IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



which may consist largely of gray cypress trees 

 with swollen, conical bases, while scattered thickly 

 over the swamp floor are blunt leafless stubs from 

 one to six feet long, thrust up out of the mud 

 peculiar growths which spring from the roots of 

 these trees. 



If the stranger visits the lower part of the State 

 he will find in the interior a vast extent of wet, 

 often inundated prairie with wooded islets 

 scattered along its borders. At the north of this 

 great swamp, the Everglades, is Lake Okeechobee, 

 which during the rainy season overflows the entire 

 prairie. A low rocky ridge lies between the Ever- 

 glades and the Atlantic shore. It projects west- 

 ward far into the swamp in southern Dade County, 

 and finally disappears in the great prairie. This 

 ridge is cut into numerous islands, and water from 

 the Everglades passes through the channels be- 

 tween out to the sea. 



To the southeast, southward, and southwest of 

 the mainland is a long chain of islands, the "Florida 

 Keys, " which extends in a great curve to the south 

 and west, ending far out in the sea with the Tor- 

 tugas. The upper islands of this chain are long 

 and narrow, running parallel with the Gulf Stream, 



