Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-03
ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL, NASSAU, N. P, March 20th. 1


 Moody and Sankey-C@ptaim Samp.
 sOn-YeIIOyv Fever and other Fsvera,
 ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL,
 NASSAU, N. P, March 2Oth. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 When we addressed you last we were skirting the eastern coast of Florida, and Jupiter Inlet and Jupiter Lighthouse were in sight, and not more than ten or twelve miles distant Soon after, the course of our ship was altered, and steaming little south of east, all traces of the Western Continent were lost to view, but low light colored clouds still curtained the vanished land.
 Nearly all our passengers were upon the upper deck, musing in grateful shadows, and, with the thermometer at 80 Q feeling only an agreeable warmth in the cooling wind. A marked change was soon observed in the col or of the water. Its deep, rich, beautiful blue was unlike anything we had observed before or since we left New York. It at- tracted and invited all eyes, and loosened every tongue. Gentlemen vied with the ladies in expressing the pleasure caused by this new sensation. One passenger of a domestic turn of mind inferred that it was Neptune's wash ing dny, and that he had made liberal use of his indigo bag. Tho mystery was soon ex- plainsd. We wero passing the Gulf Stream :; unconsciously we had entered the great ocean river. It had gath cred up the equatorial heats, and, i'm pelled by great natural laws which man has not been able as yet to fully discover and sat isfactorily explain, it was executing it's great benefcent mission, and materially aid ing in. equalizing the temperature of regions widely separated. How unlike it seemed to the Gulf Stream we crossed year before! {! Then we brought with us from the frozen north opposing withstand a just re- sentiment was felt and seen in pillows that hissed and howled, feaming in anger. Now gentle winds, born in the warm tropics, trav- eled with the rolling tide, and hand in hand air and water, were bearing their thermal blessings inward. It is theirs to loosen the icy bands, and quicken into life the slumber ing energies of northern clmes.
 At times dolphins played about our ship, and flying fish, like focks of small birds, tray- ersed considerable spaces of air just clearing the waves. s'The dolphin" says our passep ger captain, '"is the swiftest fish that swims the sea where there are flying fish there are usually dolphins; the dolphins feed upon them, and the flying fish jump into the air and try to fly away" Vague memories of an- cient fables come dimly back to us as We watch the quick and playful movements of this in teresting mammal of the sea- The dolphin was sacred fish in Grecian mythology, and gave name if not inspiration to the famous Dslphic Oracle that made known to mortals the dscrses of the invisible and immortal gods. Modern scientists, upon observing the rela- tive size and character Of it's brain, are dispos- ed to entertain with more favor the belief of the ancisnts in it's superior intelligence. As with tho ssa-birds, so with the fsh-they stir my soul with the quickening spirit of creeds that hourished in earth's fresh green spring time, and my voicelsss thought declares surely, these dolphins. which appear to be doing pilot and escort duty for our ship, are the lineal descendants of those which, in the old days of the old world, were the friends and bensfactors of our race-almoners of di- vine favors and the bearers of messages from world real but invisible-for with them came this most delicious air, this charm ing sky, and quiet sea, so beautifully colored that man Is impotent to initiate or describe 1t.
 Some of our sun sets have been exception ally brilliant and beautiful. On one occasion, when Q vast shoreless sea had received the day god in it's epgulflng waters, great golden columns of brilliant light rRdiating from the place of Its burial, lighted up the western sky and illumiued the oceans surface with their reflected light. At other times the zodiacal light, for several hours after the sun had set, rose like monument, huge pyramid of beauty, delicate, spirituelle, but well defined, upon tha lofty apex of which rested the pie iadss It was first observed by our venerable ex-chisf justice who seemed delighted to watch it during the early evening hours; he appear ed to be very much at home among the beau tiful stars Of the Southern sky, and to derive great pleasure in viewing the heavenly hosts, as arranged in familiar consultations, they Ill solemn, silent majesty passed slowly by. The beauty of such skies is closely allied to the spiritual; their grandeur and solsmnity is in- deed divine; the undsvout gazer upon such heavens is mad. But how dwarfsd every thing appears when we look down!
 While still at sea beautiful silver crescent, like the visible eye of some invisible god look ed down from the Western sky upon tho set ting sun. It added new element of beauty to the night, but, as 1t increased in size, many a star retired and the mysterious zodiacal light was unrevealed. It, like the ghosts, ex- ists only in shadows.
 On Saturday evening, the 18th day of March, we made ''Isaac's Light" upon Isaac's Island, one of the Bahama Archipelago, and knew that the crossing of the Gulf of Florida was, with us, an accomplished fact, and that run during the night of about one hundred and twenty miles, in the somewhat sheltered 'sNew Providence Channel, 'among tho islands, and towards the center of the group, would complete our voyage. We left the upper deck, with its brilliant canopy of gleaming stars, and retired early to our stateroom, that we might secure good nights sleep and be able, St the break of day, to greet the rising sun and watch for the first indications of the lovely isle upon which Nassau, in the shade of it's palms and other tropical trees, reposes.
 The early Sabbath morn found large num- Der of our fellow voyagers intently scanning the eastern horizon from the good ships up- per deck. Ths usual speculations, insepara- ble from such an occasion, es to the time when we would reach our haven of rest, afforded fit material for the interchange of thought and comparison of views. It was 6 subject in which all were deeply interested, but the weather had been so fine and the voy age so pleasant that we felt that in landing we should only exchange ono form of happiness for another. Our ship was new, serupulously neat and clean, staunch and steady, admirably offered and manned, and all it's appointments were decidedly frst-class, so that sentiment akin to that which one entsrtalns for 8 beautiful, spirited and intelligent horse, that has carried him safely and ministered to his happiness, took firm root and Sprang up in the minds of the fortunate passengers in ref erence to the Steam Screw ship Western Tex as. The Texas we felt was our ship, and to it we seemed to owe kind of fealty and true allegiance.
 AS the morning wore sway OUT passenger captain, with his trained long-sighted sea-eyes, detected faint trace of curling smoke upon the background of delicate low clouds rising from the eastern horizon. This he assured us was smoke from fire on the island of New Providence. Soon after, his telescopic eyes discerned in white perpendicular line, about as big round az 8 spiders thread, the coralline lighthouse at the eastern end of Hog Island at the entrance of Nassau harbor. Very soon the less visually gifted were able to verify as- sertions which to their more narrow vision seemed to be prophetic-and their faith was supplemented by actual knowledge. Thus is it often with hidden truths and mysteries pro- found!
 Between and 10 o'clock in the forenoon we crossed the bar and once more revelled in the picturesque beauty of the winding shores, the honey-combed rocks, the stretches of white sand beaches, the low green islets, the tropical verdure, and thesparkling and gleam- ing waters, dotted and striped with colors which DO pen can adequately describe. I seemed to feel their welcome in the soft and soothing wind. For men and their works I cared ittle-they were so dwarfed by those which had left behind me. But for the coral isles and keys and for the elements above and around them-the handiwork of the worlds great Architect, entertained genu- inc affection, and my heart experienced thrill of genuine pleasure as gszed upon the beautiful panorama which was gradually dis closed as we neared the place of our landing.
 It being Sunday much smaller crowd than al ad 011r arrival unnn ina naiUhh0r-