THE JERSEY COAST. 101 
There was a hum of pleasant voices—words like, 
*“ Oh! Deb, we should not have got in;” “ Why, 
Mary, we may as well ride—it’s all in our way.” 
“* Now, Lib, don’t say ’'m married.” “ Well, your 
husband is a good way off.” But who could attend 
to what is occurring around him when seated in the 
dark with a lovely angel in his lap? So situated, 
the ride appeared very short, and the next mile, 
which was as far as our delightful freight would go, 
was passed seemingly in about a minute and a half, 
decidedly the fastest time on record. At the end 
of it, on a suggestion from the driver, who lived in 
that section and knew the country, toll was taken 
of their rosy lips as passage-money. Jersey is a 
glorious place. 
Passing Charley’s, as he is generally called, the 
son of the old man, who for years was famous as the 
first hunter in that land, we turned off beyond, down 
the beach. The bay between the mainland and the 
sand-bar, known everywhere as “ The Beach,” was 
narrow, widening slowly as we advanced, until, at 
the end of our seven miles’ journey, it was nearly 
three miles across.. There was little vegetation be- 
side salt grass and bay-berry bushes; but of the 
animal kingdom the only representatives—the mos- 
quitoes—were thicker than the mind of man can 
conceive ; they rose in crowds, pursuing us fiercely, 
covering the horses in an unbroken mass, settling 
upon ourselves, flying into our eyes, crawling upon 
our necks, stinging through our clothes, and filling 
the air. Although small, they were hungry be- 
