Meantime the steady wind serenely blew,
And fast and falcon-like the vessel flew.
Does any one know what a sailing-voyage, in a coasting-vessel, from
Tampa to Key West--a distance of two hundred and fifty miles--implies?
Some may suppose it to be a kind of flying motion through the air, or
skimming swiftly over the waters, like a sea-gull in rough weather; but
those who have tried the experiment find it quite the reverse. It means
a little good sailing, an occasional fine breeze thrown in, with many
disagreeable things to be encountered and forgotten as soon as possible.
For instance, the first night after leaving, under favorable
appearances, the wind dies out, the mainsail hangs flabby as a beggar's
rags in a thunder-shower; the sailors lower the canvas, put out the
anchor, and all retire. Numerous drum-fish select the hull of the vessel
as their camping-ground, where they serenade us all night with a
peculiar drumming noise, while the loon from the shore catches the
refrain, and utters its unearthly screams, which disturb our repose,
mingling with dreams of hideous mien. The mattress is hard as Pharaoh's
heart. Bilge-water keeps the cabin supplied with an odor resembling
sulphur-spring surroundings. Fleas enter the list of perplexities, to
draw rations from our perishable nature, run races, and practice
acrobatic movements on our bodies, with astonishing facility. Roaches as
long as your little finger look at us as if meditating a fierce attack,
which, if executed, must result in our annihilation. Three small
children lying close by are screaming alternately, from interrupted
slumbers, caused by advances from the insect tribe. Their father, who is
a Methodist preacher, applies hand-plasters, which silence the batteries
temporarily. This will be found a charming place for the exercise of
patience, without the fortitude of Job to endure trials. Day dawns, and
with it comes breakfast. Strong coffee, seasoned with highly-colored
sugar, the mixture stirred with a table-knife, and drunk from a tin cup,
together with well-salted meat, fried eggs, and hard-tack, furnish the
repast. Unpalatable as this food appears to an epicurean taste, the
sailors devour it with a relish, as it gives them strength to endure
many hardships. The morning wind is fair, although light, and we are
sailing again toward Terrasilla Bay, which is a portion of Tampa,
bearing another name. The sugar-crop is waiting for shipment to Key
West, and our invoice not being full, we stop for freight. Numerous bars
line this bay, where oysters of a delicious flavor, and clams of immense
size--some of them weighing three pounds, with the shell--are obtained
at low tide without dredging.
For the benefit of those lady-passengers who, perchance, may travel this
way, and have never been borne in arms since they were children, we can
tell you there are no wharves here, no throwing out of planks, no
stopping-places for ladies, between water and land. The vessel sails as
near the shore as possible without grounding, and then the passengers on
board are carried to _terra firma_. This is done by two sailors, who
make a kind of seat by clasping their hands together, after which they
receive the living freight. You put out each arm, and clasp your
improvised sedan around their necks, to keep from falling. Sometimes one
of the sailors is as black as tar; but it makes no difference--"civil
rights" is not the question at issue now. You cannot wade, or wet your
feet, and they will carry you safely, this being a portion of their
duties, for which they are paid.
Terrasilla Island is one of those charming spots which all admire, but
none can describe. The principal inhabitant is Madam Joe, a German lady,
celebrated for her hospitality. Here she came, with her husband, after
the Florida war, to occupy lands given them by the Government. An
adventure of some kind was then of daily occurrence. Nature poured forth
her beauties in solitude, and from the dark recesses of the primitive
forest-wilderness were echoed and reëchoed the war-whoop of the Indian,
the howl of the jaguar, the scream of the catamount, and the threatening
growl of old bruin. The rough hands, stalwart frame, and nut-brown face
of this lady, indicate a life to which ease and idleness are unknown.
Her home is now transformed from a wilderness to a place which recalls
our youthful images of fairy-land. Here you constantly feel as though
you were having a beautiful dream, which may be dissipated by some
external irruption, and the spell broken. How delightful to any one who
has a constant warfare with life to keep himself master of the situation
is a visit to this beautiful island, where only the winds and waves
strive for victory, and the excesses practiced in refined society are
unknown! where orange-trees grow as tall as Lombardy poplars, and are
laden with fruit hanging in luxuriant loveliness, designed to delight
all those who partake. It is now February; new Irish potatoes, tomatoes,
with green peas, and egg-plants, are abundant. Fresh flowers are in
their bloom and beauty; the earth is enameled with the white petals of
the forget-me-not, in lieu of the snow-banks which cover the ground
farther North. Roses of immense size are open, together with verbenas of
varied hues, geraniums, salvias, periwinkles, and corkwood-trees, all
exhaling their fragrance in the open air. Here in this beauteous bower
Madam Joe, after her day's duties are done, walks, with the bright
moonbeams shining on her pathway, singing those German patriotic
melodies so dear to the heart of every wanderer from the historic shores
and vine-clad hills of the River Rhine--thus forming a symphony with the
ebbing tide of briny waters by which her home is surrounded.
A young couple from Alabama are staying here, who have come with the
intention of settling. Romance has never written any thing more rural,
nor the imagination of a poet conceived thoughts which savor more of
poesy, than the real life which they lead. He lost an arm while battling
for his country, but his courage has never failed him. With a little
assistance he has built a palmetto and pole house, which subserves the
purpose of sitting-room and bed-room. The white sand blows in sometimes,
during the day, from the beach, falling on the bed, converting the
pillows into friction-brushes, and the young wife's temper into an
irritated condition. She cooks their food under rustling palms, while he
reads to her from some interesting book. She accompanies him in his
hunting expeditions, to carry home the game, which is their principal
subsistence. Adam and Eve, when first placed in the garden of Eden, were
not less solicitous for a support than this couple appear in their
rustic home. The land bordering on Sarasota Bay contains some portions
of country as uncivilized as when the savage glided across its green
waters, or his voice rang through its uncultured forests. The climate is
delightful beyond description--the air "soft as the memory of buried
love." Here, in appearance, must be located the Enchanted Isles, where
cold, heat, or hunger were unknown, where roamed the white deer, which
the red man worshiped as a god, that lived and fed from the delicate
mosses, silken as a mermaid's hair, slender and feathery as a pencil of
light when it first reaches the earth at the early blush of morn. Some
old fogies, who have lived here for many years, express opposition to
new settlements being made, and say "it will spile their cattle-range."
Stock-raising has been the only money-making employment of the
population since they lived here. They are not informed with regard to
other branches of industry, or their successful prosecution. Broad
acres, with pastures green, on which range the wild herds, have been the
standard of their wealth heretofore. Persons wishing to settle in a
country always inquire about its healthfulness. There exists no malaria,
or disease of any kind. The settlers live mostly on the bay, where, from
constant evaporation, the waters are more briny than the Atlantic. The
land is interspersed with rich hummock, underlying which is a stratum of
marl. A great variety of wild fruits are found in the woods, the
principal kinds being the fox-grape, octagonal cactus that produces a
delicious fruit, tamarinds, sugar-apples, poporea, and sea-grape--all
indigenous. The Lima bean bears during the entire year. The pine-apple
culture has proved a success. The _Palma Christi_ and bird-pepper grow
into perennial plants, living and producing many years. The change of
seasons in South Florida is imperceptible, while in more Northern
clinics autumn, with stately tread and Tyrian-dyed train, assumes her
sway, bearing fruits of scarlet and gold, that are gathered in haste,
for fear the rude blasts will freeze out their luscious, juicy
qualities; but here there is no suspense of vegetation. Many times
during the winter months a soft haze, accompanied by a more tender and
less glaring light, over-spreads the land and sea, when the sun shines
as it shines in the Northern Indian summer. It is during these halcyon
days, when nature appears transfigured for a time into an abode fit for
angels, that we love to sit and muse upon this lovely scene, with
feelings too sacred for confidants, too pure for earth. Many tourists,
in traveling, expect all their schemes to roll on electric wheels,
without rocks or ruts in the roads, or any hilly eminences to impede
them; but we must all remember that patience is a plant which flourishes
in a pure atmosphere, with its petals fanned by the breath of heaven,
while its roots are nourished by the great moral principles that radiate
from a pure heart. As the motive-power that takes visitors through and
about this country bears no resemblance to a "lightning express," many
exclamations are made by those who have to endure these irregularities
incident to a new country that would read badly in print.
Off the shore of Sarasota Bay fishing-smacks are engaged at all seasons
in obtaining supplies for the Havana market. These little vessels
contain a well where the water can be changed, and the fish kept alive
until sold. The most delicious fish of all found in these waters is the
pompano, which resembles the California salmon, both in color and
flavor. It is only taken at night by striking with a harpoon. In some
portions of the bay the finest oysters grow that are found on any coast.
Mangrove-thickets also abound, which in some places form an almost
impassable barrier to navigation. This tree resembles the banyan of
India, in throwing out stolons, besides the leaf-bearing limbs, that
incline downward, thus taking root, and producing other plants, which
grow into trees. They are only natives of a tropical shore, where they
root in the mud and form a dense thicket to the verge of the ocean.
Oyster-shells and sea-urchins attach themselves, hanging in clusters,
which form an unapproachable defense.
New settlers are frequently found here, living in palmetto-houses. Think
of a family composed of ten persons staying in a house made of leaves,
with a finely surf-beaten shell-floor, the whole structure nearly fifty
feet long, twelve feet high, divided into rooms by pieces of sail-cloth,
the roof impervious to water, and no rude winds to blow on them. We have
wandered far to find the home of contentment, and here it dwells. How
heartily they all eat fish, clams, and oysters! How soundly they sleep
on their mossy beds! How happy they appear, building boats or
cultivating their lands! How merry they whistle when starting out to
fish, or strike in their little canoes! They look exceedingly
picturesque gliding about with their torches in the bow of the boat,
resembling _ignes-fatui_ more than tangible substance. When they
approach the shore the hogs, dogs, and cats all run to meet them,
knowing their supplies are coming. Hogs are fattened on fish, and penned
a month before killing, when they are given other food to prevent the
meat having a fishy flavor. Here conchologists, and persons fond of
shell-hunting, can be gratified. After you pass the keys which abound in
this bay, you come to a wide beach of snowy whiteness, formed from the
_débris_ of shells and coral, worn by the waves which open to the Gulf
of Mexico. There is no place in Florida which has such a variety of rare
and beautiful shells. Here are also numerous layers of rock, extending
into the water, very nearly resembling the St. Augustine coquina, which
is used in building chimneys, also house-foundations.
All visitors that come to Florida, who are not confirmed invalids, have
their hobby, or favorite amusement, with which they propose to be
entertained during their stay. Some love to fish, and require choice
morsels to tempt their prey. No rivulet, however remote, if a minnow
moves in its sluggish waters, is proof against their explorations. The
crabs are pulled out with a celerity that astonishes their crustaceous
lordships. The sea-fiddlers cannot come from their holes for a quiet
dance on the beach without being jerked up to a tune they never heard
before. These are all used for bait, which delights the silly fish very
much, until he finds himself a captive in an element which relieves him
of vitality. Others are fond of capturing alligators, and many an
unfortunate animal is found lying on his back, with his teeth drawn out,
his head cut off, and skin missing. The deer-hunter is in for his share
of amusement: he loves to camp at night, and, when he can "shine the
eyes" of the unsuspecting animal, send a bullet with unfailing certainty
through his head.
The most indefatigable, persistent, unrelenting, and unyielding, to any
obstacle, is the naturalist. No mire or mud, filled with shapes however
monstrous or ugly, is proof against his encroachments. The eagle in her
eyrie, with a nest built on the tallest pines, is reached with ropes,
the young eaglets captured, to be cut in pieces, their wings measured
from tip to tip, feathers counted, and bodies embalmed. Mr. and Mrs.
Snake have no privileges, except in their dens, but that of being
gobbled up in a very unceremonious manner, their striped hides taken off
and stuffed, then carried to the Smithsonian, or some other museum of
less celebrity. The ugliest and most repulsive-looking worms have no
chance to measure their length outside their dark places of repose with
the prospect of ever returning. No butterfly, if discovered, is
permitted to pass through its transitions in freedom, for oftentimes,
before its wings are spread to the breeze, it becomes a helpless,
hopeless prisoner, where in its captivity it can metamorphose much as it
pleases, and then yield its life a sacrifice to science. The bugs, with
their various shapes and sizes, cannot try the strength of their wings,
or compare their green, velvety jackets, with their more plainly-dressed
neighbors, without being seized like culprits, and pinned to pasteboard.
Sailing and stopping, how care is lightened of its burden in the life we
are now pursuing! There is nothing expected of us, but we are
anticipating a great deal of pleasure from the trip. We are now landing
at Egmont Key, which is an insular domain--a kingdom bounded by deep
waters--a residence among turtles and birds of varied notes. This island
is five miles in circumference, and seven from the mainland, commanding
the entrance to Tampa Bay. Latitude--north, 27° 36´; longitude--west
from Greenwich, 82° 45´. A light-house was erected upon this island in
1848. It is built of brick, and is eighty-six feet above sea-level--lens
of the fourth order--the light being a fixture, visible twelve miles.
The high tower looks as though it was trying to reach the sky, which
overhangs its solitary turret. In this retired spot the ocean-birds
resort to build their nests, or rest their pinions for longer flights;
and the turtle comes to deposit her eggs, to be fostered by sunbeams,
and afterward caressed in emerald waves, when their maternal shells are
broken. Here the most frequent sounds are from sighing waves and heavy
seas; but, when the weather is calm, feathered songsters of varied notes
come from their coverts of safety to sing songs of joy.
Naturalists from every State visit this point--among the number the late
lamented Professor Agassiz ranked as the most distinguished. Among the
many marines with whose habits we have become conversant, the
hermit-crab, also called the soldier-crab, appears the most peculiar. At
low tide we saw a large mollusk-shell traveling toward the shore, and
wondered why such unaccustomed speed in its movements. We soon
discovered crab-claws projecting from its shell, and recognized it as a
hermit-crab, an original freebooter. How strangely he looked, with his
confiscated house on his back, moving about like a sailor in his boat,
using his claws for oars! When the shell he is occupying gets too small
for him, like a land-liver he goes house-hunting. If he finds one
tenanted which will answer his purpose, he pulls out the occupant with
as little ceremony as a fellow-man kicks his drunken brother into the
street. He then darts into the shell with great speed, leaving his
companion, bruised and homeless, to die at his leisure, or secure
another, if he is able.
In this favored spot the eagle teaches her eaglets to face the sun and
soar from sight, while the seagulls flap their wings in silence, the
cormorant gorges himself to gluttony, and the pelican takes on her cargo
of fish, which she carries to a platform raised in front of her nest,
that the fledglings may draw their rations without leaving their downy
beds, where they remain until they are grown.
[Illustration: A FISH-HAWK FORAGING FROM A PELICAN.]
Rare sea-shells are found on this beach, and rarer birds; but the rarest
of all that is seen on this island is the light-house-keeper, Captain
Coons, who is a Spiritualist, a curiosity, a mixture of singularities
combined, an enigma of the human species. His presence reminds one of a
moving panorama, or kaleidoscope, with a great variety of coloring and
adaptations, always changing, and designed to please the crowd before
which it is placed. He has much versatility of talent--can scrape almost
any old-fashioned tune out of catgut, blow plaintive notes from a flute,
and draw "Yankee Doodle" from that unclassic instrument upon which we
never read of David the son of Jesse having performed--an accordion.
Spirits of persons that have been drowned in the vast deep are said to
visit this island more than others: perhaps the proximity favors their
coming; and sailors, never remarkable for their piety, while wandering
in darkness, and weary of the gnashing teeth in their unhappy abodes, if
they do come, it is only seeking rest.
This point is the best for spiritual circles that could be imagined--no
affinities that are inharmonious to come in, and prevent those mystic
rappers which have been promising to benefit the world so wonderfully
for more than twenty years, but never, as yet, developed any important
truths.
The united family live here. The spirits have revealed to the husband
that in another world "they will be married, as in this." He says "he
never wants another wife but the one he has got." His well-chosen
consort has lost nearly all her teeth, and the spirits which she has
interviewed on the subject of dentistry have promised her a "new set"
when she commences her spiritual life. If all the toothless people in
the world were to wait for a new supply of grinders until they arrived
in another world, the dentists would soon starve out in this.
No part of the world furnishes a greater variety of the finny tribe than
this coast, and fisheries are being established in the vicinity. Sharks,
sixteen or eighteen feet in length, make their appearance in company
with devil-fish of enormous size. Jew-fish, weighing three or four
hundred pounds, together with tarpons of one hundred and fifty or two
hundred pounds, are quite common. Schools of mullet swarm in these
waters, constituting an article of commerce. Green and loggerhead turtle
are taken, and form a lucrative traffic.
An old Spanish sailor on duty tells us he can remember when the
buccaneers landed on this island with their stolen goods and secreted
them. This class of people were descended from the French, and subsisted
upon a kind of smoked meat called boucan, from which they derived their
name.
These buccaneers assumed martial names, known only among themselves.
Their clothing was of a most repulsive character, consisting of a filthy
shirt, colored with the blood of animals they had killed, belted with a
leather-thong over trousers to match, while hung to their belts were
Dutch knives and a saber; a brimless hat and hog-skin shoes completed
their toilet. They never attacked vessels on their way to America, but
on their return, grappling the largest and firing into their port-holes
with such accuracy the gunners were unable to return the fire. They
cherished a great antipathy to the Spaniards, because they had captured
the portion of country from them that they claimed. They were a terror
to all commercial enterprises in the Spanish Colonies, also crippling
the agricultural prospects. Jean Lafitte, their leader, died at
Appalachicola, where his body lay in state several days, when it was
visited by many people from long distances.
The breeze is now freshening a little: raise the foresail, mainsail, and
jib, when we are moving at the rapid rate of a mile in two hours. Even
in midwinter, at noonday, the merry sunshine comes beaming down in this
latitude with intense fervor. Finally a dead calm ensues, and we are
prisoners on the high seas. The zephyrs are nooning in their sylvan
bowers, while the heat has to be endured peaceably as possible--like all
other things, it terminates. The great orb of day has performed his duty
well--resembling a successful conqueror, he descends triumphantly, in
his chariot of fire, beneath the briny waves--a golden train of glory is
left behind him, while the charming blue sky and sunset are mirrored
upon the sea, each alternate wave being a reflection from the sunbeams.
Poets may sing, "Beautiful isles of the sea," but before they had spent
much time in this desolate spot, it would be, "Lonely isles of the sea,
when shall I be where the face of human beings will gladden my heart,
and the smiles of friendship beam upon my pathway again?"
We are hopeful yet, as Boca Grande is reached--the entrance to Charlotte
Harbor--then Point Blanco, afterward Point Kautivo, where a poor
preacher was captured and murdered for money. Now we are sailing through
seas once the hiding-place of pirates, where much gold is said to be
buried which was captured from a frigate on her passage to France.
One of these numerous islands is now the residence of a professional
privateer in by-gone days, but who has since returned to private life,
pursuing a civilized vocation. On another island in the vicinity lived
Felippe, a Spaniard, with his three Indian wives. After the close of the
last Seminole war, when orders were issued by the Federal Government for
the savages to leave Florida, his wives, belonging to the tribe, were
included in the edict. The Federal officers induced Felippe to leave
home, that they might rob him of his concubines and fourteen children.
After his departure all were more easily persuaded than Polly, his last
love, whom he had seduced from an Indian guide. However, after much
persuasion, she was reconciled by a purse being made up for her benefit.
When Felippe returned he was perfectly inconsolable for the loss of his
wives and children, and, on being informed Polly was prevailed upon to
go by giving her money, he replied, "O Polly go to hell for money!"
Punta Rassa, our landing-place now, is situated over one hundred miles
from Key West, and twenty-two miles from Fort Myres, opposite Synabel
Island. The waters of the gulf here, being confined in a small compass,
rush with fearful rapidity during a gale. The Federal Post was destroyed
in 1844. From this point also were collected and shipped, during the
Florida war, many of the wives and children of the Seminoles. Here the
land part of the International Telegraph Line terminates--the wire
leaping from mid-air into the Gulf of Mexico, to remain in old Neptune's
bed, undisturbed by winds or waves, and only agitated by the most
important events taking place in the world. There is but one house here
of any size, built by the Government during the late war for commissary
stores, and now occupied by the telegraph company. The musquitoes are so
thick the clerks have an operating-room, partitioned off in the center
of the building with thin domestic, containing their apparatus. These
insects being of such gigantic proportions, and making such vigorous
moves, netting would offer no obstruction to their blood-thirsty
operations. They can jump through an ordinary net as easily as a frog
breaks a spider-web. Here is a signal-station, the agent stopping in a
tent. All that induces any of the operators to remain is the high wages
they receive, which compensates them in a manner for the deprivations
they suffer in the loss of society.
From this point large quantities of cattle are annually shipped to Cuba,
the facilities for loading being superior to any on the coast.