14 THE IXLAND PASSAGE. 



sea I want to go in a steamer, and the biggest and 

 strongest steamer at that." Moreover, the inside 

 route is much the more interesting ; there is nothing 

 very novel about the sea but the danger of it, 

 whereas the bays, creeks, canals and rivers furnish 

 a fresh and continually changing panorama. There 

 is a frequent encounter with strange people, with 

 vessels of queer rigs and builds, an alternation of 

 scenery, the arrival at and departure from cities, the 

 chance to occasionally kill a bird or catch a mess of 

 fish — something new happening every day. At sea 

 there is the ocean — a great deal of ocean — and 

 nothing else. 



There exists a complete inside route from Xew 

 York to the St. John's Eiver, with the exception of 

 about a hundred miles south of Beaufort, North 

 Carolina, and on this stretch there are many acces- 

 sible inlets only a few miles apart, so that no vessel 

 need be caught ont overnight or can fail to make a 

 safe harl)or in case of necessity. The charts are 

 nearly complete and enable a person of ordinary in- 

 telligence, in a vessel drawing not over four feet of 

 water, to be entirely independent of pilots. The 

 lighter the draught, however, the better, and I 

 should not advise the use of any boat which requires 

 more than three feet to float in, two feet being 

 greatly preferable. 



Do not start for the South before the lirst day of 

 November unless you wish to encounter a multi- 

 plicity, variety and intensity of fever that would be 

 the delio:ht of the medical profession. Until frost 



