220 THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 



some offensive remark made in the chiefs presence concerning 

 the name given to this camp. 



We took dinner on this historical ground. Our box of 

 provisions being in the bottom of the cart and covered some 

 two feet deep with our bedding, tent and other camp luggage, 

 we decided not to undertake the task of digging it out, but to 

 fall back on the resources of the country for our snack. So 

 we took out the ax and cut down a palmetto-tree, then we cut 

 off about two feet of the top of the tree, split it open and 

 took out the central portion the bud a core three to four 

 inches in diameter and eighteen to twenty inches long. Upon 

 this, seasoned cum grano satis, we made a frugal lunch, and 

 one which any epicure might have envied us. 



This "palmeeter cabbage," as the crackers call it, is really 

 delicious in flavor and highly nutritious. It is white and 

 brittle like celery, but much richer in taste. The people 

 here boil it for the table, when it assumes more of the char- 

 acter and flavor of asparagus. In many families it forms a 

 staple article of food, and I am of the opinion that were it 

 introduced in the North it would at once be considered a 

 great delicacy there. It is certainly far superior to celery as 

 a relish or asparagus as a side-dish. 



There is not the least danger of any one starving to death 

 in a Florida wood so long as he have an ax or hatchet with 

 which to cut palmetto buds. 



Jack and I stored away a good-sized bud, and after eating 

 two or three oranges each by way of dessert, boarded the 

 ' ' Myakka Express ' ' again and rolled on toward the happy 

 hunting ground. When we got within two and a-half miles 

 of the river we stopped and cut a liberal supply of light-wood 

 to take with us, as no pine grows nearer the stream than this, 

 and there is no pleasure in camping in this country without a 

 liberal supply of this staple commodity. 



