tt, formerly of Lenawee
county, Michigan, lying-in his hammock watching his banana trees grow.

I have before mentioned the irregularity and infrequency of the mails.
The remedy was slow in coming. The chief cause of the irregularity was
The Sangjai, which, though designed to be an aid to navigation, was
often a great hindrance to it. The Sangjai was a very narrow and very
shallow channel, partly natural and partly artificial, through what had
once been the Sabinal peninsula. The artificial and difficult part of
the channel known as The Sangjai was about half way between La Gloria
and Nuevitas. It had to be used in following the short or "inside"
water course. This was the route over which went our mail in a small
sailboat. The Sangjai at one point was so shallow that it contained only
a few inches of water at low tide and less than two feet when the tide
was high. It was a hard place to get through at best, and many a
passenger on craft which went this way had to get out and walk, and help
push the boat besides! Boats always had to be pushed or poled through
The Sangjai. If the winds permitted the sailboat to reach this
aggravating channel at the right time, there was no great delay; but
otherwise, the boat would be held up for ten or twelve hours. This was
altogether unpleasant, especially as the mosquitoes and jejines claimed
The Sangjai (pronounced Sanghi, or corruptly, Shanghi) for their own.
The mail, like everything else, had to await the will of the waters, or,
perhaps I should say, the convenience of the moon. The Sangjai played a
very important part in the early history of La Gloria.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE COLONY AT THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR.

My pen must glide rapidly over the events of the summer and early fall.
The sawmill, which had been so long delayed and so often promised as to
become a standing joke in the colony, finally reached La Gloria from
Nuevitas, via the port, on May 30. Nothing was more needed; its
non-arrival had delayed both building operations and the clearing of
land. A few weeks later the mill was in operation, to the great joy of
the colonists. In June the construction of a pole tramway from La Gloria
to a point on the bay between the port and the Palota landing was begun.
This was completed on August 14, and transportation operations were at
once inaugurated. The new landing place was named Newport. On July 16
the building of a substantial and permanent highway from La Gloria to