Letter from Audubofi to the Editor. 533 



much force, as to prevent any swimming object from approach- 

 ing it, except fish. The head of the jet rises about an inch and 

 a half above the common surface, forcing the water away all 

 around, after the manner of a whirlpool, yielding meantime mil- 

 lions of dead periwinkle (Lymnea,) shells, pieces of stone, of 

 wood, gravel, &c. &,c. ; all of which are forced on the surround- 

 ing shore, where they have accumulated perhaps for many cen- 

 turies, and where they are concreted into curious solid masses. 

 The water is beautifully transparent, of a sea green colour, but 

 strongly impregnated with sulphur, which gives it a nauseous 

 smell, particularly disagreeable to myself. 



The same shells which are thrown up at the spring, are found 

 in each of the lakes of which I have spoken. These lakes seem 

 to be formed from atmospheric waters, which in the rainy sea- 

 seasons flow into these reservoirs or basins, which ultimately 

 communicate with St. John's river. I procured a bottle full of 

 the water of this curious spring for analysis. The waters of 

 the spring, after running about two hundred yards through the 

 woods, flow into Rees's Lake ; the stream thus formed is called 

 Spring Garden Creek. The depth of the water at the spring, 

 when low, is near seventeen (eet ; the channel of the creek im- 

 mediately below it is said to be sixty feet deep, but becomes 

 shallower as you advance towards the entrance of Rees's Lake, 

 and so very rapidly, that on reaching this lake the bed becomes 

 suddenly an extensive mud flat over the whole floor of the lake, 

 with, at this moment, not more than fifteen inches of water ; be- 

 neath which are deposits from the discharges of the spring, and 

 a soft silt or thin mud to the depth of four and a half feet, lying 

 upon hard white sand. When this silt is stirred up by the oars 

 or otherwise, it is of a dark green colour, smells powerfully of 

 wet gunpowder, and effervesces constantly, even when untouch- 

 ed. Our boat was hauled across this mud flat lake into the con- 

 tinuation of the creek. 



Before we proceed farther, I would observe that the inspec- 

 tion of the ground around the spring brought me acquainted 

 with a very curious set of phenomena, from which it would ap- 

 pear that the present spring is comparatively recent, and only 

 one of a long succession of jets that have once been in activity, 

 but which are now filled up with the fragments of shells, wood, 

 gravel, &c. they have ejected. During the rainy season, when 



