GAME FISH OF FLORIDA. 51 



cattle, turkeys, quails, squirrels, and all kinds of ducks 

 and water fowl. The house is clean, the table very 

 good, the host and hostess obliging and friendly, and 

 the charges moderate about $14 per week. The route 

 is as follows : From Savannah, by rail, to Jacksonville, 

 ten or twelve hours ; fare, $8. From Jacksonville to 

 Enterprise, on the St. John, per steamer in two days ; 

 two hundred miles ; fare, $9. At Enterprise you hire a 

 wagon to take you through the pine woods thirty or 

 forty miles to New Smyrna ; time, twelve hours ; per 

 haps more if the swamps are full of water ; fare, $7. 

 You can employ a day or two at Enterprise (Brock 

 House), in fishing for black bass (here called trout) in 

 Lake Munroe, or in hunting deer or wild turkeys in the 

 woods. The expenses of a trip to Florida will be from 

 $100 to $150 per month, according to the habits of the 

 traveller. 



During parts of three winters spent in this region I 

 made some notes of the food and game fishes, from 

 which I have prepared the following sketches : 



SIIEEPSHEAD (Sargus ovis). DEKAY. This is one 

 of the most abundant species, as well as one of the 

 most valuable as food. Though much more numer 

 ous than on the coasts of the Middle States, they are 

 of smaller size, averaging, at Mosquito Inlet and in the 

 Indian river, about three pounds. A six-pound fish is 

 large, and a seven-pound one is rare. The baits gener 

 ally used are clams (better boiled, being tougher), crabs, 

 fiddlers, and conchs. The latter bait is very tough, 

 well resists the strong teeth of the sheepshead, but is, I 

 think, less attractive than the others. AVe find the best 

 fishing usually in the channels which run along the 

 banks, upon which is a thick grove of mangrove bushes ; 



