i6 
BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 
CHAPTER II. 
NASSAU. 
It was a bright and cloudless Christmas morning on which I 
first entered the harbor of Nassau, and as the ship came to an 
anchor off the bar, the bay presented a very pretty appearance ; all 
the ships at anchor, as well as innumerable small craft, which were 
constantly passing and repassing, were covered with_ flags of all 
colors and nationalities. Upon the shore, just rising above the tops 
of a group of cocoanut-trees, the white spires of the city were plainly 
to be seen, their tops,glistening in the reflected light of the first rays 
of the rising sun. 
In a short time the ship was surrounded by a number of small 
boats, which flocked around us like birds of prey around some dead 
sea-monster, all anxious to carry away something for themselves. 
Each boatman was loud in the praises of his own boat, and a war of 
words, was kept up, which showed no signs of abating as we slowly 
glided towards the wharf in the small craft which we had selected. 
One of the first things that attracted our attention was the won- 
derful transparency of the water. Objects were plainly seen at a 
depth of fifteen feet, and, by the aid of an instrument which is called 
a water-glass, one can gaze down into the water and watch the 
fishes darting in and out among the many-colored “ sea-ferns ” and 
corals as clearly as if they were contained in an aquarium. Often- 
