
394 : FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


` from Palatka to its mouth, almost justify the designation í 
it as a chain of lakes rather than a river. Flowing through | 
a region which is nearly of a dead level, its stream is neces- 
sarily sluggish. i 
There is much dry and arable land, but so little is this 
raised above the level of the river, that, were it depressed 
five or six feet, the ocean would reassert its sway over a 
large part of the eastern portion of the peninsula, leaving 
only narrow ridges along the sea-coast, and inland, here 
and there low islands. As it is, immense tracts are under 
water throughout the year, and the whole area drained | by 
the St. Joa is a combination of dry land, swamps, lagoons, | 
and creeks. Open prairies, pine barrens, palmetto ham- 
mocks, mixed forest growths, chaparals of saw-palmetto, 
thick jungles, and large tracts overgrown with tall ~~ . 
rank grass vary the surface. From Abe absence of a change 
of evel in the land, the distant views on the river are eS 
tremely monotonous, while the near ones are often of great 
beauty, because of the windings of the river, and the su 
tropical vegetation. The eel and lagoons, with their! 
vegetation, and also the wilder shores of the river, § 
vast numbers of water and shore birds, and also coum 
alligators, water moccasins, frogs, and other reptiles. 
Of animals suitable for the food of man there is an 
dance, as will be seen farther on, so that along the banks 
the river and its tributaries, hunter-life could be as val 
tai hg oat 

















witness of the fact. Of all the American races none 
to have occupied a region more nearly equally divide 
tween land and water, or one which had been more : 
lifted above the level of the ocean, than natives of the 
of the St. Johns.* 
the 
*For a a description of the physical Sane A the St. Johns River, 
ferred t article entitled Cursory Remarks on E Florida. BY 
