2^6 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 



Seventh Florida Episode : The Tuetlebs of Ploeida. 



" The Tortugas are a group of islands lying about eighty miles 

 from Key West, and the last of those that seem to defend the 

 peninsula of the Floridas. They consist of five or six extremely 

 low uninhabitable banks, formed of shelly sand, and are resorted 

 to principally by that class of men called wreckers and turtlers. 

 Between these islands are deep channels, which although 

 extremely intricate, are well known to those adventurers, as 

 well as to the commanders of the revenue cutters whose duties 

 call them to that dangerous coast. The great coral reef or wall 

 lies about eight miles from these inhospitable isles, in the 

 direction of the Gulf, and on it many an ignorant or careless 

 navigator has suffered shipwreck. The whole ground around 

 them is densely covered with corals, sea fans, and other pro- 

 ductions of the deep, amid which crawl innumerable testaceous 

 animals; while shoals of curious and beautiful fishes fill the 

 limpid waters above them. Turtles of different species resort . 

 to these banks, to deposit their eggs in the burning sand, and 

 clouds of sea fowl arrive every spring for the same purpose. 

 These are followed by persons called ' eggers,' who, when their 

 cargoes are completed, sail to distant markets to exchange their 

 ill-gotten ware for a portion of that gold on the acquisition of 

 which all men seem bent. 



"The Marion having occasion to visit the Tortugas, I 

 gladly embraced the opportunity of seeing those celebrated 



