Page:The British Empire in the nineteenth century Volume VI.djvu/37

 Rh CHAPTER XII. BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. Extent and population of BERMUDA or The Bermudas — Physical features of the islands — Delightful climate of Main Island — Trade Important naval establishments — Hamilton port — Administration — Education — Communication — Revenue. Boundaries, area, and population of BRITISH HONDURAS or Belize — Physical geography and climate — Mahogany, logwood, and other products — Belize city — Communication — Trade — Revenue — Administration — Education. Early exploration of BRITISH GUIANA or Demerara — Its settlement by the Dutch — Ceded to Britain in 1814 — Agitation among the slaves — Case of John Smith the missionary — His cruel treatment and death — Brutality of the Governor, General Murray — Its effect in forwarding the anti-slavery cause — Intolerance of the slave-owners — Boundaries and population of the country — Geographical features — Flora and fauna — Rivers — Climate — Products — Gold-mining — Trade — Administration — Education — Revenue — Communication — Georgetown city — New Amsterdam or Berbice. The colony called BERMUDA or THE BERMUDAS lies in about 32 north latitude, and 65° west longitude, at a distance of 580 miles east of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina; 730 miles from Halifax, Nova Scotia; 680 from New York, 800 from the nearest West Indies, and nearly 3000 miles from Liverpool. This lonely, low-lying archipelago of about 300 islets, above two-thirds of which are mere rocks and reefs, with less than 20 inhabited islands, has a total area of 19 square miles, or 11,360 acres, with a population, in 1898, of about 16,000, of whom over one-third were whites and the rest negroes and coloured people. In religion, about two-thirds of both races belong to the Anglican Church, under the spiritual rule of the "Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda", while the rest are chiefly Roman Catholics, Wesleyans and Presbyterians. The history of the islands, during the nineteenth century, is comprised in the facts that in July, 1813, a third of the houses were destroyed, and the shipping driven ashore, by a hurricane; that the repeal of the Navigation Laws, the introduction of steam, and the substitution of steel and iron for wood in ship-building, made an end of the profitable ship-construction and carrying-trade mentioned in an early part of this work; that, after being an important convict-depot for some years, the colony ceased to be so in 1862; and that, in the later decades of the Victorian age, Bermuda has become a very valuable naval station and fortress, holding a position of commanding strength between Canada and our West Indian possessions.