THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 13 



Occasionally some of the great monsters of the deep show 

 themselves to our eager eyes. A ray-fish as large as the head 

 of a hogshead, and weighing probably a hundred pounds, is 

 aroused from its bed in the sand by the near approach of our 

 boat and swims rapidly away, dragging after it a tail resem- 

 bling in form a whiplash. This tail is only an inch and a half 

 in diameter at the base and is from three to four feet long. 



Farther on a monster shark, seven or eight feet long, 

 swims boldly alongside of our boat, apparently curious to 

 know who it is that thus invades his domain. If we had had 

 a harpoon on board we could have satisfied his curiosity in a 

 way he would not have liked. 



Five miles below Mr. Whitaker's, Maurice landed at his 

 father's house to get his blanket and some provisions for 

 camping, thinking it possible we might be delayed and have 

 to camp out over night. 



Two miles below this point we passed Captain Young's 

 boat-house. He builds small yachts, sloops and schooners 

 and sells them to settlers along the coast. About noon we 

 entered the mangrove thickets, which reach clear across the 

 bay at this point, with only narrow passes winding through 

 them, and which at low tide are very difficult to navigate, 

 even with small skiffs. But fortunately we entered them at 

 high tide, and this, together with the fact that Captain Mau- 

 rice knows every foot of the passes and handles a pole 

 extremely well, enabled us to go through them with flying 

 colors. 



This mangrove is a strange shrub. It grows only in or 

 near salt water. The stem grows up to a height of one to two 

 feet when a few limbs branch out ; a few inches farther up two 

 or three roots will put out and seek the earth. Farther up 

 more limbs shoot out, still farther up more roots, and so on 

 until limbs, roots and main stems are mixed up in one almost 

 13 



