m FLORIDA. 91 



ward of Mosquito Inlet and sixty miles below Cape 

 Canaveral. I would not advise a small vessel to attempt 

 to navigate this coast; as it is very dangerous should 

 the wind come to the eastward (which it often does 

 in this vicinity), and there is no shelter except the 

 precarious anchorage under Canaveral. The bar at 

 Indian River inlet has seven feet over it at low wa- 

 ter, but shifts constantly in both depth and position, 

 and can only be crossed in the smoothest weather. 

 Besides the bar there is an '^ Inner Bulkhead ' — so 

 called, over which there is but four feet. It is said 

 by the natives, however, that by taking what is called 

 the Blue Hole Passage, five feet to five and a half 

 may be taken safely into the river. " 



The fishing at St. Augustine, which is a quaint 

 old town, said to be the oldest in America, and well 

 worth a visit in itself, is better during the winter 

 months than any to be had north of it. Plenty of 

 boatmen can be hired who will pilot the stranger to 

 the best spots. Around here the foliage becomes 

 still more tropical. The frost will occasionally 

 penetrate, and the most famous oranges are to be 

 grown only still further South, on the shell ham- 

 macks of the Indian and Banana Rivers, where 

 single trees bear as many as six thousand of these 

 golden fruit each. Bat we were actually tired of 

 fishing, and looked on complacently with the pity- 

 ing superiority of accomplished success at the 

 patient anglers, trying their best to kill a few in- 

 offensive finny creatures off the bridge, across 

 the St. Sebastian River, or bringing triumphantly 



