TO WASHINGTON. 535 
out forty-eight hours; and unless a good breeze should 
favor us, we could not expect to reach our place of des- 
tination before the next day. Our water was gone; 
_ and there was none to be found on the beach. Seeing a 
small craft approaching from an opposite direction, we 
stood for her; and when within two hundred yards, 
our captain hailed her, and asked if they could spare 
, us any water. The reply was in the affirmative ; but 
when I expected we should pull for her, to my utter 
surprise, a sailor composedly stepped into the water, 
and, with a bucket on his arm, walked to the other boat, 
where he got it filled. The bay was less than three 
feet deep, although we were many miles from the 
shore, which was barely visible. Did one not know 
where he was, he might imagine himself at sea. 
At the eastern end of the bay, the water was so 
shallow that the passengers were carried on the backs 
of the men toa small island near by, while the captain 
and sailors jumped into the water, and lifted and push- 
ed the boat over. A little further we came to a “dug 
out”—that is, a passage cut or dug across a bar, about 
twenty yards through. Here the men got into the 
water again; and each of the passengers taking an 
oar, we managed to force the boat through. The shal- 
lowness of the water and the consequent difficulties of 
navigating these lagoons after a norther, may be judg- 
ed of, when I state that our little craft drew less than 
fifteen inches. 
January 7th. After a third night passed in the 
open boat, we emerged from these shallow waters soon 
after day-light; and crossing Paso Cavallo, with the 
town of that name on our right, we landed at 8 o’clock 
