XII. 

 FORT CAPRON. 



HAVING served about two years in South Florida 

 during the last Seminole, or &quot;Billy Bowlegs&quot; 

 war, I think I may safely assert that Fort Capron, op 

 posite Indian River Inlet, is the very place for a sports 

 man s hotel. Its mild and salubrious climate, together 

 with the abundance of fruit, game, and fish to be found 

 in its immediate vicinity, render it a place of unsur 

 passed attractions for both sportsman and invalid. 

 There is absolutely no endemic disease at this place. 

 Its mild, genial climate banishes all coughs, colds, and 

 rheumatisms, while a line of hills in its rear effectually 

 intercept the malarial exhalations of the fresh-water 

 swamps of the interior. The chlorinated vapors 

 brought by the trade-winds, which are constantly 

 blowing from the sea, also exercise their powerful 

 sanitary influence. The abundance of game and fish in 

 the vicinity of Fort Capron is truly astonishing. Dur 

 ing the prolonged period that I was stationed at that 

 fort we were never, in the proper season, without game, 

 fish, oysters, or green turtle. The fish found in the 

 vicinity are red-fins (a species of drum, commonly called 

 &quot;red bass,&quot; the &quot;rouge &quot;of the Creole French about 

 New Orleans), red-snapper, sheepshead, cavalli, sea 

 trout, sea-mullet, and the far-famed pompano. These 



