The Grouper Family 305 



and quite soft, so that we were unable to use the 

 setting poles to any advantage in moving the 

 boat. I observed quite a school of fish surround- 

 ing the vessel, which proved to be sand-fish. I 

 put out a stake to mark the stage of the tide, and 

 while waiting for the flood tide I put in the time 

 fishing, and soon had enough sand-fish for supper 

 and breakfast. This was rather fortunate, as we 

 were still aground the next morning, for strange 

 to say the depth of the water had neither in- 

 creased nor diminished for sixteen hours ; there 

 was no tide in that remote corner of the universe. 

 We then took out the ballast of about a ton of 

 pig-iron and put it in the dory we had in tow. 

 This lightened up the vessel enough to enable us 

 to shove her off into deeper water. I think we 

 never enjoyed any fish quite so much as those 

 delicious little sand-fish, and it has ever since 

 been one of my favorite fishes. 



