ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 233 



the boat, I saw something projecting from the sea gable window 

 which I could not quite understand, so asked Capt. John to get the 

 glasses and let me know what it was. He looked a moment or so, and 

 said, "That is a two-foot boy looking for 'wracks' with a three-foot 

 telescope." And so it was, as we afterwards found. Some one of 

 the family was always at that window with the telescope. Some of 

 those unsophisticated " Chonchs ' ' actually think that once in a while a 

 vessel gets onto the reef " on purpose," for the sake of the insurance, 

 but we business men know that cannot be the case. I heard the next 

 year that our friend of Indian Key had gotten into a share in a "good 

 wrack," and had retired from business temporarily. I hope the story 

 is true, as he entertained us nicely, giving us much information, and 

 was very kind in every way. 



LOWER MATTACOMBE CHANNELS. 



The southwest end of Lower Mattacombe Key is five miles south- 

 west of Indian Key. There are four channels between it and the 

 northern end of Long Key, four miles distant. 



These channels leading into the Bay of Florida, as all south of 

 Tavenier Creek to Key West do, carry from four to fifteen feet of 

 water, and all the fishes of the Keys are caught in them. 



LONG KEY. 



This Key is four miles long, and is well known, as the southern 

 end is the usual starting point for small and medium-size craft bound 

 for Cape Sable across the Bay of Florida, on the West Coast. 



All of the fishes of the Keys are caught in the six channels 

 between it and Duck Key, the next one south on the Key line, and 

 five miles distant. 



Spanish Mackerel are frequently very plenty here during the 

 season, outside, and well to the inside at times. The two small 

 Conch Keys lie about one mile inside the Key line, between 

 channels, about two-thirds distance between Long and Duck Keys. 



Between Duck Keys and Bahia Honda Key harbor and channels 

 there are on the outside Key line sixteen Keys, not counting some 

 very small unnamed ones (on the charts). They are Harbor, Toms, 



