I do not apprehend that there will ever be a shortage of building
materials in Bermuda, for this is how a house is built. The whole
formation being of coral, the stones are quarried on the actual site
of the house, the hole thus created being cemented and used as a
cistern for the rain-water from the roof. The accommodating coral is
as soft as cheese when first cut, but hardens after some months'
exposure to the air. The soft stones are shaped as wanted, together
with thin slabs of coral for the roof, and are then all left to
harden. When finished, the entire house, including the roof, is
whitewashed, the convenient coral also furnishing the whitening
material.
These white roofs give quite an individual character to a Bermudian
landscape, their object, of course, being to keep the rain-water
supply pure. The men and women who live in these houses are really
delightful people, and are all perfectly natural and unaffected. They
are all, as one might suppose in so small a place, inter-related. The
men seem to have a natural aptitude for cricket, whilst Bermudian
girls can all dance, swim, play lawn-tennis, and sail boats to
perfection. On my second visit to the islands, I was much struck with
one small incident.
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