320 SOUTH-WEST FLORIDA. 



lifeless in the morning. My experience is that the 

 yarns spun about insect life in Florida is, to a great ex 

 tent, &quot; twaddle and stuff.&quot; I suffer more from fleas than 

 any person I have eyer met, and have received so much 

 benefit from the use of the Insect Powder that I am 

 induced to refer to it. 



&quot;With regard to fevers of an intermittent, remittent, 

 or continued type, I believe they are unknown on the 

 south-west coast during the winter months, and that, tak 

 ing the year through, it is the healthiest section in the 

 United States. I sometimes think that a man could not 

 contract disease on the coast during the winter months. 

 I am a medical man of many years experience, and before 

 leaving home rilled my pocket-case with medicines, in 

 addition to sundry bottles and pill boxes. Companions 

 and self were frequently wet, and for nearly two months 

 slept under a thin canvas cover open at the ends, and 

 not a particle of medicine was required. The only 

 article of medicine we were short of was pilot bread, and 

 others may be benefited by our experience. In all my 

 wanderings in the State, I have seen but one diminutive 

 scorpion, and that I captured at Fort Thompson. I 

 resided for twelve years in a portion of the world where 

 scorpions are plentiful, and I never knew any person to 

 be seriously injured by their venom. With regard to the 

 bugbear of snakes, I have only to remark, that during 

 the period of my recent visit to the State I saw but four 

 a rattlesnake near Fort Thompson, a black snake on 

 the Caloosahatchic, a garter snake on Gasparilla Island, 

 and a water snake on the Chisiowilski. On one occasion, 

 in passing through the interior from Tampa to Silver 

 Spring, I noticed a large rattlesnake lying by the side of 

 a log, and stopped the conveyance to destroy him, but 



