176 THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 



and the one b which they take most of their venison for 

 mar et. 



About noon on the i7th, we reached Lake George, a 

 beautiful sheet of water through which the river flows. It is 

 twelve miles wide and eighteen miles long. There is an 

 island in the south end of the lake covering eighteen hundred 

 acres, upon which is one of the oldest orange groves in the 

 state. It was planted in 1824. Most of the original trees 

 are still vigorous and healthy, and are bearing full crops of 

 fruit every year. There is a house on the island that was 

 built by John C. Calhoun in about 1835. 



About twenty miles above Lake George we find the village 

 of Manhattan, where William Astor has a large orange grove 

 and from whence a railroad is being built across the country 

 to Lake Eustace, the head of navigation of the Oclawaha 

 river. At six o'clock P.M. we reached Lake Monroe, two 

 hundred and twenty-eight miles above Jacksonville, and the 

 head of navigation of the Saint John's river for large vessels. 

 Small ones have, however, ascended two hundred and 

 seventy-five miles above here. 



We staid overnight at Sanford, a thriving town on the 

 south shore of the lake, and at six o'clock the next morning 

 we again boarded the " Georgea " to return to Jacksonville. 

 A brisk " norther" was blowing this morning, accompanied 

 by a cold, driving rain that rendered the cabin far more 

 comfortable than the open deck, so we oiled our guns and 

 laid them away. But time did not drag, for the captain 

 entertained us with many interesting stories of life on the St. 

 John's. He says he frequently has as many as twenty-five 

 sportsmen on board at once, armed with shot-guns, rifles, 

 revolvers, etc., and that they make sad havoc among the 

 water-fowls, 'gators, etc. That if a bird escapes the fusilade 

 that is opened on him the moment he appears within range, 



