272 SOUTH-WEST FLOEIDA. 



habitants, situated on the Manatee river, eight miles from 

 its mouth. At this place, the tourist will find two or 

 three boarding houses, where fair accommodations can 

 be obtained for two dollars per day, or forty dollars per 

 month. This place offers to the invalid a pleasant win 

 ter climate, but to the sportsman few attractions. On 

 Saturday, the 19th, we hoisted sail and bade adieu to 

 Manatee. Leaving the mouth of the river we took a 

 westerly course for the striped buoy in Tampa Bay, and 

 from buoy, a south-west course to the tripod on Anna 

 Maria Key, from a point near the tripod a south-east 

 course to Palmasota Point, the entrance to Sarasota Bay. 

 Between these points the channel was filled with mullet, 

 and hundreds of large sharks were revelling in the su 

 perabundant supply of delicious food. 



Entering Sarasota Bay, we were greeted with a south 

 easter with some sea, but .the Spray worked admirably, 

 and proved herself an excellent sea-boat. Night ap 

 proaching, we made a harbor under the lee of a long 

 sand- bar, and after cooking our supper we laid our weary 

 limbs on our spring beds. At ten P. M. the wind hauled, 

 and we found our position an uncomfortable one, com 

 pelling us to hoist anchor and seek a better harbor. The 

 night being dark, I handled the lead, and stationed 

 Harry at the helm. With the lead we kept in the chan 

 nel, and made tracks for the southern end of Sarasota 

 Bay. At eleven p. M. we sighted two passes in the dis 

 tance, one of which we had reason to believe would carry 

 us to sea, and the other into Little Sarasota Bay. We ob 

 jected to a night adventure on the Gulf, with an uncom 

 fortable sea running, and as we had been informed that the 

 entrance into Little Sarasota Bay was blocked up with 

 dangerous coon oyster reefs, except a narrow boat chan- 



