34 THE I>^LAXD PASSAGE. 



passed Nag's-head Hotel, and came to anchor in a 

 perfect little harbor in the lower part of Koanoke 

 Island, where Captain Cain once had a terrapin 

 farm. It was a charming, though deserted, spot, a 

 bay just large enough for the yacht to swing in, and 

 completely land-locked, the buildings tumbling to 

 pieces, the terrapin ponds still ^there,^ but with not 

 only their occupants departed, but the very fences 

 falling down or being used for firewood. The specu- 

 lation had failed, because even there, in the very 

 home and abiding place of the terrapin, he had 

 grown so scarce that a sufficient business could not 

 be done to make it profitable. Terrapins are taken, 

 as Mr. Green soon found out, in bag or trawl nets, 

 that are drawn along the bottom, as we at the North 

 use a dredge for oysters. On the front of tlie net, 

 which hangs loosely behind, is an iron bur, of suf- 

 ficient weight to lie close to the bottom as it is being 

 dragged; this slips under the terrapins, which are 

 thus carried into the net. We readily understood 

 that they were not plenty, when we were informed 

 that "count" terrapins, that is, those over six 

 inches in length, bring on the ground one dollar 

 apiece. 



The weather had become very cold for yachting. 

 The thermometer fell to eighteen degrees during 

 the night, and we found that all the resources 

 of our vessel were hardly equal to keeping us 

 warm in our berths. Early next morning we 

 obtained our first oysters. We had brought oyster 

 tongs with us; in fact, if there was any kind 



