62 Natural History Bulletin. 



not allowed to enjov this enchanting view for long, however, 

 for no sooner were we on deck than the vessel was besieged 

 bv the •• bungo " men. The bungo is a little boat with an awn- 

 ing over the after part, like that which marked the prairie 

 schooner of earlv davs at home. There seem to be hundreds 

 of these little harbor craft, each with its vociferous boatman, 

 who evidentlv has the insistent methods of the cabman the 

 world over. He is allowed by law to charge twenty-live 

 cents in American money for conveying a passenger any- 

 where within the harbor. If he is dealing with a stranger, 

 iiowever. the chances are that he will charge as much as he 

 thinks his patron can be bullied into paying. Having our 

 own boats and men, it was not necessary to patronize the 

 bunffo man verv extensively, much to his evident disgust. 



The law required that our vessel be consigned to some resi- 

 dent firm or business man. and the representative of the firm 

 of Gonzales & Co. came off in a pretty steam launch to take 

 the captain and manager ashore. We had letters from the 

 United States Secretary of State to the Hon. Ramon Williams,. 

 Consul General to Cuba, instructing him to aid our cause and 

 assist us in securing permission from the Cuban Government 

 to carrv on our work without ofiicial molestation. Mr. Wil- 

 liams proved affable, and promised to use his influence in our 

 behalf, which he promptly did, securing permission for us to 

 carr\- on our dredging operations on the coast off Morro Castle, 

 and also at Bahia Honda, a place some fifty miles to the west 

 of Havana. Wishing to be released from the legal require- 

 ment of taking a pilot whenever we desired to go in or out 

 of Havana Harbor, the captain and myself went to the Cap- 

 tain of the Port, who was acting Admiral at the time. As is 

 almost universally the case with Spanish officials, this gentle- 

 man was courtesv itself, and immediately promised to do what 

 he could for us. and sent us to confer with the '-Captain of the 

 Pilots," who had jurisdiction in such matters. Both Captain 

 Flowers and myself were deeply impressed with the courtesy 

 which seemed to be habitual and natural to these officials, a 

 courtesv so strangelv in contrast with that which we had both 



