52 Remarks upon East Florida. 
among others, the notice of Bartram. An inlet on the right bank 
is seen, nearly of the width of the river, which at once attracts 
the eye, by the contrast between the color of its waters and that 
of theriver. T'wo pieces of lumber, placed at right angles with 
each other, one of mahogany and the other of yellow pine, could 
not be more dissimilar. And the liquid line of separation is al- 
most as distinct as it would be in the supposed case. .The St. 
_ John’s has here, as elsewhere, its coffee-like hue, while the waters 
of. the sulphureous inlet are as transparent as the air, the fishes 
swimming in them being nearly as discernible as the birds flying 
over their surface. The alligators, diving, as usual, at the approach 
of a boat, when they happen to take refuge in this limpid inlet, 
continue to struggle downwards in apprehension; as if they felt 
- that it did not afford the usual refuge. 
Ascending this inlet several hundred yards, it is found to ter- 
minate in a well head or basin, of some thirty feet diameter, 
with high banks, in the centre of which there is a prominent tur- 
moil of the waters, as if a fountain below threw up its contents 
with much force. ° Rowing the boat upon this agitated spot, it 
was with difficulty kept there in its position, against the efforts of 
the ebullition to throw it off. A strong odor of sulphur fills the 
air around, and the taste of the watersis equally sulphureous. 
Above aah Monroe, wide-spread savannas become prevalent: 
They form the main body of the section of country through 
which the St. John’s flows, and are so slightly inclined, that its 
course is extremely tortuous, the bends having more the shape of 
as horse shoe, than of a segment of a circle. ‘The immediate 
_ banks in these savannas are somewhat elevated above the level 
sth of the waters, as the growth of a wild cane indicates, but the 
greater portion of them bear’a tall, rank grass, which shows that ~ 
S t s often inundated, and that the soil is constantly saturated with 
-Mnois Lakes George, Monroe, Jesup, Harvey and Poinsett, 
are fine sheets of clear water, of no great depths, but generally 
free from “aquatic oases They all abound in fish and wild 
fowl. 
8 
Fort. Taylor, (amere stockade, like all the otlien forts in Florida 
a recent origin, ) which was built a few miles above Lake Poin- 
sett, ve and fifty miles or more from the mouth of the 
St. Joh the highest point to which the army boats ascended. 
Above teat oa the river narrowed and’shoaled, so as to become 
