37° AUDUBON 



obtaining. One morning, therefore, we went in two boats 

 to some distant isle, where they were said to breed. Our 

 difficulties in reaching that Key might to some seem more 

 imaginary than real, were I faithfully to describe them. 

 Suffice it for me to tell you that after hauling our boats 

 and pushing them with our hands, for upwards of nine 

 miles, over the flats, we at last reached the deep channel 

 that usually surrounds each of the mangrove islands. We 

 were much exhausted by the labor and excessive heat, 

 but we were now floating on deep water, and by resting a 

 short while under the shade of some mangroves, we were 

 soon refreshed by the breeze that gently blew from the 

 Gulf. We further repaired our strength by taking some 

 food; and I may as well tell you here that, during all the 

 time I spent in that part of the Floridas, my party re- 

 stricted themselves to fish and soaked biscuit, while our 

 only and constant beverage was molasses and water. I 

 found that in these warm latitudes, exposed as we con- 

 stantly were to alternate heat and moisture, ardent spirits 

 and more substantial food would prove dangerous to us. 

 The officers, and those persons who from time to time 

 kindly accompanied us, adopted the same regimen, and 

 not an individual of us had ever to complain of so much 

 as a headache. 



But we were under the mangroves ; at a great distance 

 on one of the flats, the Heron which I have named Ardea 

 occidentalis'^ wa.s seen moving majestically in great numbers. 

 The tide rose and drove them away, and as they came 

 towards us, to alight and rest for a time on the tallest trees, 

 we shot as many as I wished. I also took under my 

 charge several of their young alive. 



At another time we visited the " Mule Keys." There 



the prospect was in many respects dismal in the extreme. 



As I followed their shores, I saw bales of cotton floating 



in all the coves, while spars of every description lay on 



1 Plate cclxxxi., ed. 1827-1839 ; plate ccclxviii., ed. 1843. 



