THE INLAND PASSAGE. 37 



they exhibited a langour which strangers are apt to 

 attribute to laziness, but which I believe due to dis- 

 ease. Let a man once take the southern fever, and 

 it will be many months if not years before he feels 

 like himself again. Our latest patients were fisher- 

 men, and to Mr. Green's insatiable inquiries they ex- 

 plained that they caught in their seasons shad ; 

 rock, our striped bass; trout, our weakfish; hickory 

 shad, white perch, mullet, spot, round-nosed shad 

 and flat backs, though what these latter were was 

 more than we could guess. They said that the fishing 

 had fallen off greatly of late years, but that the prices 

 had increased and that now they were paid seventy 

 five cents for a roe shad, and thirty for bucks. 



Next day was clear and cold, with a strong and favor- 

 able wind from the north-west, so much so that even 

 the imperturbable doctor was impatient to be off, but 

 Mr. Green had an idea, and when he has anything of 

 that sort he is the last man to part with it without 

 full fruition. To our proposal to get under weigh 

 early ho replied. 



" Beyond this you tell me that we have a groat 

 stretch of open water ?" 



" Yes," I answered, "the entire Pamlico Sound, 

 which must be a hundred and fifty miles long and 

 fifty broad, so the more advantage we take of this 

 favorable wind the better." 



" Well, you expect to find ducks, don't you, on 

 the route ?" he inquired by way of response. 



"I hardly know what we shall find," I answered, 

 "but I should like to find ducks, and have heard 



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