CHAPTER XI 



FLORIDA PRAIRIES AND VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS 



THE land of pine forest and cypress swamp, 

 of lakes and everglades, of seashore and river, 

 seems to offer in these prodigal diversity. It 

 needs only mountains and great plains to round 

 out the variety of physiographic conditions. 

 There are no mountains ; but the plain region of 

 Florida is not only well marked, but is extensive. 

 These plains are situated in south Florida north- 

 west of Lake Okeechobee. The Kissimmee River, 

 in its lower stretches, runs through their eastern 

 border, and the upper waters of the Caloosahatchee 

 bound their limits to the south. The " Big 

 Prairie," which I visited in April, 1892, reaches 

 from the " hammock " that fringes the northern 

 bank of the Caloosa River, north to Fort Ogden, 

 a distance of forty miles. It is at its widest point 

 thirty miles broad and its narrowest breadth is 

 upward of twenty miles. This plain is without 

 undulation, and is very even as to surface. Dur- 

 ing the rainy season slight depressions become 

 ponds or lakes of varying extent, and at times 



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