hillsides were as yet undistinguishable, 

 and the eye rested on a monotonous expanse of dirty green, re- 

 lieved here and there by dark masses of the Bermuda juniper, 

 wliich, from a distance, recalled the cloud-shadowed patches of 

 our northern mountain slopes. Innumerable particles of 

 white cottages gleamed forth in the bright sunlight, but their 

 uniform brilliancy only served to intensify the sombreness of 

 the background which they illumined. 



I had, from assumed geological knowledge, expected to see 

 a long white crest rolling over the outer reef, but in this ex- 

 pectation I was also disappointed. We were being carried in 

 on the flood, and no trace of this natural parting of the waters 



