Chap. XIV.—B.P.] A GLOOMY LOOK-OUT. 229 
had bad a long spell of it at Grey town, and the mo¬ 
notony probably tinted his views and those of the 
officers of H.M.S. Racer, under his command. 
We soon found out that it rained u thirteen months 
in the year;” that crossing the bar was always hazar¬ 
dous, not to say frequently impossible; that to land 
was to run the risk of being extensively bled by 
mosquitoes and sand-flies, while to remain on board 
was simply to ensure being overrun by cockroaches 
engendered in u their thousands ” by the nature of the 
climate; that no society or amusement of any sort 
existed on shore; and as to walking, riding, driving, 
or boating, such ideas had better be given up at once. 
This information, and a great deal more of a like 
cheerful description was soon imparted; but, strange 
to say, it so happened that we were favoured in the 
weather when starting for the shore, and passed the 
bar without any difficulty. 
While crossing I could not help observing the 
extraordinary number of sharks in the surf, and re¬ 
flecting what short work would be made of any unfor¬ 
tunate boat’s crew capsized in the midst of them. At 
the entrance to what was once a splendid harbour, we 
disturbed several alligators, which scuttled into the 
brackish water on our approach. I wish the sand¬ 
flies had followed so good an example, but they “ smelt 
the blood of an Englishman,” and availed themselves 
of the opportunity very briskly. 
We first, as in duty bound, called upon our con¬ 
sul. Entering a neat American timber-built house of 
one story, with a picturesque thatched roof instead 
