RAMBLES IN FLORIDA. 351 
food through the generous bounty of the pines than b 
any other of the forest tribes; yet, perhaps, the voluptuous 
beauty of the palms has inspired the poetic muse more fre- 
quently than the sedate bearing and sturdy merits of the 
noble pines; the Artocarpus incisa is no more the “tree of 
bread” to the naked natives of the South Sea Islands, than 
is the pine tree to a greater number of civilized and refined 
people. But each is glorious in its way ! 
The sallow and sickly faces of many of the people hint 
strongly of fever and ague. The small size of the cattle 
shows that the country is overstocked, or that the pasturage 
is limited and poor; the milk used in the so ealled hotels is 
the condensed milk from the N orth; the butter is imported, 
and the beef is stringy and dry; most of the corn used, at 
least in this part of the state, is brought from abroad, and 
_the country does not produce the wheat that the people con- 
Sume. Few fruit trees are seen from the car windows; an 
occasional orange or peach tree is therefore noticed. We 
are informed that this is not a fruit region, but that in the 
Vicinity of the St. John’s River, and in that part of the state, 
the orchards are large and numerous. 
The stranger is impressed by the general flatness of the 
country ; nothing like an embankment or an excavation upon 
the line of the road can be seen. The surface is never more 
than very slightly undulating, and is covered with sand, 
except in such places as are wet or swampy. After a rain 
every depression becomes a pool or lake, to be in time ab- 
sorbed by the sand or evaporated by the sun; as the eleva- 
tion of the land is but little above the sea, the process of 
draining the surface by the sinking of the water must be 
exceedingly slow. The topography may be better under- 
Stood, perhaps, when we consider that South Florida is but 
a succession of beaches piled up by the sea, a — 
ture of shore debris resting upon ancient coral reefs.* This | 
rM M ME 


















MM igh previously aware of the structure of Southern Florida, we were surprised 

