INTRODUCTION. 
My first hunting experience in Florida dates back to the year 
1877, and I have since spent ten winters in the State, much of the 
time being devoted to exploring out-of-the-way nooks and corners 
which were then visited by but few people, and it was a journey ot 
several days to places which, since the advent of railroads, may now 
be reached in as many hours. Lake Okeechobee is now no longer 
difficult of access and many people visit it every year from Kissimmee 
and Fort Myers. From Jacksonville to the Indian River, which but 
a few years ago was a three days’ journey, may now be done by rail 
in a few hours. Although Florida is now annually visited by 
thousands instead of hundreds of people, as was the case a few 
years ago, there is still a vast extent of country which is practically 
a wilderness and where game is yet to be found in great abundance ; 
and the magnificent winter climate of Florida adds much to the en- 
joyment of the hunter or fisherman. 
Many there are who look with disfavor upon him who with 
rifle and hound wanders into the wilderness to hunt and kill wild 
animals. To such an one I-would say, ‘* Chacque un a son gouté.” 
If he be a man, with a man’s health and strength, his hand steady 
and his eye clear, let him go with me and camp for a week on the 
bank of some unnamed lake in the Florida wilderness, where the 
panther, bear, and deer wander undisturbed. Let ‘him breathe 
the fresh morning air full of the smell of the pines, and listen to the 
chorus of the hounds as they dash away in full cry on the hot trail 
of something that can fight as well as run. I warrant you his pulse 
will quicken as he forces his way into some thicket where the dogs 
hold a bear or a panther at bay. Perhaps many of us have a trace of 
the savage left in us yet, but I believe the boy who loves the woods 
will gain much in health and manhood; and it is pleasant to think 
7 
