6 THE BERMUDA ISLANDS. 



thing to replace them. An occasional sycamore, mulberry or 

 weeping-willow still reminds one of the temperate north, but 

 beyond these and the Bermuda juniper, there is little sugges- 

 tive of the woods barely six hundred miles distant. The uni- 

 versality of the juniper, however, imparts a decidedly north- 

 ern aspect to the vegetation, despite the large number of tropi- 

 cal elements that are embodied in it. The latter are too 

 irregularly scattered to constitute dominating factors in the 

 modeling of the landscape. At intervals bits of delicious tropi- 

 cal nature surprise one; Wiirm and sunshiny patches of palm- 

 land, largely overgrown with the coarse bracken, and bordered 

 by almost impenetrable thickets of banana and plantain, fall 

 refreshingly upon the eye that has perhaps become satiated 

 with the juniper, and that glory of the Bermudas, the oleander. 

 O'er hill and dale, far and near, in the garden and along the 

 roadside, this suparb bush scatters its fragrance to the winds. 

 For one who has not seen the rose-flowered oleander in its na- 

 tive home, or in this land of its adoption, it is 'impossible to 

 conceive of the effect which is produced by the great masses of 

 showy blossoms which appear here, there, and everywhere 

 throughout the landscape. The hedges are ablaze with their 

 blossoms, and buried in perfume; the roadways are simi- 

 larly bejeweled and scented. I can only compare the general 

 effect with that produced by our copses of rhododendi'on, but, 

 while the flowers and foliage of the oleander suffer as individ- 

 ual elements in the comparison, they more than compensate 

 by their masses. 



A fir^t impression of a country drive in the Bermudas, 

 along some such road as the " middle road " leading from 

 Hamilton to Flatts Village, is not soon forgotten. The gray, 

 one might almost say omnipresent, bounding wall, which 

 forms part of the natural rock of the islands, the retired and 

 sheltered cottages, the peculiar inhabitants — more black than 

 white — and above all the vegetation, strike one as strange and 

 novel. Birds of bright plumage, the red cardinal and blue-bird, 

 flit numerously before you, and although tliey are regular 



