178 WILD 6P0ETS IN THE SOUTH. 



and had seized your gun, or a paddle, determmed on 

 deeds of revenge, peace would be declared in a loud 

 voice ; in some such phrase as 



" Ketch you yowlin' again. Tink Ise got a stick here 

 for nuthin', eh ?" 



Bonda Key was perchance half a mile in width at its 

 widest part, and three miles in length, where we were 

 encamped. The thickest growth of trees and shrubbery 

 stood at our end, and near the outer side was a long 

 pool of water, formed by the sea throwing up a bank of 

 sand and leaving this isolated pond. The nearest land 

 adjoining this island was at the two ends, the sides being 

 bounded without by the open ocean, and within by the 

 sheltered bay, which, dotted with islands of different 

 sizes, extended up the broad mouth of the river and to 

 the mainland. 



Thus much for the geography of our temporary home ; 

 as to its geology, it might be said to be, in the words of 

 Mike, "sand-some;" its botany was represented by sword- 

 grass, palmetto, sea-wrack, some wild plums, and a few 

 water-oaks and pines ; by the pond the reeds and joint- 

 grass grew very closely, and in the centre we could see a 

 close tangle of vegetation, that would defy the best hunter 

 in the land to crawl through. As to its conchology, I can 

 only say it produced excellent clams, and a kind of conch 

 shell, that Scipio manufactured into a sj^ecies of annoyance 

 he called a dinner-horn, and which when blown made all 

 the dogs on the island set up a prolonged howl. As to its 

 zoology, man seemed absent, and every other created 



