THE OKEECHOBEE EXPEDITION. 249 



six inches above the lake, and a quiet lagoon affords 

 shelter for a boat. Detached belts of cypress and marsh 

 occur next, and the only place suitable for camping is 

 ten miles south-west. AYe called it Mulberry Camp, 

 from the occurrence of that tree there. Besides mul 

 berries, there are ash, maple, box-wood, cypress, India 

 rubber and elderberry. There are gigantic cypresses 

 here, six feet in diameter, completely enclosed in the 

 India rubber, and covered with ivy. 



The shore trends south-west for about fifteen miles 

 from the Kissimmee, where along cypress hammock 

 ends in a lone palmetto. Here a deep bay makes in 

 some three miles, and is about five miles in width. At 

 the end of this bay, the palmetto spurs from the main 

 ridge approached within a mile. All south of this is an 

 unbroken marsh, deeply indented with bays, from which 

 blind creeks or &quot;sloughs&quot; ramify in every direction. 

 Due south of this palmetto point is a low willow island, 

 with but a few inches of sand above water, covered with 

 nests of heron and snake-bird. A marsh extends to this 

 island, and south of it is another deep bay. Below this 

 island the shore trends southward for about eight miles, 

 then the dip is south-east a desolate region, with a low, 

 dark line of willows bordering the shore. It has a very 

 deceptive appearance, this same shore, as various shades 

 from the light of the grass shoals to the dark of the 

 willows, make it seem very high, and the traveller is only 

 disenchanted by a close inspection. 



About thirty miles south by west of Kissimmee is the 

 only island in the lake affording foothold to man. It is 

 one and a half miles long and four miles from the south 

 west shore. It runs north-west and south-east, and is 

 dry upon its eastern or lake side, and marshy on the 

 11* 



