EXPLORING THE WOODS. 177 



number of the young of the hitter, for the purpose of making 

 experiments upon them. After sailing a considerable way, 

 during which our commander and officers took the soundings, as 

 well as the angles and bearings of every nook and crook of the 

 sinuous stream, we anchored one evening at a distance of fully 

 one hundred miles from the mouth of the river. The weather, 

 although it was the 12th of Februaiy, was quite warm, the 

 thermometer on board standing at 75°, and on shore at 90°. 

 The fog was so thick that neither of the shores could be seen, 

 and yet the river was not a mile in breadth. The 'blind 

 mosquitoes ' covered every object, even in the cabin, and so won- 

 derfully abundant were these tormentors, that they more than 

 once extinguished the candles whilst I was writing my journal, 

 which I closed in despair, crushing between the leaves more than 

 • a hundred of the little wretches. Bad as they are, however, 

 these blind mosquitoes do not bite. As if purposely to render 

 our situation doubly uncomfortable, there was an establishment 

 for jerking beef on the nearer shore to the windward of our 

 vessel, from which the breeze came laden with no sweet odours. 

 In the morning when I arose the country was still covered with 

 thick fogs, so that although I could plainly hear the notes of 

 the birds on shore, not an object could I see beyond the bowsprit, 

 and the air was as close and sultry as on the previous evening. 



"Guided by the scent of 'jerker's works,' we went on shore, 

 where we found the vegetation already far advanced. The 

 blossoms of the jessamine, ever pleasing, lay steeped in dew ; 

 the humming-bee was collecting her winter store from the 

 snowy flowers of the native orange; and the little warblers 

 frisked about the twigs of the smiiax. Now, amid the tall pines 

 of the forest, the sun's rays began to force their way,\and as the 

 dense mists dissolved in the atmosphere the bright luminary 

 shone forth. We explored the woods around, guided by some 

 friendly ' live oakers,' who had pitched their camp in the 

 vicinity. After a while the Shark again displayed her sails, 

 and as she sUently glided along, we espied a Seminole Indian 

 approaching us in his canoe. The poor dejected son of the 

 woods, endowed with talents of the highest order, although 

 rarely acknowledged by the proud usurpers of his native soil, 

 has spent the night in fishing, and the morning in procuring 



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