OF THE UNITED STATES 
389 
and south through its length there stretches an almost impass- 
able prairie of saw-grass. This saw-grass, rooted in the muck, 
grows to enormous size, and in many instances resembles a bam- 
boo pole, of the size of an ordinary fishing-rod, with a continu- 
ous barbed-wire covering. Oil' tiiree sides of the grass grow 
teeth of singular sharpness, sometimes an inch in length. 
Through this prairie of saw-grass clear waterways are found 
here and there. Their direction is generally southward, and 
any attempt to cross the glades from west to east, as was the 
case with Mr Ingraham’s expedition, is attended with great 
hardship and difficulty. Owing to the southerly trend of the 
glades proper, it sometimes became necessary for the members 
of tbe expedition, while canying on their shoulders the camp 
outfit, to cling to the boats to prevent permanent bogging and 
an awful death in the sticky peat and ooze of the bottom. For 
the white man the passage of the glades means wading, poling, 
and portage, not infrequently through the densest of the grass, 
through which he sometimes has to blaze his way. The Indian, 
who has time on his hands, accommodates himself to the pro- 
visions of nature; he follows the path of the open ivaters and, 
through years of experience, has learned the ajqiarenth’- track- 
less way to his homestead or to the outside world. Frequently 
during Mr Ingraham’s expedition the entire distance covered by 
a day of most arduous toil would not exceed 21 or 3 miles. 
"When night came on, nothing but saw-grass was in sight, and 
camp was made on tbe spot, the making of canij) consisting 
merely in cutting away the saw-grass tops to a level, S{)reading 
out upon them the rubber blankets, and over these the clothing 
for protection and the cheese-cloth netting as a safeguard from 
sandflies and mos(|uitos. This somewhat uncomfortable mode 
of camping gave tbe party oj)))ortunities for observing and re- 
])eatedly verifying tbe marvelous growth of the everglade bam- 
boo. It was frequently noted that the inner ]>art of the cut 
grasses grew fully three-fourths of an inch during a single night. 
Mosquitos are plentiful enough and sandflies exist in large 
numbers, but the greatest pest is tlie alligator-flea. This creature 
lives in the glade water, and has all the (iharacteristics of his two 
namesakes. He is as strong as the alligator, as active as tlu^ 
Palex irritaM lIwA his sudden sting has all the directness and 
keenness of that of the hornet. He is an oblong insect, brown 
in color, spongy in sul)stance, and about three sixteentlis of an 
inch in length. 
