University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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acquaintance of the light keeper and his son, who are the only inhabitants of the island. They lead a lonely life, indeed, and their only knowledge of the outside world comes from the few vessels which put in there for fruit or anchorage. We found them very hospitable and ready to place anything which they had at our disposal; and it was in their cocoa grove that we first had an opportunity to eat cocoa-nuts fresh from the trees. The next day, Sunday, the pilot brought the schooner out of the harbor, and after trying to sell some shell work, straw hats, and other wares left us; we set sail across the great Bahama banks for Havana. Here in the shallow water of the Banks, we determined to try the dredging apparatus and, accordingly, the tangle bar was lowered into the sea. When it was hauled up the variety of excellent specimens obtained showed that it was worth while to dredge here in earnest, and the tain advised the use of his favorite apparatus, the big oyster dredge. This proved to be all that the captain claimed. It scraped up everything in its path and the monster fish that it brought to the surface made some of the party fairly dance with excitement. Three days were spent in dredging here, in water from five to twenty-four fathoms deep. Then, after a two days ' calm, Water Cay was sighted. Lured by the name a party went ashore with barrels to replenish the supply of fresh water, which was running low.7No trace of good water, however, could be found; but the ornithologists had plenty of work to do among the rookeries of bridled and noddy terns, which are very abundant on all the small islands of the south. Cuba was sighted the next morning, the great Peak of Matanzas rising high above the level shore line. We coasted along toward the west all day, till at four o ' clock in the afternoon the city of Havana appeared in the distance. The harbor was entered in a driving rain storm; the health officer came aboard, and we were directed where to anchor. Hardly had we cast our anchor before a per- feet swarm of bungalows came out to take us ashore. Two, three, and four dollars were the 16

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School, Professor S. W. Stookey of Coe College, and Messrs. A. E. Barrett, Wm. Larrabee, E. G. Decker, W. P. Powell, H. E. C. Ditzen, A. M. Rogers, W. Ballard, Gilman Drew, and Edwin Sabin, special correspondent. Several meetings were held at Iowa City in the spring and committees were appointed to look after provisions, equipment, etc. Wm. Larrabee was elected treasurer. Early in April, Professor Nutting and Mr. Powell went east to superintend the equipment of the vessel and to get everything in readiness for the party on its arrival. On Tuesday night, May 2nd, the expedition left Iowa City on the late train for Chicago, where it arrived the next day, and transferred immediately to the B. 0. road. Baltimore was reached on the day following, and that evening the party took up its quarters on the Emily E. Johnson, which was lying at the wharf ready to start. She was towed out of harbor on the evening of the 5th, and sail was spread for the south. The sea was smooth and beautiful down Chesapeake; but when the capes were pas sed, it became very different to the landsmen aboard. Here a strong easterly breeze had raised quite a sea, and although the ship scudded along merrily enough most of the passengers were seriously affected with seasickness. This decidedly uncomfortable condition of affairs rapidly became worse and during the seven days ' passage to Egg Island only three or four of the whole twenty-one swered the summons of the dinner bell. On Wednesday a came up and the party experienced their first and only really rough weather. After the storm passed by and the sea became smooth, some of the seasick ones mustered enough energy to catch up in dip-nets some of the seaweed which is so common in the gulf stream. In this weed live great numbers of pelagic crustaceans, fishes, and hydroids. This was the first collecting done and it proved very profitable. Egg Island was sighted Friday about noon and the pilot brought the schooner into harbor a few hours before nightfall. The party was pretty well sented at supper that evening, and the stillness of the water seemed to banish the disagreeable feelings of the last few days. Early next morning the several collecting parties went ashore and fairly revelled in the beauties of the varied forms of life with which they met. The shallow water particularly abounded in forms that were attractive and novel. For the first time these inland dents looked down through the clear water and saw the living sea fans, purple and yellow, waving about with every current; sea urchins in large numbers were obtained and this .first introduction to marine life made altogether a pleasant day. One party went ashore to Egg Island proper and made the 15

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modest sums for which they offered to transport a passenger to the dock; but since we did not care to ride in such high priced conveyances, the ship ' s boats were lowered and we went ashore in them. Our first care was to get the mail which had accumulated here for us, and a great task it was. The Havana post office is a dark little establishment where letters are piled up on a table and left until called for; and, as a matter of fact, many are lost or delayed. No stamps were sold in the post office but an official very kindly directed us to a little dingy tailor shop near by, where they could be obtained. Parts of the city, especially those along the water front, are crowded and dirty in the extreme; the streets are narrow and filled with filth; the sidewalks of such little width that two persons cannot pass each other on them, and the whole vicinity has a peculiarly repulsive appearance. The newer portion of the city is vastly different, however, the streets being well paved and cared for, the residences farther apart, and as a rule imposing in architecture, and there are parks full of beautiful foliage and blooming plants. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were enjoyably passed in visiting the various points of interest in this old-fashioned Spanish town; the cathedral where Columbus lies buried is here, but the tomb itself was closed at the time and the party could not enter. Wednesday ing a tug towed us out of the harbor. On leaving Havana we sailed a few miles from Morro Castle, and here made our first cast for Crinoids in water from one hundred to three hundred fathoms deep. Since this was really the first of the deep sea dredging, it may here be appropriate to give some tion of the apparatus, by means of which we were able to bring from the sea-bottom samples of almost every form of life found there. The tangle consisted of a bar of steel about one inch in diameter and some five feet long, bent at the middle so as to form a very obtuse angle, and five strong chains depending rately from the bar at regular vals. Into the alternate links of each of these chains were tied strands of Italian hemp rope some six feet long, with their ends frayed out. It is difficult to give the reader an quate idea of the bushy, horse-tail appearance which one of these gles, thus constructed, presents, when ready to be cast into the water 17