324 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



trees are interspersed with the cypress ; outside of 

 the tree belt is a flat strip of land, sometimes with, 

 but more often without, any grass or other vegeta- 

 tion. This strip may be anywhere from fifty to 

 three or four hundred feet wide, and is usually 

 bordered by palmettos and pine-land. Some of 

 the cypress swamps are of immense size, and, I 

 believe, are over forty miles in length. In these 

 swamps nearly every kind of animal and bird 

 incidental to Florida may be found, and the 

 opportunities for both shooting and photographing 

 are most excellent. Usually palmetto " islands " 

 exist in the neighbourhood of cypress swamps. 

 These " islands " are slightly above the level of the 

 surrounding country, and are therefore dry and well 

 adapted for camping sites. The cabbage palmetto 

 affords shade, the dry leaves are good kindling, 

 while the green leaves are used for the bed. The 

 live oak country has little to recommend it except 

 that it offers the most beautiful of camping sites, 

 and bedding in abundance, as the trees are usually 

 festooned with immense quantities of Spanish moss. 

 The wood of the live oak is not suitable for a camp 

 fire, as its smoke inflames the eyes to a painful 

 degree. Of all the dreary things there is nothing 

 in nature more dreary than Florida pine-land, after 

 the novelty of it has worn off; dead level for the 

 most part, with scrubby pine trees thinly scattered, 

 miserable, low, stunted scrub palmetto, with wire- 

 like grass still more thinly scattered. Between 

 this wretched growth is the dry sand. 



This is the Florida pine-land as seen from the 

 train for hour after hour as one passes through the 



