SEA-BASS AND OTHER FISHES. 293 



snows of New York, with the mercury near zero, my young' 

 companion and I, after three days of easy travel, found our- 

 selves under the sunny skies of Volusia County, East Florida, 

 at a point known on the maps as Mosquito Inlet, and at the 

 pleasant cottage of B.C. Pacetti, sometimes called "the count" 

 — perhaps because one of nature's noblemen — at any rate the 

 head fisherman of the coast. The house stands on the bank 

 of the Halifax River, which enters the ocean a mile below, 

 m a fine orange grove, at the time of our visit full of delicious 

 fruit, of which we took many samples the first day. 



My companion I will call "the major," because he was a 

 minor, young, and ambitious of killing the big fish of which 

 I had told him — his former experiences having been confined 

 to Black Bass and Trout. In this narrative, I shall be 

 known as "the judge" as everybody in the south is expected 

 to have a title, and this one suits a man of ancient if not 

 venerable aspect. 



Having filled ourselves with the golden fruit, and drank by 

 way of contrast of the powerfully flavored sulphur water 

 that flows from a fountain in the grove, we unpacked our 

 tackle and made ready for the morrow. It dawned bright 

 and propitious, with the south wind, loved by anglers, even 

 from the time of Father Walton. We started at eight 

 o'clock after a breakfast of sheeps-head and oysters, cooked 

 by our good hostess in a style the result of many years 

 experience. 



P. had a roomy and comfortable flat-bottomed boat ready 

 for us, and with him at the oars, we went up the river, with 

 the tide about one-quarter flood. "Where will you take us 

 to-day.^" I asked. "I think I will go up Spruce Creek; the 

 tide will serve both ways." The Halifax River, so called, 

 is one of those long, narrow bays or sounds, which are found 

 along the Atlantic coast from the Delaware Bay to Florida ; 

 this one is about thirty miles long, running north and south; 

 and from half a mile to a mile in width, shut off from the 



