vey passengers; and on
receiving a reply in the affirmative, he invited Carlos and me to
accompany him, and Tim if he wished to go.

My father and uncle willingly gave us leave, and we lost no time in
making preparations for the voyage. This was soon done, and that very
evening we went on board. Captain Crump had brought a fresh supply of
ammunition; and as we had plenty of provisions, we were in want of
nothing.

I took Caesar, and Carlos had two other dogs. I have already described
the schooner, as well as that portion of the Saint John River which we
now sailed over. Rounding the Hazard Lighthouse, we steered for Saint
Augustine, not only the oldest city in Florida, but the most ancient
built by Europeans in the whole continent of North America. It stands
on a narrow peninsula formed by the Sebastian and Matanzas rivers.

Carlos had often been there before, as it is only a few miles across
from the Saint John River, and he had friends and relatives of his
mother residing there. It still contains many old Spanish buildings,
which give it a very picturesque appearance. The streets are, however,
somewhat narrow and paved with stone, or rather with a conglomerate of
shells. As we remained there but a few hours, I can say little more
about it.

From Saint Augustine, for three hundred miles southward, there extends a
succession of long narrow banks, which form the outside of a series of
lagoons, so shallow that only vessels drawing a very few feet of water
can navigate them. We kept out to sea for about a hundred miles, when,
passing through the Mosquito Inlet, we entered the Mosquito Lagoon.
Outside, we had been tumbling about in the rolling Atlantic. We were
now in perfectly smooth water; but our skipper and his mate had to keep
a sharp look-out, to avoid running on the numerous shoals which lay in
our course. The narrow strip of land outside was only a few feet in
height, covered with pines, oaks, and palmettos. As it was impossible
to navigate the lagoon at night, we came to anchor. The next morning we
continued our voyage. Looking over the side, we could see the fish
swimming about in vast numbers. Frequently we found ourselves scraping
along over oyster-beds, which in some places rose to within a couple of
feet of the surface. As we got farther to the south, the banks were
fringed with mangroves, and the cabbage-palm and palmetto made their
appearance. On some of these oyster-reefs the mangrove t