APPROACH TO NASSAT. 29 
the east coast of Florida below Jacksonville for some twenty- 
eight hours before we turned near Jupiter Light to enter and 
cross it. 
One cannot understand the phrase “‘ A wilderness of waters” 
until he actually sails day after day with nothing in view but 
the deep below and the deep above. On the second day out 
from Jacksonville we first sighted, off our starboard quarter, a 
faint trace of curling smoke in the distance, and soon, after 
crossing our bow, a Havanna steamer exchanged flag salutations 
with the Secret. 
The character and disposition of people are often strikingly 
displayed on shipboard. Some are so kind, so considerate, so 
mindful of their fellow-voyagers, so forgetful of themselves. 
Others seem to believe that the world, and all that it contains 
that is worth having, was made expressly for themselves. They 
seem lineally descended from the man whose only prayer to God 
was that He would 
‘¢ Bless me and my wife, 
My son John and his wife, 
Us four—and no more!” 
And also to be very nearly related to the individual who owned 
one-half of a negro, and who was accustomed to request the di- 
vine blessing for ‘myself, my wife, and my half of Jake.” 
A novel sight presented, itself as we approached the ship’s 
dock at Nassau. The perfectly clear and transparent water, ex- 
quisitely and indescribably colored; the old, weather-worn vessels 
at anchor; the forts and sea-walls; the white streets and white 
stone buildings, all of coral limestone, contrasted oddly with the 
crowds of persons, mostly colored, that filled all the docks, 
streets and standing places at and near the landing. We were 
