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THE LIVE-OAKERS. 



The greater part of the forests of East Florida principally consists of 

 what in that country are called " Pine Barrens." In these districts, the 

 woods are rather thin, and the only trees that are seen in them are tall 

 pines of rather indifferent quality, beneath which is a growth of rank 

 grass, here and there mixed with low bushes and sword palmettoes. The 

 soil is of a sandy nature, mostly flat, and consequently either covered with 

 water during the rainy season, or parched in the summer and autumn, al- 

 though you meet at times with ponds of stagnant water, where the cattle, 

 which are abundant, allay their thirst, and around which resort the vari- 

 ous kinds of game found in these wilds. 



The traveller, who has pursued his course for many miles over the 

 barrens, is suddenly delighted to see in the distance the appearance of a 

 dark " hummock'" of live oaks and other trees, seeming as if they had been 

 planted in the wilderness. As he approaches, the air feels cooler and 

 more salubrious, the song of numerous birds delights his ear, the herbage 

 assumes a more luxuriant appearance, the flowers become larger and 

 brighter, and a grateful fragrance is diffused around. These objects con- 

 tribute to refresh his mind, as much as the sight of the waters of some 

 clear spring, gliding among the undergrowth, seems already to allay his 

 thirst. Over head festoons of innumerable vines, jessamines, and bigno- 

 nias, link each tree with those around it, their slender stems being inter- 

 laced as if in mutual affection. No sooner, in the shade of these beauti- 

 ful woods, has the traveller finished his mid-day repast, than he perceives 

 small parties of men lightly accoutred, and each bearing an axe, approach- 

 ing towards his resting place. They exchange the usual civihties, and 

 immediately commence their labours, for they too have just finished their 

 meal. 



I think I see them proceeding to their work. Here two have station- 

 ed themselves on the opposite sides of the trunk of a noble and venerable 

 live-oak. Their keen-edged and well-tempered axes seem to make no im- 

 pression on it, so small are the chips that drop at each blow around the 

 mossy and wide-spreading roots. There, one is ascending the stem of 

 another, of which, m its fall, the arms have stuck among the tangled tops 



