136 IN LOtVER FLORIDA WILDS 



Since the opening of the canal I again crossed 

 the Glades but on account of low water the boat 

 from Fort Myers only carried me to La Belle on 

 the Caloosahatchee. I induced a man going up 

 stream in a skiff launch to take me to Rita on the 

 lake. Just as we were starting he was hailed by 

 three men in a rowboat who immediately came 

 aboard, fastening their craft behind ours. They 

 were all fishermen who plied their trade in the big 

 lake, and in all my wanderings I have never seen a 

 rougher crowd in dress, appearance, or manners. 

 The man who carried me said he was forty-five but 

 he looked twenty years older with a face dread- 

 fully marked by a rough life and dissipation. He 

 was addressed as "Th' ole man" by the others 

 who were much younger. I was decently dressed, 

 had some money and a watch, and I confess to a 

 little fear of my companions who might so easily 

 knock me on the head and throw me overboard.' 



We ran up the palmetto-bordered Caloosahat- 

 chee, which I consider more beautiful than the 

 famed St. Johns, but towards night our engine 

 began to give trouble and seriously to delay us. 

 It was midnight when we stopped at a shanty 

 along the canal; the men made a fire and cooked 



