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into the everglades to the southeast. The hammocks were 

 greatly injured, the very small ones isolated in the higher por- 

 tions of the pinelands being especially damaged. With only 

 the slight external protection of the slender pine trees to break 

 the force of the wind, their vegetation was practically mowed 

 down. 



These little hammocks were the homes of many of the botan- 

 ical treasures of the region. Within them were formerly discov- 

 ered numbers of West Indian plants not known to occur elsewhere 

 on the North American mainland. The half dozen of these ham- 

 mocks which we examined critically during this last expedition 

 were found to be almost total wrecks. Their complete natural 

 restoration will be a question of at least a century, if the home- 

 steader does not finish the destruction already accomplished by 

 the wind. Formerly, the spreading tops of the tall trees, whose 



with one another, and the branches were further bound together 

 by means of numerous herbaceous and woody vines. The direct 

 sunlight was thus wholly excluded from the inside of the ham- 

 mocks, and no matter at what angle the sun might be, twilight 

 reigned there from sunrise to sunset. Many species of plants, 

 both flowering and flowerless, that could not even exist elsewhere 

 in the vicinity, were found to thrive there luxuriantly. 



In the case of the Florida Keys, some of the upper islands 

 were twice completely submerged during the hurricane, first by 

 the water blown in from the ocean while the wind came from the 

 southeast, and then by the water blown out from the bay when 

 the wind came from the northwest. Elliott's Key was a conspic- 

 uous example of devastation. Under normal conditions the veg- 

 etation of this key is luxuriant, both the herbaceous and woody 



most places, and, as seen from the bay or from the ocean, exhib- 

 iting a solid bank of green. During our last visit this key pre- 

 sented the aspect of a desert ; the herbaceous vegetation and 

 small shrubbery was temporarily almost annihilated by the 

 deluge of salt water, while the trees and shrubs presented leaf- 

 less and apparently dead skeletons, the wind having whipped off 



