A Thousand-Mile Walk 



As soon as I was able to get out of bed, I crept 

 away to the edge of the wood, and sat day after 

 day beneath a moss-draped live-oak, watching 

 birds feeding on the shore when the tide was 

 out. Later, as I gathered some strength, I 

 sailed in a little skiff from one key to another. 

 Nearly all the shrubs and trees here are ever- 

 green, and a few of the smaller plants are in 

 flower all winter. The principal trees on this 

 Cedar Key are the juniper, long-leafed pine, 

 and live-oak. All of the latter, living and dead, 

 are heavily draped with tillandsia, like those 

 of Bonaventure. The leaf is oval, about two 

 inches long, three fourths of an inch wide, 

 glossy and dark green above, pale beneath. 

 The trunk is usually much divided, and is ex- 

 tremely unwedgeable. The specimen on the op- 

 posite page ^ is growing in the dooryard of Mr. 

 Hodgson's house. It is a grand old king, whose 

 crown gleamed in the bright sky long ere the 

 Spanish shipbuilders felled a single tree of this 

 noble species. 



^ Of the original journal. 

 [ 130 ] 



