40 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



extends miles beyond Observation Island. Again, on such maps where 

 the position of Observation Island relative to the canal is in a measure 

 correctly located, two other islands, one of which is the Observation 

 Island of most cartographers, figure north of the canal ; neither of these 

 islands could we discover, nor do they appear to exist in fact, unless 

 under the name island it is intended to include sundry island-like clumps 

 of willows and cypress which at intervals break off from, or lie under the 

 lee of, the shore. The extreme length of the lake is generally conceived 

 to be upwards of forty miles, and on some maps, e. g., the United States 

 Land Office map of 1882, Granville's map of 1886, is placed as high as 

 fifty miles. Both of these figures I believe to be largely in excess of 

 the truth, although, from our failure to reach the southern extremity, 

 I might be debarred from making a positive statement to that effect. 

 But every indication leads in the direction of exaggeration in the 

 generally received figures. That the delineated dimensions, or the 

 dimensions taken between well ascertained points, are entirely illusory 

 there can be no doubt. Thus, on the two maps above mentioned, the 

 position approximately corresponding with, or intended to represent, the 

 opening of the canal is placed nearly thirty miles south of the northern 

 apex of the lake, Taylor's Creek ; whereas, as a matter of fact, the dia- 

 gonal distance uniting these two points, as measured by our dead- 

 reckoning, was certainly not more than some twenty or twenty-two miles. 

 Making the necessary allowance for this shrinkage in the northern half 

 of the lake, and granting the correctness of the southern half as deline- 

 ated, the total length would scarcely exceed thirty-six or thirty-seven 

 miles. My own impression, however, is, that the lake is still considerably 

 shorter, probably not very much over thirty miles. As to the greatest 

 width of the lake I can offer no opinion, not having seen the eastern 

 shore except along the northeast border. 



Another error, freely perpetuated on our maps, is the location of the 

 mouth.of the Kissimmee River, which is made to correspond with the 

 northern or northeastern apex of the lake. This, as has already been 

 seen, is occupied by a broad bayou known as Taylor's Creek, which is 

 distant a considerable number of miles to the east or northeast of the 

 Kissimmee. The closed or obscured opening of the latter stream, which 

 is in a grass country, renders it difficult to find, whereas the boundaries 

 of Taylor's Creek are sharply defined by opposing walls of noble cypresses, 

 which from their great height, 125 feet or more, present the appearance 

 from a distance of low bluffs. The break in the shore-line is here very 

 distinct, and is apparent at a distance of several miles ; hence, by some 

 navigators of the lake the opening is mistaken for the mouth of the 

 Kissimmee, and, doubtless, frequently officially reported as such.* 



* Mr. F. A. Ober (Fred. Beverly), in his narrative of the " Okeechobee Expedition," 



