64 IK FLORIDA, 



tion in which it was stretched. We carried a piece 

 of it away with us, and had to cut it ofE from our 

 rudder. For this we were sorry, but were miles off 

 before we had eren got an idea of the extent of apol- 

 ogy we would have to make, or of the damage for 

 which we would gladly have paid. 



At JacksouTille we felt almost as much at home 

 as if we were in New York. We found friends there, 

 we made others, and enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly 

 that it was only the imperative demands of sport 

 that compelled us to move on. Just in the neigh- 

 borhood of so large a city there is naturally not 

 much to shoot or to catch. There are innumerable 

 cat-fish which Mr. Green was never tired of taking, 

 and which weighed as much as ten pounds each. 

 He insisted they were excellent eating, a matter in 

 which we allowed him to have his opinion without 

 contesting the question. The water on the surface 

 is fresh, and some black-bass can always be caught 

 in the vicinity. The condition of the water in the 

 p St. John's is different from that of any other stream 

 with which I am familiar. Even as high up as Pilat- 

 ka, eighty miles above, the surface water is absolute- 

 ly fresh, while near the bottom there is a current so 

 salt that crabs are caught in the shad nets. The 

 Salter fluid seems to be denser and heavier than the 

 other, and will not mingle with it, so that we have 

 the anomaly of both fresh and salt-water fish 

 being caught at the same time and place. 



Into the St. John's there empty at every few miles 

 tributary streams that are rarely ascended by the 



