162 ISLES OF SUMMER. 
and more than wtsually lively; the soft white clouds moving so. 
majestically across the clear blue sky; the exquisite beauty of 
the islands and keys, and of the city of Nassau, which quietly 
rested upon the rocky hillside, spiced with an excitement pro- 
duced by asail designed to demonstrate ‘what der Triton could 
do” inafree wind outside of the shelter which the natural break- 
waters of Nassau afford—all combined to give us avery high 
degree of exquisite and unalloyed pleasure. 
After we had sailed in a northerly direction out into the ocean 
to vindicate the truth of Sampson’s claims in reference to the 
good qualities of the Triton in rough water, we sailed in an 
easterly or northeasterly direction along the windward side of 
Hog Island, crossed Silver Key bar, entered water that seemed as 
warm as any confined and heated by a July sun upon a northern 
shore—skirted the southern line of Silver Key—passed through 
“‘the Marine Garden,” a region of submarine coral bowers of 
marvelous and wondrous beauty, situated between the east end 
of Hog Island and the.west end of Athol Island,—then, turning: 
to the west, we traversed the easterly portion of the harbor of 
Nassau, and were landed safely at the stone steps of the wharf 
which we had left some three hours before. The latter portion 
of our sail having been in waters somewhat sheltered, Sampson 
was better able to amuse us with a chapter or two taken from the 
volume of his personal experience. 
The account he gave of his visit in the summer of 1878 to the 
city of New York was particularly interesting. The impression 
made upon his wondering and astonished mind, graphically and 
faithfully described, furnished an entertainment of the most droll 
and comical character. Quick to see, sensitive to feel, and gifted 
to describe with a genius and eloquence all his own, this unlettered 
and untraveled negro, mounted upon any northern platform, 
could not have failed to convulse and bring down the house. 
