Upon getting on board I was told that she was the Aguinaga, belonging to the port of San Sebastian. She was manned by a crew of Basques. Shortly before weighing our anchor, I was leaning over the port side of the vessel looking at the long, low, line of coast stretching far away towards the east, when my attention was called to an animated conversation that was taking place between the Basques and a boat’s-crew of Indians who had come alongside, bringing provisions and fruit. It was surprising to hear a conversation carried on between men of races so absolutely distinct, and I asked the skipper, who was standing near me, how this power of communicating ideas between his crew and these Yucatan Indians had been established. He said that he did not know, but as a matter of fact, his men, speaking Basque, were able to make themselves understood by the Indians living on these coasts, especially in the regions around Tabasco beyond Carmen and the bay of Terminos. In the afternoon we left Sisal and were employed in beating against a fresh N.E. wind, usually standing in towards the coast during the day and tacking out to sea at night. It was not until the sixth day that we weathered the parallel of Cape Catoche, the extreme eastern point of Yucatan, and it was with no slight satisfaction that, after having been nine tedious days at sea, I heard that Cuba was in sight. The confinement on board the brig had been extremely irksome, and had only been made tolerable by the novelty of being thrown amongst a race of men that I had never met before and whose language was unintelligible. These Basques were excellent sailors, quick and handy at their work aloft or on deck, and although incessantly employed, were willing and obedient. My messmates in the cabin consisted of the skipper, the boatswain and the mate, and a fellow passenger who had been for the greater part of his life a Honduras pilot. There was also a second class passenger who usually lived under the forecastle. This man was a wanderer upon the earth; an exile from his own land who, in the course of his travels, had seen much of men and manners. He told me that he was a Frenchman and had been drawn for the conscription, but he managed to evade his duty and had got away from France, consequently he was not able to return to his home as he was liable to be punished. He had managed to subsist by following various trades and he was about to try his fortune in one of the islands. Upon approaching Havannah we at last got a fair wind and were able to find an obscure berth amongst the merchant shipping without difficulty.[96] After leaving the brig and her Basque crew I proceeded across the Gulf to Florida. Amongst the various places that I visited was Tampa, situated at the head of a bay, near the spot where Hernando de Soto landed in 1539 and began the conquest of that part of America.