CRUISING ALONG SHORE. 211 



now gone to decay. The Cherokee rose, and the Spanish 

 bayonet with its magnificent pyramid of honey-scented 

 bells, add their fragrance to that of the oleander. A 

 walk through the deserted orange grove reveals many 

 tropical wonders, such as the India rubber, satin-wood, 

 guava, lime, lemon, and citron. Vestiges of pineapple 

 plants are shown, which can be raised here successfully. 

 At Fort Pierce, four miles south, is an excellent location 

 for a hotel or boarding house. The situation is high 

 and airy, securing immunity from those pests of the 

 low land, the sand-flies. It is opposite to the main 

 entrance to the Atlantic, where vessels of not over four 

 feet draught can enter. Directly in front are vast oyster 

 beds, and in December the turtle the &quot;green turtle 

 soup &quot; kind swarm in to feed and are caught. Deer, 

 turkeys, quail, in fact all kinds of game ; fish, from 

 saw-fish and sharks, to mullets and bass. 



And then the climate ! Rarely, even in summer, 

 does the thermometer indicate more than 85 degrees. 

 A south-east breeze blows in summer all night long, 

 making the nights cool and comfortable. It is the very 

 paradise for the consumptive, the fountain of youth for 

 him with pulmonary complaint of whatever kind. But 

 two frosts for twenty years have occurred, and those not 

 serious. This description of climate will answer for 

 nearly the whole river, modified only by the slight dif 

 ference in latitude. The waters of the Gulf Stream lave 

 the coast, tempering the wind in winter. One of the 

 surgeons in the army stationed here during the Seminole 

 war, after sixteen years service, gave it as his opinion 

 that this immediate country was the healthiest in the 

 United States. Absolutely free from disease, tis said 

 that the people are obliged to remove to the next county 



