PRINCETON 89 



only so many kinds of birds at one point, but such 

 a vast multitude of representatives of the several 

 kinds. 



Nor was the feathered life the sole interest. 

 Alligators constantly swam in front of the steamer, 

 or basked somnolent in the sun on the bank. 

 Many of them were huge creatures, though they 

 were of all sizes. 



The Ocklawaha winds through a succession of 

 cypress swamps, and these stately trees, festooned 

 with many parasitic plants and draped with the 

 pendant Spanish moss, formed a fitting setting to 

 this theatre of life. Frequently, at higher points 

 on the banks of the river, groves of wild orange 

 trees might be seen as part of the undergrowth 

 of the live-oak forests which occupied the drier 

 regions through which the river passed. All this 

 gives but a faint idea of the prodigality with which 

 nature had adorned this most marvellous region. 

 Words are feeble to paint it. 



Our journey was terminated at Silver Spring, a 

 wonderful pool of water some two hundred feet 

 across and almost circular, the depth and clearness 

 of which gave a singular sensation to one riding 

 in a boat on its surface. It seemed almost as if 

 one were suspended in the air. We disembarked 

 at a tiny wharf, and the only building which in- 

 terrupted the beauty of the sylvan scene was the 

 " warehouse," a kind of shed just back of the wharf. 



