Naiiiiative of Bahama Expedition. 147 



have been impossible, however, to have carrried along a 

 sufficient store to keep through the cruise, and the hardship 

 would have been all the more severe had we taken a suppl\- 

 from Baltimore, which would inevitably have failed us after 

 we got into a hot climate, making it necessary to go suddenly 

 from ice-water to the comparatively warm water of the water 

 casks. As it was, the water grew warm so gradually that 

 there was no sudden transition. We found great relief. 

 moreover, in the Cuban water-jars, or ••ollas." as they are 

 called. These are almost globular jars made of a very porous 

 white clay, with a handle on one side, a short spout on the 

 other, a ring on top, and an aperture for pouring in the 

 water. Such a jar is tilled and then hung out in the air and 

 sun. The evaporation going on from the damp outer surface 

 cools the water verv perceptibly, making it quite palatable and 

 really better for drinking purposes than ice-water. Several 

 of these ollas were always kept hanging from the stern davits. 

 They were filled every morning from the water casks. After 

 w'e learned to utilize these very sensible contrivances, which 

 were bought at Havana, there was little complaint so far as 

 the drinking water was concerned. From a sanitary stand- 

 point there is little doubt that the use of the ollas is far better 

 than dependence upon ice. 



Most of the fishes secured in this region were not taken 

 from the Pourtales Plateau proper, but in the shallower water 

 between the reefs and the one-hundred-fathom line, by far 

 the greater proportion coming up on the trawl or tangles 

 from a depth of about fifty fathoms. The assemblage of 

 forms as a whole was characterized by the grotesqueness of 

 shape so often found in aberrant groups. Of course there 

 were few tvpical deep-sea forms, the deepest haul producing 

 fish being one hundred and twenty fathoms. It is impossible 

 to tell whether even these came from the bottom or were 

 caught at intermediate depths by the ascending trawl or 

 tangles. One species, however, a flounder, can be reasonably 

 assigned to that depth. 



Among the more interesting forms secured may be men- 



