FIRST VISIT TO THE BAHAMAS 



lived in the village for twenty years. He gave us interesting information 

 about the island and questioned us about our visit. He told us that he had 

 had a fine house but that it was destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago. 

 He had built a sort of shanty on the foundations of the original house, and 

 pointed to where it stood about fifty yards away. When we left him, he 

 walked toward his home and his family came out to greet him, all black 

 as coal. 



After this experience, we returned to the waterfront and rowed out to 

 our anchorage. A good meal had been prepared for us, including some of 

 the fish we had caught during the day. We discussed our experiences and 

 our plans for next day; then AKce produced her portable graphophone. 

 The moon was nearly full, the air balmy. The charm of the islands was 

 working on me swiftly. It seemed unbelievable that only four days ago 

 I had been working at a desk. 



Next morning we got under way after breakfast in search of a suitable 

 "sea garden." Lydia had procured a diving apparatus, the use of which 

 she had planned to make the outstanding attraction of the cruise. During 

 her stay in Nassau that winter and the previous one she had made some 

 friends who used diving helmets, and had made several descents. Now she 

 owned her personal equipment and was proud of being the one to give 

 me my first experience. We arrived at a point on the outside of the coral 

 reefs. Our Captain, letting our little yacht drift for a while, took the 

 dinghy and searched the coral formations with a water glass. He soon 

 selected a suitable place, returned to Spindrift, moved her over to the place 

 he had chosen, and cast anchor. 



Our diving equipment was made ready. This consisted of a helmet, a 

 hand-operated air pump, and about fifty feet of rubber hose. The helmet 

 was of copper and went over the head, resting on the shoulders. It con- 

 tained two windows of flat glass, separated by a small frame located ex- 

 actly in front. A line tied to a piece of scrap iron was now dropped over 



