154 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



solid forest front, and the country appeared to be 

 an uninhabited wilderness. 



The Lena keys were obviously mangrove 

 though probably built upon a core of coral rock. 

 Looking north, over the open sea, no evidence of 

 the coral reef, the Colorados, could be distin- 

 guished. From Antonio to Cape Colorado the 

 reef lies far out, quite out of sight of land, and 

 presents a grave menace to ships, being unmarked, 

 unlighted, and uncharted. It is placed on the very 

 edge of profoundly deep water and is swept by 

 currents whose directions, force, and frequency 

 are but vaguely known. 



Torre, Clapp, Simpson, and Rodriguez elected 

 to join forces in a shore party. They entered the 

 woods through the little opening at the dock, find- 

 ing there the terminus of a roughly laid narrow 

 gauge track, used by the charcoal men to bring 

 out their sacks of fuel from the interior forests. 

 A mule-driven car was captured that had just 

 discharged its cargo, and was about to return, and 

 so the party enjoyed the luxury of a ride, which, 

 however rough, was better than walking along the 

 widely spaced ties. Traversing a swamp of about 

 a mile, the party encountered the first solid rock, 



