Paddling under Palmettos — page 248: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Paddling Under Palmettos. 241 a string, Archie landed a couple of dozen large fel- lows. Upon the shores tens of thousands of little fiddler crabs could be seen. They retreated to their holes with surprising celerity upon being approached, and could only be captured by cunning, or else vigorous digging. With these as bait, sheepshead could always be secured in certain places, readily found by any one at all versed in the ways of this fish that feeds almost entirely upon mollusks, which fact is what gives the flesh of the sheepshead and pompano such sweetness and delicacy. During the day succeeding their arrival at the bay they were visited by a well-known canoeist who was spending the winter in that section. From this gen- tleman they obtained much valuable information. He did not fancy the trip they had before them, and possibly had our friends seen as much expe- rience in the swamps of the Pelican State as he, they might have ended their cruise by a passage behind the Keys to Key West instead; but their course was set, and no amount of friendly advice could turn them from it. Gomicbooks (E(0)