172 YACIITIXG OX THE ST. JOIIXS. 



beautiful resorts on the river, and prove one of the most 

 healthful and agreeable. 



We remained over-night at the Mellonville wharf, 

 visited some gardens conducted by people of taste 

 and skill, and saw many evidences of the capacity of 

 this soil and climate to produce almost every luxury. 

 Potatoes were grown in February for the table, oranges 

 and bananas flourished free from danger of frost, and 

 beautiful flowers rewarded very little care with profuse 

 bloom. The geranium was a small tree in the open air, 

 and the oleander made shade for a party. Strawberries 

 were ripe while ours were under deep snow, and it was 

 not easy to put faith in the idea that the cold March 

 winds were heaping drifts that would for many a day 

 resist the sun that fell with such force upon us. 



Turning northward, we gave ourselves to the current, 

 and went rapidly on. At times we would tie to a tree, 

 and leaving the yacht, row quietly up some of the small 

 and unfrequented streams that join the river. Here all 

 was as wild as when the Indians pursued game with their 

 stone arrow-heads, and took fish with bone spears ; and 

 nature seemed to revel in her own power and beauty, 

 and cast her glories of golden sunlight and varied foliage 

 on every hand. The huge serried leaves of the palmet- 

 toes swayed and glistened like shields hiding a woodland 

 host. Cypress trees held their light foliage high against 

 the sky, and graceful vines hung in long curves from 

 them to the dense undergrowth of novel form. Creep 

 ing plants held their bloom over the water on dead 

 trunks, and air-plants and ferns found resting places on 

 the old oaks, in whose upper branches balls of mistletoe 

 shone with their polished leaves. All this would be 

 doubled in reflection, while the dividing line between the 



