SPRING GARDEN. 265 



which we had left in the morning, and the undulated grounds at which 

 we had now arrived. 



But at length we perceived the tracks of living beings, and soon after 

 saw the huts of Colonel Rees's negroes. Scarcely covild ever African 

 traveller have approached the city of Timbuctoo with more excited cu- 

 riosity than we felt in approaching this plantation. Our Indian horses 

 seemed to participate in our joy, and trotted at a smart rate towards the 

 principal building, at the door of which we leaped from our saddles, just 

 as the sun was withdrawing his ruddy light. Colonel Rees was at home, 

 and received us with great kindness. Refreshments were immediately 

 placed before us, and we spent the evening in agreeable conversation. 



The next day I walked over the plantation, and examining the country 

 around, found the soil of good quality, it having been reclaimed from 

 swampy ground of a black colour, rich and very productive. The greater 

 part of the cultivated land was on the borders of a lake, which communi- 

 cates with others, leading to the St John's River, distant about seven 

 miles, and navigable so far by vessels not exceeding fifty or sixty tons. 

 After breakfast, our amiable host shewed us the way to the celebrated 

 spring, the sight of which afforded me pleasure sufficient to counter- 

 balance the tediousness of my journey. 



This spring presents a circular basin, having a diameter of about sixty 

 feet, from the centre of which the water is thrown up with great force, 

 although it does not rise to a height of more than a few inches above the 

 general level. A kind of whirlpool is formed, on the edges of which are 

 deposited vast quantities of shells, with pieces of wood, gravel, and other 

 substances, which have coalesced into solid masses having a very curious 

 appearance. The water is quite transparent, although of a dark colour, 

 but so impregnated with sulphur, that it emits an odour which to me was 

 highly nauseous. Its surface lies fifteen or twenty feet below the level of 

 the woodland lakes in the neighbourhood, and its depth, in the autumnal 

 months, is about seventeen feet, when the water is lowest. In all the 

 lakes, the same species of shells as those thrown up by the spring, occur 

 in abundance, and it seems more than probable that it is formed of the 

 water collected from them by infiltration, or forms the subterranean out- 

 let of some of them. The lakes themselves are merely reservoirs, contain- 

 ing the residue of the waters which fall during the rainy seasons, and 

 contributing to supply the waters of the St John River, with which they 

 all seem to communicate by similar means. This spring pours its waters 



