CHAPTEE II. 



IN FLOEIDA. 



And now we are at Fernandina, in Florida at last. 

 It has been a long but a delightful trip. Of all the 

 yachting we ever did, and all of us have been more 

 or less followers of the sea, that is, the inland sea, 

 since childhood, we agreed unanimously this sail 

 from New York to the South by the inland naviga- 

 tion, was the most delightful. It was an unbroken 

 charm from the beginning to the end, with no more 

 of real danger about it than would have been en- 

 countered on Broadway under falling bricks and 

 over caving vaults. The variety of scenery was 

 charming, the oddity of the trees and plants most 

 interesting, and had we had the time to devote to it, 

 the fishing and shooting would have been superb. 



We had passed old Fernandina, and came to 

 anchor opposite the new town of the same name, 

 which had been selected on account of its having 

 a better harbor in a norther, that terror of south- 

 ern latitudes in winter, and which must have raked 

 the old towq pretty thoroughly. We had to go 

 ashore at once. The tides have a great rise and 

 fall, and we were glad to avail ourselves of the boat 

 club landing which was kindly placed at our dis- 

 posal. We found Fernandina a quaint old town, 

 with a mixture of newness and age about it. North- 



