"INAGUA IS A QUEER LITTLE ISLAND" 53 



nized a Maryland Yellow-throat and was thrilled at the sight; 

 and hummingbirds swooped dizzily between the thorn trees or 

 hung motionless on vibrating wings as they watched our prog- 

 ress. 



Presently the trail broke out on the beach again, the northern 

 beach this time, and we continued to the west. The coast here 

 was quite different from the lovely sand beach that marked 

 the east coast. There was no fringing reef to break the force of 

 the sea and the surf was piling in huge masses of foam and spray 

 against a low bench of eroded gray stone. The bench was 

 pitted and cavemed out in great irregular holes and occasionally 

 we passed places where we could hear the water roaring in the 

 rock directly beneath our feet. In some spots the force of the 

 incoming combers had broken away the roofs of the under- 

 water caverns and great fountains of spray squirted up between 

 the openings. Once a small geyser came up between my legs, 

 wetting me thoroughly. The Inaguans shrieked with glee, 

 thinking it a great joke. 



A few miles further on the beach became exceedingly dif- 

 ficult to walk upon. Coral rock quickly erodes with the action 

 of surf and spray and takes on the character and appearance of 

 a magnified sponge, only a sponge of needle sharp stone. Great 

 pits and holes, covered with a paper-thin layer of rock, await 

 the unwary step that treads thereon. Unless one moves care- 

 fully the foot will slip into such a trap and sHde down into a 

 needle lined pocket that cuts the flesh to ribbons. Through the 

 thin protection of my tennis shoes I could feel every irregu- 

 larity. I wondered how the black boys could walk barefooted 

 over such rock but when I examined the soles of their feet I 

 understood. They were covered with a half inch layer of heavy 

 callus almost of the consistency of horn. This horn extended 

 some distance up the foot where it thinned at the instep. They 

 were better protected against the rocks in bare feet than I was 



