Transcribe Ward, Henry L. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1884-03-02)

so tomorrow I am going to try and fish them up. They talk very confidently about being able to get the bones of the head, and as the current is not strong in the harbor the flipper bones may possibly be regained.

  The young was not born, but is a foetus </u cut > out of the

female but in all probability about to be borne. Three nights ago the female broke loose from her fastenings at Paris Island and drifted two or three miles with the tide but was again brought back and is now more securely fastened and a watch set over her.

  Paris Island is a Summer resort, now uninhabited, with

good beech for working; permit to do which can probably be obtained, from the negro on whose ground the whole is, for about two dollars. It was so windy to-day that we could not go to the whale. Will do this to-morrow. Young is beached with mother and is in enveloping sack - what a splendid alcoholic specimen </s she > it would make, were they not stinking so fearfully, as report says. From the way they talk here one would think that a whale is an every day capture, at all events they do get several every season, so if I get everything except the flippers these might be replaced. Will try and find R. R. rates & steam boat rates to-morrow. Some magnificent live oak groves with Spanish moss covering the trees. Weather mild and wind dying out. Write to Port Royal. a longer letter to-morrow night. Yours affect. Henry L. Ward.