EAST-FLORIDA 229 



needing, to pass the bar, a depth of water only to be 

 had at the highest tides; but at such times the wind 

 is not always favorable for clearance. 



St. Augustin is said to be one of the oldest towns 

 established by the Spaniards in North America. The 

 houses are built quite after the Spanish fashion, with 

 flat roofs and few windows ; here and there the English 

 have houses with more windows, especially on the 

 street side. They also built the first chimneys, for the 

 Spanish formerly were content with no more than a 

 charcoal fire placed under a tapestry-hung table. The 

 town was planned for 4 chief streets running north 

 and south, but only two of them are conspicuously 

 built up, straight indeed but narrow. The best built 

 part of the town is at the northern end, towards the 

 fort. Almost every house has its little garden, of 

 which splendid lemon and orange trees are not the 

 least ornaments. The residence of the Governor, for 

 fear of the Indians, had been fortified by the Span- 

 iards with high walls, and the adjoining garden, with 

 bastions. At the south end and without the town, 

 what was once the Augustinian monastery (for the 

 Spanish in peopling a new-settled colony have first 

 regard to monasteries) has been converted by the 

 English into quarters for officers. Close by are large, 

 extensive, and well-planned barracks for the garrison. 

 The timber for this latter building was brought from 

 New York, as wise a course as fetching the pine flag- 

 staff on the fort from Norway through England to 

 Florida, where they know how to use the best wood 

 for scarcely anything but burning. This flag-staff is 

 said to have cost the government near 30 Pd. sterling, 

 and just outside the town there stand as fine or finer 



