34 Dr. Forry on the Climate of the United States, S^c. 



and rivers diminished during the winter months, that one may 

 ahnost at any time bathe in their waters. The chmate is so ex- 

 ceedingly mild and uniform, that besides the vegetable productions 

 of the southern States generally, many of a tropical character are 

 produced. The palmetto or cabbage palm, the live-oak, the de- 

 ciduous cypress, and some varieties of the pine, are common far- 

 ther north ; but the lignum-vitas, mahogany, logwood, mangrove, 

 cocoa-nut, etc., are found only in the southern portion of the pe- 

 ninsula. Here also, in common with our southern borders, the 

 fig, date, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, banana, olive, tam- 

 arind, papaw, guava, as well as cotton, rice, sugar-cane, indigo, 

 tobacco, maize, etc., find a genial climate. In contemplating the 

 scenery of East Florida in the month of January, the northern 

 man is apt to forget that it is a winter landscape. To him all 

 nature is changed; even the birds of the air — the pelican and 

 flamingo — indicate to him a climate entirely new. The writer 

 being attached in January, 1838, to a boat expedition, the double 

 object of which was to operate against the Seminoles and to ex- 

 plore the sources of the St. John's, found, in the midst of winter, 

 the high cane-grass, which covers its banks, intertwined with a 

 variety of blooming morning-glory, (Convolvulus.) The ther- 

 mometer at mid-day in the shade, stood at 84*^ Fahr., and in the 

 sun rose to 100° ; and at night we pitched no tents, but lay be- 

 neath the canopy of Heaven, with a screen perhaps over the face 

 as a protection against the heavy dews. Notwithstanding the day 

 attains such a high temperature, the mercury just before daylight 

 often sinks to 45*^, causing a very uncomfortable sensation of cold. 

 Along the southeastern coast, at Key Biscayno, for example, frost 

 is never known, nor is it ever so cold as to require the use of fire. 

 In this system of chmate, the rigors of winter are unknown, and 

 smiling verdure never ceases to reign. 



The climate of Pensacola and of New Orleans, the former rep- 

 resented by Cantonment Clinch and the latter by Petite Coquille, 

 the two posts being respectively in the vicinity of these cities, is 

 nearly as much modified, (in consequence of the agency of the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and in regard to New Orleans the additional in- 

 fluence of large lakes,) as similar parallels in East Florida. The 

 laws of temperature relative to East Florida have been perhaps 

 more satisfactorily determined than in any other region of the 

 United States. We have here the data of four posts fortunately 



