HUNTING GROUNDS OF FLORIDA. 93 
the Hillsboro River, at a place opposite the government life-saving 
station. There is an old pump in the road at this place, and Robert 
Osceola used to camp there a few days every spring while deer 
hunting. Leaving the road and riding southwest some five miles, 
one passes between the upper and lower chain of lakes, and this 
crossing is the only one suitable for wagons for a distance of thirty 
miles. The swampy lakes are connected by a little creek called 
Little Fish Crossing. From this point it is less than a mile to 
the old government trail which runs north, crossing Jupiter Creek 
(Loxahatchee), and 
south until it joins 
the county road, 
about two miles 
north of Cypress 
Creek. Old marks 
of the ax ‘‘ blazes” 
may still be seen on 
the trees, and occa- 
sionally a wagon 
track where some 
hunter or cattle- 
driver has followed 
the old trail. Sand- 
hill Cranes, turkeys, 
and quail are abun- 
dant throughout this country; but bears are rare and panthers 
keep themselves to the edge of the Everglades in the heavy 
timber. Parties desiring to hunt this country would do well to have 
their wagons meet them on the old government trail west of Lake 
Worth. They could then hunt the country south, coming out on 
the county road near Cypress Creek. There is only one bad 
crossing, and that is at the head of the south fork of the Hillsboro 
River. The country to the west of the old trail is ‘‘flat woods ” and 
hummocks, interspersed with cypress ponds, which become more 
plentiful as we near the Everglades. Many of these ponds are not 
A GREAT DAY FOR KINGFISH. 
