162 YACHTING OX THE ST. JOHXS. 



wide-mouthed bass, culled trout by the natives, who 

 know not our clear northern waters nor the bright-lined 

 fish that enliven them ; and when the sun is bright, huge 

 gar-fish, or alligator gar, long-nosed fellows, bask near 

 the surface. Near springs where the waters are clear 

 the study of aquatic life is very interesting. In one such 

 stream, with a bright sandy bottom, I saw more varieties 

 of fish than I can describe or name. Among them, in 

 groups, were fish like pike, from one to two and three 

 feet long. The gar were abundant, and four to six feet 

 in length, going oft like arrows, leaving a swirl like a 

 propeller. In deeper spots clustered bass, a spotted fish 

 I could not learn the name of, and fish called silver fish, 

 while flitting along like bats, raising little clouds of 

 sand at each stroke of their liver-colored wings, were 

 electric rays, or stingarees. Under our boat, too, undu 

 lated the water moccasin, eyeing us angrily, and darting 

 out a forked tongue most viciously. At another time, 

 in one of these bayous near Enterprise, while paddling 

 along, I shot a small alligator, some four feet long. 

 The ball tipped and cut his skull, and, as my excel 

 lent boatman July said, killed him. Poking him up 

 from the bottom we took him guardedly aboard. He 

 was. seemingly very dead, so his shiny form was placed 

 under the bow deck, over which I stood, shooting at gar 

 fish, hoping to get one, I had forgotten the fellow, 

 when I was astonished by a smashing under my feet, 

 and with a jump over July made my escape into the 

 stern, where a lady was sitting, just in time to save my 

 legs from a rasp of his well-aimed tail. Out he came, 

 smashing and spoiling for a muss, his long mouth open, 

 and an unpleasant look of mischief in his bloody head 

 and eyes. There were just then some amazing ideas 



