418 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



The wind was fair and strong, and very soon we 

 reached the point of the island. Toward dark we 

 doubled Catoche, and, for the first time coasting all 

 night, day broke upon us in the harbour of Yalahao. 

 After the desolate regions we had been visiting, the 

 old pirates' haunt seemed a metropolis. We an- 

 chored on a mud-bank leg deep, and now discover- 

 ed that our patron, hired only for the occasion, in- 

 tended to leave us, and substitute another. Afraid 

 of the men following, and subjecting us to detention, 

 we forwarded a threatening message to the agent, 

 and remained on board. 



At seven o'clock we were again under way, with 

 the wind directly astern, and as much as we could 

 carry, the canoa rolUng so that we were compelled 

 to take in the mainsail. The coast was low, barren, 

 and monotonous. At three o'clock we passed an 

 ancient mound, towering above the huts that con- 

 stituted the port of El Cuyo, a landmark for sailors, 

 visible at sea three leagues distant ; but our patron 

 told us that there were no buildings or vestiges of 

 ruins. 



At four o'clock we saw an old acquaintance in 

 misfortune. It was the brig which had arrived at 

 Sisal a few hours after we did, lying a wreck on the 

 beach, with foremast and bowsprit broken, sails strip- 

 ped, but the hull still entire ; probably long before 

 this the shore is strewed with her fragments. 



