Florida Swamps and Forests 



October 20, Swamp very dense during this 

 day's journey. Almost one continuous sheet 

 of water covered with aquatic trees and vines. 

 No stream that I crossed to-day appeared to 

 have the least idea where it was going. Saw 

 an alligator plash into the sedgy brown water 

 by the roadside from an old log. 



Arrived at night at the house of Captain 

 Simmons, one of the very few scholarly, intel- 

 ligent men that I have met in Florida. He had 

 been an officer in the Confederate army in the 

 war and was, of course, prejudiced against the 

 North, but polite and kind to me, nevertheless. 

 Our conversation, as we sat by the light of the 

 fire, was on the one great question, slavery 

 and its concomitants. I managed, however, to 

 switch off to something more congenial occa- 

 sionally — the birds of the neighborhood, the 

 animals, the climate, and what spring, summer, 

 and winter are like in these parts. 



About the climate, I could not get much in- 

 formation, as he had always lived in the South 

 and, of course, saw nothing extraordinary in 

 [III ] 



