CHAPTER VI. 



KEY WEST AND THE POURTALES PLATEAU. 



On Saturday, June 17th, we again put into Key West, 

 tying up to the government wharf, where a berth was secured 

 for the "Emily E.Johnson" through the kind offices of Dr. 

 Murray. 



It was reall}^ a rehef to be again allowed to mingle with oiu' 

 fellow men, and not bear the stigma which Uncle Sam had so 

 promptly put upon us when we entered the port before. 

 Being tabooed by one's kind is doubtless sometimes for the 

 general good, but it makes the victim feel as if there were 

 some moral obliquity involved, and tends to decidedly diminish 

 one's self-esteem. Being pronounced once more tit for contact 

 with American citizens, we welcomed the advent of the num- 

 erous parties who were willing to supply us with frviits, pro- 

 visions, curios, clean linen, etc., with a cordiality which must 

 have seemed unduly emphatic, and patronized ice-cream 

 saloons and soda-water fountains with a zest unknown since 

 childhood. 



Key West is a Spanish city, with a strong Bahaman flavor, 

 placed on American soil. Its main industries are sponge- 

 curing, cigar-making, and the hatching of Cuban rebellions. 

 If the Spanish authorities could swoop down on that city some 

 night and exterminate its inhabitants of Spanish blood, it 

 would be safe to insure Cuba against revolutions for a gen- 

 eration to come. This city, of twenty-odd thousand inhab- 

 itants, is an anomaly. The onl}^ thing about it that is Amer- 

 ican is the coral rock upon which it stands, and a few of the 

 government officials. One can enter store after store \\ itli- 

 out bein<r able to transact his business in Enulish, and when 



