For Forest and Stream. 
“I AND BETSEY.” 
A '2B. -J3 B’J; t TORY. 
BY MRS. EUNICE B. LAMBEETON. 
HEN more than lialf of old York State 
Was buUa bowling wilderness; 
(If hunters all cbuld have their wish, 
■Twould be che same to-day, I guess), 
There lived in cabin hewed of logs 
A lusty ’arrner and “bis wife, 
Contented, as the most of folks, 
To jog along the road of life. 
Their hands waxed hard and faces browned 
From toil’s fatigue andfcomforts few; 
They dug their bread from out the soil, 
And that was all*the wealth they knew. 
The sound of sturdy axe full oft 
Re-echoed through the forest glade, 
While panthers’ scream and wild cats’ yawl, 
Made rife the midnight serenade. 
No stairs encumbered their abode, 
Economy of space they sought, 
With safety, too, from casual foe, 
s5 When slumber’s spell its lethe wrought. 
A ladder hanging from a peg, 
A gaping ceiling with intent, 
And glimpse of skylight overhead, 
Divulged the secret of ascent. 
One morning in the early spring, 
When rivers burst their icy chain 
And freshets tearing on their way, 
Are swollen by the laughing rain, 
Old Bruin, startled from his nap, 
Forsook surprised his winter lair, 
Nor halted till the savory broil 
Revealed—alack! our worthy pair. 
Their minds on niatin meal intent, 
Unwarned of danger nigh, reposed; 
li Till creeping shadows long the path, 
And sniff the grizzly coat disclosed. 
As quick as thought the only door 
( < Was rivetted by hanging pin 
That primitive! 7 hung at rest, 
Beside the ancient Jog within. 
But all in vain, an open space, 
Like giant’s eye, stared full and round, 
Conveir'ently arranged for use, 
Jast far enough "above the ground 
For Ursus’ head to entrance make, 
To cast a wistful sidelong glance, 
While cogitating in his mind 
/ A further method of advance. 
As matters reached this crisis dire, 
Our good man left bis loving wife, 
Climbing Instanter, gasping forth 
| (Thinking to save his precious (?) life 
By pulling up the ladder too) 
“Why, drive the critter down the lane; 
Don’t stand there quaking like a dunce 
/ When there’s the axe, my Betsey Jane.” 
Though frail of form, now stout of heart, 
Wielding the weapon with a skill 
That erst had made a yeoman blush; 
For “when a woman will, she will”— 
The blows descended thick and fast 
, Upon his bearship’s shaggy head, 
Till Coroner, from up aloft, 
Pronounced the ugly monster dead. 
When neighbors flocked in rustic style, 
For news takes wings, though miles diyide, 
To prove by perfect measurement 
(While modest Betsey stood aside) 
Nine cubic feet from tip to tip. 
Her lord and master comment chilled, 
By uttering the potent words, 
Behold what land Betsey killed! 
,j Rochester, N. Y., AprU, 1874. 
•- - 
—Shad are so plentiful on the St. John’s River at Mellon- 
;! ville, Florida, that they can be had at five cents each 
jor one dollar per barrel. Farmers are buying them for 
Irmanure. 
—The privilege of fishing on the bridge between Rucks- 
port and Verona, Maine, this season, has been sold for $649, 
which is more than double the price paid last year. 
For Forest and Stream,. 
Discovery o' the Lake—The Great Mystery Solved— 
Swamps, Marshes, Alligators and Snakes—No Ruins 
—No Castles —No Romance—An Impenetrable Jun¬ 
gle. 
St. Lucie, Friday, March 18, 1874. 
T gives me pleasure to announce the success of my ex¬ 
pedition to Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. 
I 'eft St. Lucie, Indian River, tlie 14th of February, and 
returned March 17th. I hasten to send you such infor¬ 
mation regarding the lake and route as I have time to 
write while the mail boat is waiting. As before stated it 
was my intention to have my boat transported to the Kiss¬ 
immee River, and sail down that river into and around 
Lake Okeechobee. ’ 
This plan has been adhered to, and has resulted in a com¬ 
plete success. . Of all tlie.parties started for Lake Okeecho¬ 
bee, tills winter—and there seems to have been many— 
ours is the only one "hat has penetrated the Everglades and 
explored the lake. It is, in fact, the only part}! that has 
sailed completely around the lake, and brought from thence 
authentic information regarding its topography and natural 
productions. The lake, as the readers of Forest and 
Stream are aware, is the largest in the South. Probably 
less has been known of this lake than of any body of wateK 
of bke size in the Union, owing to the impassability of the 
country about it, and the alleged hostility of the Indians 
upon its borders. During the Indian war* of 1835-43, 
boats crossed it upon two occasions, ascend mg and de¬ 
scending the Kissimmee River, and scouting the cypress 
swamps in search cf Indians. In the war of ’56,-’58 forts, 
or military stations, were located as near the lake as the 
character of the land would permit, and it was frequency 
crossed, and no doubt, pretty thoroughly explored. But 
the soldiers of the last Indian war were principally mili¬ 
tia, natives of the country, and but 1 itl 1 e knowledge of 
the lake was disseminated through them. SiDce that time 
Okeechobee lias remained veiled in obscurity. No one 
but the Sem'noles knew the character of its shores or the 
productions ot its waters. The mystery sunounding it has 
been unbroken, nothing has been really known of it. until 
our boat was launched upon its waters. The State engineer 
of Florida, in 1855, expressed the opinion generally held 
regarding the country about the lake, when lie wrote: 
“These lands are now, and wdl continue to be, nearly as 
much unknown as the interior of Africa, or the mountain 
sources of the Amazon.” 
Fabidous stories of beautiful islands, picturesque ruins 
and pirate-haunted glens, have been much in vogue with 
writers upon Lake Okeechobee, and to lift the veil that 
has so long hung over it, and narrate the plain facts is to 
deprive them of a seemingly inexhaustible fund of ro¬ 
mance. 
I must coufess that it pains me to do so, but fidelity to 
truth compels me to write of the lake as it is, and not as it 
should be. The beautiful groves of tropical fruits, tlie 
monkeys, spiders of gigantic size, and ancient ruins, are 
among the things that were not. 
There is but one practicable route to Lake Okeechobee, 
that 0M. the Kissimmee River. There are, however, two 
routes to that river, and for the education of die future 
traveler to the lake I will describe them. A good boat, 
provisions, and everything necessary for a month’s stay, are 
necessary by either. The one I adopted was, as stated, 
from Indian River, at St. Lucie, across tlie country, to the 
location of old Fort Bassenger, on the Kissimmee River. 
Tlie first ten miles is through a low open cine w oods, 
very wet in the winter months, through which flows two 
deep creeks, the “Five-mile” and “Ten-mile.” From Ten- 
mile creel* the course is north of west for twenty-four 
miles, at first over the Alpattie Flats,” submerged as late 
as March, and dry and alkaline in the dry season, later, a 
short wiry grass covers them, and shallow ponds, dry in the 
dry season, occur at intervals. The clumps of cypress 
here are characteristic of this section, being in long curving 
lines, resembling mountains at a distance. At intervals of 
half a dozen miles, pine islands occur, with opportunities 
for camping. 
Sixteen miles from Ten mile Creek, twenty-six from St. 
Lucie, the prairies of the St. Johns’ are taken and kept 
until the old military road from Fort Capron to Tampa is 
struck, when the course i°. due west for five miles through 
a belt of timber to the Kissimmee Prairids. This belt runs 
nearly north and south, separating the prairies of the Kiss¬ 
immee from those of the St. Johns’ and the Alpattie Flats. 
The road over *be prairies is rather obscure, as also is that 
to the timber upon the other side, but easily followed by a 
woodsman. 
The course is south west. The prairie is dotted with 
pine “islands,” the last one (in whiclijives the only settler 
on the route, Judge Parker) is over two miles in width. 
The Kissimmee at the ford is about fifty yards wide, 
though it sometimes overflows its banks for two miles upon 
the eastern side. We had to wade a mile before launching 
our boat. 
The other route is from Lake Jessup, or Winder, on the 
St. John’s to Lake Tohopekaliga, or Cypress, the head 
waters of the Kissimmee. 
It is said to be about forty miles over land, and one hun¬ 
dred and forty down the river to Bassenger. The settlers 
near the river knew nothing of the distance from the Fort 
Bassenger ford to tlie lake, but thought it to be sixty miles. 
We round it about fifty-five miles, and it took us two 
days to reach tlie lake. The river is extremely crooked, 
the current swift, and the water the best in south Florida. 
The width at the ford is maintained throughout almost its 
entire length, though narrowing in places near its mouth. 
During the first thirty miles are occasional live-oaks and 
maple bluffs, but beyond that the river ran through vast 
plains of- cane and saw grass and between low willows. 
Many lagoons make up from the river. Isolated clumps 
of magnoTa grow in the marsh, appearing like large trees 
at a distance. • Ten miles from the ford is a settler’s cabin, 
the last on the river. Twenty miles from the lake is the 
last oak, and three miles from the lake a large cypress 
from which a view of the lake can be obtained. 
The Kissimmee, as it enters the lake, forms a bay a mile 
in width and depth, filled with lilies and water-lettuce. 
There are two cypress trees near its mouth, but all 
around is marsli. The most conspicuous birds on the river 
have been the limpkin, or crying bird, the white ibis, white 
heron, snake bird and vulture. Black bass are plentiful and 
large, percli, cat-fish and bream also abound. 
A 1 ! the way down, on either side, is a pine ridge, from 
three to five miles away, sometimes approaching the river 
It spreads out as it nears the lake, and maintains tlie same 
distance on the west side, and merges itself in tlie cypress 
bordering tlie eastern shore. It is a little over a mile to 
the first projection of the bay, west, where cypress and 
grass shoals present a dreary appearance. Back of this, 
however, is a drift of sand Upon which grows a 1 h i# belt of 
elm, maple and elderberry, interlaced and overgrown with 
large grape vires. Back of this sand, which must be 
covered at high water, is a dark lagoon, filled with alliga¬ 
tors. A large fish-hawk’s nest, here, induced us to call this 
place “Osprey Point.” 
A mile further is a camping place used by Indians when 
hunting, all cypress. The sand is here six inches above 
the lake and a quiet lagoon affords shelter for a boat. De¬ 
tached belts of cypress and marsli occur next, and tlie only 
place suitable for camping is ten miles south-west. We 
called it Mulberry camp, from tlie occurrence of that tree 
there. Besides mulberries there a^e ash, maple, box¬ 
wood, cypress, India rubber and elderberry. There are 
gigantic cypresses here, six feet in diameter, completely en¬ 
closed in the India rubber, and covered with ivy #< 
The shore trends south-west for about fifteen miles from 
the Kissimmee, where a long cypress hammock ends in a 
lone palmetto. Here a deep bay makes in some three 
miles, and is about five miies in width. At the end of this 
j bay, the palmetto spurs from the main ridge approached 
( 
