7 8 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



to the shore. One may anchor a boat drawing 

 five feet hard upon the beach, and run his skiff 

 directly on the sandy shore and step off dry shod. 

 Dr. John K. Small, my companion on many col- 

 lecting trips, has suggested that this deep water 

 is caused by the strong currents which sweep by 

 this headland, and I am sure he is right. Strangely 

 enough there is a five-foot tide here though a 

 short distance to the north (on the Gulf shore) it 

 is hardly over a foot ; it is even less in Florida Bay, 

 to the eastward. Everywhere along this ex- 

 tended, uninterrupted beach the sand is firm and 

 there are no mangroves. The country, for the 

 most part, is covered with herbaceous growth or 

 at most a low scrub for a considerable distance 

 back from the shore, and it is exceedingly rich in 

 interesting plants, nearly all derived from the 

 American tropics. One has a glorious sense of 

 freedom and comfort here which he experiences in 

 but few localities in Lower Florida. Just to the 

 southeast of East Cape there is safe anchorage 

 against any ordinary storm. 



This great sand bank is probably built over an 

 old mangrove swamp for such a formation lies 

 immediately behind and to the east of it. The 



