I08 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



port of arrival. In the old days they ran direct to 

 St. Thomas. 



Once Mr. Lambert, now Surveyor of the Post-Office 

 in South Wales, and formerly on the staff of the late 

 Mr. Kains, the West Indian Surveyor, whose office 

 was at St. Thomas, met with an uncomfortable 

 experience. He had occasion, on the arrival of the 

 steamer from Southampton, to go up with the mails 

 from St. Thomas to Nassau, in New Providence, 

 the most northerly of the Bahamas Group. Her 

 Majesty's packet was then a small schooner. 



' We were crossing the Bahama Banks,' wrote Mr. Lambert 

 to me, ' by a course which is rarely taken by small coasters, but 

 which saves about forty miles. The water is no great depth, 

 and so clear that you can see every stone on the bottom, conch- 

 shells, and huge sponges such as you would pay a guinea for in 

 England. The most striking sight on this occasion was a 

 "school" of whales of the kind called black fish. There were 

 ten or fifteen around us, and presently one came alongside the 

 vessel so close that I could almost have jumped on his back. 

 He was twice the length of the vessel, and glided past us, going 

 our way without any apparent movement of tail or fin. 



' So far all was pleasant. Not so the return trip. 



' We started from Nassau rather late on a Saturday, and though 

 the day was lowering and the wind not quite fair, the captain 

 decided to cross the Banks again. The wind as we got on the 

 Banks became more and more adverse ; we could not steer a 

 right course, and as it would not have done to get out of the 

 proper channel with night coming on, the captain decided to 

 anchor. . 



' The anchor was let down and the vessel rode to it for a time ; 

 but as the night wore, the wind rose and our little ship began to 

 drag her anchor. More and more chain was let out, but all to 

 no purpose ; we were drifting fast, and every now and then we 

 would pass a coral rock just awash, which would have torn the 



