THE CAPE SABLE REGION OF FLORIDA 1 7 



rough passage of over twenty miles northward, we located 

 Chokoloskee Pass and found our way into Chokoloskee 

 Bay about noon. We were fortunate in reaching this 

 point at high-tide. In fact, we were fortunate in finding 

 the pass at all without the help of a pilot. The entrance 

 to the pass is very obscure, and the winding narrow chan- 

 nel leading from the ocean to Chokoloskee Bay is quite 

 shallow and obstructed with oyster bars. However, we 

 sailed directly into the bay and surprised the natives, 

 some of whom came aboard and kindly directed us to a 

 safe anchorage. 



We at once went ashore to investigate Chokoloskee 

 Island. The island is a kitchen midden. Similar middens 

 of various sizes are common along and near the coast, 

 especially north of Chokoloskee. They evidently repre- 

 sent the refuse heaps made by the aborigines of Florida. 

 Utensils and implements may be found buried in these 

 mounds and graves have been discovered in some of 

 them. Trinkets of gold and silver, evidently brought to 

 Florida by the early Spanish adventurers, have been dug 

 up in some of the coastal middens. Chokoloskee is 

 nearly circular, comprises a hundred and five acres, and 

 has several elevations reaching twenty-eight feet and one 

 altitude of thirty-one feet. It consists, from about the 

 water-level to its maximum altitude, of shells, mainly 

 oyster-shells, clam-shells, and conch-shells. jNIost of the 

 hammock that once clothed and adorned the island has 

 been partially or wholly cut off. What hammock there 

 is, is rather stunted, partly on account of the lack of 

 finely disintegrated soil and partly due to its exposed and 

 wind-swept situation. The island, both in its vegetation 



