336 AUDUBON 



ining the country around, found the soil of good quality, 

 it having been reclaimed from swampy ground of a black 

 color, rich, and very productive. The greater part of the 

 cultivated land vi^as on the borders of a lake, which com- 

 municates with others, leadfng to the St. John's River, 

 distant about seven miles, and navigable so far by vessels 

 not exceeding fifty or sixty tons. After breakfast, our 

 amiable host showed us the way to the celebrated spring, 

 the sight of which afforded me pleasure sufficient to coun- 

 terbalance the tediousness of my journey. 



This spring presents a circular basin, having a diame- 

 ter 6f about sixty feet, from the centre of which the water 

 is thrown up with great force, although it does not rise 

 to a height of more than a few inches above the general 

 level. A kind of whirlpool is formed, on the edges of 

 which are deposited vast quantities of shells, with pieces 

 of wood, gravel, and other substances, which have coa- 

 lesced into solid masses, having a very curious appear- 

 ance. The water is quite transparent, although of a dark 

 color, but so impregnated with sulphur that it emits an 

 odor which to me was highly nauseous. Its surface lies 

 fifteen or twenty feet below the level of the woodland 

 lakes in the neighborhood, and its depth, in the autumnal 

 months, is about seventeen feet, when the water is low- 

 est. In all the lakes, the same species of shell as those 

 thrown up by the spring, occur in abundance, and it seems 

 more than probable that it is formed of the water col- 

 lected from them by infiltration, or forms the subterra- 

 nean outlet of some of them. The lakes themselves are 

 merely reservoirs, containing the residue of the waters 

 which fall during the rainy seasons, and contributing to 

 supply the waters of the St. John's River, with which they 

 all seem to communicate by similar means. This spring 

 pours its waters into "Rees's Lake," through a deep and 

 broad channel called Spring Garden Creek. This chan- 

 nel is said to be in some places fully sixty feet deep, but 



