364 Hijicrical Journal of 



Mark ; and the Way, as we had been informed^ not eafy to 

 find. 



This obliged us to flay the next Day, and I was not forry for 

 it, for befides being pretty well lodged in the Fort with the 

 Cordelier (a Diilindion that was paid to me, and which I owed 

 to my Habit) I was glad to take a fhort Survey of the Environs 

 of the Fort. They go by Land from Si, Mark to 6'/. Augufiin ; 

 the Journey is eighty Leagues, and the Way very bad. 



We departed the 22d in the Morning, and the 25th, about 



TA r- ten o'clock, our Guides made us undertake 



L/Bparturc froTn n-i r c .y t . , • 



St Mark ^ Iraverieor three Leagues, to enter into 



a Kind of Channel, formed on one Side by 

 the Continent, and on the other by a String of Iflands, of various 

 Extents. Without our Guides, v/e Ihould never have dared to en- 

 gage ourfeives among them, and we Ihould have mifled the Bay of 

 St, Jofeph* We were now almoft deltititte of Frovifions, and the 

 Difficulty of finding Water encreafed every Day. One Evening 

 that we had dug at ten Paces from the Sea, on a pretty high 

 Ground, and got none but brackifh Water, wjbich was impoffibie 

 to drink, I thought of making a fhallow Hole clofe to the Sea 

 Side, and in the Sand : It immediately filled with Water that 

 was tolerably frefh, and as clear as if it had been taken from 

 the fineft Spring; but after Ï had filled a VefTel, it flowed no 

 more, which made me judge that is was Rain Water, gathered 

 in this Place, meeting with a hard Bottom, and I judge that 

 this may often happen. 



As foon as we had got a-head of the Iflands, we failed till 

 i:'ides at Penfa o'Clock at Night. Then the Wind fell, 



^^j^ " but the Tide, which began to ebb, fupplied 



the Want of it, and we went forward all 

 Night. This is the firfl Time that I obferved any regular 

 Tides in the Gulf of Mexico^ and the two Spaniards told us, that 

 from this Place to Penfaccle the Flux is twelve Hours, and the 

 Refiux as much. Next Day, the 26th, a contrary Wind kept 

 us till Night, in an Ifiand pretty well wooded, which is ten or 

 twelve Leagues long, and where we killed as many Larks and 

 Woodcocks as we pleafed. We fav/ alfo here a great Number 

 of Rattle-Snakes. Our Guides called it the 7/7/? des Chiens (of 

 Dogs )y and from the Beginning of it, they reckoned ten Leagues 

 to St, Mark, and fifteen to St. Jofeph\ but they were certainly 

 miftaken in the lafl Article, for it is at leaft twenty Leagues, and 

 very long ones. 



The 27th, at eleven o'Clock at Night, we ran upon a,Bank 

 of Oyflers as large as the Crown of my Hat, and we were 

 above an Hour in getting off again. We went from thence to 

 pafs the Night in a Country Houfe, belonging to a Captain of 



^ the 



