Nakra'iivI': oi" Bahama Expedition. 135 



dock with her passengers unanimously of the opinion that Dr. 



Murray and his associates had put the expedition under great 



obhgation In' their attention not onl\- to the comfort and 



heahh. but also to the jileasiu'e of the entire j)art\'. For once. 



at least, in tiie history of the Dry Tortugas, people left the 



domain of the yellow flag with genuine regret. 



The vessel remained at anchor that night within the harbor. 



or rather channel, off (jarden Key. A heavy gale blew from 



the S. S. W. all ni^ht, raisino" a sea that sent the waves dash- 

 er - & 



ing high over the sea-wall against the old fort. Not wishing 

 to leave our safe anchorage in such a gale, we busied our- 

 selves in doing odd jobs about the vessel and in reading. 

 The next dnv a high sea was still running outside, and w^e 

 concluded to ivy a few hauls of the trawl and tangles across 

 the channel. The bottom must have been actually paved 

 with a species of As-trof^cctoi, as the tangles were fairly 

 crow^ded full of them. The trawl could be used to advantage 

 on this smooth sandv. bottom, and we thus secured quite a 

 number of small fish that would otherwise have been missed. 

 On the morning of Frida}^ June i6th,we finally bade good- 

 b\e to the Dry Tortugas, but were glad to see Dr. Murray 

 on board to accompany us to Key West. This gentleman has 

 probabh' had more experience with yellow fever than any 

 other American physician, and w^e were greatly interested in 

 the tales of the pestilence which he could so graphically 

 relate. His opinion was that the disease is not nearh' so ter- 

 rible as generally supposed, and that with proper treatment 

 there is no necessity for a mortality greater than two per cent. 

 The doctor was evidently skeptical concerning the existence 

 of the vellow fever bacillus. 



