Remarks upon East Florida. 51 
and spreading tops present nearly a horizontal line, where the 
green appears in all its depth and freshness. Thence, however, 
to within a few yards of the ground, the folds of moss, like am- 
ple curtains, conceal nearly all from view, leaving the trunks 
exposed below, which are covered with a whitish bark. “This 
aspect may prevail for half a mile, when the banks may rise and 
become covered with the live oak, whose angular and scraggy 
arms give a new appearance to the moss, which. is still as luxu- 
riant as on the cypress. But the outline above is far different 
here. Palmettos perhaps raise their graceful heads above the 
oaks in striking contrast with their associates ; or perhaps the pine 
may show in the barren beyond ; while over ‘all is the clear azure 
of the sky, always in Florida : 
' “So purely dark, and darkly pure.” 
‘These changeful beauties, combined with the occasional sight of 
a wild orange-grove, with its golden fruit bespangling the foliage, 
altogether render a ? up the St. John’s ee ina high de- 
gree. 
The ash, eden swamp oak, des tile ae the banks of a 
part of the upper St. John’s, drop their leaves during the winter. 
months, unlike all the other trees to which we have been alluding. 
But these trees. would seem to be deciduous, to exhibit more plainly 
the verdant parasite which attaches itself to most of their branches. 
In passing up the river for the first time, the uninstructed gazer 
is surprised and puzzled to see on all these trees a tuft of ever- 
green, while the branches in general are stripped of their foliage, 
until informed that it is the mistletoe, which, having attached 
itself thus to a- foreign stock, continues to smile in verdure, while 
its supporter is standing in gloomy nakedness. The mistletoe — 
bough is always of a-rounded form, varying in size from a few — 
inches to thirty or more in diameter. 'The seeds, which are said — 
to be winged, have a gluten surrounding them, which enable them. 
to attach themselves where they alight and at once to draw forth 
nourishment as if fixed to a parent stem. The nudllius filius of 
the forest, it is adopted by the first tree to which it flies for pro- 
tection and sustenance. : 
Sulphur springs are very abundant on the upper parts of the 
St. John’s. They bubble up like jets deau. In passing up to 
“Lake Monroe, there is one a few miles below, which attracted, 
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