The Portland daily press., 1894-12-29
A LEAP FOR LIBERTY.
How POrp0ise Can Leap When 1t
Has To.

Oysters.
The following remarak BILE incident was
recently related to the PRESS by
Maine man, who last winter enjoyed IA
hunting trip in Florida, and whose
truthfulness we can assure our readers,
is without spot or blemish. Besides.
this is no hunters story as will be seen.
1t runs as follows:
There is utter contrast between the
Maine coast and the Florida coast
Our previous acquaintance with the
ocean was associated with rocky head
lands, dasning breakers, glistening sea-
weed, muddy flats, CLANS and cold water
But there in Florida the ocean had diff
erent companions, and was therefore
different ITSELF We were sojourning
along the Indian river near its outlet TO
the ocean. 1t is simply an arm of the sea.
running up behind the wastes of sand.
1t is all level, fat and monstrous-this
Florida coast; that is in appearance.
We found it quite otherwise In it's capac-
ity to please. The exchange of clam
bakes on the rocks at home for oyster
fries on those warm sands was almost a
fair bargain since the latter was a novel
ty. And the bathing in that warm watt
err, in the middle of February too. was
almost as enjoyable, if not as invigorat-
ing, as the frantic souse and blue-limbed
scramble of the seaside bath in Maine;
and the surf was rough if it was warm
4 &La ,Ia,,t -
though the sky was SO blue, the air so
balmy. There was excitement enough.
We padded about in the endless la
goons amidst the sand and among the
mangrove trees along the river. Our
boat was a crude, fiat bottomed affair,
but really the matter of speed was of no
consequence in that dreamy lazy land.
1t is along the swift rivers and sparkling
living lakes and eager, active ocean
waters of Maine that one wants the swift
canoe or staunch, seaworthy boat. And
besides, the ducks were everywhere down
there, AID so were the fish. Sometimes
when monster school of mulIet were
jumping" several, even many, of them
would fall into the beat. And it was
the mullet that caused our adventure.
The porpoises are very fond of them.
They come up the river from the ocean,
and chase the smaller fish into the shoal
coyes and creeks. So fercely do they
follow their flying prey that they become
victims themselves, and if not stranded
til the flow of the tides, lacerate their
huge bodies on the merciless raccoon
oysters.
And these oysters should now be intro
duced. They are small, with stout shells
with sharp cages. They live above low
water mark, and are very active little
fellows. for oysters. They move about,
and frequently when the tide goes out
they are revealed, clinging to the low,
dropping branches, and exposed roots of
the mangroves. 1t is, therefore, in
Florida that the native takes the WON
derIng visitor to see oysters growing on
trees \ ut they are called raccoon oys-
tiers, because the sly coons have more or
less interest in them.
The taste for raw oysters is not con-
fined to the epicure. The coon, when
the tide is OUT, goes down. among the
o ;sters. They are safe from him in so far
AS breaking their strong shells is con-
cerned, but be is sly old coon. He
sits and waits and watches, and when
an unconscious oyster slowly yields to
the air and the sunshine and opens it's
shell-well, that is the end of it all. The
coon's long curved claw slips like fash
between the shells, and out comes the
oyster. We were near the head of one of
the little caves that are full of these
oysters, when school of mullet dashed
past us, and so did a submarine torpedo.
There was a curling wave IN front Of le,
foam all about and bubbline wake be-
bind. Then we heard a loud crashing and
cracking sound as the great porpoise.
fully eight feet long, dashed against the
beds of oysters and broke and crushed
their shells by hundreds Then what
tumult! What splashing of wateE
and flashing of tails and fms. 1t had
Turned about, and was coming back
again in an instant. We got ready to give
it battle, but as it approached there was
something in the situation so suggestive
of opposing the onset of a steamboat that
we ANONYMOUSLY retreated. and the
great, frightened, lacerated, smarting
monster swept by to the ocean.
But alter that we were on the lookout
for foolish porpoises that chase mullet
into shallow creeks, and few days later
we saw the wake of monster pointing
towards narrow inlet. We followed.
The creek was scarcely wide enough for
the boat TO turn about in. but was quite
deep. We soon met the porpoise coming
back. On seeing us it turned and went
up the creek again. But when it came
back the next time it meant business.
IT had become alarmed at the situation.
On it came with the speed that mocks
the ocean steamer, the water foaming
and surging all about it. We held our
preaths in anticipation of the shock that
was sure to upset us, and might smash
our frail craft into pieces.
But there was no shock. With one
fip of it's tail that splendid ocean athe-
lete mounted into the air and cleared our