FROM ENGLAND TO FLORIDA 



It may be here mentioned that you may either travel 

 through direct to Punta Gorda, sleeping two nights in the 

 train, or break the journey at Jacksonville for one night. 

 We elected to follow the latter course, and left at 9.30 A.M.; 

 the other train started somewhere about five o'clock P.M. 



There is yet another route, namely, the sea voyage from 

 New York to Jacksonville. The steamers are large and 

 luxuriously appointed for passengers, and run frequently and 

 regularly during the season. This is indeed the favourite 

 route for the New York people, who are habitual visitors to 

 Florida. It is the cheapest mode of reaching Jacksonville, 

 and if a little longer in point of time, has the compensating 

 pleasures of life on board ship. 



We were too early in the season for green foliage and 

 spring flowers in the northern half of the journey, and, besides, 

 there were rains, clouds, and high winds. All day on Sunday 

 (4th April) we were rattling through dreary Georgian pine forest 

 and swamp, with occasional glimpses of wild-bird life, notably 

 flocks of gulls, the species of which we were unable to identify. 

 The weatherboard houses that came into view looked very 

 desolate under these circumstances. One of the not un- 

 common incidents of long-journey travel in the States kept 



