Or Somers' Islands, a cluster of about 100 small islands, situated on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, in lat. 32° 15′ N. and long. 64° 51′ W., at a distance of about 580 miles from the nearest land, viz., Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Fifteen or sixteen of these islands are inhabited: the rest are of inconsiderable size, the largest, or Bermuda proper, containing less than 20 square miles of land, and nowhere exceeding three miles in breadtb.

The islands extend from N.E. to S.W. in a curved line for about 20 miles, bending inwards at both extremities, so as to enclose spacious and secure harbours.

Besides the main island, on which the town of Hamilton, the present seat of Government, is situated, the principal islands are St. George's, where the ancient town of St. George, the former capital, stands; Ireland Island, where the dockyard is established; Boaz and Watford Islands, occupied entirely by a military detachment, formerly a convict establishment; Somerset, St. David's, Smith's, Cooper's, Nonsuch, Godet's, Port's, and River's. With the exception of one break between Somerset and Watford Islands, there is continuous communication by bridges from St. George's to Ireland Island.

The climate has been long celebrated for its mildness and salubrity. The islands produce arrowroot of a fine quality, and an indigenous cedar of great durability, well adapted for ship-building and house-timber. A few whales are occasionally taken in the neighbouring waters. Turtle are common.

The islands derive their name from Bermudez, a Spaniard, who sighted them in 1527. The earliest account of them is given by Henry May, who was cast away upon them in 1593. They were first colonized by Admiral Sir George Somers, who was shipwrecked there in 1609, on his way to Virginia. On his report, the Virginia Company claimed them, and obtained a charter for them from James I. in 1612. This company sold their right for 2,000l. to an association of 120 persons, who obtained a new charter in 1616, incorporating them as the Bermuda Company, and granting them very extensive powers and privileges.

Representative government was introduced in 1620. In 1621 the Bermuda Company in London made a Body of Ordinances for the Government of the Colony. During the civil war, great numbers of emigrants, from England were attracted thither by the favourable reports of the climate and soil. Towards the end of the reign of Charles II., grave complaints were made by the inhabitants of the misgovernment of the plantation by the Company; and its charter was annulled by process of Quo Warranto, at Westminster, in 1684-85. Since then the Governors have been appointed by the Crown, and laws for the Colony enacted by a local legislature, consisting of the Governor, Council, and Assembly.

The lands belonging to the company were forfeited to the Crown on the annulment of their charter, and with the exception of some reserved for public uses, were granted in 1759 to purchasers on small quit-rents, extinguishable on the payment of a fixed sum of money.

During the revolutionary war in North America the inhabitants suffered great privations from the scarcity of food; and although they export largely certain articles of agricultural produce, especially potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and arrowroot, they are still dependent on foreign supplies for all the flour and most of the meat consumed.

In 1784 a printing-press was introduced.

Early in the present century the importance of the Bermudas as a naval station came to be recognized. Ireland Island was purchased exclusively by the Government, and a Dockyard established there. By Order in Council, dated June 23, 1824, the Bermudas were declared a place where male convicts might be kept at hard labour on the public works; but these islands never were made a penal settlement, strictly speaking, where convicts might be discharged. The establishment was broken up in 1863.

On the abolition of slavery in 1834, the system of temporary apprenticeship of the emancipated slaves. permitted by the Act of Parliament in the slave-holding colonies, was dispensed with by the local legislature of Bermuda, so as to entitle the slaves to their absolute freedom six years sooner than was required by Parliament. They and their descendants now form more than a numerical half of the entire population.

In 1846, a lighthouse, visible at more than 30 miles' distance, was erected on the highest land in the Colony; the light being 362 feet above the sea. A public library was established in 1839. In 1871 the Island of St. George's was connected with the main island by a causeway and road two miles in length, commenced in 1866, and completed at a cost of nearly 30,000l. An iron girder swing-bridge still permits the passage of vessels.

Total tonnage of vessels entered 1874, 72,212; cleared 1874, 71,935.

Cl. 102.

Ness, Ph. An assortment of Building
Stones of various qualities. A. Hard Stone
containing some fossil shells, chiefly used in
Military works, and for Road-making. B.
Bastard Stone, less hard. C. Soft Building

(From "Colonial Office List, 1876.”)

Stone, such as is commonly worked with a
hand-saw, but hardens a little on exposure.
They only differ in the degree to which the
grains of sand are cemented by the infil
tration of carbonate of lime in solution.

Cl. 662.

Cl. 621, 624.

Cl. 622.

Cl. 611.

Cl. 656. Cl. 700 to 707.

Cl. 600.

Cl. 601.

Cl. 200, 272.

Cl. 666.

Cl. 645.

Cl. 650.

Cl. 658, 622, Cl. 658, 622. Cl. 658, 622. Cl. 600, 254. Cl. 251.

Cl. 306.

Cl. 252.

Cl. 252.
Cl. 252.

CL. 252.
Cl. 252.

Cl. 254.

Cl. 254.

Cl. 217.

BRITISH GUIANA.

This Colony is a portion of the South American Continent, extending from east to west about 200 miles. It includes the settlements of Demerara, Essequebo, and Berbice. It is bounded on the east by Dutch Guiana, from which it is divided by the River Corentyn, on the south by Brazil, on the west by Venezuela, and on the north and north-east by the Atlantic Ocean.

This territory was first partially settled by the Dutch West India Company in 1580. It was from time to time held by Holland, France, and England. It was restored to the Dutch in 1802, but in the following year retaken by Great Britain, to whom it was finally ceded in 1814.

It is impossible to determine the exact area of the Colony, as its precise boundaries are undetermined between Venezuela and Brazil respectively, but it has been computed to be 76,000 square miles.

Under the Dutch, Demerara and Essequebo constituted one Government, and Berbice another, which arrangement indeed continued in force under the British Administration down to the year 1831.

* The revenue and expenditure here is exclusive of the sums raised for and expended on immigration by the planters. It is a strange coincidence that the total value of the imports in 1869 and 1870 were precisely similar, whilst there was only the difference of one pound between the exports of the same years.

The aboriginal Indians were estimated in 1851 at about 7,000; but Mr. M'Clintock, Superintendent of Rivers and Creeks, an undoubted authority on the subject, carries the number as high as 20,000 or 21,000, but the numbers of the tribes within the British territories vary, and are at all times very uncertain.-From "Colonial Office List, 1876."

Samples of Sugar, Rum, and other Articles contributed by various Sugar Estates

and private Gentlemen.

7 samples Vacuum Pan Sugar, by plantation Great Diamond.

3 do. do., by plantation Met-en-Meerzorg.

2 do. do., by plantation Bel Air.

2 do. do., by maceration, by plantation La Bonne Intention.

1 do. do., by plantation Ogle.

2 do. do., by plantation Tuschen de Vrienden.

1 do. do., Molasses, by plantation Tuschen de Vrienden. 2 do. do., by plantation Uitvlugt.

1 do. do., by plantation Greenfield.

2 do. do., by plantation Hope.

1 do. Common Process Sugar, by plantation Columbia.

No. 1. Samples Best White Vacuum Pan Sugar, by maceration, by plantation Leonora.

No. 2. Samples for Copenhagen markets, by maceration, by plantation Leonora.

No. 3. Samples shipping for the English markets, by maceration, by plantation Leonora.

2 samples Rum, by plantation Great Diamond. 1 do. do., by plantation Lusignan.

1 sample Rum, by plantation Hope.

2 do. do., by plantation Leonora.

2 do. do., by plantation Tuschen de Vrienden.

1 sample Rice, Creole, by plantation Great Diamond.

1 specimen Greenheart Wood, nearly 100 years old, by T. H. Mackey, Esq.

1 do. Plantain Fibre, Musa Paradisiaca, by B. J. Godfrey, Esq.

1 do. Silk Grass Fibre, Bromelia Karatas, by B. J. Godfrey, Esq.

1 do. Mahoe Fibre, Hibiscus Elatus, by B. J. Godfrey, Esq. 1 do. Sweet Briar Fibre, Acacia, by B. J. Godfrey, Esq.

1 do. Monkey Apple Fibre, by B. J. Godfrey, Esq. Rice Straw Ornaments, by plantation Great Diamond. Also a collection of Starches, Drugs, and other Medicinal productions of the colony, prepared by William Fresson, Esq. Feb. 25th.-Received this day two samples of Common Process Sugar from plantation Vreed-en-Hoop; and two samples of Vacuum Pan Sugar from plantation Versailles.

CEYLON AND STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

CEYLON.

An island situated in the Indian Ocean, off the southern extremity of Hindostan; lying between 5° 55′ and 9° 51' N. lat., and 79° 41' and 81° 54′ E. long.; its extreme length from north to south, i.e., from Poin Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 266 miles; its greatest width 140 miles from Colombo on the west coast to Sangemankende on the east.

The climate for a tropical country is comparatively healthy; the heat in the plains, which is nearly the same throughout the year, being much less oppressive than in Hindostan. Along the coast the annual mean temperature is about 80° Fahr.; at Kandy, 1,465 feet above sea level, it is 76° (average of 10 years); at Colombo the annual variation is from 76° to 86°; at Galle 70° to 90°; and at Trincomalee 74° to 91°. In the mountain ranges there is of course a great variety of climate, the thermometer at the hill station, Nuwara Eliya which is some 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, falling at night as low as 32°.

Ceylon was visited in early days by the Greeks, Romans, and Venetians; in 1505 the Portuguese formed settlements on the west and south of the island; in the next century they were dispossessed by the Dutch, In 1795-6 the British took possession of the Dutch settlements in the island. They were annexed then to the Presidency of Madras, but five years later, in 1801, Ceylon was constituted a separate Colony. In 1815 war was declared against the native government of the interior; the Kandyan King was taken prisoner, and the whole island fell under the rule of the British.

By letters patent under the Great Seal, April 1831, a Council of Government was appointed, and by a supplementary commission to the then Governor (March, 1833) the form of Government almost as now existing was established.