42 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



violence to another's outfit. There was no place 

 to hang anything except upon the decorative 

 frame of a mirror and a picture of saints, so the 

 mirror and saints were quickly concealed behind 

 a dozen coats and sweaters, so to remain during 

 the entire cruise. Everyone exchanged his land 

 costume of khaki and leggings for the nautical 

 white duck. It is a phase of human vanity to 

 wish to appear sartorially all right at sea, especially 

 at the start. There were none to admire our fine 

 clothes, yet we bedecked ourselves as if to appear 

 at a yacht club regatta. In a very few days, 

 however, we were a sorry looking lot of half- 

 dressed vagabonds, and had it not been for the 

 painful effects of a vertical sun, we would likely 

 have reduced costumes almost to the "altogether" 

 and thereby scandalized our crew. The modesty 

 of a Spaniard or a Cuban and his objections to 

 nudity while in the water was to us a matter of 

 some surprise. We always stripped for the morn- 

 ing plunge and our crew never recovered from 

 shock at sight of such outrageous immodest}''. 



If the prospect close at hand was discouraging, 

 the distant view was truly inspiring. None of us 

 had ever looked upon the Sierra de los Organos 



