90 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



lazily over the shallows and dashing man-o'-war 

 hawks plunging to cram their craws with stolen 

 garfish and other fruits of the Gulf, also contribute 

 much to the enjoyment of the sport. There is a 

 fascination about the Gulf in calm or in storm. 

 Lashed by the hurricanes that in those latitudes 

 spring up even more suddenly than new forms of 

 Government, it is terrible, and its cruel combers 

 whip and shake the coral beaches and sandy strands, 

 until those who crouch stormbound on the lonely 

 keys are filled with the dread of its hungry grace 

 before meals. That is no weather for tarpon-fishing, 

 but there is grrandeur in the sight for those who are 

 snugly berthed in the Pass on yacht or houseboat, 

 listening to the dogs of war, yet fearing nothing 

 from their bite. In the spring, the weather is 

 mostly fine, and then the Gulf is like a lake, a 

 paradise for yachts, an Eldorado of the rod's big 

 game — the leaping tarpon, the gallant kingfish, the 

 flying whipray, the basking turtle — and a myriad 

 wonderful little creatures that untiringly rear their 

 coral towers from the sea mud to the upper air. 

 For the fisherman who does not shirk a fight 

 against odds, with some trifling spice of danger to 

 lend piquancy to his holiday, there is no sea any- 

 where on earth to rival the Gulf of Mexico. 



The scenery of Florida, or of the little I know 

 of that State, is nowhere beautiful. Flatness robs 

 it of pretension to that quality. Its rivers are thick 

 and sluggish for lack of mountains to lend them 

 speed from their source to the ocean. Its vegeta- 

 tion, unquestionably luxuriant, is of that monotonous 

 sub-tropical type which soon wearies eyes ac- 

 customed to the sweeter verdure of the North. As 



