CHAPTER III. 



N the follovvino- June. I was spentling a few days in 

 New York preparatory to my departure for old 

 England, when I chanced to hear that F. was 

 staying at the Holland House. It was not long 

 before I unearthed him, and discovered that he 

 was just off to Florida, and more than keen to 

 catch his first tari)on. 



This was the subject on which I had rather a lot to say at the 

 moment, and the upshot of our meeting was, that after some 

 successful netrotiations with the White Star Line concernin''- my 

 ticket, I started with my friend for the south. 



It is an interesting journey as one devours the 1,300 miles 

 that separate New York from Tunta Gorda on the West coast of 

 Florida. 



The difference between the latitudes of the two places is 

 nearly 15 degrees, so one sees on the way the sources of many of 

 the different raw [materials, for the production of which America 

 is so famous ; at the same time j^ettinir an idea of the vastness of 

 her resources. We passed in succession through ihr com and 

 grain, the cotton and the sugar-producing countries, until we came 

 to the marshes, the orcUige groves, and the sweet-smelling pine 

 forests of Florida. Even these are made to pay their yearly toll 

 of crum to LTenus homo by our encrcretic cousins. 



