18 



BAHAMAN TRIP 



cruise about the southern end of the island. Left Mastic Point 

 Tuesday, June 5. Our first stopping place was to be Fresh Creek, 

 fifteen miles or so down the coast. We passed Rat Cay, Stump Cay, 

 Saddleback Cays, Calabash Cay, and the wind getting light, we ran 

 into Stafford Creek and spent the night there. 



Wednesday, June 14. Beat all day against a southeast wind; 

 reached Fresh Creek in the evening. There is quite a large settlement 

 here, and the creek more nearly resembles a river than any we have 

 seen. At its mouth it is from fifty to seventy-five yards wide. The 

 banks are rocky on one side, eight or nine feet high, the water deep and 

 the current very swift. There is said to be no reef off the mouth of 

 this creek. 



Thursday, June 5. In the afternoon walked along the ^'govern- 

 ment road," the only path at all worthy of the name that we had seen 

 on the entire island. It was about ten feet wide and connected Fresh 

 Creek with a settlement at Calabash Bay, about four miles northwest. 

 It runs through the coppet all the way, with here and there a field. 

 Found a number of plants not seen before, among them a pretty orchid. 

 The great white land crabs are unusually abundant about here. We 

 have had numbers of them about the house, and several times have 

 seen long processions of them walking near the edge of the bluff. 

 They frequently touched the ground with their claws and put them in 

 their mouths. Were they feeling for water ? The people here say 

 they go to the water to breed. I think there were more males than 

 females, and the latter had no eggs under the abdomen. These crabs 

 are common all over Andros and do great damage in the fields, eating 

 the melons, tomatoes, corn, and even the bananas, we were told. 

 Whole boat loads are taken to Nassau for sale in the market, and the 

 men said they were less plentiful than formerly ; on New Providence 

 they have been largely exterminated. 



Friday, June 6. Went out to Goat Cay, that lies off and slightly 

 above the mouth of Fresh Creek. It is about three-quarters of a mile 

 long and perhaps fifty yards wide. Here were numbers of the bridled 

 tern {Sterna anathetus) which the men called "egg birds." They flew 

 about us and followed us around in an inquisitive manner, uttering 

 among other notes a sharp ''cur cur cur-r-r." They were so tame it 

 seemed a pity^to shoot them. A flock of noddies (Anous stolidus) 

 flew back and forth on the seaward side of the cay but they were much 



