IN^ FLORIDA. 77 



that beautiful sheet of water, Lake George, thous- 

 ands of wild ducks rose three gunshots oft', and Hew 

 away. The siglit rejoiced our eyes, for we had pass- 

 ed several days on the river without seeing any large 

 birds except the strange water-turkeys, or snake- 

 birds. Unfortunately we had no ])attery with us, 

 and had to trust to finding a point of land that the 

 ducks would approach. This was no easy thing to 

 do, and we sailed half the length of the north shore, 

 before reaching a promising spot, a narrow point 

 running out between two bays, and at the outer 

 end of which the birds were crowded together in 

 flocks of thousands. There was nothing to be done 

 till the next morning, and seeing a farm house on 

 the neck of land, Mr. Setli Green went ashore to 

 get what information he could from the owner. 

 This gentleman was at the moment working in his 

 garden, and although the thermometer stood at 

 eighty in the shade, he wore the encumbrance of a 

 pair of long India rubber boots. As these seemed 

 rather out of accord with the torrid temperature, he 

 Avas delicately asked liis reasons for wearing them; 

 ^' well," he replied philosophically, ^^ they cannot 

 strike over those." This sounded ominously, for 

 although, as I have said, we had heard a good deal 

 about snakes, we had seen nothing of them yet. 

 Our doulits were removed when the gentleman 

 pointed out an immense dead rattlesnake hanging 

 on the limb of a bush, and added, '^ I killed him yes- 

 terday." We returned promptly to the yacht, con- 

 tented to make our explorations by water thereaf- 



