CHAPTER XX 

 Esperanza to Ca^o Levisa 



Tuesday, June 2d, Proceeding east from La 

 Esperanza, the fairway between the mainland and 

 the reef is less wide. The reef draws in closer to 

 the shore as the island shelf narrows. Various 

 groups of islands, sometimes with mangrove 

 fringes, are of the same type of formation as are 

 the sand-bars and shoals observed farther to the 

 west, but most of them have sufficient area of dry 

 land to support a considerable amount of vegeta- 

 tion other than merely of a salt marsh nature. 

 The main shore line is also bolder, thus affording 

 a welcome change from the mangrove and button- 

 wood swamps that are so monotonous a feature 

 of the littoral to the westward. 



An early start in the schooner availed us but 



little, for the air and the glassy siu-face of the 



water were still as in the heart of the doldrums. 



The bottom at about fifteen feet actually seemed 



too near to make safe a dive from the deck. Our 



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