Florida Swamps and Forests 



that I most dreaded. I knew that I would have 

 to find the narrow slit of a lane before dark or 

 spend the night with mosquitoes and alligators, 

 without food or fire. The entire distance was 

 not great, but a traveler in open woods can form 

 no idea of the crooked and strange difficulties 

 of pathless locomotion in these thorny, watery 

 Southern tangles, especially in pitch darkness. 

 I struggled hard and kept my course, leaving 

 the general direction only when drawn aside 

 by a plant of extraordinary promise, that I 

 wanted for a specimen, or when I had to make 

 the half-circuit of a pile of trees, or of a deep 

 lagoon or pond. 



In wading I never attempted to keep my 

 clothes dry, because the water was too deep, 

 and the necessary care would consume too much 

 time. Had the water that I was forced to wade 

 been transparent it would have lost much of its 

 difficulty. But as it was, I constantly expected 

 to plant my feet on an alligator, and therefore 

 proceeded with strained caution. The opacity 

 of the water caused uneasiness also on account 

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