198 A NATURE WOOING. 



the St. John's and the Kissimmee, come so near to- 

 gether as almost to communicate. 



"The river has its annual rise and fall, which occur 

 with great regularity. The maximum rainfall over 

 its basin is in June, July and August, when it 

 amounts, along the head waters, to about twenty 

 inches for the three months, and the least is 

 in December, January and February, when it 

 does not exceed six inches for the same pe- 

 riod. During the rainy season the reservoirs of 

 the St. John's, consisting of the combined lakes 

 and swamps already noticed, as well as those of the 

 Oklawaha, in the aggregate having a surface of 

 many hundreds of square miles, receive immense 

 quantities of water, which are gradually discharged 

 through these two rivers. In consequence of the 

 slight difference of level existing between the river 

 and its shores a somewhat extensive inundation takes 

 place in its middle portion. 



"The high level of the river is maintained for a 

 time by the steady outflow from the reservoirs, but in 

 the course of the spring the water recedes, leaving 

 behind deposits of mud, remnants of aquatic plants, 

 and various kinds of drift material, all of which are 

 gradually converting the swamps into dry land." 



April 12, 1899. I awaken at 5 o'clock, after a 

 night of fitful slumber, on board the "City of Jack- 

 sonville,"* a river steamer plying between Jack- 



!: 'I had taken the boat at Palatka at ten o'clock the evening before. 



