226 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



wide, and winds southwards so that it flows within 14 

 miles to the west of Augustin. About its mouth, since 

 Carolina and Georgia were given up by the English, 

 many refugies have settled and built an extensive 

 place, called also St. John's. A bar lies before the 

 mouth of the river, but there is 15-17 ft. water; larger 

 ships therefore run in here or into St. Mary's river, 

 (which marks the boundary between Georgia and 

 Florida), more easily and safely than anywhere else 

 in this colony. 



After another unquiet night, during which a hollow 

 sea with calm flung our little schooner pitilessly from 

 one side to the other, a favorable wind brought us in 

 good time the next morning to the heights before 

 Augustin. On account of the very flat coast it is diffi- 

 cult to find the site of Augustin; ships are often at 

 a loss for several days. The night was warm, but the 

 morning cool and with a heavy dew on land. We 

 stood off and on before the bar, waiting for the pilot, 

 who had been signaled for and shortly came over the 

 so-called Swash and at 9 o'clock was on board. 

 Helped by the incoming tide and a fresh north-east 

 wind, the most favorable for entering craft, he carried 

 us well over this dreadful bar, which had caused our 

 young skipper many an anxious sigh all the way from 

 Charleston. The steersman on the other hand, quite 

 in the indifferent manner of an old sea-farer, had been 

 entertaining the small company on board with numer- 

 ous stories of ship-wreck and loss of life, always con- 

 cluding with the statement that the bar before us could 

 not be crossed without mortal danger, which was cer- 

 tainly no pleasant augury for those who were coming 

 to St. Augustin out of sheer curiosity. Among the 



