FOREST AND STREAM. 



her. This lagoon is ahead of all northern Florida in every- 

 thing — fruit, climate, and game. Oranges grow here in 

 three years from the seed; ahead of St. John's by at least 

 two years. There is almost no frost, and no disease pecu- 

 liar to the region, while game of all descriptions line its 

 shores. We spent two days and nights wind-hound at St. 

 Sebastian Creek, during which time we visited the coast 

 near the place where, in 1710, a. fleet of Spanish galleons 

 were driven ashore and lost. We found no pistareens, 

 which Komans tells us were washed up as late as 1770, but 

 found plenty of deer and bear tracks, and pelican and 

 ducks upon the river side without number. The sea grape 

 and co<coa i>lum grow here in profusion. The former is a 

 stout shrub, rapidly increasing in size as it nears the trop- 

 ics, with a broad, heart-shaped, satin leaf. The fruit of 

 the cocoa plum is about as large as the common plum, with 

 a white flesh and red skin. It has a pleasant taste. The 

 high sand-ridge, separating river from ocean, is less than 

 three hundred yards across here, and thickly covered with 

 scrub palmetto and gay colored flowers. Standing on its 

 highest portion I can trace the sparkling length of Indian 

 River and look upon the waters of the Atlantic at the same 

 moment. For seventy-live miles one can hear the ocean 

 surf as he sails upon the river. The high bluffs near St. 

 Sebastian have been selected as the site for a hotel, but are 

 not well suited for such a purpose. Near here is Barker's 

 Bluff, named after a man who lost his life there — killed by 

 the Indians, at the same time my friend, Major Russell, 

 lost an arm. A few miles away is an island draped in 

 white, its trees seemingly covered with snow, a circling 

 flight of birds hovering over it, the water around dotted 

 with hundreds of dusky objects, and the same dusky forms 

 coming and going with no cessation in their flight. 



"That's Pelican Island," said the Captain. As we ap- 

 proached, the chirk objects grew more distinct and assumed 

 definite shapes. The island of about two acres was cov- 

 ered with mangroves, long since dead; every tree loaded 

 down with nests — great, bulky affairs, two feet across and 

 flat. Every tree and nest was completely covered with the 

 limy excrement of the birds, giving the island its snowy 

 appearance at a distance. Each nest contained two nearly 

 fledged young ones, all uniting in giving utterance to the 

 most diabolical and soul-rending sounds, which, added to 

 the cawing of fish crows in search of eggs, and the scream- 

 ing of eagles overhead, gave one as good an idea of pande- 

 monium as mortal man can conceive. Though standing- 

 close together, the captain and I had to shout our loudest 

 to be heard. The ground was covered with young birds 

 huddled together in fright. The eagles and vultures had 

 committed great havoc, and from branches suspended and 

 stretched upon the ground, were the decomposing car- 

 cases of old and young, which, added to the decaying 

 fish, filled the air with odors — not of Araby. The old pel- 

 icans were flyine; overhead in clouds, occasionally alighting 

 on some remote tree to feed the young with fish, which 

 they brought to them in their pouches. 



Two months later, in May, I found the young had flown 

 and every nest with a complement of large white e^. 

 There are two species of pelican on our Atlantic coast— the 

 white and the brown. This was the brown; its plumage 

 of mottled white and gray on the back, dark sides and 

 breast, with a rich velvety brown neck and white head, 

 was not altogether homely. Their long bills, a foot in 

 length, and immense pouches, capable of holding a gallon, 

 give them a very odd appearance. 



The approaches to the "Narrows" are guarded by two 

 walls of living green, which, when seen at a distance, seem 

 to be but a few paces apart, leaving lint a narrow gateway. 

 As we draw near, however, the distance increases, disclos- 

 ing a passage nearly a mile in width. Seventy miles it is to 

 the northern end of the lagoon, and above there is a vary- 

 ing width of from three to eight miles. Below the Narrows 

 is a land of plenty. 



Here the oysters accumulate^in such quantities that they 

 form this narrow passage. A storm is observed gathering, 

 and just as we enter the Mangrove Islands it bursts upon 

 us. Before the north wind we scud with bare poles, and are 

 obliged to exert all our caution to prevent being wrecked 

 upon some of the many'oyster reefs that obstruct the channel. 



It is ten miles through, and through the gathering gloom 

 w T ejust discern a sheltering point, after long exposure to 

 the gale. With the storm thundering after us, we silently 

 endure the rain, hoping that night will bring relief; but no 

 lull occurs, and we anchor behind a projecting reef and 

 finally wade ashore. Hanging our blankets on the man- 

 groves to windward, we finally start a fire with the aid of 

 lio'ht wood splinters, and after warming some flapjacks 

 and thoroughly steaming ourselves, roll ourselves in our 

 blankets and sleep, with sundry awakenings to replenish 

 the fire. 



Toward morning the rain ceased, but not till it had wet 

 us through— yes, through, for the Captain said he could 

 feel the rain water "slosh about" in his stomach. I know 

 that, although I had carefully covered myself with my 

 rubber blanket, when I awoke it was to find myself in a 

 puddle four inches deep. Under the circumstances, wasn't 

 it natural that I should desire just a drop of whiskey? I 

 had a quart of the b^3t, which I had entrusted to tfle Cap- 

 tain's locker, and thought that now, if ever, was the time 



to use it. 



"Captain, in my youth, when very youngs and conse- 

 quently incompetent for such a performance, I signed the 

 pledge. Remember, it was while quite yo'ung, and at a 

 very tender age; in fact, I think it hardly valid now, and 

 binding. Then again, I signed off from anything that 

 ■ would intoxicate, and I'm ready to swear that nothing ever 



distilled from grain can intoxicate me now, there's so much 

 water in me. I think I'll try a drop of that whiskey." 



"The bottle is in the starn." 



Quickly I drew it forth; slowly and sadly I returned it — 

 'twas empty. The Captain evaded my gaze, muttering the 

 while: " 'Twas so confounded bad I didn't like to have it 

 round, and so I drunk it up first night." 



A run of a dozen miles in the genial warmth of the sun 

 restores our spirits — not the spintus frumenti, however — 

 and we land at F^rt Capron, an old military post, with a 

 very sharp appetite for breakfast. A hedge of oleanders 

 ten feet in height surrounds the plantation, now gone to de- 

 cay. The Cherokee rose, and' the Spanish bayonet with 

 its magnificent pyramid of honey-scented bells, add their 

 fragrance to that of the oleander. A walk through the de- 

 serted orange grove reveals many tropical wonders, such as 

 the India rubber, satin wood, guava, lime, lemon and 

 citron. Vestiges of pineapple plants are shown, which can 

 be raised here success fully. At Fort Pierce, four miles 

 south, is an excellent location for a hotel or boarding- 

 house. The situation is high and airy, securing immunity 

 from those pests of the lowland, the sand-flies. It is op 

 posite the main entrance to the Atlantic, where vessels of 

 not over four feet draught can enter. Directly in front are 

 vast oyster beds, and in December the turtle — the "green 

 turtle soup" kind — swarm in to feed and are caught. Deer, 

 turkeys, quail, in fact all kinds of game; fish, from saw- 

 fish and sharks, to mullets and bass. 



And then the climate ! Rarely, even in summer, does the 

 thermometer indicate more than 85 degrees. A southeast 

 breeze blows in summer all night long, making the nights 

 cool and comfortable. It is the very paradise for the con- 

 sumptive, the fountain of youth for him with pulmonary 

 complaint of whatever kind. But two frosts for twenty 

 years have occurred, and those not serious. This descrip- 

 tion of climate will answer for nearly the whole river, mod- 

 ified only by the slight difference in latitude. The waters 

 of the Gulf Stream lave the coast, tempering the wind in 

 winter. One of the surgeons in the army stationed here 

 during the Seminole war, after sixteen years' service, gave 

 it as his opinion that this immediate country was the 

 healthiest in the United States. Absolutely free from disease, 

 'tis said that the* people are obliged to remove to the next 

 county to die. When better means of transportation are 

 offered the whole river will be the winter rendezvous of 

 thousands of health seekers and sportsmen, who now shiver 

 the winter through on the St. John's. 



There is but one annoyance — insects. For real tall and 

 lofty jumping and biting, the flea is unapproachable; but 

 his endeavors are put to shame by the mosquitoes and 

 sand-flies. The flea may be avoided, if hotel-haunted and 

 hog-haunted sections are avoided. The mosquito may be 

 kept at bay at night, his hunting season, by a good "bar;" 

 but unless one is provided with an impregnable skin and a 

 large stock of patience, he will be sure to break some of the 

 commandments over the sancl-flies. * Snakes are not nu- 

 merous enough to be dangerous, except in swamps, where 

 the tourist need not go. This, in a word, is the good and 

 bad of Indian River. 



Twenty miles below Fort Pierce is the St. Lucie River, 

 coming in from the westward, forming a beautiful bay as 

 it joins the waters of the lagoon. Three miles south of St. 

 Lucie the broad sound suddenly ends, and after a chain of 

 small lakes, as it were, the channel winds through densely- 

 covered mangrove islands, scarcely fifty yards in width. 



An adverse wind, and consequently current, kept us at 

 the mouth of Jupiter Narrows two days. We passed the 

 time shooting turkeys and alligators, and watching the grace- 

 ful "man-o'-war hawks," as they sailed overhead on wide ex- 

 tended wings. The ocean beach presented many attrac- 

 tions; the beautiful sea beans and shells of exquisite tints, 

 besides vast multitudes of birds. Sometimes we would 

 find cocoanuts and fragments of ' foreign wood, thrown up 

 by the resistless waters. The third day of waiting we en- 

 tered the Narrows, the most interesting portion of this vast 

 lagoon. From a point a hundred miles north it stretches 

 away southeast, now expanding, now contracting, till from 

 a width of eight miles near its northern end it is here less 

 than fitly feet. Each side of us the mangroves rise far 

 overhead, sometimes mingling their leaves in an arch of 

 living green. Their gnarled, roots strike down, into the 

 mud in every direction, supporting the trunk in mid-air 

 many feet from the ground. What a number of roots! 

 Roots from the trunk, with minor roots springing from 

 them in every conceivable direction; roots from the 

 branches, and these again with smaller roots of their own. 

 Here, a mile or so in, is a luxuriant hammock, where a man 

 named Peck undertook to subjugate the rank growth, but 

 the mosquitoes and sand-flies proved too many for him, and 

 his bones rest peacefully, etc. Here is a small spring, and 

 the water cask had better be filled. 



No sound breaks the solemn hush except the tap of the 

 setting-pole and the ripple of water at our bow, as we 

 slowly forge ahead. 



A noticeable feature in the green walls about us is the 

 India rubber. Whenever a clump of palms occurs we find 

 this tree, enfolding in its trunk the stem of a palm. The 

 rapidly growing walls gradually encircle the palm in an 

 embrace of living wood, till finally it is seen only through 

 the interstices in the rubber. As the tops of the respective 

 trees intermingle — the feathery frond , of the palm and 

 waxy, green leaves of the rubber — a beautiful effect is pro- 

 duced. Delicate ferns grow in the mesh-work, and gor- 

 geous epiphytes, with flaming spikes of blossom, attach 

 themselves to the branches. Tron wood, crabwood, and 

 many other valuable woods are found along the shore of 



Hobe Sound, into which Ave emerge from the narrows. 

 Near its entrance we saw the carcass of a manatee, or sea 

 cow, over which a coroner's jury of vultures were holding 

 inquest. From the south end of the Narrows, which are 

 seven miles in length, it is twelve miles to the end of the 

 river. Crossing "Conch Bar," we follow the stakes indi- 

 cating the channel, and soon see the dome-shaped lantern, 

 and 'afterwards the symmetrical shaft Of Jupiter Light. 

 During all our voyage our course has ever been to the south. 

 Soon we strike the waters of the Lokohatchee, which, 

 coming from the west, unite with Indian River near the 

 lighthouse and run due east, through Jupiter Inlet to the 

 ocean. Rounding the point, we are soon at anchor, and as- 

 cend the steep bank to a small house of coquina rock. where 

 we are made welcome. 



Tliis was at noon. At night I climbed with the two 

 keepers to the top of the hollow shaft, and looked off from 

 the circling platform upon a scene of absorbing intaresi. 

 A glimpse of Northern wildness and sterility and Southern 

 luxuriance and fertility, the fragile flowers of the tropics 

 blended with the hardy shrubs and trees of the North. The 

 palm and pine, the oak and orange, mangrove and maple, 

 "Semi-tropical" indicates Florida's status in. climate am! 

 vegetation. Half Northern, half Southern— a kind of half 

 and half character that extends to more than clinute. We 

 have here a land and water view of surpassing beauty. The 

 broad Atlantic bounds the vision east, its shore extending 

 in curving lines from north to south. Down from the 

 north comes Indian River curved in outline— a bay, a 

 creek, fringed with palm, pine and mangrove. From the 

 west comes in the Lokohatchee, charming in parks of pine 

 and green mangrove islands; its windings reveal it in sheets 

 of silver among the trees. A narrow creek leads from it 

 southward toward Lake Worth. As I looked upon this 

 scene I saw no sign of life, save at the cottage, one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet below me, North, the nearest human 

 habitation was forty miles away; south, one hundred; west, 

 no one knows; the swamps and forests there are peopled 

 only by red men. 



The sun's last rays had disappeared, leaving clouds ot 

 crimson and gold piled up behind the dark pine forest, as 1 

 entered the lantern, where the light was already glowing. 

 I seated myself in the crystal dome and watched the re- 

 flected colors as they came and went with each revolution 

 of the lantern. As the lantern revolves every prism 

 catches the rays of light and rends them into their primary 

 colors, paints the colors of the rainbow upon the polished 

 roof, and throws them forward to be re-produced a thou- 

 sand times in the crystal bars. As the strong light shone 

 forth, I thought of the many eyes gazing upon it other 

 than those of the sailors for whom it was intended. The 

 timid deer, the ferocions puma and wild cat, the bear from 

 his "hammock" — forbears do have "hammocks" — of palms. 

 No doubt the reflected light is visible to the Indians dwell- 

 ing upon the prairie bordering that mysterious lake, Okee- 

 chobee. Toward midnight a little warbler fluttered 

 against the glass, striving to enter. The keeper has often 

 found them after storms. The large plates have been shat- 

 tered by birds, who were afterwards found lifeless with 

 mangled breasts. Many birds foreign to our country have 

 flown against the glittering, though fatal glass. 



Once a year the supply ship visits this place, in its an- 

 nual tour from Maine to Florida. Other than this visit 

 frcm Uncle Sam, the inhabitants of Jupiter have few visi- 

 tors. A few stray waifs from the North drift down upon 

 them, brighten them with their presence awhile, set their 

 sails again and disappear in the gloom of the mangroves. 

 Indian River, once visited, leaves a longing in the heart of 

 the visitant never satisfied, till the sparkle of its waters 

 again gladden his eye, and his tent is pitched upon its 

 sunny sands. Certainly no other section of our country 

 possesses so many natural charms, united with real bles- 

 sing so easily accessible. Feed Beverly. 



— • -*•*- 



CANADI AN MOC CASINS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: — 



In one of your earlier numbers you published an excel- 

 lent article on moccasins, and I most heartily endorse all 

 that is contained therein. However, as in many parts of 

 the country the skin of the Caribou cannot be procured, 

 and as your article seems to have excited quite an interest 

 among your correspondents, I would say that where Caribou 

 hide is not easily procurable, an excellent hunting moccasin 

 may be made by using common sole leather for the foot, and 

 split, or other cheap leather, for the leg. 



The leather for the leg should be light, yet stiff enough 

 to prevent its gathering at the ankle. When first made the 

 foot should be throughly rubbed with oil; afterward only 

 tallow, or tallow and pitch, should be used, as the oil 

 softens the leather too much. The foot should be large 

 enough to allow two pairs of stockings to be worn, and 

 must never in any case fit tightly. 



Such moccasins are almost entirely used by hunters in 

 Upper Canada; those of Caribou hide being seldom met 

 with. They are manufactured to some extent and may he 

 had ready-made at prices ranging from $1.25 to $2. Those 

 sold at $1.25 are light, have legs of sheepskin and are un- 

 desirable, generally; but a fair article may be had for about 

 $1.75. When made to order they cost about $3.50. 



Moccasins made of deer or buckskin, are utterly useless, 

 except for snow-shoeing or w<ilking on perfectly dry 

 ground, as they are almost as pervious to water as cloth, 

 but a moccasion of sole leather, or better still of Caribou 

 hide, will keep th6 feet as dry as a boot, uv\ foi com- 

 fort, there is no comparison : Iraxfit, 



