180 iSLES OF srMMER. 



it would be too much for any but salamanders and Congo negroes. 

 This side of the picture is seldom given to the public. The 

 tables I have copied from Gov, Robinson's reports are a marked 

 exception in this particular, to which the reader is referred. It 

 is easy, however, to avoid exposure at mid-day> and to take one's 

 rides or walks in the morning or in the latter part of the after- 

 noon. While yachting, little inconvenience is experienced from 

 this cause, as it is customary to take along a supply of umbrellas 

 to assist the sails in throwing shadows upon the passengers. The 

 water is, without exception, of a most agreeable temperature, 

 and the tireless wind, that Avith remarkable constancy, ruffles its 

 surface, while leaving a tawny and enduring impress of its most 

 welcome caresses, is freighted with the grateful bcnisons, uttered 

 or unexpressed, of all who feel its cooling and rejuvenating in- 

 fluences. The simile, "as fickle as the wind," seemed there to 

 have little applicability. 



Writing from beneath the shade of one of her nol^le moss draped 

 live oaks, at Mandarin, upon the right bank of the St. John's 

 river, in Florida, the gifted author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, speak- 

 ing of Florida, says in her " Palm Leaves:" 



"Sudden changes from heat to cold are the besetting sin of 

 this fallen world. It is probably one of the consequences of 

 Adam's fall, which we are not to get rid of till we get to the land 

 of pure delights. It may, however, comfort the heart of visitors 

 to Florida to know that if the climate here is not in this respect 

 just what they would have, it is about the best there is going." 



If the word "about," in the last sentence quoted, is used in 

 the sense of ^^ near to^'' then it is strictly correct, for the climate 

 of Florida is "near to," (being only two days sail from) that of 

 the Bahamas. Whatever may be said to the discredit of these 

 islands, they are certainly not chargeable with that "besetting 

 pin of this fallen world " to which Mrs. Stowe refers. 



