PHYSICAL HISTOEY AND GEOLOGY. 45 



A number of serious objections present themselves to the 

 acceptance of this explanation. The jjremises are largely, if 

 not almost wholly, of a hypothetical character. That the 

 islands are in a measure undermined there can be no doubt, 

 but there is little, if anything, to show that there have been 

 breakages of the extent which would be required by the 

 theory. Evidences of local disruption are plentiful, such as 

 may be found in alnaost every region of sinks, but as far as T 

 can see there is nothing to indicate that basins such as Har- 

 rington Sound, Castle Harbor, or the great lagoon could have 

 been formed, or even materially furthered, by disturbances 

 such as the cave-theory calls into existence. The even floors 

 of these basins argue strongly against formation through 

 breakage, as does likewise the horizontality of the beach-rock 

 formation. The absence of all indications of disturbance 

 from the latter is significant. But the broader question can 

 well be asked : How could extensive cave formations, extending 

 40, 60, or 70 feet beneath the water surface, be brought about 

 without subsidence ? Whence would the force of excavation be 

 obtained ? The answer might be returned : solution. But 

 there is no more reason to assume special solution in the case 

 of the Bermudas or in other coral islands than in any marine 

 limestone formation. 



The difficulty in the problem entirely disappears if we admit 

 subsidence, and, as has already been seen, the positive evidences 

 of subsidence are ample. On no other theory, it a[)pears to 

 me, can the waste of the cliffs on the south shore be explained. 

 The direct evidences of subsidence, moreover, do not come 

 from a single point in the archipelago ; they are found from 

 Ireland Island and Hamilton Sound, through the Main 

 Island, to St. George's. And this being the case, there is every 

 reason to assume that the area which was influenced by move- 

 ments of one kind or another was not restricted to the present 

 patches of exposed land, but extended to the submerged por- 

 tions of the archipelago as well. 



