BAHAMAN TRIP 



9 



March 21. Boy brought some lizards. One had its tail broken 

 o£f. I placed it on the ground, where it opened its mouth and kept 

 facing my hand, at the same time distending its gular sac in evident 

 anger. This shows that the extension of the gular sac is sometimes a 

 mark of anger, still it is possible that it might have been pain. 



March 29. In afternoon walked to Cocoanut Point, about a mile 

 and a half south. Very warm. Road mostly over the rough rock on 

 the shore, the rest on sand under the cocoanuts. A little distance 

 beyond the point were met by Mr. Keith, who sailed us to his sisal 

 plantation on Conch Sound about five miles away. We had a fair 

 wind and soon entered the sound, and in a short time were sailing 

 through a winding creek, bounded on each side by mangroves. The 

 house stood in a small clearing surrounded by pine trees and a coppet 

 of smaller hardwood trees. A short walk through the pines took us to 

 the sisal field. Mr. Keith has cleared about three hundred acres of his 

 land and has it partly planted. Our path was an old road, where we 

 could plainly see the marks of wagon wheels, said to have been made 

 about fifty years before, during the slave time. Near the house is a 

 large chimney and the remains of a generous fireplace. Many swal- 

 lows were flitting over the clearing. 



March 30. Walked along a path through the woods near the shore 

 and found a number of plants we had not seen at Nicol's Town. There 

 were many bromeliaceous plants and a number of orchids, some in 

 fruit and a few in flower. On the return to Nicol's Town saw in the 

 shallow water of the creek what was known as the ''boiling hole.'* 

 (See notes on geology.) There were a number of large fish in the hole. 

 These are sometimes obtained by pounding up the bark of one of the 

 native trees {Ichthyomethia piscipula), placing it in a sack, and sinking 

 it in the hole. This is said to stupefy the fish, which then float to the 

 surface. 



Monday, April 14. Left Nicol's Town in a small sloop, the Her- 

 ald, for a short trip to the west coast. The Herald was about one ton 

 burden and drew from one to two feet of water. It was manned by a 

 negro captain and cook. Mr. Keith accompanied us. Passed the 

 end of the reef a short distance above Nicol's Town; shortly after 

 went around Morgan's Bluff, the rocky precipitous cliff fifteen or eigh- 

 teen feet in height that forms the northern end of the island. We 

 reached Lowe Sound about noon, then sailed for a long distance in 



