This fascinating archipelago of coral islands forms an isolated little
group in the North Atlantic, six hundred miles from the United States,
three thousand miles from Europe, and twelve hundred miles north of
the West Indies. Bermuda is the second oldest British Colonial
possession, ranking only after Newfoundland, which was discovered by
John Cabot in 1497, and occupied in the name of Queen Elizabeth in
1583. Sir George Somers being wrecked on Bermuda in 1609, at once
retaliated by annexing the group, though, as there is not one drop of
water on any of the islands, there were naturally no aboriginal
inhabitants to dispute his claim.

Bermuda is to me a perpetual economic puzzle, for it seems to defy
triumphantly all the rules which govern other places. Here is a group
of islands whose total superficies is only 12,500 acres, of which
little more than one-tenth is capable of cultivation. There is no
fresh water whatever, the inhabitants being entirely dependent on the
rainfall for their supply; and yet some 22,000 people, white and
coloured, live there in great prosperity, and there is no poverty
whatever. I almost hesitate before adding that there are no taxes in
Bermuda beyond a 10 per cent. _ad valorem_ duty on everything imported
into the islands except foodstuffs; for the housing accommodation is
already rather overstrained, and should this fact become generally
known, I apprehend that there would be such an influx into Bermuda from
the United Kingdom of persons desirous of escaping from our present
crushing burden of taxation, that the many caves of the archipelago
would all have to be fitted up as lodging-houses. The real explanation
of the prosperity of the islands is probably to be found in the
wonderful fertility of the soil, which produces three crops a year, and
in the immense tourist traffic during the winter months.