394 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHERN PENINSULA 
, West, whether in midwinter or midsummer, is full of comfort, 
charm, and beauty. The ke}’s are not barren sand-wastes, as 
was at first supposed, but seem to be formed of the same rock 
as the bluff of Biscayne bay. They are tropical in plant life, 
genial in climate, and fertile almost beyond belief. The waters 
of this summer country are beautiful beyond everything that 
language or color can express. They are for the most part 
shallow, but in their greatest depths one sees through their 
cr}\stal blue the underlying floor of bay or sound or strait. This 
floor is covered by sea-weeds in picturesque tangles and sponges 
of grotesque form, through and above which myriads of fish flit 
like flashes of electric light. Close by the shores the lazy shark 
glides along indifferent to j'our presence. The modest manatee, 
the strange sea-cow, hurries away to dee})er water. From the 
opalescent surface the tarpon springs for his prey, the pompano 
for his pleasure. Overhead the sun shines brilliantly, but even 
at midsummer the trade winds blowso surely but so soothingly 
that there is no sense of heat and certainly none of oppression 
at any season of the year. 
The fertility of the southeastern coast region is really beyond 
descrii>tion. It presents a variety of soils and lands unequaled. 
Anything known to the north temperate zone, except wheat, will 
grow. The vegetables of the ordinary garden mature and ripen 
at any period of the year. Planting and gathering run side by 
side winter and summer. It is the natural home for all the 
citrus family, such as lemons, limes, oranges, citrons, grape fruit, 
and shaddock. The pineapple grows and yields almost without 
attention. Mangos, guava, the alligator pear, the sapodilla, 
the sugar apple, the Japan plum and persimmon, with numer- 
ous otlier tropical fruits, thrive and yield amazingly. The culture 
of vanilla, camphor, kola, cinchona, cinnamon, and coffee has 
begun with great promise of success. The eastern edge of the 
southern Everglade furnishes every condition of soil and climate 
neces.sary to the culture of the india-rubber tree, and, whether 
the glades are ever drained or not, the islands of their eastern 
edge will furnish the rubber of future commerce. 
In this favored region frost is entirely unknown. In addi- 
tion to its southern latitude, it has two potent protectors. Close 
to its eastern shore courses that nursing mother of the sea, the 
great Gulf stream. M'estward the warm waters of the glades 
hang a mist veil for 50 miles. In the eastern islands of the 
glades the habit of growth shown by the trees proves that frost 
has never fallen. 
