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VOL. XXXI

DECEMBER, 1907

NO. 6

T

Beautiful Bermuda

By THOMAS O'HAGAN, M. A., PH. D.

HIS charming little island or, more properly speaking, group of islands, warmed by the Mexican Gulf Stream and kissed by semi-tropical suns, is a veritable haven of beauty and delight to the tourist, who, fleeing the cold wrath of Northern climes, seeks rest and recuperation in wintertide in its kindly bosom.

It scarcely seems credible that an island but two days' sail from New York, where the sovereignty of ice and snow holds sway sometimes for three or four months with a rigid sceptre, should be a veritable paradise of sunshine and flowers.

There are four chief islands: St. George's, Boaz Island, Ireland Island and Bermuda Island, the latter giving its name. to the group. The general opinion is that the ancient Bermudas were of much greater extent than they now are, and this is confirmed by the subsidence or other disappearance of islets since the early records were written.

Lying, as the Bermudas do, isolated in the Atlantic, they suggest the idea of a succession of mountain peaks, the relics of some prehistoric continent; peaks which although submerged were yet near enough to the surface to allow

the coral to work year after year. Forced upwards by successive upheavals, and again submerged, fresh layers of coral were gradually formed over the decomposed strata of previous growth, and thus the surface increased.

Bermuda is described by a writer as "a land of shelving cedar and sloping hillsides, green with verdure and shimmering under a Southern sun, with a misty haze of violet hovering over all;

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ST. EDWARD'S CHURCH

for the horizon there is a sea of emerald hue, shading at times to turquoise-blue, with purple patches marking the shoals and ever and anon the white sails of fishing boats flashing in the sunlight. Under its cliffs the waves have worn

out roomy caves and hollows, decorated by Nature's handiwork with stalactites, with alternate low-pitched and vaulted roof-veritable Neptune's grottoes."

Bermuda presents many points of interest to the tourist. It is quite a distinct little world in itself, and not the least feature of attraction is the fact that it is a naval station, being the rendezvous of the North Atlantic fleet of Great Britain. There is also always quartered here an English regiment, so that the

of Assembly. The Governor is the general commanding the imperial forces on the island. The Executive Council at present consists of the senior military officers in Bermuda, the Colonial Secretary, Attorney General, Receiver General and two other members-six in all: the number of unofficial members, however, is not limited. The Legislative Council consists of the Chief Justice (President), the Colonial Secretary, Receiver General and six other members-nine in all.

The Councils are filled by members appointed by the Crown. The House of Assembly (representing the people of the colony) is elected every seven years, as in England. The last general election took place in 1904; this House has thirty-six members-four from each parish. The electoral power is very limited, being restricted to persons holding real estate valued at £60. Members of the House must own real estate valued at £250.

GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE

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air may be said to be full of military microbes, which are very catching and fetching, especially in social circles.

What impresses the tourist at once as he sets foot upon the island is that the colony is very English, though there are those among the Bermudians who believe and maintain that it would be better for the progress and welfare. of the island did it form a part of the neighboring Republic. But so important is Bermuda from a naval and strategetical standpoint that England could never afford to barter it off.

The government of the Bermudas is vested in a Governor, an Executive Council, Legislative Council and House

The Governor receives about $15,000a year, part of which is paid by the Home Government of England and part by that of the island. The duties of the Governor are not very onerous. To preside at functions of State, keep regiment quartered there, and sign offian eye on the battleships and the cial documents in a little island which has but about 17.000 inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are colored, is a berth which might well be coveted even in a land where the population could be computed by millions and not by thousands.

muda as a military chaplain in 1889. The progress of Catholicity in Hamilton has been quite marked during the past decade of years. Father Comeau, of Nova Scotia, a kinsman of Senator Comeau, has been in charge of St. Edward's during the past five years but has recently been assigned an important parish in his native province. It is not necessary to mention that Bermuda, though far removed, is a part of the Archdiocese of Halifax, N. S.

In 1890 the Sisters of Charity, whose good work in the Catholic educational field is so well known in the maritime provinces, established a convent in Hamilton. Mother Cleophas, the present superior, is one of the original band of four who opened the first Catholic school on the island, the little academy being the handsome residence once occupied by Miles Keon, the one-time Colonial Secretary of Bermuda and au

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A NATIVE BERMUDIAN

The city of Hamilton, the capital of the Islands, obtains its name from Henry Hamilton, who was Governor at the time the seat of Government was transferred from St. George in 1815.

It presents quite a charming appearance from the water as the boat steams. in. There is no building approaching massiveness within its gates, the two handsomest being the House of Assembly and the postoffice. The Episcopal cathedral now in course of erection is a substantial structure and when completed will add architecturally to the city.

St. Edward's Church (Roman Catholic), a modest but pretty structure, dates back to 1858, when its corner stone was laid by the late Bishop Rogers of Chatham, New Brunswick. The late Bishop Bellord was parish priest of Hamilton in 1874 and returned to Ber

A BERMUDIAN GIRL

thor of that well-known work, "Dian and the Sibyls." Keon was a protege of Bulwer Lytton, and it was through the latter's influence that he received his appointment. His remains repose in Pembroke Cemetery.

The little educational seedling cast into the soil of Bermuda by the hands of the good Sisters of Mt. St. Vincent, Halifax, has increased a hundredfold, and Mt. St. Agnes Academy, Hamilton, is patronized and supported by all who desire to secure for their daughters a refined education to equip them for the duties of a Christian home.

Two years ago Sir Robert Macgregor Stewart, K. C. B., and Lady Stewart presided at the annual Commencement of Mt. St. Agnes and warmly complimented the Sisters on the good workwhich is being done, adding that a course at Mt. St. Agnes was an excellent corrective of two present-day evils in the education or training of girls-that of awkwardness of gait and the use of slipshod language.

I have already spoken of the excellent work being done by the Sisters of Charity. Of course the colored children, who form about two-thirds of the school population of the island, have schools of their own, and of these the Berkeley Institute in

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RUBBER TREE

SCREW PALM TREE

Hamilton is, perhaps, the most prominent. In the colony of Jamaica, the white and colored children attend the same school, and I was assured by the principal of the Berkeley Institute, who is a Jamaican, that the colored population of Jamaica is better educated than is the colored population of Bermuda.

The Whitney Institute, at the Flats, and the Saltus Grammar School at Woodlands, near Hamilton, are the principal schools in the Islands. There is also the Bermuda High School for girls, which is doing good work.

I was very much impressed by the courtesy and law-abiding character of the colored population of the Islands. . It is somewhat humorous to hear these colored people address you in an accent that recalls London rather than New York, employing not infrequently the exact word to convey to you their idea, showing that they

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