Chap. m. E N G L I S H A M E R I G A. 141 
bear up afore it drove them a little out of theif Courfe to 
the Weftward ; but the Wind coming fair again^ and 
continuing fo ten Days, they went on chearfully. In 
that Time they met with a French Privateer^ where they 
went aboard to beg fome Relief j but inftead of helping 
they plundered them of the little they had, took 
away even their Inftrument of Navigation, and turned 
them a-drift. In this miferable Condition they failed on, 
growing every Day weaker and weaker •, their Provifions 
were almoft fpent, their Fire- wood quite gone, not a Drop 
of frelh Water left, nor Food for above a Day, when at 
laft, in the very Hour they expedled to perifh, they made 
Land to their unfpeakable Joy. This Land was Ireland., 
where they went afhore in the County of Cork, and were 
nobly entertained by the Earl of Fhomond, to whom they 
related theirVoyage, which had then lafted forty-two Days. 
There were but five Perfons concerned, of whom there 
was ontyix. James Barker, a Gentleman, Richard Saunders, 
who contrived the Defign, William Goodwin, a Ship- 
Carpenter, who built the Boat, and Henry Puet, a com- 
mon Sailor, who undertook to navigate this Veffel. Both 
thefe Stories may feem a little befide our prefent Purpofe, 
but I have inferted them as belonging more immediately 
to a Collection of Voyages, and becaufe I look upon both 
thefe Incidents to be very well worth preferving. Capt. 
Fucker refigned, in the Year 1619, to Capt. Butler, 
who arrived at that time with four good Ships, in which 
he brought five hundred Paffengers, and there being as 
many Englijh on the Ifland, the Colony began to make a 
confiderable Figure. This Governor raifed a noble Mo- 
nument over the Remains of Sir George Summers that 
were left in the Ifland, depofiting them in the Church in 
Si. George's Fown. He divided the Hands into Diftridts ; 
and now the Government, by Governor, Council, and 
Affembly, was eftablifhed, which before had been only 
the Governor and Council. The Laws of the Country were 
alfo fettled, as near as the Circumftances andConveniencies 
of the Place would admit, to the Laws of E7igland ; as is 
done in all the Colonies in America, After bringing down 
the Hiftory of thefe Hands to their becoming a regular 
and fettled Colony, I am next to give an Account of the 
Hands themfelves, in order to Ihew the Value of them. 
II. There are fome who would perfuade us, that thefe 
Hands have received their Name from the vaft Quantity 
of Black Hogs found upon them ; Bermudas, in the old 
Spanijh Tongue, fignifying a Black Hog ; but though this 
Derivation be plaufible, yet the Fadt upon which it is 
’ founded, is moft certainly falfe j for when the Spaniards 
firfl difcovered them there was not a fingle Hog upon 
thefe, or perhaps upon any other Hand whatever ; neither 
is it well known upon what Part the Spaniards landed. 
Thefe Hands lie very contiguous to each other ; but Au- 
thors differ fo much as to the Number of them, that it is 
very difficult to Ipeak of them with Certainty ; for fome 
fay there are but three hundred, others affirm there are 
more than five hundred. They lie in the Latitude of 32 
Degrees 30 Minutes North, and in 35 Degrees of Weftern 
Longitude, at a vaft Diftance from the Continent, lince 
the neareftLand, which is Cape Hat ter as in Carolina, lies at 
leaft two hundred and fifty I^eagues to the Weft of them, 
and they are above fixteen hundred Leagues from Eng- 
land. The Air here has been always thought extremely 
wholefome, and the Country wonderfully pleafant, info- 
much that People were wont to remove hither from the 
other Colonies, in order to recover their broken Conftitu- 
tion. The Heat in Summer is very fupportable, and with 
refpecfb to Winter, they have really none j nay, fome o-o 
fo far as to affirm, that there is but one Seafon in the Hand 
oi Bermudas, and this a perpetual Spring-, which, however, 
may be in fome meafure afcribed to the Soil, which though 
it be thin is very rich and very fruitful, though remark- 
ably ftoney. The Earth is of feveral Colours, brown, 
white, and red ; the firft is the beft and the laft the 
worft. Two or three Feet under the Mould they find a 
white hard Body, which the Inhabitants call the Rock, 
but which feems more to refemble Chalk, or a Pumice- 
ftone, through which the Roots of their Trees force a 
^ is generally found under it. 
Maize, or Indian Com, which is the main Support 
Vol.il Numb. LXXXVL 
of the People here^ is twice reaped i fot what they foW 
in March, they cut in July ; in a Fortnight after they fow 
again, and reap in December. They have all the Plants 
peculiar to the Wejl Indies, and all Kinds of Herbs^ Roots^ 
Flowers^ and Trees, brought from Europe, thrive to 
PerfeftioUi They have fome Tobacco, but it is of an 
indifferent fort, and therefore does not yield them any 
great Profit but certainly, with a little Care, they might 
be able to produce any kind of Tobacco, or other Vegeta- 
ble that turns to Account almoft in any Climate. They have 
Palmeto’s, a kind of Wild Palm, that is ejttremely ufeful, 
the Leaves being eight or ten Feet long, and near as 
broad, with which they cover or thatch their Houfes j 
it produces a very lufcious Fruit, which in Shape, Size, and 
Colour refembles a Damfon. Laurel, Olive, Mulberry, 
and Date Trees, are very common ; and their Forefts 
abound with Variety of odoriferous Woods, fome black, 
fome of a yellow, and fome of a red Colour : The 
Berries of thefe Trees have the Stiptic Quality of a Sloe, 
and are much ufed by the Englijh to cure the Flux, which 
they frequently get by eating the lufcious Palm-berries too 
greedily. But amongft a Multitude of Shrubs and Trees 
peculiar to thefe Hands, and equally valuable for their 
Timber and Fruit, there are two which, though found in 
other Parts of the World, have a peculiar Excellence 
here ; the firft is their Orange, which in point of Size, 
Scent, and Flavour, far exceeds any either in the Wefi or 
Eaji Indies : The fecond is their Cedar, which from the 
Nature of the Soil wherein it grows is firmer and more 
durable than any of its Kind that we are acquainted with ; 
anfwers in every refpecft to Oak-Timber, and is found of 
extraordinary Ufe in Ship-building, fo that the beft Sloops, 
Brigantines, and other fmall Veffels, both for Service and 
Sailing, which are in Ufe throughout xFotVeft Indies, are 
built at Bermudas. 
They have likewife two very fingular Plants, one ufeful 
and the other noxious, but both fo remarkable as to de- 
ferVe particular Notice ; the firft is Called, thtSummer-Ifland 
Redwood, the Berry of which is as red as the Prickle-Pear, 
giving alfo fuch a Tinfture ; out of which Berry come 
firft Worms, which afterwards turn into Flies, fometimes 
bigger ‘than the Cochineel Fly, and a medicinal Virtue 
much exceeding it. The Poifon-Weed is the other ftrange 
Plant, which grows much in the fame manner as our 
Ivy, and if we may depend upon a Gentleman, who 
lived long in thefe Hands, and fent an Account of what 
was remarkable in them, to the Royal Society, there is 
not a more furprifing Production than this in Nature : He 
fays he had feen a Man fo infeCted by it, as to have all the 
Skin of his Face peel off though he paffed by without 
touching it, and yet he affirms that he had chewed it in 
his Mouth without feeling any Inconvenience, whence he 
infers, that it is not hurtful alike to all Conftitutions. In this 
all who have been upon thefe Hands agree, that this Weed 
is very prejudical, but then they agree likewife, that there 
is nothing venomous befides, in any of thefe Ifiands. 
As for Animals, there were none in Bermudas but Hogs, 
InfeCls, and Birds, when Sir George Summers was fhip- 
wrecked there : He found out that there were fome Hogs 
in the Hand, by fending out two or three of his own to 
feed, and when they rambled home, a huge wild Boar 
followed them, and being killed was found to be excellent 
Meat : The Hogs they killed afterwards were found to 
be all black, and from thence it is concluded that the 
Spaniards had left them there to breed, becaufe they were 
of the fame Kind with them they carried to the Continent 
of America : They now fat them at Bermudas, with Palm 
and Cedar Berries j but their Number is very much de~ 
creafed. Thefe Hands abound in more and greater Variety 
of Fowl than any 'm America. There are Hawks of all forts. 
Herns, Bitterns, Offspreys, Cormorants, Baldcoots, Moor- 
hens, Swans, Teal, Snipe, Duck, and AVigeons ; Bats and 
Owls are alfo very common here, with Multitudes of fmall 
Birds ; as Wood-peckers, Sparrows, Cfc. Englijh, dX. 
their firft coming, found a fort of Fowl here they called 
Cowkoes, which bred in the Holes of the Rocks, and in 
Burrows, like Rabbets, and were fo numerous and gentle, that 
they were taken by Hand. They are now almoft deftroyed, 
being very eafy to be caught. This Bird is of theBignefs of 
Q^q q a Sea-? 
