YACHTING ON THE ST. JOHNS. 165 



new buds ; but south of this the winds having any west 

 erly direction pass over more or less of the Gulf, and are 

 disarmed by the warmth and .moisture of that body of 

 water of their blighting chill and dryness, and about 

 Enterprise snow and frost are practically unknown ; 

 palms, palmettoes, bananas, and orange trees assume 

 forms of vigor that render them very beautiful to the 

 Northern eye, and the refugee from winter finds an 

 assured promise of gentle air and golden sunshine. 



The river is very crooked, bending sharply around 

 points, cutting deeply into the banks, forming deep 

 boiling pools, where fish are seen breaking constantly. 

 The shores are usually low ; a point ten feet high is 

 known as a bluff, and such are sought by settlers for 

 homes, possessing all the freedom from miasma, insects, 

 and dampness that can be expected where the sun of 

 almost perpetual summer breeds during many months a 

 full crop of annoyances. The driest and most desirable 

 places are found upon the shell mounds, where one strata 

 upon another of shells form elevations of very consider 

 able extent. These shell formations are of great interest, 

 and puzzle the keenest minds with their layers of differ 

 ent shells, each distinctly defined in character, and 

 differing in a marked form from the next. 



The water-worn river banks show long and perfect 

 sections of this character, and the strata are plainly seen 

 in even and distinctly marked lines, not always level, 

 but extending in long, unbroken elevations and depres 

 sions ; showing that some disturbing upheavals have 

 raised and lowered the deposited shells after they were 

 imbedded in their present order. 



Some of the strata, lying perhaps six inches in thick 

 ness, are composed of bivalve shells almost exclusively, 



