Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 137 



he does find a in:in who speaks EngHsh it isn't American 

 EngHsh, but Bahanian English, a curious patois composed of 

 negro dialect and the language of the London cockney, in 

 which the h's are misplaced with consummate adroitness. 



The city itself lacks the picturesqueness of the Spanish 

 city, the cleanliness of the Bahaman \illage, and the push and 

 vim of an x\merican town. The onh' realh' handsome build- 

 ing is the custom-house and post-office combined, a substan- 

 tial structure of stone and brick, overlooking the harbor and 

 embellishing an otherwise unattractive water front. Some 

 distance further to the south is the U. S. marine hospital, 

 where we found a formidable accumulation of mail for our 

 party. Still farther down and separated from the island bv a 

 causeway. Fort Ta3'lor adds a bit of romance to the scene. 

 The beach is lined with cocoanut palms, trees which seem 

 graceful and picturesque at first, but grow commonplace and 

 monotonous on long acquaintance. The shops of the town 

 are mostly wooden structures, sadly in need of paint, and a 

 majority of the signs are in Spanish. One of the most pre- 

 tentious buildings is the Masonic buildinp-. which is three 

 stories high, and contains a public library and free reading- 

 room. A horse-car line runs along the principal business 

 streets, but the horses pulling the cars usually walk. The 

 streets themselves have the virtue of being wide. The res- 

 idence part of the cit\- is much more attractive than the 

 business portion, and contains quite a number of sensible and 

 homelike houses, with commodious verandas and abundant 

 shade. 



A new industry has been inaugurated at Key West in the 

 shape of a canning factory for pine-apples. This enterprise 

 was started two or three years ago by Martin Wagner & 

 Company, of Baltimore, who ship the pine-apples from the- 

 Bahamas to Key West and can them there, instead of trans- 

 porting the fruit to their factories at Baltimore, as in times 

 past. The misfortunes to which sailing craft are subjected 

 were well illustrated by a schooner that arrived during our 

 stay at Key West, consigned to Martin Wagner & Companv. 



