i68 I N A G U A 



parallel to the beach. This valley was filled with a deep desposit 

 of loose white sand. The sand was pitted with hundreds of long 

 depressions, oval hollows of almost equal length. Thousands of 

 tracks crisscrossed back and forth between these and the wall 

 of vegetation on the far side of the valley. Their identity eluded 

 me for a long time; the sand was too loose to make clear impres- 

 sions, but the mystery was solved when I rounded a clump of 

 bushes and came upon a nest full of baby pigs. I almost stepped 

 upon them and they dashed madly about squealing with fright, 

 bumping into one another. Dropping the pack I ran after them 

 in circles thinking I might secure one for supper but they were 

 too quick for me. Stopping, I loaded the .410 and prepared to 

 shoot but the mother hog came running up and they dashed to 

 her for safety. She looked mean and angry and advanced with 

 her head lowered menacingly. The .410 would hardly have 

 stopped her if she had charged and I decided that there was no 

 sense in having an angry sow on my hands, so I edged cautiously 

 away, leaving her with her brood. They turned and trotted 

 away into the bushes. 



For the next mile or two I moved quietly, hoping to find some 

 more young pork and was so intent on watching the ground 

 that I failed to notice until I came close the towering hull of a 

 great schooner piled high upon the rampart. It was the four- 

 master that Richardson had told us about durinof the dismal 

 dinner on our first day in Mathewtown. She had been a magnifi- 

 cent vessel. Two of her masts were still standing and the rem- 

 nants of her rigging were strewn in long piles along her decks 

 and over the sides. She had hit the rampart head on and the 

 impact had lifted her nose high out of the water until the great 

 bowsprit rose heavenward in a tangled mass of foot-ropes and 

 cordage. The hull was stove in in a dozen places and the water 

 rushed in and out in foaming torrents. I tried to climb up to 

 her decks but her sides were too steep and the few lines that 



