94 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



very rugged and may be barren or covered in spots with a growth of 

 Sesuvium or Portulaca or a dense, almost impenetrable, thicket of 

 Platopuntia or other cacti. 



Some of the larger cays, on the other hand, bear tangles of brush, 

 or even what might be called trees, all of the vegetation, however, 

 being of the drought-resistant type, save here and there where tangles 

 of mangrove jut into shallow bays. On these cays the most conspicu- 

 ous elements were the land mollusks of the genus Cerion, of which we 

 gathered thousands, though these were by no means the only land mol- 

 lusks of the region as evidenced by the collection now resting in the 

 National Museum. 



Early on July 4 we left our anchorage in the Great Ragged Island 

 harbor and headed for Cay Verde. All along our course we had met 

 with many breeding colonies of sea birds, but Cay Verde is the only 

 cay boasting a breeding colony of Man-o'-War birds in the Bahamas. 

 Dull skies, squalls and heavy seas constantly breaking over our decks, 

 somewhat modified our looked- for celebration of the day. Our ship 

 soon had the putty, which had been used to close the seams of the ves- 

 sel in place of oakum, pounded out by the waves, and a call to man the 

 pump was in order. To make a short story of the longest day of our 

 cruise, I will say, simply, that the ship slipped entirely off the Colum- 

 bus Bank upon which Cay Verde is located, and we failed to sight 

 Cay Verde, but were greeted about 2 o'clock the next morning by 

 the welcome faint flashes of Castle Island lighthouse. 



The next two days were spent in an attempt to repair our ship, which 

 was only in part successful, since we were unable to careen her on 

 account of her flat bottom. From this time until August 11 we were 

 forced to pump one hour out of every three, day and night, to keep the 

 ship habitable, and even then the leaky decks soaked most of our 

 belongings stored below. 



July 5 to 15 we spent exploring the Crooked Island group, a tri- 

 angular bank about 45 miles in a north and south direction, and 35 

 miles east and west. This bank consists of Castle, Aklin, Crooked, 

 Fortune Islands, and the Fish Cays. Here again the sea drops imme- 

 diately off shore to a great depth, in places to almost 3,000 fathoms. 



The group is isolated from all the adjacent groups of islands by 

 more than 1,000 fathoms. Some of its hills attain an elevation of 200 

 feet and habitats for our mollusks vary from bleak and barren sand 

 spits to mangrove tangles, and from dense grass flats and brush land 

 to small timber, as well as cultivated fields. The days spent here 

 again proved worth while and very profitable. 



