THE FLORIDA KEYS 35 



no such error. There are no bluffs anywhere 

 along the shore. I have been inland for a con- 

 siderable distance from Cape Romano, Chokolos- 

 kee, Rodgers River, and other places along the 

 southwest coast; and I am very familiar with Cape 

 Sable and the country back of it; with Coot, 

 Madeira, and other neighboring bays, and I have 

 explored Cuthbert Lake along the south coast and 

 there is no evidence of coral growth at any of these 

 places. The Florida East Coast Railway enters 

 the mainland on the southeast coast and runs 

 through an unbroken swamp to Florida City, fif- 

 teen miles from the shore. The Flamingo region 

 is alluvium and that to the east of it is marl. Cape 

 Sable is a sand bank based on an old mangrove 

 swamp. The Ten Thousand Islands are swamp 

 with a few artificial mounds. Nowhere is there 

 coral. 



Because of its eminent originator this theory of 

 the development of Lower Florida has been very 

 generally accepted. The only possible foundation 

 it could rest upon is the fact that a part of the 

 keys and all the outer reef are built of coral. 



A glance at the charts of the Florida Keys 

 shows that the islands of the upper part of the chain 



