a "clean bill of
health," under which we were permitted to land! The alternative was
twenty-one days' quarantine.

Fort Montague, mounting four rusty guns, "with ne'er a touch-hole to
any on 'em," as Bushy informed us, stands upon a projecting point
about a mile from the town of Nassau, the road thither forming a
delightful evening promenade, or drive. The fort is old, crumbling,
and time-worn, but was once occupied by the buccaneers as a most
important stronghold commanding the narrow channel. These sea-robbers
imposed a heavy tax upon all shipping passing this way, and for many
years realized a large income from this source. It was only piracy in
another form. Most vessels found it cheaper to pay than to fight. When
the notorious Black Beard had his headquarters at Nassau, he sought no
such pretext, but preyed upon all commerce alike, provided the vessels
were not too well armed to be captured. This notorious pirate had an
innate love for cruelty, and often tortured his captives without any
apparent purpose, after the fashion of our Western Indians. When the
English lashed the mutineers of Delhi and Cawnpore to the muzzles of
their cannon and blew them to pieces, they were enacting no new
tragedy; legend and history tell us that Black Beard, the pirate of
the Windward Passage, set them that example many years before. His
rule was to murder all prisoners who would not join his ship, and
those whom he took fighting, that is, with arms in their hands, were
subjected to torture, one form of which was that of lashing captives
to the cannon's mouth and applying the match. Fort Montague is not
occupied by even a corporal's guard to-day, and is of no efficiency
whatever against modern gunnery. The reader will thus observe that the
principal business which has engaged Nassau heretofore has been
wrecking, buccaneering, privateering, and blockade running.

Some noted characters have found an asylum here, first and last. After
Lord Dunmore left Virginia he sought official position and made a home
on the island. He was appointed governor, and some of the buildings
erected by him are still pointed out to the visitor, especially that
known as the Old Fort, just back of the Victoria Hotel, crowning the
height. His summer seat, known as the Hermitage, is a quaint old
place, still in fair condition, and surrounded by oaks and cocoanut
trees, near the sea. Such matters do not often get into history, but
legend tells us that some stra