| BERMUDEZ | BERN | 569 |
£8,000; imports from the United Kingdom in 1870, £54,933; exports to the United Kingdom, £8,928. A penal colony has been established on the islands, and the convicts are employed on the public works. There is an admiralty school on Ireland island, and private and free schools, churches, and chapels are numerous.—In 1522 Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard, was wrecked upon these islands while on a voyage from Spain to Cuba with a cargo of hogs. Sir George Somers was wrecked upon them in 1609 on his way to Virginia. In 1614 the islands were settled under a charter from James I., and in 1640 a regular government was established. The islands prospered, and during the civil wars many persons of position and wealth took refuge on them. Among them was the poet Waller, who sang their beauties in the “Battle of the Summer Island.” They are called in Shakespeare's “Tempest” the “still vexed Bermoothes.”
View in the Bermudas, with Hamilton in the distance.
BERMUDEZ, Geronimo, a Spanish poet, born in Galicia about 1530, died about 1589. He belonged to the order of St. Dominic, and was professor of theology at Salamanca. He published at Madrid in 1577, under the name of Antonio de Silva, two tragedies upon the subject of Inez de Castro, Nise Lastimosa and Nise Laureada. The former is much the finer poem, and has passages of great poetical merit. He also published a poem originally written in Latin, and translated by himself into Spanish, entitled La Hesperoida, of which the duke of Alva was the hero.
BERN, or Berne. I. A canton of Switzerland, bounded N. W. by France and the German province of Alsace, N. E. and N. by Basel and Solothurn, E. by Aargau, Lucerne, Unterwalden, and Uri, S. by Valais, and W. by Vaud, Fribourg, and Neufchâtel; area, 2,660 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 506,561, of whom about five sixths are Germans and the rest French. The ranges of the Jura extend through the northern part of the canton, and the Bernese Alps are in the south. Among these in the S. E. corner rises the river Aar, which, after passing through Lakes Brienz and Thun, flows N. W. through the centre of the canton. Its principal tributaries in Bern are the Simmen, the Saane, the Thiele from Lake Bienne, and the Emmen. Along the lower Aar and Emmen the country is level with undulations. Deep valleys are found between the ranges of the Jura and amid the Alps. Those in the southern part of the canton, which is called the Oberland, are particularly celebrated for their beauty; the most famous are those of Hasli, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, that of the Simmen, and the plain of Interlaken. The highest points of the Bernese Alps are the Finsteraarhorn, the Jungfrau, the Mönch, the Schreckhorn, the Eiger, and the Wetterhorn, from 12,000 to 14,000 ft. high. Many strangers are attracted to the canton by its wild and romantic scenery. The climate is healthful, but in temperature varies with the elevation. There is a corresponding variation in the soil. The valley of the Emmen is extremely fertile. The valleys of the Oberland are less so. On the sides of the mountains excellent pastures are found. These change higher up into barren rocks, and at a still greater elevation into glaciers. In the Jura iron and copper are mined, and watches and wood carvings are made. The canton exports cheese, but is sometimes obliged to import potatoes and grain. A railway crosses the northern part, and several railways centre in the city of Bern. The canton is divided
