250 THE OKEECIIOBEE EXPEDITION. 



western, or shore side. It is nowhere more than a foot 

 above the level of the water, a dry sand-ridge, covered 

 with India rubber, ash, and sweet bay, with a few paw 

 paws in fruit and flower. Nearly half an acre, at one 

 end, was covered with vines of the wild gourd. Upon 

 both sides and at either end is a thick growth of willow, 

 with some cypress. The northern end is covered with 

 the dark vines of the ipomea, in which hundreds of white 

 herons and spoonbills have built their nests. From a tall 

 cypress here, the shore can be traced for many miles 

 nothing but marsh and marsh for miles, with a few 

 palmettoes, spurs from the main ridge some five miles 

 back. Due south of this island is a sand beach a mile 

 in length, covered with large cypress. It is but thirty 

 feet wide, backed by interminable marsh. Some rare 

 minute fossil shells were found here. A bay two miles 

 deep is found south of this point, and thence the shore 

 trends south-east. The course from point to point is 

 due east. There are three projecting points from the 

 main marsh, of this, the southern end of Lake Okee- 

 chobee, covered with a vegetation strikingly different 

 from that of the western and northern shores. It is 

 here that the water filters through the grassy, marshy 

 rim to the south. The low custard apple is the only 

 tree here. Joint-grass and lilies are thickly filled in, 

 the whole forming a mass easily permeated by the water. 

 The lake terminates in three great bays, from five to 

 six miles in width, curving easterly. If there are any 

 streams leading out of them, they are not navigable, or 

 even discernible. Nearly opposite the island before 

 mentioned, Fish Eating creek comes in a large creek 

 in some place?, but not navigable for our boat. Fort 



