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THE MOUNTAINS OF FLORIDA. 



CAPT. L. G. BILLINGS, U. S. N. 



One of the strongest passions that 

 dominates the human breast is to discover, 

 to see, to explore, to know something 

 out of the usual ! This passion can alone 

 account for the fervor with which men 

 who have known the frigid terrors of the 

 North or roasted under the torrid sun 

 of Africa, return again and again to 

 their mistress. To all is not given to 

 follow this passion to such extremes. Time 

 and a certain personality are required. 

 Then there is always the question of ex- 

 pense ; but the secretive passion exists even 

 if the means to gratify it may be lacking. 

 Who of us does not remember the secret, 

 deep-shaded pool where lurked the 

 speckled monarch of the brook ; or the al- 

 der copse, always good for one brood of 

 woodcock. How jealously did we guard 

 the secret. They were ours ! 



With this feeling astir in my thoughts, 

 while I write of my discoveries last winter 

 in Florida, I feel the self-sacrificing glow 

 of him who gives, knowing that all who 

 benefit by these points will surely find like 

 satisfaction in the results. It sounds al- 

 most abnormal to speak of any part of 

 Florida as unknown or unexplored, yet 

 there are hundreds of square miles which 

 are virgin of the sportsman or tourist. 

 Nearly all of Lake county and much of 

 the contiguous country, containing within 



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