Ch. L] ARRIVAL AT GREYTOTVX. 3 



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.heavy weather. Only a few mangled remnants of their 

 bodies were ever found ; for what adds to the horror of 

 an upset at this place, and perhaps has unnerved many 

 a man at a critical moment, is that large sharks swarm 

 about the entrance to the river. We saw the fin of one, 

 rising above the surface of the water as it swam, lazily 

 about ; and the sailors of the nitdl steamers when lying 

 off the port often amuse themselves by catching them 

 with large hooks baited with pieces of meat. It is pro- 

 bable that it was at one of the mouths of the San Juan 

 that Columbus, in his fourth voyage, lost a boat's crew 

 who had been sent for wood and fresh water, and when 

 returning were swamped 011 the bar. Columbus had 

 rounded Cape Gracias a Dios four days before, and had 

 sailed down the coast with a fair wind and tide, so that 

 he might easily have reached the San Juan. 



Inside the bar w r e were in smooth water, for but a 

 small stream is discharged by this channel. On our 

 right was a sandy beach, on our left great beds of grass 

 growing out of the shoal water weedy banks filling up 

 the once spacious harbour, and cattle wading amongst 

 the long grass, where within the last twenty years a 

 frigate has lain at anchor. Wading and aquatic birds 

 are abundant in these marshes, amongst which white 

 cranes and a chocolate brown jacana, with lemon yellow 

 underwing, are the most conspicuous. A large alligator 

 lazily crawled off a mud spit into the water, where he 

 floated, showing only his eyes and the pointed scales of 

 his back above the surface. The town was now in full 

 \iew neat, white painted houses, with plume-crowned 

 palms rising amongst and over them; and we landed at 

 one of several wooden wharves that jut into the river. 



B 2 



