HISTORY. 5 



the rocky cliffs, the water is deep close to the shore. 

 The south-eastern coast, to the extent of six or eight 

 miles, exhibits a mixed character; the low land 

 sinking very gradually under the sea, and the 

 rugged and conical hills terminating, not in wall- 

 like precipices, but sloping abruptly to a flat, extended 

 beach. 



Bermuda is encircled with coral reefs: many of 

 them extending a considerable distance from the land ; 

 but the greater part of them lying under the surface 

 of the water, at no great distance from the shore. 



In 1543, Ferdinand Camelo took formal possession 

 of Bermuda, and is stated to have cut his name on a 

 rock still known as the " Spanish Rock," on the 

 south side of the main island. 



On the 7th December, 1593, Barboti^re, a French 

 captain, was shipwrecked here, and with twenty-six, 

 out of fifty composing the crew, escaped to the shore; 

 among them was Henry May, an Englishman, who 

 afterwards published an account of the shipwreck. 



Again, it was not until after an English vessel 

 was wrecked here, being one of an expedition con- 

 sisting of nine ships and five hundred men, on their 

 way to Virginia, and the capabilities of Bermuda 

 were examined into, that these islands excited any 

 attention in Europe. 



