EAST-FLORIDA 249 



tion, say, or fisherman's cabin) and the passenger 

 cannot swim. Such a beach is a splendid sight the 

 dazzling white sand makes the distant view like a field 

 of snow ; the sand is very fine, so that a breath of wind 

 traces furrows in it, smooth and gently sloping to the 

 water ; hard by the water like a threshing-floor ; the 

 noise of the playing waves everything contributes to 

 make the prospect agreeable, on one side a boundary 

 of beautiful green bush. The waves of the sea com- 

 monly come rolling in-shore in three gradations one 

 after another, each half a foot to I foot in height, and 

 seeming to be vertically defined. The last always ad- 

 vances with the strongest thrust. Few or no shells 

 are to be found on this beach. This cannot be said of 

 the dismal remains of ships. Without the least over- 

 statement I daresay that every ioo paces, almost, the 

 skeleton of a foundered ship, or its wreckage, may be 

 seen. Who could pass this way without emotion if 

 one imagines to himself the terror so many souls must 

 have suffered here, and the lives that have been here 

 lost. The estimate is that every fortnight, or every 

 month at least, a vessel is wrecked on this coast. I 

 saw several of these skeletons far off from the water, 

 at the highest part of the beach, and buried deep in 

 the sand. A verv little more, and thev would be 

 wholly covered. Should the sea withdraw after cen- 

 turies, it would be an astounding thing to come upon 

 the reliques of these ships, enclosed doubtless in the 

 hardened shell-stone, into which, as I have observed, 

 the sand of these shores gradually changes. On this 

 island one sees many places near the beach where the 

 shell-sandstone has been dug out for buildings. Ex- 

 posed to the air it hardens still more. The stone has 

 17 



