216 ISLES OF SUMMER. 
islands with honeycombed shores, and short patches of white 
sandy beaches, also contribute other elements of beauty. The 
purple haze resting upon the island of New Providence also re- 
calls the aerial investiture of the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 
We are soothed and lulled by a soft silvery melody, the water 
rising and singing sweetly to us as we glide along; the music 
perfectly harmonizes with the calm and voluptuous beauty which | 
nature has lavishly bestowed upon this favored locality. 
Snatches of poetry long concealed in some of the nooks and 
corners of the mind, and forgotten—the gathered gems of earlier 
years—emerge from their hiding places amid scenes and sur- 
roundings so congenial, (just as the beautiful and perfumed blos- 
soms of the arbutus awaken from their winter’s sleep in the warm 
breath of the opening spring,) and we again exclaim with Fay : 
“Blow scented gale, the snowy canvass swell, 
And flow, thou gleaming eddying current, on; 
Grieve me to bid each lovely point farewell, 
That, ere its graces half are seen, is gone. 
-**Nor clouds in heaven, nor billows on the deep, 
More graceful shapes did ever have or roll, 
Nor came such pictures to a poet’s sleep, 
Nor beamed such visions on a poet’s soul.” 
The “‘ Marine Garden,” through which the reader may remem- . 
ber we passed when returning from our yachting excursion to 
test the capabilities of Sampson’s Triton In a strong wind outside . 
the bar, is nearer to Nassau and more accessible than any.of the — 
other localities where the corals abound in this vicinity. Hence 
it is the most visited and the best known. Situated between 
two islands, it is more sheltered from the wind, and the conse- 
quent comparative smoothness of the water enables the visitors 
at all times to examine it. Being a flower garden under water, 
