THE WRECKING BUSINESS. 283 
colored members looked intclligent, appeared well, and seemed 
to command the respect of their white associates. 
WRECKS AND WRECKING. 
Much may be truthfully said in commendation of the delicate 
silken web of the spider, as its gossamer threads, gemmed with 
dew-drops, glisten in the morning sunlight,—but to many gay, 
sportive insects it isa trap of death. Little do they think of the 
lurking peril as they fan the warm air with their tiny wings, and 
voice their happiness in gentle murmurs. Thus in the clear 
warm waters of a summer sea, the Bahamas attract by their 
beauty, and lull and disarm suspicion by their soft and languid 
air. But amore dangerous place is nowhere to be found in all 
the paths of commerce. Numerous islands, keys, rocks and 
reefs, deceitful currents and cross currents, and extensive shoals 
and banks, constitute only a part of the perils which ever lurk 
in these much frequented waters, for wreckers have succeeded 
the pirates, and the salvage of the salvors, and the legal and other 
expenses, not unfrequently absorb all that the destroying elements 
and engulfing waters have left. Deprived of the means of sup- 
port which the varied industries of colder climates so lavishly 
furnish, hundreds of the Bahamians wait and watch for wrecks, 
as our northern cats wait and watch for summer birds. 
The government officials and the courts of admiralty, under 
the broad aegis of colonial revenue acts and maritime law, are 
handsomely provided for in the division of the spoils of the sea, 
so that in many cases the owners in distant States have to thank 
Nassau for little more than a convenient and sufficiently roomy 
burial place for their property and their hopes. 
The number of wrecks reported in seven years, from 1858 to 
1864, was 313, of which 259 were claimed to be total losses— 
which means, we suppose, total so far as their owners were con- 
