144 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



Finding ourselves at Punta Tolete, west of 

 Guadiana, we decided upon a prospecting shore 

 raid. Our disappointment was great to find the 

 shore a hopeless mangrove jungle with no trace 

 of calcareous rock in sight. The exposed coral — 

 the backbone of the land — was too far back from 

 the swampy coast to have justified an attempt to 

 reach it from this point, so we contented ourselves 

 with making a number of dredge hauls. The 

 species taken were largely different from those of 

 any dredgings theretofore made. 



We had special reasons for wishing to stop at 

 Punta Colorado, as a reported sponge bed near the 

 end of the point gave promise of some good col- 

 lecting, and an American-owned fruit-farm on the 

 cape offered opportunity to replenish our supply 

 of oranges now about exhausted. Accordingly 

 we put back, coaxing our way against a diminishing 

 wind. It was too late to accomplish anything 

 when we finally anchored in the open off the cape, 

 but a shore party utilized the remaining hours of 

 daylight for a preliminary survey of the beach. 



The bottom hereabout seemed to be of hard 

 sand and fairly paved with sea-urchins and stars. 

 At night the submarine light brought us unusually 



