500 



NATURAL HISTORY 



Wild orange trees, some with sour fruits, 

 others with sweet, occur in the hammocks 

 of the Big Cypress. Of course, some of 

 these are the remnants of trees planted by 

 the Seminoles; but others may be derived 

 from ancestors planted there by the abo- 

 rigines of that region or by the Spanish 

 adventurers themselves. 



The cypress of the region outside of the 

 large sloughs was the pond cypress (Taxo- 

 <l in in ascendens). The prairies were showy 

 flower gardens. Several species of Polyg- 

 ala, several of Sabbatia, three or four 

 kinds of terrestrial orchids, and a number of 

 other conspicuous plants, both monocotyle- 

 dons and dicotyledons, often covered acres 

 in extent. A yellow-flowered bladderwort 

 grew copiously in extensive patches in the 

 dry white sand! Many rare and little- 

 known plants were collected for future 

 study. 



Eocky Lake proved to be the lunch sta- 

 tion. "While in a temporary camp near the 

 shore the writer rescued two animals from 

 living graves. On two different occasions, 

 while going to the lake for a drink of 

 water, he was startled by agonizing cries. 

 In the first instance, a large water moccasin 

 had caught a mocking bird and was at- 

 tempting to swallow it. In the second in- 

 stance, another moccasin had caught a 

 frog which he was trying to slip down his 

 throat. In each case the victim went free 

 and, it is to be hoped, survived. 



After recrossing the Okaloacoochee 

 Slough, instead of retracing our former 

 course we turned more to the westward and 

 headed for the colony of Immokalee. After 

 passing through stretches of forest and 

 prairie we came in view of the scattered 

 houses of the settlement. This colony, situ- 

 ated about thirty miles in a direct line from 

 Fort Myers, comprises a general store and 

 a few dwelling houses. We reached Fort 

 Myers shortly after sunset, and early the 

 following morning started up the Caloosa- 

 hatchee Eiver by the same course we had 

 taken several days before. Numerous stops 



were made along the way for collecting 

 plants and taking photographs. Palmdalc, 

 where we took the trail over the great 

 Indian Prairie, was reached early in the 

 afternoon. The herbaceous vegetation and 

 magnificent palmetto hammocks not vis- 

 ible in the dark gave an entirely different 

 impression of the prairie region. Some of 

 the same genera of plants were common to 

 both the Indian Prairie and the Big Cypress 

 but the species were usually different. The 

 Caloosahatchee Eiver is evidently a natural 

 boundary between different floral regions. 

 The most striking feature in the vegetation 

 of this prairie, however, is the cabbage tree. 

 This palm grows in small clumps and also 

 forms hammocks from one to many acres in 

 extent, surpassing in luxuriance any growth 

 of it I had seen previously. 



After the usual bumping of banks and 

 sand bars the ferry landed us on the oppo- 

 site shore of the Kissimmee Eiver whence 

 we at once set out over a trail which seemed 

 to have endless windings, but which finally 

 brought us to Okeechobee City. From there, 

 after a night's rest, we journeyed to Fort 

 Pierce, collecting as we found favorable 

 places in the pine woods and in the swamps, 

 and next day we started on the final stage 

 of our return trip to Miami. The city was 

 reached without further incident, except 

 the passing survey of a large hammock on 

 a high sand dune along Saint Lucie Sound 

 or Lower Indian Eiver, which has already 

 been partly described 1 and which has been 

 designated for thorough exploration. 



This preliminary survey deeply impressed 

 upon us the wonderful natural history of 

 that little-known region. Our time was 

 limited and the region was large, but some 

 day, before drainage and other depreda- 

 tions of civilization, not to mention vandal 

 ism, have removed the bloom from that still 

 unspoiled garden, we hope to make another 

 and longer visit to the land of the Big 

 Cypress. 



1 Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, 

 Vol. XIX, pp. 76-77. 



