REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER. 211 



bends over the water the tips of the festoons of moss 

 in air seem to almost meet those in water. Leaning 

 over the steamer's rail and gazing down one sees, as 

 it were, a new world beneath him, and is tempted at 

 times to leap overboard into the midst of the entranc- 

 ing scene. A lazy kind of life this, whiling away the 

 sunny hours watching for alligators from a steamer's 

 deck and gazing upon the reflections in the waters 

 deep and dark. 



A few miles farther and the river begins to widen 

 out into great bayous or lagoons of still, shallow 

 water, in which the yellow pond lily, or spatterdock, 

 NupJiar advena Ait., and the water hyacinth are en- 

 gaged in a deadly struggle for existence. In general 

 the waters in the main channel of the St. John's are 

 deep, seldom less than fifteen feet, and in many places' 

 exceeding ninety feet, so that with a skillful pilot, 

 boats of large size have little if any difficulty in navi- 

 gating the stream. The current is everywhere slug- 

 gish, being only about a mile and a half an hour. 

 Eight steamers ply regularly up and down the river 

 and its main tributary, the Oklawaha, carrying mail, 

 freight and passengers. Easy means of transporta- 

 tion and low freight rates are thus accorded all points 

 along the stream. 



At Astor is located a factory for separating tannic 

 acid from the large, thick root-stocks or underground 

 stems of the saw palmetto. Hundreds of cords of 

 these root-stocks are piled up along the shore. The 



