shore, and
likewise the big sharks. The bottom is a clean, white, finely ribbed
coral sand, with patches of brown seaweed here and there and golden
spots, and in the shallower water different kinds of sponges. Out on the
reef the water is a light green. The Gulf Stream runs along the outer
edge of the reef, and here between Tennessee Buoy and Alligator Light,
eighteen miles, is a feeding-ground for sailfish, kingfish, amberjack,
barracuda, and other fishes. The ballyhoo is the main feed of these
fishes, and it is indeed a queer little fish. He was made by nature,
like the sardine and mullet and flying-fish, to serve as food for the
larger fishes. The ballyhoo is about a foot long, slim and flat, shiny
and white on the sides and dark green on the back, with a sharp-pointed,
bright-yellow tail, the lower lobe of which is developed to twice the
length of the upper. He has a very strange feature in the fact that his
lower jaw resembles the bill of a snipe, being several inches long,
sharp and pointed and hard; but he has no upper lip or beak at all. This
half-bill must be used in relation to his food, but I do not have any
idea how this is done.

One day I found the Gulf Stream a mile off Tennessee Buoy, whereas on
other days it would be close in. On this particular day the water was a
dark, clear, indigo blue and appreciably warmer than the surrounding
sea. This Stream has a current of several miles an hour, flowing up the
coast. Everywhere we saw the Portuguese men-of-war shining on the waves.
There was a slight, cool breeze blowing, rippling the water just enough
to make fishing favorable. I saw a big loggerhead turtle, weighing about
three hundred pounds, coming around on the surface among these
Portuguese men-of-war, and as we ran up I saw that he was feeding on
these queer balloon-like little creatures. Sometimes he would come up
under one and it would stick on his back, and he would turn laboriously
around from under it, and submerge his back so he had it floating again.
Then he would open his cavernous mouth and take it in. Considering the
stinging poison these Portuguese men-of-war secrete about them, the
turtle must have had a very tabasco-sauce meal. Right away I began to
see evidence of fish on the surface, which is always a good sign. We
went past a school of bonita breaking the water up into little swirls.
Then I saw a smashing break of a sailfish coming out sideways, sending
the water in white sheets. We slow