26 
FROM TENERIFFE TO BERMUDAS. 
are gradually transformed into layers of greater consistency, and ultimately into hard and 
even crystallised rock, is as yet an obscure—indeed, one of the most difficult problems 
of geology; but that such is the case seems to be proved by the rocks of Bermudas, 
which furnish illustrations of every stage of this process. It seems not improbable that 
these islands, which occupy the portion of the oval reef most exposed to the action of 
the prevailing winds, owe their existence to the formation of sand-hills through aerial 
agency, and to their subsequent consolidation. The sections exposed by the road-cuttings 
in different parts of the islands show that the road has been carried through the side 
or over the summit of dome-shaped hills, whose strata were originally deposited at the same 
angle (about 30°) at which the strata are seen to accumulate in the sand-hills now in process 
of formation. 
If we plant one end of the compass upon Bermudas, and, with a radius of about 800 
miles, draw a semicircle to the westward of its meridian, the line will pass over Porto Rico, 
Haiti, Cuba, the United States, and Nova Scotia, and it would seem as if the Bermudas 
AMONG THE OLEANDERS. 
marked the site of a former volcano or centre of volcanic action, whose gradual subsidence 
below the surface of the ocean permitted the growth of the coral-formation which, in its turn, 
supplied the materials for the sand-hills and rocks now composing these islands. The reefs 
and rocks ground down by the waves formed the coral ooze which was again to be changed 
into sand and consolidated into rock. How long this process may have continued, transcends 
the bounds of human imagination. 
Among the trees which contribute most to the park-like character of the scenery is the 
oleander. It lines the roadside, and grows in thickets about the pleasant country houses. 
During our visit it was just putting forth its large bunches of rosy blossoms, making the 
islands bloom like a garden from end to end. 
The “Challenger had now undergone some necessary repairs in preparation for her next 
cruise, and on the morning of the 21st April she left the camber at Ireland Island. As if 
