FORT CHARLOTTE. 5Y 
war, and no ambition to take possession of it for and in the name 
of the Great Republic, although, if somewhat reduced in size, 
and safely floated over the ocean, it might add a pleasing interest 
to some great American Museum or Inter-national Exposition. 
We were well satisfied to enter it as willing captives of British 
and Bahama hospitality. 
To our civilian eyes its armament did not appear formidable. 
Its old and rusty ordinance seemed little better than Quaker guns. 
No doubt, however, they exert as salutary a moral influence upon 
Nassau’s suburban colored inhabitants as would the best rifled 
and breech-loading peacemakers of modern times. 
To us the fort had a special value by reason of the extensive 
and picturesque views it affords. In front, and far away to the 
right and left, were the strings of beaded keys with which the 
shores of New Providence are exquisitely jewelled. Numberless 
rocks and reefs, lying in ambush in the shallows of the sea, were 
revealed by the white, foaming breakers that dashed over them. 
The iris colored and ribboned waters, with their settings of islands 
and keys, constituted a lovely sun embroidered border for the 
dark, deep blue dress of the ocean, which, in wide and waving 
folds, brushed against thesky. Turning to the opposite side, the 
contrast was most striking. The hill upon which we stood, 
Prospect Hill to the right, and the Blue Hills in the distance, 
are densely wooded banks and water sheds of a low, wet wilder- 
ness. We were very near to a colonial capital in which we had 
witnessed, in rather a small way, something of the pride and 
pomp and glory of this world. From our commanding positions 
we were able to observe its ‘‘ back country,” and to see no small 
portion of the island, yet we looked in vain for green pastures 
and flowery meads, for villages and farm houses, for orchards 
and gardens. The glassy surface of a small, salt and shallow 
lake alone broke the continuity of the low, thick, impenetrable 
