FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 87 



tidal waves at a moment's notice, and that is prolific 

 in monster sharks and leaping rays, cannot conduce 

 to merriment. Still, like the Chamber of Horrors 

 at Madame Tussaud's, one dark night in the Pass 

 should not be missed by any who take an intelli- 

 gent interest in the gruesome. 



Ten or twelve thousand miles, out and home, 

 with no other purpose than to catch a tarpon, may 

 seem a long and costly pilgrimage, and six weeks 

 are, it must be confessed, a big slice out of the year 

 of the professional or business man. I took twice 

 that time, but unnecessarily so far as the main 

 object of my trip was concerned, for I had accom- 

 plished this when less than three weeks out from 

 home, and within a fortnight's journey of Liverpool. 

 As for the cost, which, as will presently be shown, 

 need not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds, I 

 cannot, in view of the magnificent sport and unique 

 experience, regard it as prohibitive, particularly when 

 I remember that a friend of mine had to give up a 

 well-known salmon-fishing in the north country when 

 the season's rent passed two hundred pounds, as his 

 professional work did not permit of his spending 

 more than one whole week and five more week- 

 ends on the water. 



I am not for a moment comparing a month's 

 tarpon-fishing with a day's salmon-fishing. I do 

 not, for the matter of that, feel any desire to com- 

 pare it with any other style of fishing in river, lake, 

 or sea. Salmon-fishing is an altogether different 

 sport. The salmon must be treated with diplomacy 

 else it breaks the angler's cast. It may therefore 

 take hours to land a large salmon, and an historic 

 instance is on ret;ord in which a well-known fisher- 



