258 FLORIDA TRAVEL. 



I may remark that boats can be purchased in Jack 

 sonville ; but, as they are generally built of yellow pine, 

 they are heavy and apt to leak. Before leaving Jackson 

 ville, or Mellonville, a party should provide themselves 

 with a pushing pole sixteen feet long. 



It seems strange that Florida is almost the oldest 

 settled portion of the United States, and up to the 

 present time no person lias left the Atlantic coast and 

 reached the Gulf through the medium of a boat, via 

 St. Johns, Kissimmee, Okeechobee, and Caloosahatchie, 

 and for the obvious reason that no one has been able to 

 find the mouth of Fish Eating creek. If I can find the 

 right kind of a companion, I will make the attempt 

 in December or January. I have recently received one 

 of Bond s sectional boats, sixteen feet long, and propose 

 testing its applicability for the trip. South-west Florida 

 is a sportsman s paradise, and truly worth visiting. 

 Frosts are unknown, rain seldom falls during the winter 

 months, the days are not uncomfortably warm, and the 

 health is unexceptionable. 



&quot; AL FRESCO.&quot; 



