at
home, while Lejoillie skinned his birds and "potted" his insects, as
Carlos used to call the operation.

"I wish he'd pot these mesquitoes," exclaimed my cousin, as clouds of
what he called "blind mesquitoes" came round us, dropping into the pot
in which our coffee was boiling, and covering all our food. As,
however, they did not bite like the "galley nippers" of other parts, we
soon got accustomed to them, and if they added to the strength of our
coffee we did not mind. We were not, however, allowed to finish our
night's rest. A breeze unexpectedly getting up, the skipper called us
on board, and we continued our course down the lagoon. I never remember
seeing the water so phosphorescent in any other part of the world. We
could distinguish the jew-fish, the saw-fish, and many other denizens of
those Southern waters, which, disturbed by the schooner's keel, darted
away in all directions in a blaze of light, every scale on their bodies
being clearly defined. Indeed, they looked like meteors, their rapid
course marked by trails of light. The next day the wind was so light
that we made but slow progress. The appearance of the shore on either
hand was monotonous in the extreme. At length, passing the settlement
of Saint Lucie, the most southern in Florida, we might have got out to
the ocean through the Indian River Inlet, but the sea was breaking
heavily on the bar; and as the weather looked threatening, we continued
our course down the lagoon, steering for an opening called Jupiter
Inlet. At night we lay-to among a number of mangrove islets, on the
east bank of the sound, being just able to see our way until we dropped
anchor.

Scarcely were the sails furled than the storm which had been brewing
burst above our heads. The thunder roared, lightning flashed, and down
came the rain in torrents, flooding our decks. We had to take refuge in
the cabin, which we shared with the troops of cockroaches, centipedes,
and numberless other creeping things. At length the rain ceased, and
the thunder rolled away, and we were expecting to enjoy some sleep, when
clouds of mosquitoes and sand-flies came off, literally filling the air,
and, finding their way into the cabin, made a fearful onslaught on our
bodies. In vain we endeavoured to shield ourselves from their sharp
stings. They defied the clouds of tobacco smoke we puffed at them. We
had no sulphur, or we would have submitted to inhale its noxious fumes
in prefer