MRS. WILTON.  “Which islands must stand aside while we examine the Bermudas, which are half-way between Nova Scotia and the Antilles.  They were so called by Juan Bermudas, who discovered them in the year 1557, but did not land upon them:  they are of various sizes, the largest being about twelve miles.  The cedar-trees grown there form the chief riches of the inhabitants, and they estimate a man’s income by the number of trees he possesses.  St. George is the capital, and the islands belong to the English.  They are sometimes called ‘Somers Isles,’ from the circumstance of Sir John Somers being shipwrecked on the rocks by which they are surrounded.  Previous to this occurrence Henry May, an Englishman, was cast ashore on one of the largest, and as the islands abound with cedar, he contrived, with the assistance of the materials he obtained from the wreck, to build a small vessel, in which he returned to England, and was the first person who gave any account of the group.”

GEORGE.  “Now for the Bahamas.  They are 300 in number! but only twelve are large.  Nassau is the capital They were the first land discovered by Columbus in the year 1492.”

MR. WILTON.  “And were once a nest of pirates, but the English expelled them, and established a colony in 1720.”

MR. BARRAUD.  “Speaking of pirates, have you ever heard the plan adopted by the Portuguese for the suppression of piracy?”

No one had heard it, and Mr. Barraud proceeded.

“The Portuguese, in their early intercourse with the Indians, had a summary punishment, and accompanied it with a terrible example to deter others from the commission of the crime.  Whenever they took a pirate ship they instantly hanged every man, carried away the sails, rudder, and everything that was valuable in the ship, and left her to be buffeted about by the winds and waves, with the carcasses of the criminals dangling from the yards, a horrid object of terror to all who might chance to fall in with her.”

CHARLES.  “Almost as dreadful a vessel to fall in with as the Phantom Ship in Coleridge’s ‘Ancient Mariner,’ I always feel uncomfortable when I read that poem, and yet I admire it very much.”

MRS. WILTON.  “It is replete with such truthful descriptions, that you are involuntarily borne on the wings of imagination until all seems reality, and you identify yourself with the Ancient Mariner.”

MR. WILTON.  “I anticipate we shall all be ancient mariners before we conclude our voyage, but we must not be idle ones.  Lead on, Emma, we will follow.”

EMMA.  “I have no more bays yet, and it is mamma’s province to describe the islands.”

MRS. WILTON.  “Well and good:  here are the Antilles.  I shall not hasten over them, for they are our isles, whither we hope shortly to sail in reality; therefore it is highly necessary that we should be well informed concerning their locality.  They form an arch between the two continents of America, and extend from the Gulf of Florida to that of Venezuela.  They are divided into the greater and the less; Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Porto Rico are called the Great Antilles, all the others the less Antilles.