Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 191 



was understood to exist between this man and the British 

 representative, whereby the latter made out all the otiicial 

 papers of the American •■ Consul," who reciprocated by supply- 

 in*^ whatever liquor was needed for the personal consumption 

 of Her Majesty's representative. This story I believe to be 

 true, having seen and conversed with the parties interested. 

 The American representative was certainly as ignorant and 

 degraded in appearance as an}- man that I encountered in the 

 West Indies. The idea that such a person should have power 

 over the liberty and propert}' of American citizens who traded 

 in that port to the extent of scores of thousands of dollars 

 annuallv, was enough to disgust any one who knew of the 

 situation. The writer has seen a good man}^ of the repre- 

 sentatives of our government in out-of-the-way places, and is 

 of the opinion that thev are usually a poor reliance in case of 

 difficult\-, as the policy of the government is to pay them so 

 little that they are obliged to engage in some other pursuit, 

 thus compelling them to have a personal business interest in 

 keeping on the good side of the authorities where they reside. 

 It is. of course, out of the question for an American to secure 

 justice under such circumstances, if justice conflicts with the 

 wishes of the local government. 



At 1 130 p. INI, the schooner floated off the sand-bank and 

 was brought up opposite the town, greatly to our relief, and 

 the rest of the day w^as spent in visiting our friends ashore 

 and securing fresh fish and fruit. It was with no little delight 

 that we found a goodh" number of watermelons, which were 

 a decided treat under the circumstances. 



Early the next morning we started with a new pilot for 

 Spanish Wells, which we had obtained permission to visit, 

 although it is not a port of entr\-. We took what is known 

 as the •• inside passage,"' a narrow and winding channel be'- 

 tween the rugged coast of Eleuthera and the line of reefs, a 

 passage well calculated to make the skipper and his passen- 

 gers hold their breath. The water was, as usual around 

 these islands, wonderfully clear, making the dangers all the 

 more apparent, and revealing the ugly black heads of rocks 



