130 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



I had now an explanation of the curiously mingled char- 

 acter of the black and white sand that formed both bluff 

 and beach it was charcoal-dusted white sand. 



The "barren" was a paradise of "turkey beards" 

 and prickly pear, the latter growing more thriftily here 

 than in the sand lots near the village. It was not yet in 

 bloom. The two plants gave the spot a semi-tropical 

 look, so different are they from all our other growths. 



Nowhere did there seem to be any animal life, verte- 

 brate or invertebrate, except a few spiders. Leaving the 

 belt of trees upon the bluff, it was simply plunging into a 

 little desert, and when you have gone far enough to be 

 beyond the voices of the birds the silence is very impress- 

 ive. A curious incompleteness marks much of this region. 

 These barren tracts seem fitted for many a lower form of 

 life, yet, as I recalled one after another, it was only to fail 

 to find any trace of them. Even snakes were absent, al- 

 though I had been assured that the great spotted pine 

 snake was by no means rare. Had there been no scattered 

 shrubbery, the conditions could have been more readily 

 explained, as without vegetation the insect life would be 

 reduced to a minimum, and animals that subsist upon it 

 would be wanting ; and these being food for other forms 

 also wanting, the higher vertebrates could not exist. 

 Doubtless, such tracts, being valueless except for timber, 

 unless they are gradually reoccupied by trees, will remain 

 in their present sadly desolate condition. 



Baking to our boat again, we rowed to a marshy island 

 toward the opposite shore. There were some eight or ten 

 acres in the tract, which was now out of water, but at 

 high tide is submerged. Golden club, to the exclusion of 

 every other growth, covered it. The plant was in full 

 bloom, and, so far as I could see, unlike that in the river 

 above, in being free of any sedimentary deposit. Every 

 leaf was clean, every club unsoiled. 



