The contract being finished, we loaded the canoes and I paid the men in advance, according to the custom of the country. I urged them to launch the canoes and proceed on our voyage immediately, which they refused to do, saying that night would overtake us before we could arrive at the Lagoon. They said they would sail the next morning at daylight, and then laid themselves down near the fire for the night. I wrapped myself up in the old bed-quilt and took lodging on my chests as usual, the mosquitoes so thick about us that we could not see any thing at a distance; they annoyed the Indians so much that they lost all patience. At eleven o'clock they launched their canoes and we proceeded on our voyage. Before we took our departure I had given them orders to keep the canoes near together for mutual safety. After we had gone a short distance, I discovered by the stars that the captain of my canoe had lost his course, and was running from the land into the ocean. I remonstrated with him by making signs. About two o'clock I made out to convince him of his error, when he steered towards the land, which brought us into the trough of the sea, and I was compelled to bail water without intermission until daylight, when I found we were within three miles of the land, but could not discover any canoes in sight of us. We steered our boat in near the land where the water was not so rough, and kept in close to the shore. When we came to the mouth of Pearl Key Lagoon we saw smoke a short distance from the mouth of the harbor, and going to the place from which it proceeded found our comrades cooking some fish, they had caught, for breakfast. We joined with them and took a scanty meal. Soon after, we all got under weigh and proceeded about three miles, when we arrived at the village of Pearl Key Lagoon, to my great joy, after a passage of ten days. I was so thoroughly exhausted that I could not walk from the canoe to the house without assistance. CHAPTER V. Pearl Key Lagoon lies in latitude 12° 10' N., longitude 82° 54' W. The village is situated about four miles from the entrance of the Lagoon, or _Lake_, into the sea. The village contains thirteen houses; the inhabitants generally speak English, and are more civilized and hospitable than the neighboring tribes. This place is the centre of trade for the whole coast, and is often visited by English traders.