75 
also many shrubs and herbaceous plants. In the swamp behind 
the ridge we found black muck instead of san Here in most 
places the cypress grows to the exclusion of oiler trees, and ferns 
of various kinds cover the swampy ground. 
Passing northward we found this ridge continuous nearly up 
to the head of the lake, except where several small creeks connect 
the lake with the cypress-swamp. We finally reached the 
«northern end of the lake, and anchored off the mouth of Taylor 
re Here we left the ‘Lida’ at anchor, and going aboard 
the “Highball,” found a channel through the bar at the mouth 
of the creek and proceeded up the very tortuous channel to a 
settlement called Tantie. This creek is favorable to the growth 
water-hyacinth, and it is often completely choked from 
shore to shore. Time and again we had to plough our way 
through hundreds of feet of a dense growth of the plants. The 
banks of the creek, after passing the line of cypress near the 
mouth, are clothed with hammocks of shrubs and trees different 
from the kinds growing at the southern end of the lake. These 
am 
farther north. Four miles up the creek we emerged into the 
Pinelands at a point where it is planned to build Okeechobee 
City. We had now reached the northern extremity of the lake 
and of the Everglades, and our next move was down the western 
side of the lake a few miles to Eagle bay, and after collections 
were made on its shores, the next stage in our journey brought us 
to the mouth of the Kissimmee River. Further progress along 
the western shore of the lake was impossible not only on account 
of the naturally shallow waters of the western side of the lake, 
but also on account of a remarkably low level of the water 
brought about by a ae drought prevalent in the peninsula north 
of the lake. 
The mouth of the Kissimmee as it exists is very different from 
that shown on maps. Instead of a bay, it is a delta, and the 
main channel of the river is very obscure, and evidently very 
tortuous further up, as a fisherman we met in the delta told us 
that if we attempted to ascend the river with a boat over twelve 
feet in length, the boat would have to be hinged in the middle 
so as to be able to get around the bends in the river. 
