54 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



and climbed up on the weather gunwale, but in a 

 short time he had the oar in place and brought the 

 head of the boat into the wind. 



"Man, suh," he said, "ef dat boat capsize we 

 drif' out into de Gu'f Stream an' de shahks sure 

 get us!" 



Across the channel the water became smoother 

 and we soon landed at an old wharf. "Jos6f" 

 took me to a fine hammock and helped me search 

 for tree snails, but we found only a few dead ones. 

 He told me he had helped to cut down a lot of the 

 original forest several years before. 



"Man," said he, "I could a-got yo a hatful 

 ob dem snail den!" 



Towards evening of another day I tramped into 

 the little village of Vaca or "Conch Town," a 

 settlement of Bahama negroes, where I tried in 

 vain to get a bed and food; no one would let me 

 sleep indoors but at last I got permission to occupy 

 a ramshackle outhouse. I hurriedly put up my 

 mosquito bar and as I had no supper I rolled up in 

 my blanket and tried to fit my body to the irregu- 

 lar, rocky floor. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 the night was cold the mosquitoes were bad. I 

 soon became completely chilled. The dogs be- 



