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[We start this transcription on page 168 of the book and end it on page 183]
CRUISE OF THE RAMBLER.
The shore line for ten miles below New River Inlet is of a similar character to that already described; but it afterward becomes more heavily timbered, owing to the proximity of streams about the head of Biscayne Bay. Twelve miles below New River, we were abreast of Life-Saving Station No. 5, the last one on the coast, under the charge of Ed Barnott; and, eight miles below it, we entered Bay Biscayne, through Narrows Cut, between the mainland and Virginia Key. The light-house on Powers Rocks (formerly on Cape Florida), and the first buoy marking the entrance, to Hawk Channel from here to Key West, were in plain sight as we passed in. We at once sailed across Biscayne Bay, about eight miles, to Miami (old Fort Dallas), at the mouth of Miami River.
We sailed into the river a few hundred yards, and anchored off the wharf of Mr. Ewan, who keeps a store, and lives with Mr. Charles Peacock, in the old stone officers' quarters at Fort Dallas. Here I met my old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Peacock and family, Mr. Ewan and his mother; also Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle, of Cleveland, Ohio; E. O. Gwynn, Esq., Mayor of Key West, and Mr. Curtis, of Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Curtis was collecting specimens of woods for the Smithsonian Institution and other scientific museums, and had a valuable collection.
We crossed the river to the store and post-office of Mr. Brickell, where we found an abundant supply of mail matter, this being the only post-office between Lake Worth and Key West, the mail being received via the latter place. We also met here Little Tommy, one of our Indian friends from the Everglades, who was down on a trading trip, coming in his canoe by way of the Miami River, which penetrates the Everglades.
There are many points of interest about Biscayne Bay, among others the ''Punch Bowl," a large spring in the hamak of Mr. Brickell, and near the shore of the bay. In times gone by, the buccaneers, pirates, and wreckers of the Florida Keys and Spanish Main frequented this spring, to fill their water casks from its great rocky bowl. Of course, the usual stories of buried treasures near the haunts of pirates obtain, and many and vain have been the searchings in the vicinity of the Punch Bowl.
A few miles up the Miami, there is quite a rapids, called "The Falls" which will well repay a visit, being a lovely and most romantic spot. At the lower end of the bay, the "Indian Hunting Grounds" begin, running to Cape Sable, where large game abounds. At the head of the bay, Snake and Arch Creeks empty. Spanning the latter is a natural stone bridge, or arch, of coralline rock, under which boats may pass, and the fortunate occupants enjoy the beauties of the scene.
In a beautiful grove of cocoa-palms, at the mouth of the Miami, were encamped Mr. and Mrs. M., Mr. and Miss H., and Mrs. O., of Staten Island, New York. The group of white tents added an additional charm to a spot as lovely and romantic as a scene in fairyland. Their camp and outfit were as complete and comfortable as possible, and they really enjoyed their open-air life. Mrs. M. and her sister, Miss H., were afflicted with pulmonary consumption, and had been drawn hither, as a last resource, to try the healing virtues of the chlorinated breezes, balmy atmosphere, and warm, bright sun of this, the fairest, the most charming and most healthful location in Florida. Miss H. had been greatly benefited, the disease not having made such fearful inroads and rapid progress in her case; but the fell and insidious destroyer had already impressed his flaming red seal upon the fair, wan cheeks of her patient and courageous sister, and claimed her for his own.
One evening, as the full, round moon rose grandly over the beautiful bay, bathing the palms in a flood of silvery light, we sat under the fly of the tent, the fair sufferer propped up by 15 pillows in an easy chair, the soft and grateful breeze fanning gently her fevered brow, while her great, dark-gray eyes calmly and peacefully drank in the glorious and wondrous beauty of the scene, and loving ones whispered words of hope and encouragement; but, as the silvery track of the moon was flung across the waters of the broad bay, almost to her very feet, I knew, alas! that it was the shining pathway by which she would soon, oh, so soon! travel heavenward. She is now, doubtless, at rest, and calmly sleeping under the wintry snows of her northern home- a fitting winding-sheet for one so pure and lovely.
CHAPTER XIV
WE left Miami at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, with a light easterly wind. Mr. E. O. Gwynn, Mayor of Key West, having concluded his business at Miami, and the mail schooner not leaving for several days, in fact had not yet arrived from Key West, we offered him a passage, as we intended going direct to that city. We greatly enjoyed his genial society on the trip; for, being well informed, and a close observer, he possessed an abundant stock of information of that section of the country.
As we sailed out of Miami River, the line of keys shutting in the bay from the ocean were plainly visible toward the southeast, the most northerly being Virginia Key, then Key Biscayne, Soldier Key, and Ragged Keys. The south point of Key Biscayne is Cape Florida, upon which stands the light-house tower, now abandoned as a light station. Eastward of Soldier Key, and five and a half miles S. E. ½ S. from Cape Florida, is Fowey Rocks Light-house, on the northern extremity of the Florida reefs. It is an iron frame-work, with the lantern one hundred and ten feet above the sea, showing a fixed white light, visible in clear weather some sixteen miles. This light is situated at the northern entrance to Hawk Channel, leading between the line of Florida Keys and the outlying reefs, along the Florida Strait to Key West. The channel is from three to five miles wide, and is about one hundred and forty miles from Virginia Key to Key West Biscayne Bay is broadest abreast of Ragged Keys, and about here begin the Feather-bed Shoals, a series of parallel sand shoals stretching across the bay. They are easily discernible, showing quite white at a distance, and by following the shoal in either direction an opening will soon be found. Below Ragged Keys is a long one called Elliott's Key; near its southern extremity a group of small keys stretch across Biscayne Bay, separating it from Card's Sound. Small boats may proceed through Card's and Barne's sounds, and then keep under the lee of the line of keys to Key West; but it requires some previous knowledge, or the employment of a competent pilot, to avoid the many mud flats, shoals, and reefs of this route, for the water is shallow.
It would prove a delightful and interesting canoe trip, which I hope some day to make. Owing to the many keys, mangrove islands, and shoals, with the mainland to the north and the Florida Keys to the southward, the water is always comparatively smooth. There is an abundance of shore and wading birds, and endless variety of fishes, oysters, turtles, etc., while on the Indian Hunting Grounds on the mainland there is plenty of large game. Indeed, with a few carries or portages, the entire coast of Florida can be circumnavigated in a small canoe, capable of being sailed and paddled, and it is surprising to me that some of our enthusiastic and venturesome canoeists do not attempt it.
Sailing down Biscayne Bay, we took a number of tarpum, groupers, crevalle, and barracudas on the trolling lines, and saw numerous loggerhead and green turtles. At the south end of Elliott's Key is a passage to the sea called Caesar's Creek, winding between that key and some smaller ones. We followed Caesar's Creek to the main channel inside the Florida reefs, before mentioned, where we anchored at sundown, some thirty-five miles from Miami.
The next morning broke clear and fine, with a fresh E. N. E. breeze, and leaving the mouth of Caesar's Creek we went dashing along, leaving Old Rhodes Key to the starboard. We next came to the largest of the keys, Cayo Largo, at the head of which we caught the last glimpse of the mainland that we would have until we sighted Cape Sable, after leaving Key West. Jack, catching the inspiration of the theme, mounted the cabin roof, waved his hand toward the distant peninsula, seen through the fast-closing gap between the keys, and dramatically declaimed :
"Adieu, adieu! my native shore Fades o'er the waters blue."
"Ta, ta! Jack,"said Squire, " I'll see you later; 's'mother eve!"
But Jack was not to be smothered in any such manner, and continued:
"O'er the waters of the dark "blue sea, Our thoughts as boundless and our souls as free, Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, Survey our empire, and behold our home."
"If you want any surveying done, call on Mr. Gwynn, here; he is county surveyor of Monroe county, as well as mayor of Key West, and has jurisdiction all along these keys!"
The wind continued to freshen, bringing in a long-rolling sea between the outlying reefs, which caused Jack to seek the cabin and his bunk ; so we had no more poetry that day.
We were now opposite Carysfort Reef Light-house, which is twenty-three miles S. by W. from Fowey Rocks Light. It shows a bright flash every half minute, visible some seventeen miles. Key Largo is some twenty miles long, has a number of settlers on it, and some large pine-apple plantations, the largest being those of Mr. Baker. These keys are, most of them, thickly wooded with a variety of hard timber, button-wood, crab-wood, bay, palmetto, etc., with a fringe of mangroves. Several vessels were in sight, in the channel and outside the reefs. Those meeting us were beating northward under reefed canvas, but the Rambler, with the wind abaft the beam, had just enough for her cruising rig, and went bowling along with every thread drawing in the spanking breeze.
We passed in succession, leaving them all to starboard, Rodriquez and Tavernier keys-both small ones-and Plantation, Vermont, Upper and Lower Mattacombe and Umbrella keys. Indian Key, a small, but high and prominent one, came next, where there is good anchorage and a number of large cisterns, where water can be purchased by passing vessels. South-west of Indian Key is Alligator Reef Light-house, thirty-one miles S. W. ½ S. from Carysfort Reef Light. It is an iron frame pyramid, showing a scintillating light flashing every five seconds, every sixth flash being red. These light-houses, built on submerged reefs by iron screw piles, are completely isolated; their keepers, being shut off from all communication with the keys except by boats, lead a very secluded and semi-hermit life, while exposed to the fury of fierce gales and the lashing of the angry seas.
The Florida keys are now nearly all inhabited, and new buildings were being erected on many of them, owing to the "cocoa-nut boom." These keys were all being taken up, pre-empted, leased, or bought, principally by Key West parties, and set out to cocoanut trees. As these trees will grow wherever there is soil enough on these rocky keys, and require little or no care after being planted, and as each tree is said to pay at least a dollar and a half per annum after six years old, it will be seen that a few thousand trees would yield a small bonanza in a few years, if all accounts are true. On some of the keys are groups of cocoa-palms now full grown and in bearing, and whether they pay or not financially, they certainly add very much to the beauty and tropical appearance of the islands, and viewed in this light the "cocoanut fever" will prove of lasting benefit to this section.
At Long Key we left the main channel and went inside the line of keys to Channel Key, where we anchored at five o'clock under the lee of Duck Key. The route usually taken, it being somewhat shorter, is to go "inside," or on the northerly side of the keys from Long Key to Bahia Honda, from whence the main channel is again followed to Key West. The choice of routes is, however, usually determined by the direction of the wind and the state of the sea. With a northerly or westerly wind, the main channel is the smoothest, being then under the lee of the keys, while with an easterly or southerly wind, the other route is taken for a similar reason.
The next morning we set sail at seven o'clock, the wind blowing harder than on the day before, and from the same direction, or a few points nearer east. We passed Grassy, Bamboo, Vaccas, Knight, and other keys in quick succession, leaving them to port, and with the strong breeze and smooth water, under the lee, we made ten miles an hour from Channel Key to Bahia Honda. Coming outside here we found a heavy sea running, catching us on the port quarter, but the Rambler, very buoyant in light bal-last, and being under full sail, skimmed the rollers like a sea-gull. We did not ship a sea on the whole voyage. The fishing smacks, turtlers, and spongers were all lying at anchor under the lee of Various keys, waiting for better weather.
In plain sight was Sombrero Key Light-house, thirty miles S. W. by W. ¼ W. from Alligator Reef Light. This is a conspicuous open frame iron-work tower, Over one hundred feet high, showing a fixed light, visible twenty miles. We now left to starboard Pine, Saddle Bluff, Sugarloaf, Loggerhead, and other keys. South-west of Loggerhead Key is the new light-house on American Shoal. Passing Cayo Sambo, Boca Chica, and other keys and islands, we were in sight of Kev West Light-house, and off to the south-west, Sand Key Light-house; the latter is forty-three miles W. by S. ¾ S. from Sombrero Light and seven and a third miles S. S. W. ¾ W. from Key West Light. Key West Light-house (harbor light) is in the City of Key West, south-east side, a brick tower, whitewashed, and shows a fixed light fourteen miles. Sand Key Light is a revolving flash light.
Key West City now loomed up to view with its steeples, towers, and forts bristling with guns. Rounding Fort Taylor, we proceeded to the common anchorage of the coasters and fishing smacks, and dropped anchor at three o'clock, having made one hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours of sailing, an average of six and a quarter miles per hour. "We made every thing snug, got the anchor light ready, and put every thing in shipshape order for a stay of several days in port.
Key West, a thriving and prosperous city of some fifteen thousand inhabitants, is situated on the western portion of the island, the latter being five miles in length and about a mile wide. From its position as the "Key to the Gulf," with a deep and spacious harbor, and as a naval depot and coaling station it is a place of great commercial and maritime importance. It has a number of fine residences, buildings, and churches, several hotels--the principal one, the Russell House-a marine hospital, a custom-house, and a U. S. naval depot. There is a neat and commodious barracks, with well-kept grounds, though the troops are at present stationed at Tampa. There is also quite a large convent, surrounded by handsomely arranged grounds, just outside the city. The cemetery is tastefully laid out, and charmingly adorned by tropical trees, shrubbery, and flowering plants. The city is defended by several forts, the largest being Fort Taylor, a brick and stone fortress mounting some two hundred guns. Steamers for Havana, Mexico, New Orleans, New York, Galveston, and the Gulf coast touch here almost daily, besides a great number of sailing vessels. It is but sixty miles to Havana, and some four or five days by steamer to New York.
Key West is a quaint and charming city, full of oddities and incongruities, a veritable town of eccentric "patchwork," wherein each edifice-forms a "piece." Buildings of all sizes and of every conceivable style, or no style, of architecture, are promiscuously jumbled together, but are joined or seamed to each other by a wealth and profusion of tropical foliage, which surrounds, invests, surmounts, and overshadows them, softening the asperities, toning down the harsh outlines, and uniting the separate pieces, which merge their individuality in a harmonious tout ensemble.
The modern stiff and flashy Gothic church glares superciliously through its cheap, Catharine-wheel window, as through an eyeglass, at the weather-stained but stout and solid old Spanish chapel, which looks up dreamily and good-naturedly at its prim rival, while the cocoa-palm stretches its long arms over it protectingly, the date-palm caresses it with slender, green fingers, and the almond tree looks on with conscious pride. The stilted, upstart frame residence, with scroll-work hanging from barge-board and eaves, like cheap cotton lace ostentatiously displayed by a vulgarly-dressed woman, looks down haughtily on its little neighbor-a rambling one-story cottage of stone, with broad, projecting roof and cool verandas, almost hidden in a mass of vines, creepers, and flowers, which cling to it in loving embrace. The iron-front store, with plate-glass windows, shoulders aside the dark and somber Cuban cafe, with its cages of singing birds and parrots hanging in the Pride of India trees, and its cool shadows embalmed and emblazoned by the bloom and fragrance of the oleanders.
And so, mansions, huts, and hovels-balconies, canopies, and porches-lattice windows, oriels, and dormers-gables, hoods, and pavilions-pillars, columns, and pilasters-are mingled in endless confusion, but harmonized by arabesques of fruit and foliage, festoons of vines and creepers, wreaths and traceries of climbing shrubs and trailing flowers, and shady bowers of palm and palmetto, almond and tamarind, lime and lemon, orange and banana.
And its population is as diverse as its structures. Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Spaniards, Cubans, Bahamians, Italians, and negroes make up its numbers, the majority being Cubans and Bahamians, or "Conchs," as the English natives of the Bahamas are called. Here may be seen every shade of complexion, from white to yellow, brown and black, cosmopolitan all, though each class seems to live in its own particular quarter of the town-as " birds of a feather" mostly congregate in specialized groups-where, after nightfall, they enjoy themselves, each class after its own fashion, singing, dancing, and even drinking in its own language. Jack said he learned to drink beer in seven languages while there, which is a linguistic accomplishment that few attain, and fewer enjoy.
But there is a large and popular dance house at the west end of town, which we "took in" for the Skipper's benefit, where the harmonizing influences of the place are again exemplified, and where white, yellow, brown, and black meet on a common level, male and female, and " chase the glowing hours with flying feet," to the inspiring strains of a cracked violin, and a piano which seems to possess a thousand wires and all loosely hung. And if the test of enjoyment is the energy displayed, they certainly enjoyed themselves to the top of their bent.
But we will take a long and upward step to a nobler and far more attractive scene, where the youth and beauty of the island city are assembled at the "Rink," a large and brilliantly lighted hall in the heart of the town. Here were youths and maidens who had never seen a snow-flake, or an icicle, and who had never heard the merry jingle of a sleigh-bell; but all the same they were gliding along gracefully and smoothly on roller-skates, or dashing around the outer edges on the swift-whirling bicycle to the fascinating strains of the "Beautiful Blue Danube;" while the mingled odors of the cape jessamine, tuberose, and the orange blossom floated in through* the open windows and doors.
Oh, what a subtile and potent power in beauty, music, and flowers! And they had their influence on Jack, who was deeply enamored of a little Cuban beauty; and no wonder, for she was perfectly brilliant and glorious in a wealth, of jet black hair, a clear olive complexion, pouting coral lips, disclosing regular and pearly teeth wreathed by a perpetual smile, while her eyes were as black as midnight, with her soul looking up out of their mysterious depths; and her form was even more lovely than her face, and its loveliness was surpassed by her grace. Poor Jack!
"Beauty draws us with a single hair," and here he was harnessed to each particular hair of the beauty's head, frizzes and all.
We tried to convince him that it was the effect of the music or the fragrance of the flowers, and that he would get over it when he went out into the fresh air; but he answered:
"If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again; it had a dying fall; O, it came o 'er my ear like the sweet south, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor."
Then Squire made the only quotation he was ever guilty of, though it did him credit, for it was from the "Book of books,"
"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love."
But he spoiled it all when he added :
"But I think it will be better to rub his bump of amativeness with a soft brick! "
The chief industries of Key West are the manufacture of cigars, sponging, fishing, turtling, and wrecking. There are, perhaps, a hundred cigar factories, from the one-story hut, scarcely bigger than its sign, to the large, airy, and extensive buildings, each giving employment to hundreds of hands. The cigar makers are mostly Cuban refugees, and the tobacco is imported from Cuba, though for a time some eastern dealers manufactured here a large quantity of domestic tobacco, which injured the trade and brought discredit on Key West cigars, so as to lessen the demand to a considerable extent; but, happily, the dishonest practice is discontinued, I believe, and only Cuban leaf is now used.
A large fleet of vessels are engaged in sponging, the crews being mostly "Conchs" and negroes. The sponges are taken in shallow waters, off the reefs and banks, where, by means of the "sponge-glass," a wooden pail with a glass bottom, the sponges can be plainly seen attached to the rocky bottom, and to shells, when they are torn loose by a strong iron hook affixed to a long pole. Each vessel tows six or eight small boats or yawls, in which the men work. Some eastern houses have sponge depots here; among others I noticed that of McKesson & Bobbins of New York. The sponges are here washed, dried, bleached, and assorted, and are of various grades and kinds.
Every morning may be seen many small fishing smacks, moored stern on along the fish wharf, with their wells filled with live pan fish,- such as grunts, porgies, groupers, snappers, hog-fish, yellow tails, spots, etc., which are killed and strung in bunches as fast as sold, selling for five or ten cents a bunch, and, on account of their cheapness, form the principal part of the diet of the working classes. These pan fish are, some of them, very beautiful, as well as excellent food fishes, and are caught in the channels near the city, being taken principally with the sea craw-fish as bait, for they are all caught with hook and line. The larger smacks bring in king-fish, otherwise known as cero, or black-spotted Spanish mackerel, a large and handsome fish, weighing from five to fifteen pounds, almost equaling the real Spanish mackerel in flavor; they are usually taken by trolling off the keys. The fishermen are mostly " Conchs," who are, by nature, nearly amphibious, learning to fish, turtle, sponge, and handle a boat almost as soon as they are able to walk, or, at most, when old enough to wear trousers. They are the descendants of the English settlers of the Bahama Islands, and have the cockney habit of changing the "w" to " v." Even a negro, born in the Bahamas, said to me one day:
" The veather ain't no good for fishin', an the vater is too rough, and the vind too 'igh far spongin"
A number of large smacks regularly supply the Havana market with king-fish and red-snappers. By leaving Key West about sundown they are in Havana by daylight the next morning. Had we not been pressed for time, or been in Key West a few weeks earlier, I should have made the run in one of these smacks.
The fruit and vegetables, and products brought to Key West from the mainland and keys, are always disposed of at auctions, which are held every morning, and are attended by the citizens as regularly as northern people "go to market." If the supply of eatables is small, notions and other commodities are sold, for the average Key Wester is not happy without an auction.
We were shown every kindness, consideration, and courtesy, during our stay in Key West, by Mr. and Mrs. Gwynn and their two charming daughters. These young ladies possessed all the advantages of a good and thorough education, being well versed in belles-lettres, music, and painting, and were as refined and graceful as our northern ladies, although they had never been away from their little island home, having been educated entirely at the convent of Key West....
