e, quickly put it out of pain, and brought
it on board. It was about the size of a fox, being somewhat larger than
the common racoon. Lejoillie called it the agouara, and our skipper
said it was the crab-eater. The fur was of a blackish-grey, with a
tinge of yellow. The tail was somewhat short and marked, with six black
rings on a greyish ground.

As there was but little chance of our making progress for some hours to
come, after breakfast we pulled off in the boat to secure some fish for
dinner. Our skipper possessed a species of harpoon called grains, which
consists of a two-pronged iron-headed barb, about ten inches in length.
The head is loosely slipped into a socket at the end of a staff about
twelve feet long, and the two are connected by a rope. A double prong
is used for catching fish, but for killing turtle a single-pronged
barbed head is employed, as it pierces the shell more easily. We had
not gone far when Captain Crump, standing up in the bows like an old
Triton, lowered his weapon close to the water; it flew from his hand,
and immediately afterwards he drew up a red-fish of about twelve pounds
weight, and threw it into the bottom of the boat. He then stood ready
for another stroke. Again he darted down the deadly weapon. The head,
which had a long line attached to it, by slipping off at once from the
staff, remained sticking in the fish, which, after being allowed to
struggle so as to exhaust its strength, was hauled on board. Three or
four other fish having been caught in the same way, we had an ample
supply for ourselves and dogs. We pulled back to the schooner, on our
way collecting, off a bank, a number of fine oysters, very superior to
those which the 'coons are addicted to eating.

At length a light breeze sprang up, sufficient to carry us at a slow
rate down the sound. We passed vast numbers of the Florida cormorants--
a small species, which breeds in the mangrove islets. They were feeding
on shoals of mullet, which rushed along the surface of the water,
endeavouring to escape the attacks of sharks, porpoises, and other cruel
foes beneath the surface. The cormorants, however, did not have it all
their own way; for, watching their opportunity, numbers of ospreys and
pelicans incessantly splashed down among them to rob them of their prey.
Whenever we brought up, we pulled off in the boat to supply ourselves
with fish, which we seldom failed to take with hook and line, even when
the s