14 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



house completely ready for us and, through the greatkindness of its 

 owner, equipped \vith servants and supplies, so that we could settle 

 down at once. It had been improved by the addition of mosquito 

 screens, being the only house in Nassau so equipped, and a telephone 

 and electric light, since our former visit. The trees in the garden 

 were laden with grapefruit and oranges, the roses and hibiscus were 

 in full bloom, and we at once felt completely at home again. 



But this delightful beginning was succeeded by a series of vexa- 

 tions and annoyances so far unmatched in my experience. Nassau has 

 an infertile soil and very little productive industry, so that wages are 

 excessively low and it is often impossible for a laborer to get work at 

 all. In the past five years these conditions have produced their 

 inevitable result. Many of the best and most energetic of the popula- 

 tion, both white and black, had emigrated to the United States, 

 those engaged in any class of business were fewer and the most 

 enterprising of them had already gone. The fishermen supplying 

 the market were fewer than formerly, and perhaps they were less 

 diligent and efficient also, the result being that the "goggle-eye," which 

 small fish is generally used for bait, was scarcely and irregularly 

 supplied, and it was often impossible to get them on days 

 \vhen everything else w-as favorable. After many annoying experi- 

 ences of this kind I met this difficulty by arranging to get a supply of 

 bait, whenever possible, and have it kept on ice, and such cold storage 

 baits, while they were not quite so good as fresh ones, seemed to 

 answer reasonably well. 



When this difficulty was disposed of and I was able to go out 

 regularly, fish proved to be much less plentiful than they had formerly 

 been. Whether this was due to a rather unusually cold winter or to 

 some other reason I cannot tell. The temperature never fell to much 

 below seventy, even during the night, but tropical fish are extremely 

 sensitive to cold and even a slight drop in temperature will drive 

 them away or prevent their biting. I had been accustomed to find 

 good sport just outside the mouth of the harbor and all along the 

 shore for twenty miles or more, but this year there seemed to be no 

 fish anywhere near the harbor's month and grounds, which had been 

 most prolific in the former season, yielded nothing whatever to the 

 most painstaking effort. 



The winds, on which we depended entirely for propelling power, 

 and which had been so steady five years ago, were also very variable 

 and uncertain. On manv davs we were unable to fish because the 



