A NATURALIST IN MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 



We left Philadelphia on the morning of February 15th, 

 and reached New York City to find it clothed in a wintry 

 garb. That afternoon we took passage on board the steam- 

 ship Orizaba, of the Ward Steamship Company's Line. 

 The mail steamer sailed promptly at the time assigned, 

 hauled out into the stream by a couple of noisy little tugs, 

 Avith two-inch hawsers made fast to stem and stern. Before 

 sunset the pilot left the ship, which was then headed due 

 south for Cuba. The sharp north-west wind, though blus- 

 tering and aggressive, was in our favor, and helped us not 

 a little on our journey. We doubled Cape Hatteras and 

 -Cape Lookout well in towards the shore, sightmg on the 

 afternoon of the third day the Island of Abaco, largest of 

 the Bahama Isles. The woolen clothing worn when we 

 came on board ship had already become oppressive, the 

 cabin thermometer indicating 75^ Fahrenheit. With nothing 

 to engage the eye save the blue sky and the bluer water, 

 the most is made of every circumstance at sea, and even 

 trivial occurrences become notable. The playful dolphins 

 went through their aquatic pantomines for our amusement. 

 Half a dozen of them started off just ahead of the cut- 

 water, and raced the ship for two hours, keeping exactly 

 the same relative distance ahead without any apparent ef- 

 fort. The broken main-mast of a ship, floating, with consid- 

 erable top hamper attached, was passed, suggestive of a 

 recent wreck. 



