126 J^otices of the Floridas, ^c. 



live bed, were seen. Bowlders of hornstone and quartz 

 and beds of indurated clay and ferruginous sandstone 

 occur. 



Compact light coloured limestone, resembling the pre- 

 dominant rock of Cuba, is found on the western border of 

 the great Alachua savanna, forming the nucleus of a con- 

 siderable eminence. The rock embraces serpulites, pecti- 

 nites, and various bivalves, observed in northern secondary 

 calcareous rocks. Limestone hills occur in other parts of 

 Alachua. 



Limestone beds are noticed at the disappearance and 

 emergence of the great and little Santa Fe. The largest 

 stream has a subterranean course of three miles, the other 

 of half a mile. 



Caves have been explored in West Florida. Some oc- 

 cur on its southern border adjacent to Pensacola ; exten- 

 sive beds of limestone were noticed by Dr. Simmons under 

 the shallow waters, and on the shores of West Florida 

 Between the hilly range of West Florida and the Gulf of 

 Mexico, a distance of about twenty miles, a lov/ level pine 

 barren district is situated. In East Florida near the gulf 

 shore there is considerable poor land timbered with black 

 jack oak. 



Calcareous rocks, in sinks and beds of rivers, were seen 

 by Col. Gadsden in travelling south almost to Charlotte 

 harbour. The banks and bed of the Talachopes river 

 which rises in a large lake about forty miles east of the 

 bay of Espiritu Santo, and discharges into Charlotte har- 

 bour, are in numerous places composed of limestone. Ex- 

 tensive beds of calcareous rock are seen above low water 

 mark on the shores of Tampa bay. The limestone of the 

 south resembles that of Alachua. It is probable that lime- 

 stone is the basis of most of the hilly district of Florida. 



Hornstone, flint, agate, and chalcedony, occur in the 

 southern part of the secondary district — coral mineralized 

 in chalcedony, and cacholong, is found near Tampa bay. 



The most elevated hills of the interior of East Florida 

 are seen near the sources of the Acklewaha, a branch of 

 the St. Johns, they have a surface of white sea sand cover- 

 ed w^'h black jack oak. The range south, contains nume- 

 rous lakes of clear water, generally circular and deep, with 

 steep banks, the water cool and stored with fish. Eleva- 



