THE FLORIDA KEYS 33 



Bay of Florida, Blackwater Bay, Barnes and Card 

 Sounds. 



The axis of the great island chain corresponds 

 closely with the curve of the southern edge of 

 the "plateau," the foundation of the Peninsula of 

 Florida. It also marks the northern border of 

 the Gulf Stream. The true keys begin at the 

 north with Soldier Key, a little islet about eleven 

 miles to the southward of Miami, though the reef 

 rock reaches just a bit north of this island. They 

 extend to the Tortugas, the westernmost island of 

 the chain and distant from the first (on the axis), 

 about one hundred and eighty miles. The islands 

 vary in size from the tiniest bit of rock, sand, or 

 mud, often crowned with a green boquet of man- 

 groves, to Key Largo, almost thirty miles long. 

 The crowning elevation is in the "knolls" at 

 Windley's Island. Their dizzy height of eighteen 

 feet in so flat a region gives them by contrast a 

 real dignity. 



Between the chain of keys and an outer reef 

 paralleling it lies the Hawk Channel, a long, 

 narrow body of shallow water with a maximum 

 depth of six fathoms, and a width of from three to 

 six miles. This channel extends from near Cape 



