new life
to the oars. The wind being fair, the aid of our sail, which was
equal to two additional oars, gave us such head way, that as the
rays of the rising sun sported over the tops of the waves and
fell on the small spot of land ahead, we found ourselves nearing
one of the Cuba Keys.

The land we first discovered was a little Island of about three
acres, that arose above the surrounding key, as high as the tops
of the mangroves. The name of this key--the largest of its
group[A]--was of so sacred an import, that one would have
supposed it had been a refuge no less from the storms of
persecution, than those of the element around it.

[Footnote A: There are about 700 of the Bahama Keys in groups or
clusters, the greater part of which are overflown two or three
feet, and covered with mangrove bushes from 10 to 15 feet high,
the roots of which are very numerous and rise above water. The
largest of the groups generally contain a small spot of dry land,
and are distinguished by appropriate names.]

CRUZ DEL PADRE, or the _Cross of our Father_, situated in W.
long. 80 deg. 5' and N. lat. 23 deg. 11'--is about 27 leagues E. by N.
from Matanzas. It is a long, narrow key, of whose size we could
not accurately judge.--Around its North side about a league
distant from the shore, was a semi-circular reef, over which the
sea broke as far as the eye extended. It was a tremendous battery
in a storm, and were I approaching it in an American squadron, I
should fear its ground tier more than all the cabanas of the
Morro. But hunger and thirst are powerful antidotes to fear. We
therefore boldly approached it with confidence in that divine
interposition which had been recently so signally displayed
towards us. Availing ourselves of the deepest water and the swell
of a sea, we were hurried on the top of a breaker, that shook our
long-boat like an aspin leaf and nearly filled her with water;
but in a moment she was floating on a beautiful bay that
presented to the eye "the smooth surface of a summer's sea."

The Northern boundary of this bay was formed by the reef, making
the inner part of a crescent--the Southern, by two long lines of
mangroves on each side, and a small beach of beautiful white pipe
clay, that formed the front of the little Island in the centre.
The distance across was about three miles, two of which we had
already passed, directly for the beach, a few rods from which as
we had previously discovered, were two HUTS,