THE OKEECHOBEE EXPEDITION. 243 



by the ride there that he goes no further. I don t know 

 that the people of this section are more avaricious than 

 in any other indeed, I have always found the residents 

 generous and hospitable but the temptation to bleed a 

 man with money is irresistible where money is so scarce. 

 Along the St. Johns, at the hotels, it is worse than on 

 Indian river. It is just as a &quot; cracker &quot; expressed it one 

 day at St. Lucie. He came to my friend, the doctor, 

 with a bottle in his hand containing some unhappy bugs 

 he had captured. Says he : 



&quot; Doctor, I reck n I ve gut a curosty for ycr.&quot; 



&quot; Ah ! &quot; 



&quot; Yis ; when you uns was done gone inter Okeecho- 

 bee, I cough t these yer animils fer yer. Ye see, I was a 

 cuttin down a cabbage palmeteer and found these yer 

 into the middle on t ; and as I never seed any like em I 

 jest put em in a bottle, and hev been a feedin em nigh 

 on two weeks. I s pose you want em, don t yez ? &quot; 



&quot; Well, yes, I ll take them ; how much for them ? &quot; 



The bugs were worthless, but the doctor always made 

 a point of taking whatever was brought, as sometimes he 

 secured something of value. 



&quot; Wall, I don t know ; I reck n about two dollars a 

 piece ! &quot; 



&quot; Do you think that enough, Mr. T. ? &quot; 



&quot; Wall, they se been a heap uv trouble to me, an I ve 

 neglected my grubbin to feed them thar critters, an I 

 railly suppose they s worth considerable more, but I 

 didn t know how much you Yankees would stand! &quot; 



That is the key note rung by the hotel keepers in 

 Florida, &quot; how much you Yankees can stand without 

 collapsing.&quot; 



At Smyrna I met Dr. Fox, the guide to the Savan- 



