38 FLORIDA: ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 



mangrove, and a variety of oaks. The land is too rocky to admit of general cultiva- 

 tion, but is well adapted to the growth of cocoanuts, aloes, sisal hemp, and pineapples, 

 all of which seem to live on a rocky soil, and grow here with but very little attention. 

 Between these keys and the mainland is Barnes' Sound and Biscayue Bay. Barnes' 

 Sound and Card's Sound are interspersed with innumerable small keys, covered with 

 mangroves, and are under water at high tides, and are the resort of snipe, curlew, and 

 other birds. In both of these sounds and Biscayue Bay are great quantities of turtle 

 and sponges of the finest and best varieties. The sponges and turtles taken from these 

 waters exceed $100,000 in value per annum. 



The bay and all the passages between the keys and the streams running into the 

 bay from the mainland are well supplied with a great variety of fish, such as mullet, 

 sheepshead, grouper, &c., while incredible quantities of kingfish and Spanish mack- 

 erel are caught on the border of the Gulf Stream. 



Biscayne Bay is an excellent harbor for all vessels drawing less than 10 feet of 

 water, and can be entered at all times. The everglades are a vast shallow lake, over- 

 grown with grass, pond- lilies, and other aquatic plants, interspersed with innumera- 

 ble small islands of from 1 to 100 acres each. These islands are principally hammock 

 lands covered over with a growth of live and water oaks and cocoa plums, with an 

 undergrowth of morning-glories, grapes, and other vines, and are extremely fertile. 

 The water is from 4 inches to 4 feet deep, and is very clear and pure. In many places 

 are channels and sinks where the water is from 10 to 50 feet deep ; these holes are well 

 supplied with fish, of which the trout is the most desirable. Alligators and turtle are 

 abundant, and panthers, wild cats, and bears are quite numerous. 



Flowers of the sweetest fragrance, and of every hue and color, greet the eye. The 

 border and outer margin of the everglades is prairie of from one-fourth to one mile in 

 breadth, and comprises some of the finest and richest land in America, having once 

 been a portion of the everglades, and formed by the receding of the waters. The soil 

 is sandy, with a mixture of lime and vegetable matter, and freely effervesces when 

 brought in contact with acids. 



The strip of land between Biscayne Bay and the everglades is from 3 to 15 miles in 

 breadth, and is principally rocky pine land, with an undergrowth of a species of sago- 

 palm, called by the Indians " koonitie," which name has been generally adopted by 

 the whites. It makes a very good article of starch, and excellent gavini, which can- 

 not lie distinguished from Bermuda arrowroot except by microscopic tests. 



This section of the country has evidently been an uplift or upheaval, as the rock 

 dips at an angle of about twenty-three degrees, and slopes both toward the bay and 

 the everglades. The rock, in many places, is in circular form, and is coral. The soil 

 is sandyfe which, mixing with the decomposed lime of the coral rock, forms an excel- 

 lent and'inexhaustible soil for grapes and sugar cane. The country north of Biscayne 

 Bay, towards Jupiter Inlet, is of a similar character to that already described, with 

 the exception that there is no rock. Fine springs of water are found in different locali- 

 ties, and burst forth with great force; some of these are mineral springs, principally 

 chalybeate. Sea-island cotton is grown here, and it is a perennial, and can be picked 

 several times each year. Grapes flourish well, and are not subject to mildew, and ripen 

 about the middle of May. Tobacco raised along the bay will compare with the best 

 of Cuba. Bananas, plantains, oranges, coffee, dates, pineapples, rice, indigo, sugar, 

 apples, arrowroot, cassava, all grow and thrive, as well as the garden vegetables of 

 the Northern and Middle States. Indigo, when once sown, remains in the ground and 

 ratoons as it is cut off. Sugar cane ratoous, and requires planting only once from 

 four to five years. Sugar cane can be raised here with less labor than in Cuba, as the 

 Jand is easier cultivated, and a sugar plantation can be made for one-fifth of the 

 money which it can in Louisiana. 



This section of the State is capable of producing all the products of the West. In- 

 dies, and there is no doubt that when this portion of the country becomes known it 

 will be rapidly developed. Sea-island cotton can be raised with half the labor that 



