24 
FROM TENERIFFE TO BERMUDAS. 
BERMUDAS. 
Separated from each other by narrow channels, frequently spanned by bridges, the 
principal islands which compose the group of Bermudas range themselves somewhat in the 
shape of a fish-hook, of which St. George’s in the east occupies the eye, and Ireland Island 
in the west the point, while Gibb’s Hill in the south is placed upon the bend of the hook. 
Apart from the historical and literary associations which have invested the Bermudas with a 
halo of romance, there are perhaps few spots on the globe which contain in so narrow a 
compass more abundant materials wherewith to gratify the student of nature. A gem set in 
the ocean, protected from its fury by a wide circle of coral reefs, and occupying the summit 
as it were of a mountain which rises all round from a depth of 2500 fathoms—the height of 
Mont Blanc—its varied fauna and flora, its remarkable rocks and caves, and the exquisite 
charm of its scenery, supply an ever-present stimulus to scientific inquiry and artistic inspiration. 
SOMERSET ISLAND, BERMUDAS. 
Near the centre of the group is an almost land-locked basin known as Harrington 
Sound. The elsewhere gentle slopes of the hills assume here a bolder shape and overshadow 
the Sound with their steep cliffs, while the blue mirror reflects the image of rocky islets 
crowned with trees and flowering shrubs. The whole Sound, not too extensive to be taken 
in at one glance, presents a picture of rare loveliness. Upon the narrow isthmus which 
divides it from Castle Harbour, scarcely inferior in beauty, are the famous Walsingham Caves, 
to which we paid several visits. After creeping through narrow and damp passages, we were 
rewarded with the curious sight of incrustations suspended from the roof or rising from the 
floor, or grown together so as to form immense columns, which, when the caves were lighted 
up with a fire of brushwood or with the magnesium light, repeated their phantom shapes 
in the calm pools of water at their feet, which no breeze from the outer world had ever 
ruffled. 
