166 



BAHAMA BIRD-LIFE 



accredited port of entry and having our bill of health 

 examined ; consequently we were subject to arrest, fine and 

 imprisonment as smugglers and pirates. We explained and 

 apologized and the magisterial authority having been duly 

 asserted, were permitted with a warning to proceed on our 

 way. It was an amusing bit of opera bouffe rendered still 



Peter 



more so when we learned, several weeks later, that our 

 yellow friend had been apprehended for larceny in office. 



The weather was now becoming unsettled and we 

 encountered violent squalls which often forced us to come to 

 anchor. Evidently the rainy season was opening. We 

 therefore beat southward inside the reef and four days 

 more brought us finally to Mangrove Cay, where shallow 

 water forced us to anchor about a mile off shore. Mr. 

 Matthews at once identified the strange sail and put off in a 



