PEARLS OF THE ATLANTIC.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3378, 13 June 1927, Page 8

PEARLS OF THE ATLANTIC.

From the time of Tom Moore, who visited the Bermudas more than a century ago .and described its lovely features in glowing verse, these beautiful Atlantic islands have received many notable tributes from celebrities who nave found a refuge there during the winter: months. People interested in genealogy will 'find that Bermuda oftex’a an interim mg 'field for research, many of the native residents being descendants of the original settlers who came from England or the American colonies more than two hundred years ago. Such names as Trimingham, Outerbridge, Peniston, Darrell, Conyers,’ Butterfield, and Wainwright are common in the Islands, but the lead is taken by the Tuckers, who are remarkably numerous. Until the Revolutionary War there was a close relationship between the Bermudian and American branches of most of these families. At that time the Bermudians were engaged extensively in shipping, and were the principal carriers in the coastwise and West Indian trade of the North American provinces. Members and friends of Bermuda families living in America joined the armies of freedom, and the cause of the colonies had many sympathisers among the islanders. It was St. George Tuqker, a Virginian by adoption and a. Bermudian by birth, who arranged for the seizure of a hundred barrels of gunpowder stored in Bermuda, this powder Washington’s army gained its and their shipment to Philadelphia. With first important victory. The old-world atmosphere of Bermuda has been much enhanced by the presence of a somewhat ' extensive Portuguese population, which has developed in the last thirty years. These immigrants, who came from the Azores Islands, form to day a thrifty and prosperous farming community. While their farms are necessarily small, their intensive cultivation of a highly productive soil, aided by a climate that induces quick growth, usually results in bounteous crops of vegetables, such as the famous Bermuda potatoes and onions. The older folk, who are rather clannish, speak little English, retain many Portuguese customs, and mingle neither with .other white residents nor with the coloured people. Their children, however, who attend the public schools, leam English readily and acquire many Bermudian ways. Entire Portuguese families, as a rule, engage in farm work; they are a sturdy race, and, according to local statistics, their numbers are increasing. Some of Bermuda’s coloured people have the coarse, straight black hair and high cheek-bones that distinguish American Indians, while the complexions of a few even show a reddish tinge. The explanation is that in 1637, at the close of the Indian war in Connecticut, many Pequot prisoners were shipped to Bermuda as slaves. At a later period Indians captured in the King Philip war in New England were tent to the islands, and a few Caribs are idso said to have been brought from the West Indies.

All these inter-married with the Negro slaves, and apparently the admixture of races has had a good effect on the present generation, for Bermuda’s coloured population is noted for its intelligence and progressiveness. Few traditions exist concerning the Indians who were brought to the islands, but they are mid to have accepted their harsh fate stoically, giving no trouble and labouring industriously in the fields. The Negroes, however, when first brought from Africa in the early days, organised several formidable conspiracies, which resulted in severe measures agu.-rst their •lawlessness.