FERFANDIKA. 333 



US to go up for a short distance the St. Mary's — a river that con- 

 stitutes in part the line of division between Georgia and Florida. 

 We remained outside all one nighty and in the early morning 

 cautiously proceeded towards the city, here and there feeling our 

 way with the sounding line. Xearly all the day was consumed 

 in discharging freight. The Aveather was so threatening that 

 Ave were content to simply view the city from the upper deck. 

 One colored policeman, black and dirty, Avas on duty at the 

 wharf. lie much needed a new uniform, but his "billy," and 

 the revolver that protruded conspicuously out of one of his pock- 

 ets, looked as if capable of doing good serA'ice. "We must con- 

 fess that we were not very favorably impressed with this specimen 

 of the right arm of Florida's civil poAver. A big negro boy, who, 

 in our presence horscAA-hippcd a little one, and boldly returned 

 the blows of a colored man who undertook to avenge the small 

 boy's wrongs, was allowed to escape. 



A smart, pretty white boy, only four years of age, smoked 

 three cigars in the course of a few hours, and was reported to 

 liave received in the morning at the hands of his father — Avho 

 had charge of the men who unloaded the freight — his morning 

 glass of brandy and water! Fernandina, apparently, is a place 

 of some thi'ee thousand inhabitants, white and colored. It has 

 a pleasant look, resting upon a gentle elevation above its harbor. 

 In leaving it, we steamed along nearly the Avhole line of its water 

 front, and noticed that its streets seemed grass grown, being 

 green with a low vegetable growth of some kind. As it is con- 

 nected with the Gulf of Mexico by railroad, it is the center of 

 considerable freighting business. St. Mary's river, like the St. 

 John's, seeks the ocean through several channels, by which means 

 a number of islands arc formed — Ioav, green savannahs, liere and 

 there diversified AA'ith forest growths, tlic trees and bushes giving 

 no indications of having ever felt the noiseless, killing touch of 



