t shoal, dotted with its multitudinous _cayos_ and _cays_, which
commences some thirty miles to the eastward of the Boca de Guajaba,
through which we had run to escape the frigate's boats, and extends
right along the north-eastern coast of Cuba to its most northerly point,
terminating at Maya Point at the entrance to Matanzas Bay. These cays
lie so thickly scattered along the coast, and are so close to each
other, that they afford innumerable places of shelter with snug
anchorage for small craft; whilst, from the fact that they are all
situated well within the outer limit of the shoal, they are
unapproachable except by vessels of exceedingly light draught; I was
therefore not at all surprised to learn from Carera that they were
infested by a perfect nest of pirates, who, in feluccas and schooners of
great speed and shallow draught of water, were wont to sally forth for a
few days' cruise in the Gulf of Florida, or among the Bahamas, to prey
upon the shipping bound into and out of the Gulf of Mexico; returning to
their depots after every successful raid, and landing their booty there,
so that, in the event of their encountering a man-of-war, nothing of an
incriminating character might be found on board them. I asked Carera
whether he was never afraid that some of these free-and-easy gentlemen
might some time or another take it into their heads to overhaul the
_Pinta_, on the chance of her happening to have on board something worth
taking; to which he replied, with a laugh, that he had no fear whatever
of any such thing; the pirates always respected such traders as happened
to be engaged in dealing with any of the fraternity, these traders
having a means of making their characters known to any suspicious-
looking craft which might happen to manifest a too curious interest in
their movements. And, indeed, we had a verification of this statement
that same evening, whilst we were lying becalmed off the Cristo cays;
for a noble felucca, which we had sighted an hour or so before, came
foaming down toward us, with sails furled and ten sweeps of a side
lashing the glassy surface of the water into foam, evidently determined
to know the why and the wherefore of our being there. Carera, seeing
there was a chance of his being boarded, dived below and routed out a
small square red flag, with a black diamond in the centre, which he
hoisted at the end of the yard; whereupon the felucca swerved slightly
from her course, and, passing c