Terms, Four Dollars a Year, i 

 Ten Cents a Copy. ■ f 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1876. 



j Volume 7, Number 14. 



1 17 Chatham St. (City HalJ 8qr.) 



AUTUMN TIME. 



SELECTED. 



I SING the mellowed autumn time; 

 The russet pears, the scarlet haws, the yellow 

 sheaves of autumn time. 



The fading, falling autumn time; 

 The rustling leaves, the saddened winds, the 

 pallid mists of autumn time. 



The scented, fragrant autumn time; 

 The clover balls, the moorland heatn, the fresh- 

 ploughed earth of autumn time. 



The sober, tranquil autumn time; 

 The chastened noons, the steadfast, stars, the 

 purple glooms of autumn time. 



The sweet, soft sounds of autumn time; 

 The twittering birds, the bleating flocks, the 

 plaining streams of autumn time. 



The resting, patient autumn time; 

 The close reaped fields, the dew-drenched grass, 

 the low- streaked skies of autumn time. 



The grand, prophetic autumn time; 

 For ripened hearts and sweetened souls called 

 home to God at autumn time. 



For Forest and Stream. 



r M fifarf §o»nt of glovi&n. 



NUMBER 3. 



Being Notes of a Family Cruise of Five Hundred Miles and 

 Return, in a JSloop- Tacht twenty three feet long, by Major 

 tiarasola and his Family. 



AY 13th I was up before the sun, and in the skiff 

 ■ opening oysters for breakfast. As I threw the 

 shells over, my attention was attracted by a fish darting 

 from under the skiff, as each shell flattered down through 

 the water. At first I took it to be a catfish, but on a more 

 csreful observation recognized an old acquaintance, which 

 for want of a better name I am obliged to call a "sucker 

 fish." They are usually from twelve to eighteen inches 

 long, rather slim built, a darkish brown on top and a dirty 

 ^hite below. Some specimens look striped while in the 

 water. But the chief distinguishing characteristic is a 

 sucker of oval shape covering the top of the head. With 

 this they attach themselves to the under side of other large 

 fish, or to the boltoms of vessels, and allow themselves to 

 he towed along; have often seen them attached to the bel- 

 lies of etring rays and sharks. The sucker itself looks 

 like the cutters which are used by bootmakers to take pr gs 

 from the inside of boots, being crossed in the same man- 

 ner by sharp ridg.es, and of the same oval shape, two 

 inches long by an inch and a half wide. As none of my 

 Party had ever seen anything of the kind I baited a small 

 hook with an oyster, and had him on board at the first at- 

 tempt. It amused the children to turn him over on his 

 back on the deck, and then try to pick him up. His suck- 

 er would attach itself so firmly that considerable strength 

 had to be exerted to lift him. I find that one or more of 

 hem are almost invariably attached to a vessel's bottom 

 ™n sailing outside, but it is seldom ' that one is seen, un- 

 ess when becalmed or at anchor, something is thrown 

 overboard, when they instantly let go the sucker, and dart 

 out to examine it, returning immediately. I really can't 

 free why they should befitted out with this extra attach- 

 es, for they are as wjell provided in other respects as 

 m ost fishes to get their own living. 

 Land was about five miles away, and as nearly as I could 

 iculale then, or now, I was about fifteen miles north- 

 ern of the mouth of the Steinhatchee river. The gener- 

 e trend of the coast from St. Marks to Cedar Keys is S. 

 but G are numerous little ba ys and rivers coming in, 



wat° ne ^ aS t0 keep 80 far from land > on account of shoal 

 i er, that it is difficult to make out any of them. There 

 no settlements along the coast that I could learn of, 



and to all appearances the country is an unbroken wilder- 

 ness, the thick growth of forest trees reaching quite down 

 to the water, except in some places, where I could make 

 out long strips of grassy marsh. It appeared very monot- 

 onous, but not quite as bad as the long stretch of white 

 sand beech between East Pass and St. Andrews. I was 

 told of a settler living about two miles up the Steinhatchee 

 and Ross had told me there was a store there. I never 

 knew when I passed the mouth of the river, although at 

 one time 1 felt quite certain I could make out an opening 

 of sufficient size in the dense woods. We had no need to 

 go on shore, and as the wind had gone around with the 

 moon to the west, we made a very pleasant run along the 

 coast. A new point would be constantly rising from the 

 horizon ahead of us to prove to be no point at all when 

 we reached it, and it was not until afternoon that there 

 occurred any break in the sameness of the coast. This 

 object seemed to stand out in the water beyond the last 

 visible point, aud when the glass was brought to bear 

 looked first like a new form of tripod or survey mark. Af- 

 ter awhile it resolved itself into a sail, but there was no 

 perceptible motion, and the shape wasnt just right. Fin- 

 ally I made it out to be a tent. But what could a tent be 

 doing out there in the water? I could just distinguish a 

 flag staff at one end of it, but no flag flying. I headed a 

 little more in shore, as I had ten feet of water at least, and 

 it was very clear, so as to take a closer look. As we drew 

 near we made out our tent to be a small frame building 

 erected upon a low, sandy key, on which were also a few 

 small trees and brush. Have since been informed that this 

 building was put up by the Coast Survey last winter as a 

 chart house, where instruments, etc., could be sheltered 

 from the weather when working at a distance from *he 

 vessel, as they often are obliged to do on this shoal coast. 

 The island it is upon is called Pepper Key, and the region 

 -to the eastward and southward is known as the Pepper 

 Pot. I had been cautioned to give this place in particular 

 a wide berth. Ross especially had dilated upon its ter- 

 rors. I ran in towards the chart house, to within a mile 

 at least. The water was shoal, only about five feet, but 

 the bottom seemed to be of soft mud aud as level as a 

 floor, sloping to eastward very gradually, for although it 

 was now evidently high tide, I had found only ten or 

 twelve feet of water when six miles out. There may be 

 many rocks and reefs here, but though the water was very 

 clear I saw none. 



As near as 1 can judge Pepper Key is thirty-five or forty 

 miles from Cedar Keys; have heard no one else make a 

 statement on that point, and have seen no chart upon 

 which I can locate it properly, but having sailed over the 

 course twice think I have made a tolerable close estimate. 

 This time we thought we were much nearer Cedar Keys 

 than we actually were. About five or six miles beyond 

 Pepper Key I observed some houses on the shore, and with 

 my glass could make out three settlements scattered along 

 for a mile or more with cultivated fields. I think I made 

 out an oyster reef close in shore, and a large black tripod 

 upon the end of it. Late in the afternoon I made a large 

 schooner ahead lying at anchor. Headed for her, and as 

 night closed in expected every minute to see the Cedar 

 Keys light flash out through the darkness; but it did'nt 

 flash, look as anxiously as we would. Held on in the di- 

 rection of the schooner until I felt we were dragging on 

 the bottom, when I stood out to sea again until I found six 

 feet of water, then came to anchor. The wind was so 

 light that I thought it would not pay to run, for the little 

 we might make would not balance what we might lose in 

 case we got hard and fast aground. Shoal water extends 

 so far out all along this section of the coast that it is per 

 fectly safe anchoring anywhere, as even when blowing 

 quite fresh there is little or no sea, unless you happen to 

 anchor in some river channel. 



May lAth—It was a dead calm at daybreak. Noticed 

 several large flocks of small birds coming from a south 

 and southwesterly direction. As there is no laud off there 

 nearer than Cuba or Mexico, they must have made a long 

 flight, and they now were twittering away in, the happiest 



of spirits at finding themselves once more so near land. 

 There was not a ripple on the water, and no prospect of 

 wind before 9 o'clock, so I decided to pull in to the schoon- 

 er while breakfast was cooking, and find out where we 

 were. She was about two miles away, but as the skiff was 

 now empty of oysters and pulled very easy I was soon 

 alongside. She proved to be the U. S. Coast Survey schoon- 

 er Ready, then at work on this station. It was Sunday 

 morning, and too early for any of the officers to be on 

 deck. The crew were busy washing down the decks, and 

 from the mate in charge I learned that we were anchored 

 in the channel of the west mouth of the Suwannee river. 

 I was rather disappointed to find I was so far away from 

 Cedar Keys. He called it fifteen or twenty miles to North 

 Key, and I think it is every inch of the latter distance. He 

 called my attention to the wreck of a steamer which was 

 lying in the channel closer in on the reef. It has been 

 there for several years, and all that shows above. w«^*-«°w 

 in the boiler. All along tln3fri^i-'**--**^^^ u ^ annee river 

 for more than twelve raneTThere is a series of oyster reefs. 

 There are many openings or breaks in them from twenty to 

 fifty feet wide, and when one once gets the hang of them 

 form splendid chances for making a harbor. 



I returned on board the Idle Hour, and about 9 o'clock 

 a little wind sprang up from the S. W. I could lay my 

 course very nicely with this wind, but it was so very light 

 that the strong incoming tide soon carried me in behind 

 one of the lines of reef. Here I was out of the current, 

 but the frequency of the lumps of oysters made the 

 navigation so difficult that I came about on the other tack 

 and worked out through the reef into deep water again. 

 The wind freshened later in the day, and by the middle of 

 the afternot n I could make out North Key, This Key has 

 two high shell mounds upon it, and is covered with a 

 heavy growth of live oak and palmetto. In approaching 

 from the north these two mounds are the first things seen, 

 and spring up out in the water at some distance to the 

 right of the last land you have been seeing. As you draw 

 nearer the mounds urite, and Sea Horse Key forms itself 

 on the right, apparently being one Key. The Lighthouse 

 which is upen Sea Horse can be made out among the 

 trees, but looks to be on North Key. From t here I was 

 I steered S. E. ty S. until I was opposite the north end of 

 North Key and a mile and a half out, then stood in for the 

 end of the Key, steering E. by N. for a while and thenEj 

 The bank on each side of the chanrel is clearly marked, 

 the one on the south side being bare at low water for over 

 a mile out. I sounded carefully all the way in, never 

 finding less than eleven feet of water. A dark, threaten- 

 ing squall had been rising for some time over the southeast 

 of the Keys, and just as I got closer in to the point of 

 North Key it broke upon us, and I came to anchor under 

 the lee of the land. I was disappointed that we couldn't 

 quite get i p'to the village that night; but I knew it was of 

 no use to try beating through that strange and tortuous 

 channel, seven or eight miles in the dark, to say nothing of 

 the tide being against us, and running like a mill race. 



Just after having made everything snug I noticed sev- 

 eral flocks of small birds arriving from seaward, and one 

 poor, little exhausted voyager, after flitting about for a 

 moment, alighted upon the jib down haul just outside the 

 rail. I ran forward quickly and picked him up in my 

 hand. The children were delighted, of course, and when 

 I relinquished him to their care there was a great time in 

 feeding and watering the little creature. It evidently be- 

 longed to the sparrow tribe, but I could not identify it. 

 After drinking freely, but eating sparingly, he was taken 

 below, and found a perch for himself fcr the night up 

 forward. 



May 15l7i. — Was under way as soon as I could see, in - 

 tending to run up to the wharf to land, and take breakfast 

 at the hotel. The children brought out their bird guest 

 as soon as we were inside, and kissing him good bye, 

 tossed him up in the air. He seemed in doubt at first 

 which way to steer, but* finally went off to the north, 

 although the land was much nearer the other way, an d 

 fluttered along so close to the water that we soon lost sight 



