INTRODUCTION. xi 



purpose of eolonizing the Bermudas, and a ship with emi- 

 grant settlers, under the charge of Governor Eichard More, 

 having arrived in those islands on the 11th July, 1612, 

 they may be considered as permanently inhabited by the 

 human race from that period. 



Although the Bermudas have undergone some change 

 since the days of Sir George Somers, and a portion of the 

 land has been brought under cultivation, still we are 

 inclined to look upon the general outline and appearance 

 of those islands at the present time, as very similar to that 

 which presented itself to the gallant old admiral. The 

 cedar tree still clothes the uncultivated hills and valleys 

 with its evergreen foliage, and the palmetto still dots the 

 landscape with its bending plumes. Fish still abound in 

 the surrounding waters ; but the wild hog has long since 

 given place to the domestic representative of' the same 

 family. The tropic bird and the tern stiU frequent the 

 rocky coast during the fervid months of summer, for the 

 purpose of incubation, disappearing at the approach of 

 wiuter, but the great family of gulls and other sea-birds, 

 which tends so much to the beauty and cheerfulness of 

 ocean scenery, has long since abandoned a spot so thickly 

 inhabited by the human race. 



That the Bermudas afford an excellent position from 

 whence to observe the annual migration of many species of 

 the feathered tribes of America, cannot be doubted. Equi- 

 distant, or nearly so, from the shores of Nova Scotia, the 

 United States, and the West Indian archipelago, they 

 oresent, as it were, a casual resting place to many birds, 

 while traversing the broad expanse of ocean which forms 

 the eastern limit of their great line of flight. 



