2^2 The D I scovERiES and Settlements Book I, 
a Sea-mew. There are alfo the Tropic-Bird, and the 
PemlicOj feldom feen by Day, and when it is, held to be 
the unwelcome Fore-teller of a Storm. 
Fifh there is as plenty as Fowl, of which there are fo 
many forts that Authors have not yet found out Names 
for them : They have of the fcaly and the fhelly Kind j 
the Whale and Sword-fifh, and the Threhier j but parti- 
cularly the Tortoife abounds to a Wonder, and is as 
good and great, of the Sort, as any in the World. Whale- 
filhing has been attempted, but without Succefs. The 
Whales about Bermudas are found only in the Months of 
February^ March^ and April •, the Female Whales have 
abundance of Milk, which the young ones fuck out of 
the Teats that grow by her Navel *, they have no Teeth, 
but feed on Grafs growing on the Rocks at the Bottom 
during thefe three Months, and at no other Seafon of the 
Year ; when this is confumed and gone, the Whales go. 
There have been Sperma-ceti Whales driven upon the 
Shore, which Sperma (as they call it) lies all over the 
Bodies of thefe Whales : Thefe have divers Teeth, which 
may be about as big as a Man’s Wrift. Ambergreafe and 
Sperma-ceti, have been found here in great Quantities, 
and Pearl. All which are almoft as rare here now, as 
elfewhere ; which is a little wonderful. 
The Infeds in thefe lilands are, generally fpeaking, 
the fame before mentioned in other Plantations, except 
it be the Spider, which is thought to be larger here than 
in any other Country in the World, and fo adorned with 
beautiful Colours, that it takes off very much, if it does 
not entirely remove, that Diftafte, which otherwife the 
Sight of Creatures of this Kind and of fo enormous a 
Size would naturally occafion. One of thefe Spiders, with 
its Legs extended, would take up a Space equal to the 
Breadth of a Man’s Hand. Their Bodies are compofed 
of two Parts, one flat and the other round, not unlike, 
either in Shape or Size, to a Pigeons Egg. On their 
Backs they have an Orifice, which ferves as well as in 
fome kinds of Hogs for a Navel ; their Mouths are 
covered with a kind of grey Hairs, intermixed fome- 
times with bright red, and on each Side of their Mouths 
they have a kind of crooked Tooth, of a fine polifhed 
Subftance,, extremely hard, and of a bright Ihining black, 
and therefore they are often fet in Silver or Gold for 
Tooth-picks. When thefe Creatures grow old, they 
are covered all over with a kind of dark brown or black 
Down, fmooth, foft, and fliining like Velvet ; on the flat 
Part they have their ten Legs, five on each Side, each of 
which has four Joints, and two fmall Claws at the Ends. 
They caff their Skins every Year, together with thofe 
hard Teeth-like Subftances before mentioned •, they live 
upon Flies and Gnats, in catching ot which they fliew 
great Cunning and no lefs Agility. Their Webs, which 
are very large, they fpirt into the Air, by which means 
they are lodged upon Trees at fome Diftance, and then 
run along the Threads, and weave them fo ftrong, that 
Birds of the Size of a Thrufh are fometimes caught in 
them. 
There is fcarce an eighth Part of thefe Iflands inhabited, 
and all but St. George’s, St. Davids, and Coopers IJles, 
have only a few Houfes fcattered up and down •, they all 
together make the Figure of a Sheep-hook, and are within 
the Circuit of fix or feven Leagues at moft. There are 
none of them of any confiderable Bignefs, yet fome much 
bigger than others j as Time and the Sea continually 
walking upon them, have worn them away in different 
Proportions. The main or great Hand of all is called 
St. George’^, and is about fixteen Miles in Length, from 
Eaft-north-eaft to Weft-fouth-weft •, ’tis not a League 
over in the broadeft Place, but is fortified by Nature ail 
roundy the Rocks every way extending themfelves a great 
Way into the Sea. To natural Strength, efpecially to- 
wards the Eaftward, where it is moft expofed, the In- 
habitants have added that of Forts, Batteries, Parapets, 
and Lines ; the Cannon of the Forts and Batteries being 
fo well difpofed as to command the feveral Channels 
and Inlets into the Sea. There are no more than two 
Places where Shipping may fafely copie in, and it is 
not eafy for a Man to find thofe Places out •, the Rocks 
lie fo thick in fuch a Manner, and fome fo undifcovered. 
that without a good Pilot from the Shore, a Veffel of 
ten Tons could not find the Way into thofe Harbours, 
which being once known the biggeft Ships in the World 
may enter. Thefe two Havens are fo fortified, that if 
an Enemy fhould attempt either, he , might eafily be kept 
out. The Rocks, at moft Places, appear at low-water ; 
it ebbs and flows there not above five Feet ; the very 
Shore itfelf is, for the moft Part, a Rock, and it is im- 
poffible to find out any Iflands better guarded by Rocks 
than thefe i indeed they are all of them fo invironed 
with them, that they feem to threaten all Ships who ven- 
ture on that Coaft with prefent Deftrudion, and fo many 
have been Ihipwrecked upon them, that the Spaniard 
gave them the Name of Los Diabolos, the Devil’ s Iflands \ 
this Place having been fatal to them and all Nations. 
The Town of St. George ftands at the Bottom of the 
Haven of the fame Name, covered by no lefs than fix or fe- 
ven Forts and Batteries, zsKings Caftle, Charles For t,Pembrook 
Fort, Cavendijh Fort, Davie’s Fort, Warwick Fort, and 
Sandy's Fort, mounted with above feventy Pieces of Can- 
non j and they are fo difpofed, that they can be all 
brought to bear upon any Ship before fbe can make her 
Entrance. In this Town there is a fair Church with a 
fine Library, for which the Inhabitants are indebted to 
Dr. Thomas Bray. There are near a thoufand Houfes in 
it handfomely built, and a State-Houfe for the meeting of 
the Governor, Council, and Affembly. Befides the 
Town and Divifion of St. George, there are eight Tribes, 
Hamilton’s, Tribe, Smith’s, Tribe, Devonjhire’s, Tribe, Fern- 
brook’ sThht, Paget’ sFhht, Warwick’ sThhe, Southamp- 
ton’ sDhht, and Sandy’ sThht, of which, Devonjhire in the 
North, and Southampton in the South, are Parilhes, have 
each a Church, and a particular Library. In the whole 
Ifland there are Plantations of Oranges, Mulberries, and 
other Produdions of the Country, which render it a 
very delightful Profped. There is a Haven in Southampton 
Tribe or Diftrid, which is alfo called Southampton, and 
other Harbours, as the Great Sound,- Harrington’ ^ Inlet 
in Hamilton’s, Tribe, Paget’s Port in Paget’s Tribe, and 
others. There are no Parifh Churches in any of the 
leffer Iflands, and all the Inhabitants are ranged under one 
or the other of the eight Tribes. The Number of People 
in the whole, who inhabit thefe Iflands, has been compu- 
ted to be nine thoufand, and it is thought they do not 
much increafe, many of the younger Sort removing, for 
the Sake of making their Fortunes, into other Colonies. 
The Government is like that of Virginia ; the Crown 
appointing both a Governor and Council, but the Peo- 
ple, by their Reprefentatives, compofe the Affembly; 
they have fewer By-Laws than any of our other Settle- 
ments, which we impute to the Smallnefs of their Trade ; 
for this Colony produces no confiderable Commodity by 
which the Inhabitants may be enriched ; and their Com- 
merce confifts chiefly in Timber and Provifions, which 
they fend to the other Parts of America that ftand in need 
of them, and fome Tobacco imported to England ; feve- 
ral Families retired thither formerly, on account of their 
Religion, or Flealth, from England, and carried confi- 
derable Effedls with them. The building of Ships and 
Sloops is the moft advantageous Branch of their Trade ; 
and the People of Bermudas feem to content themfelves 
with the Pleafure and Plenty of their Country, with a 
fafe and quiet Retreat from the Troubles and Cares of 
the other Part of the World, without any Ambition to 
enrich themfelves ; and, if they had any fuch Defire, it 
is to be queftioned whether they have any Opportunity 
of gratifying it : Be that as it will, the Inhabitants have 
conftantly maintained a moft excellent Reputation ; info- 
much that I knew a very ingenious Gentleman as well ac- 
quainted with this, and our other Plantations, as thirty 
Years trading to them all could render him, who was 
wont to fay that Bermudas was the fineft Country, and in- 
habited by the beft People he ever knew. 
It was this Report of the Place and People that in- 
duced the Reverend Dean Berkley, who is fince become, 
very worthily, a Bifliop of our Church, to think of ered- 
ing an Academy there, for promoting ufeful Learning 
and true Religion in the Weft Indies ; and the Society for 
Propagation of the Gofpel had fo good an Opinion of the 
Propofal 
