A SOJOURN IN FLORIDA. 41 



white explorer who had penetrated since, and the whole covert was virtually an 

 incognito, except to veterans like my venerable friend, Major Hamilton Merrill, 

 who followed on to my "Forest and Stream" office in 1873. He died about 86 

 years of age and his surviving son is getting old fast, too. He was prominent at 

 Albany, N. Y., for years. His father chipped in with the rest of us to complete 

 our "Camplife in Florida" in 1876, and old man Samuel Clarke, of Newton, Mass. ; 

 Wm. H. Gregg, of St. Louis, and C. J. Kenworthy, of Jacksonville, filled in the 

 correct ornithology for the composite book and told us where to catch the best 

 fish. Old man Gregg must be 80 now all right, but he still sails his "Odion," and 

 has invited Barton Evermann, myself and Tarleton Bean to beat the November 

 gales to Key West every year the past few winters. Meanwhile his son-in-law 

 is president of the Canadian Pacific railroad to the Rupert terminus. 



I might have much to say of Fred. A. Ober ("Fred. Beverly"). No worker and 

 producer is more worthy of honor and eminence. But he is not in quest of a niche 

 or pedestal, or to be hung in a gallery. 



Mr. Ober may be said to have made his debut through "Forest and Stream," 

 which became his earnest patron and promoter at the outset of his career; and 

 its quondam editor, who writes these lines, delights to do him honor in his own 

 peculiar, rough bon hommie. 



In 1876 Mr. Ober had charge of the "Hunter's Camp" at the Centennial Expo- 

 sition in Philadelphia, a most attractive exhibit in Lansdowne Ravine, where he 

 figured conspicuously as a veritable Leather-Stocking in backwoods costume, his 

 swarthy locks aiding very materially to embellish the character which was not all 

 assumed. 



After the West Indies and South America, as far as the mouth of the 

 Orinoco, came the several extensive tours of Mexico, beginning in 1881. In 

 the course of one of his cross-country trips, in 1883, he traveled 10,300 Mexican 

 miles, and climbed to the summit of the Popocatapetl, 17,800 feet upward. When 

 Ober cannot delve he will soar ! 



