90 ALONG THE HILLSBOKOUGH. 



distaste, unsocial and almost unmanly, for 

 the bitter drinks which humanity in general 

 esteems so essential to its health and comfort, 

 I was developing new and unexpected capa- 

 bilities ; than which few things can be more 

 encouraging as years increase upon a man's 

 head, and the world seems to be closing in 

 about him. 



Later in the season, on this same shell 

 mound, I might have regaled myself with 

 fresh figs. Here, at any rate, was a thrifty- 

 looking fig-tree, though its crop, if it bore 

 one, would perhaps not have waited my com- 

 ing so patiently as the oranges had done. 

 Here, too, was a red cedar ; and to me, who, 

 in my ignorance, had always thought of 

 this tough little evergreen as especially at 

 home on my own bleak and stony hillsides, 

 it seemed an incongruous trio, fig-tree, 

 orange-tree, and savin. In truth, the cedars 

 of Florida were one of my liveliest surprises. 

 At first I refused to believe that they were 

 red cedars, so strangely exuberant were they, 

 so disdainful of the set, cone-shaped, toy-tree 

 pattern on which I had been used to seeing 

 red cedars built. And when at last a study 

 of the flora compelled me to admit their 



