Remarks upon East Florida. 63 



A more probable conjecture is, that the shells themselves, by 

 some chemical exertions or agency, which operated in connection 

 with their partial dissolution, furnished the bond of union among 

 the fragments, though not in a way that leaves the same agency 

 still in operation. These different strata are evidently so many 

 distinct deposits, probably at different and distant periods ; bro- 

 ken shells thrown up or spread over a certain space, and no doubt 

 converted at equally different and distant periods into solid masses, 

 either by sudden or gradually operating causes, ceasing with their 

 effect. Such a hypothesis is in harmony with our notions of 

 other formations of rock. 



There are appearances of shelly formations on the St. John's, 

 particularly the upper parts of it, but the shells are of a different 

 character. Scarcely a bivalve is seen on or near that river, either 

 loose, or in rocky connection. The prevailing shell there, is the 

 Helix, while univalves are as rare in the formations on the coast. 

 The soil at Volusia and Fort Mellon consists of half shells, which 

 are generally perfect in their shape, the defects evidently arising 

 rather from decay than abrasion or contusion. 



The limestone does not show itself on the coast, nor on the St. 

 John's until you reach Lake Monroe, where it is intermixed spar- 

 ingly with shells. On Black creek, west of the St. John's, a 

 porous, rotten limestone appears, and this is said to be the charac- 

 ter of the rock formations throughout the western part of the 

 peninsula. Hence the many " surth-holes," deep and (some of 

 them) unfathomable orifices in the earth, which appear in these 

 regions, and the disappearance of streams for many miles beneath 

 the surface of the earth, while others come forth in all their full- 

 ness at once. 



The climate of Florida, during the six or seven months from 

 October is truly delicious. The frosts are generally few and 

 slight, leaving vegetation its verdure, and flowers their bloom, 

 throughout the year. Such frosts as kill the tender trees or shrubs 

 are of rare occurrence. Rains occasionally prevail during the 

 winter months, but more commonly during the latter part of sum- 

 mer. Our troops have now been operating during three winters. 

 Two of them have been decidedly dry. The first was rainy. 



By a loose diary, kept in Florida, since the last October (1837) 

 and continued through two hundred and fourteen days, more than 

 one hundred and fifty of them, were decidedly clear- and pleas- 



