FLORIDA: THE GULF COAST 177 



parture the doctor again informed me, as he had 

 frequently done : 



"Scaat, I'm the honestest man in the world, 

 but I reckon you-all air pretty honest, too; and 

 you-all air the richest man that ever came here. 

 You-all brought more ready money and cirkilated 

 it here than any one that ever came." 



When I say that my total expenditure in cash 

 at Clearwater was a sum less than two hundred 

 dollars, the reader can get an idea of the financial 

 conditions of this part of Florida at that time. 

 Nearly everything in the way of trade was done 

 by barter, and ready money had a great purchasing 

 value. We were supplied by the natives with 

 oranges, oysters, and other kinds of provisions 

 for the household. The finest oranges were 

 worth from fifty to seventy-five cents per hun- 

 dred, and the best oysters were brought to the 

 dock and planted in the water, where we could 

 readily get them, for sixty cents a barrel. 



The doctor's ideas of the outside world were 

 often peculiar. For instance, I remember one 

 day talking to him of the national debt, which 

 grew out of a discussion of some problems re- 

 sulting from the Civil War. This debt was then 

 being paid off at the rate of from twelve to fifteen 

 million dollars per month, and I mentioned it as 

 an indication of the prosperity of the country. 

 His notion was different. He said: 



