The Sugar Cane Is
Also Planted, And Quantities Of Sugar And Molasses Are Often Made
Sufficient To Supply The Plantations
On which it is cultivated.
Spinning-wheels and looms have come into use, and a strong and durable
cotton cloth
Is woven by the negro women for the wear of the slaves. All
this shows a desire to make the most of the recources of the country, and
to protect the planter against the embarrassments which often arise from
the fluctuating prices of the great staple of the south - cotton. But I
have no time to dwell upon this subject. To-morrow I sail for Cuba.
Letter XLV.
The Florida Coast. - Key West.
Havana, _April_ 7, 1849.
It was a most agreeable voyage which I made in the steamer Isabel, to this
port, the wind in our favor the whole distance, fine bright weather, the
temperature passing gradually from what we have it in New York at the end
of May, to what it is in the middle of June. The Isabel is a noble
sea-boat, of great strength, not so well ventilated as the Tennessee, in
which we came to Savannah, with spacious and comfortable cabins, and, I am
sorry to say, rather dirty state-rooms.
We stopped off Savannah near the close of the first day of our voyage, to
leave some of our passengers and take in others; and on the second, which
was also the second of the month, we were running rapidly down the Florida
coast, with the trade-wind fresh on our beam, sweeping before it a long
swell from the east, in which our vessel rocked too much for the stomachs
of most of the passengers. The next day the sea was smoother; we had
changed our direction somewhat and were going before the wind, the Florida
reefs full in sight, with their long streak of white surf, beyond which,
along the line of the shore, lay a belt of water, of bright translucent
green, and in front the waves wore an amethystine tint. We sat the greater
part of the day under an awning. A long line, with a baited hook at the
end, was let down into the water from the stern of our vessel, and after
being dragged there an hour or two, it was seized by a king-fish, which
was immediately hauled on board. It was an elegantly shaped fish, weighing
nearly twenty pounds, with a long head, and scales shining with blue and
purple. It was served up for dinner, and its flavor much commended by the
amateurs.
The waters around us were full of sails, gleaming in the sunshine. "They
belong," said our Charleston pilot, "to the wreckers who live at Key West.
Every morning they come out and cruise among the reefs, to discover if
there are any vessels wrecked or in distress - the night brings them back
to the harbor on their island."
Your readers know, I presume, that at Key West is a town containing nearly
three thousand inhabitants, who subsist solely by the occupation of
relieving vessels in distress navigating this dangerous coast, and
bringing in such as are wrecked. The population, of course, increases with
the commerce of the country, and every vessel that sails from our ports to
the Gulf of Mexico, or comes from the Gulf to the North, every addition to
the intercourse of the Atlantic ports with Mobile, New Orleans, the West
Indies, or Central America, adds to their chances of gain. These people
neither plant nor sow; their isle is a low barren spot, surrounded by a
beach of white sand, formed of disintegrated porous limestone, and a
covering of the same sand, spread thinly over the rock, forms its soil.
"It is a scandal," said the pilot, "that this coast is not better lighted.
A few light-houses would make its navigation much safer, and they would be
built, if Florida had any man in Congress to represent the matter properly
to the government. I have long been familiar with this coast - sixty times,
at least, I have made the voyage from Charleston to Havana, and I am sure
that there is no such dangerous navigation on the coast of the United
States. In going to Havana, or to New Orleans, or to other ports on the
gulf, commanders of vessels try to avoid the current of the gulf-stream
which would carry them to the north, and they, therefore, shave the
Florida coast, and keep near the reefs which you see yonder. They often
strike the reefs inadvertently, or are driven against them by storms. In
returning northward the navigation is safer; we give a good offing to the
reefs and strike out into the gulf-stream, the current of which carries us
in the direction of our voyage."
A little before nine o'clock we had entered the little harbor of Key West,
and were moored in its still waters. It was a bright moonlight evening,
and we rambled two or three hours about the town and the island. The hull
of a dismasted vessel lay close by our landing-place; it had no name on
bow or stern, and had just been found abandoned at sea, and brought in by
the wreckers; its cargo, consisting of logwood, had been taken out and lay
in piles on the wharf. This town has principally grown up since the
Florida war. The habitations have a comfortable appearance; some of them
are quite neat, but the sterility of the place is attested by the want of
gardens. In some of the inclosures before the houses, however, there were
tropical shrubs in flower, and here the cocoanut-tree was growing, and
other trees of the palm kind, which rustled with a sharp dry sound in the
fresh wind from the sea. They were the first palms I had seen growing in
the open air, and they gave a tropical aspect to the place.
We fell in with a man who had lived thirteen years at Key West.
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