bounty of nature. The recent Commission reports that thirty days' labour on an acre of good soil will provide a family with sustenance for a whole year, and yield a surplus saleable in the market of from 10l. to 30%. The industrious negro wisely aims at becoming a peasant proprietor. The provision grounds cultivated by the owners produce abundant supplies of fruit, spices, cocoa, and coffee.

The works on the Panama Canal are progressing slowly, and will not be completed, in all probability, in the present century. The climate is unhealthy and the engineering difficulties are considerable. When, after an interval of years, the Canal is open for traffic, North and South America will be the chief gainers. A saving of 6,000 miles will be effected from New York to China and Japan. Communication with California by sea will be facilitated in a still greater degree. The voyage between England and Australia will not be appreciably shortened, and the present route will certainly be preferred for sailing vessels.

The trade of Jamaica has long been languishing, and, indeed, declining, more especially in sugar, formerly the main article of export. A new trade has sprung up in the exportation of fresh fruit to New York, which has been rapidly developed in recent years, and promises to replace the other kinds of cultivation.

The 11th and 12th of November were devoted to Port Royal, the naval establishment, Kingston, the chief town, and Newcastle, the sanatorium of Jamaica. The importance of Port Royal has greatly diminished since the formation of our large dockyard at Bermuda. Kingston is a shabby town, but the environs are delightful. Newcastle stands at a height of 4,000 feet. The view is superb, extending from the surrounding mountains over the lowland beneath, on which Kingston is built, and embracing the spacious and land-locked harbour, and a wide range to seaward. The ascent to Newcastle is by a bridle-way through a richly wooded ravine, and beside the rocky bed of an abundant mountain stream.

In the evening of the 12th we had an assembly on board the 'Sunbeam.' Our guests included the Bishop of Demerara, who has been consecrated forty-two years, and the Bishop of Barbados. All the West Indian Bishops were assembled in conference at Kingston. As the result of their deliberations, they have constituted the West Indies as a separate province, and elected the Bishop of Demerara as their first primate. The Church is flourishing in the West Indies. The congregation attending the parish church of Kingston set a high example of religious devotion. In proportion to their limited means they are liberal in the support of every good object. Nothing could be more cordial than the patriarchal relations between Mr. Downer, the rector, and his sable flock.

On the 13th of November we steamed round from Port Royal to

Ocho Rios. The distance is 110 miles. On the eastern side of Jamaica the Blue Mountains fill up the interior between the southern and northern coasts, and their richly wooded slopes descend in a succession of beautiful ridges to the shore. At Ocho Rios we met H.M.S. ‘Dido,' and fraternised.

On the 14th of November we steamed forty-six miles to Port Antonio. Both Ocho Rios and Port Antonio are land-locked harbours, protected by coral reefs. The water is clear as crystal. The scenery is exquisite.

From Port Antonio we stretched across under steam to Cuba, a distance of 130 miles. Proceeding along the coast, at noon on the 16th of November we rounded Cape Maysi, the eastern extremity of Cuba, and once more found ourselves bowling along merrily with a brisk Trade wind on the beam. Under the lee of the Great Bahamas the sea was perfectly smooth, and in sixty hours we made a fine run of 516 miles under canvas.

The Great Bahama Channel which divides Cuba from the Bahamas is an intricate navigation. The passage is bordered on the east by a continuous barrier of coral reefs, nowhere visible above water, and only marked by four lighthouses.

At three A.M. on the 19th of November we made the red revolving light on Gun Cay. A fresh breeze carried us rapidly beyond its range, and at dawn we were close to the Great Isaac's Light, which marks the entrance to the North-west Providence Channel, the principal passage from the coast of America to Nassau. I had been on the watch for three days and nights, with scarcely an interval of rest. The task of pilotage had been anxious, owing to the strong currents setting across the reefs. Every time we made the land, or checked our position by observation, we found ourselves some miles to leeward of our position by dead reckoning. It was with a sense of relief, therefore, that we observed a small pilot-boat endeavouring to cut us off. The engines were stopped, and in a few minutes a stalwart negro stepped on board, equally ready to plunder us if we were wrecked, or to pilot us to any part of the Bahamas. The bargain for the pilotage to Nassau was amusing and characteristic of the Bahama wreckers. Kelly, for so the sable mariner was named, commenced with a demand for 20l. I replied with an offer of 5l. After a prolonged altercation we agreed for 81. 10s. Immediately the bargain was struck, Kelly called out to the men in his boat, with whom a certain percentage of his earnings was to be shared, I am going to Nassau for 7.' As his men received the announcement without any expression of surprise, it was evident that the sum he had named was reasonable and usual. I pointed this out to Kelly, and positively refused to give him more than 71. This led to a most grotesque appeal on the grounds of Christian charity, on the grounds of poverty, and on the grounds of the extreme difficulty

of the navigation he was undertaking. Eventually we agreed for 71. with a promise of an advance to 8l., and a copy of the Bible for Mrs. Kelly, if the harbour-master at Nassau recommended it.

All went well until we approached the entrance to the harbour of Nassau. I had closely questioned the pilot as to his ability to enter at night, and he had assured me that he knew the place well. It was only discovered, when it was too late, that our pilot's method of keeping clear of the reefs was to steer for them until he could clearly see the breakers ahead. He kept his look-out on the bowsprit end, and all depended on his quickness of vision. In the present instance the order to the helmsman was not given until we had advanced into such shallow water that the vessel but imperfectly answered the helm. We had a narrow shave, and if an accident had occurred, loud would have been the outcry at the foolhardiness of an amateur commander in trusting the 'Sunbeam' to an uncertified Bahama wrecker. Though we ran considerable risk under the guidance of Tom Kelly, we formed a favourable impression of his nerve and intelligence. Another negro pilot, who took us into Port Royal under sail, handled the 'Sunbeam,' a type of vessel to which he was quite unaccustomed, with the confidence and readiness of a thorough seaman. Of the seafaring negroes of the West Indies, in the humbler station of boatmen, we can speak in terms of praise. At Trinidad, La Guayra, and Port Royal, they were smart, stalwart, and willing fellows, ready for a long pull at any hour of the day or night.

This description of navigation in the Bahamas suggests a few remarks on coral formations. The Bahamas are a vast archipelago, formed by the coral-making animals known to science as polyps. In our recent voyage we first came upon an extensive formation of coral in Jamaica, where a fringing reef exists along the entire length of the southern coast of the island. The north coast of Cuba is encircled with a similar formation, only divided by the Great Bahama Channel from the far-extending banks of the Bahamas. The space occupied by the latter group is triangular in form, the west side being some 200 miles in length, and the remaining sides 600 and 720 miles respectively. The space within this triangle is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped white sandstone islets and rocks, the loftiest being about 400 feet in height.

The Bahama banks are fringing reefs, which have been brought to the surface by the elevation of an extensive area. In this case the conditions are the converse of those under which the coral islands of the Pacific were built up from the profound depths of the surrounding ocean. The Bahama reefs, as Professor Darwin has shown, rest upon rocks which have slowly and unceasingly sunk beneath the level of the sea, while the corals have continued to grow upwards.

The harbour of Nassau is remarkable for the clearness of the water. With the aid of a water-glass, a mere wooden box with a

pane of glass fitted at the bottom, every object can be seen at the depth of four fathoms. The coral reefs, when examined with the aid of this simple instrument, present all the beauty of a flower-garden.

The Bahamas will be for ever memorable as the landfall of Columbus. The islands were first settled by the English in 1629, and our sovereignty was finally acknowledged by treaty in 1783. The actual population of the whole group is 43,000. The chief exports are fruits, including pine-apples, oranges and bananas, and sponges.

The winds were un

We left Nassau on the 22nd of November. favourable, and we steered to the northward. From the 27th to the 30th we encountered a heavy gale, which commenced at N. by E., and ended at four P.M. on the 30th of November with the wind at N.W. We lay-to on the 27th under treble-reefed foresail and double-reefed mainsail, shipping no water, but driving to the south-east at the rate of at least one knot an hour. On the 28th we decided to try the 'Sunbeam' under treblereefed foresail and mainsail, double-reefed fore-staysail, and reefed mizen-trysail. With this increased spread of canvas, we were able to make two knots an hour on the direct course for Bermuda, and to keep sufficient steerage way to luff up to an ugly sea. The behaviour of the vessel elicited the unqualified approval of our most experienced hands.

Bad weather quickly brings out the qualities of seamen. Our four best men relieved each other at the wheel, and it is due in no small degree to their skill that in a gale lasting three days no heavy sea broke on board. I need not say that all deck openings were secured, especially at night, by means of planks and canvas. Our situation may perhaps excite sympathy, but we had no reason to complain. Meals could not be served in the usual manner, but by placing every movable thing on the floor of the cabins and on the lee-side, and by fixing ourselves against supports or in a recumbent position, we were secured against any further effects of the force of gravity.

VOL. XV.-No. 87.

3 I

On the 30th the wind veered to the north-west, and the weather rapidly improved. The sea turned gradually with the wind, but for many hours we met a heavy swell from the north-east.

Having described our proceedings in the 'Sunbeam,' it may be interesting to give a more general explanation of the law of storms. With rare exceptions, all heavy storms are whirlwinds, revolving, in a spiral curve, in the northern hemisphere against, in the southern hemisphere with, the hands of a watch. Revolving storms originate between the parallels of 10° and 20° north or south of the Equator.

At first they travel westward, increasing their distance from the Equator until they reach the parallels of 25° or 30° north or south, when they turn towards the east, but continue to travel in a direction inclining towards the Pole. The nearer the centre, the more violent the wind, the more rapid the changes in its direction, the greater the risk of being caught aback, the more confused and dangerous the state of the sea. Hence the art of the seaman consists in steering in that direction which will most rapidly increase the distance from the centre. To determine the bearing of the centre: face the wind, and in the northern hemisphere the centre will bear eight points to the