CHAPTER XIX, 



Sixth Florida Episode : Sandy Island. 



LEFT you abruptly, perhaps uncivilly, reader, at 

 the dawn of day on Sandy Island, which lies 

 just six miles from the extreme point of South 

 Florida. I did so because I was amazed at the appear- 

 ance of things around me, which, in fact, looked so 

 different then from what they seemed at night, that it took 

 some minutes' reflection to account for the change. 

 When we laid ourselves down on the sand to sleep, the 

 waters almost bathed our feet ; when we opened our eyes 

 in the morning, they were at an immense distance. Our 

 boat lay on her side, looking not unlike a whale reposing 

 on a mud bank ; the birds in myriads were probing their 

 pasture-ground. There great flocks of ibises fed apart 

 from equally large collections of ' godwits,' and thousands 

 of herons gracefully paced along, ever and anon thrusting 

 their javelin bills into the body of some unfortunate fish 

 confined in a small pool of water. Of fish-crows I could 

 not estimate the number, but from the havoc they made 

 among the crabs, I conjecture that these animals must 

 have been scarce by the time of next ebb. Frigate 

 pelicans chased the jager, which himself had just robbed 

 a poor gull of its prize ; and all the gallinules ran with 

 spread wings from the mud-banks to the thickets of the 

 island, so timorous had they become when they perceived 

 us. Surrounded as we were by so many objects that al- 

 lured us, not one could we yet attain, so dangerous would 

 it have been to venture on the mud ; and our pilot hav- 



