324 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 17, 1887. 



of its surface is much of the year under water; and this 

 fact will largely account for the ignorance concerning its 

 physical features. None but wild Indians, cattle-rangers 

 and naturalists can be expected to wade through its 

 swamps, risk its miasmata, and brave is dangei'ous animals. 

 From the first two, little information can be expected, and 

 the latter have but recently been attracted to its more in- 

 accessible regions. 



The St. John's is an anomaly among rivers. Its source 

 or sources, like those of the Nile, are still unknown. It 

 flows a little west of north, till near its mouth, for at 

 least 300 miles, but with a change of level for that entire 

 distance of not more than Oft. Still it cannot be called a 

 sluggish stream, which is all the more remarkable, " when 

 it is considered that not an eminence in East Florida at- 

 tains the height of 200ft. ;" and where all the water comes 

 from, to give for 150 miles from its mouth an average 

 breadth of about two miles, in apparent contradiction of 

 all the hydraulic laws of physical geography, is the never- 

 ceasing wonder, as day and night one steams over its 

 ' surface. Ascending, the voyager traverses lake after 

 lake; some extensive enough to give a water horizon, and 

 fully justifying the alleged meaning of the Indian name 

 Il-la-ka, "a river of many lakes;" though it may here be 

 stated that an educated Choctaw chief defined the name 

 as meaning, "it hath its own way, is alone contrary to 

 every other;" a signification quite as pertinent to its 

 physical character as the former. Its unnavigable por- 

 tion" seems to issue from an immense prairie covered with 

 long saw grass, a region neighbor to the everglade and 

 culminating in it. The great rains of the summer are 

 here collected as in a reservoir, till the low latitudinal 

 water-shed is overflown, and the sources of the northern 

 flowing St. John's are confounded with that of the south- 

 ern flowing Kissimmee. After the annual great rain fall 

 is over, the running away of the waters reveals the sub- 

 merged dividing line, and leaves the streams distinct, 

 with an easterly and westerly water-shed of varying 

 longitudinal width, but never extensive even in the driest 

 seasons. Such an anomalous condition was long sus- 

 pected by those engineers who had approximated the 

 sources of both streams, but it was left to the observations 

 of my party, so far as I know, to confirm the view, as 

 will appear in the sequel. 



Nearing the wharf at Hibernia, a few miles above 

 Jacksonville, I was most agreeably surprised to find my 

 lifelong friend, the late Professor Jeffries Wynan, at 

 whose house, in Cambridge, Mass., I had dined a few days 

 before, and whom I supposed still in New England. 

 Forced by chronic complaints, he was spending his 

 twenty-third winter, if I remember rightly, in Florida, 

 and as the event proved his last. Mitigating his tenden- 

 cies to pulmonary diseases by' a southern winter, and to 

 catarrhal by a White Mountain autumn, he had for nearly 

 a quarter of a century alternated between the two ex- 

 treme latitudes, and thus prolonged a most useful life, 

 till in the issue he left behind a reputation that estab- 

 lished him in the line of comparative anatomy as the peer 

 of Agassiz and Owen, 



At the moment of embarking on the little steamer, two 

 ladies came on board whose ways at once suggested the 

 "school marm." When informed by the clerk that every 

 stateroom was already assigned, he was taken all aback 

 by the reply, "Oh, any of these gentlemen will sleep on 

 the saloon' floor, just for one night." On hearing th is 

 remark, my first impulse was to put myself outside of 

 that crowd at once. But observing that none of the 

 younger passengers responded favorably to the appeal, I 

 volunteered the half of my room, and induced the Doctor 

 to give up the other half. Without a single "thank you" 

 in reply, we w-ere speedily dispossessed, and not possessed 

 again, each day of the voj^age proving so charming to the 

 "ladies" that they concluded to remain aboard and return 

 to Jacksonville with the boat. Gallantry, however, had 

 its reward, though at the expense of a hard couch for suc- 

 cessive nights. 



The steamer stopping the second day for an hour at 

 Volusia to "wood up," an opportunity w r as afforded for 

 examining the shell mound upon which the village is 

 built. It is formed exclusively of fresh-water species, 

 mainly Ampullarias and Paludinas with some Unios, as 

 are all the mounds upon the river from a few miles above 

 its mouth, and has evidently resulted from being the 

 dwelling-place of some of the earliest inhabitants during 

 the successive stages of its formation, and the casting 

 away of the shells, after extracting their contents for food. 

 Professsor Wyman, than whom no archaeologist has given 

 more attention to their investigation, speaks with great 

 confidence of their pre-Indian origin. My brief stay re- 

 sulted iu unearthing a few pieces of pottery, at varying 

 depths, and in determining the river line of the mound to 

 be at least 100ft., with a height of 6 or 8ft., and of a un- 

 certain extent inland, owing to the forest growth on the 

 top of it. 



The shell mounds of Florida, whether upon the coast or 

 the banks of its rivers, and especially those abounding 

 upon the St. John's from near its source to its mouth, 

 must not be confounded with the sand or burial mounds 

 no less abundant, but scattered all over the State and 

 giving no evidence of ever having been used for dwell- 

 ing places. In the fourth memoir of the Peabody Acad- 

 emy of Science, Vol. 1, 1875, Professor Wyman has pre- 

 sented in a volume of about 100 pages quarto, finely 

 illustrated, the result of his researches and conclusions, 

 in respect to forty-eight fresh-water shell mounds on the 

 banks of the Upper St. John's, and to which the reader 

 is referred for the most complete account hitherto pub- 

 lished of these most interesting relics. 



Our nights upon the St. John's were moonless, but the 

 darkness did not prevent at least one side issue up a 

 narrow creek for an hour to leave provision stores and 

 whisky at the camp of a woodsman. As we threaded 

 our way in the Cimmerian gloom with interlacing 

 branches overhead, and sometimes sweeping the upper 

 deck, the wildfowl were startled from their slumbers and 

 the owls roused to a vigorous protest against the invasion 

 of their domains. Bvrtthe lynx-eyed pilot, who success- 

 fully steered his way along' the tortuous channel with 

 not even the frienldy glare of a lantern at the bow was to 

 me the greatest wonder of the excursion. 



Again in the St. John's, we found ourselves at daylight 

 nearing a bluff, where we left Professor Wyman and his 

 annual camping companion, G. A. Peabody, Esq., of 

 Salem, Massachusetts. To their great disgust, a squatter 

 had taken possession of their old camping-site, and already 

 erected a log house in the orange-laden grove. Appear- 

 ing at the door with rifle in hand, he saluted the old- 



comers with, "How d'ye, gen'lmen, come to squat here?" 



In the afternoon another side issue to the left took us 

 into .Lake Beresford to leave another squatter, who had 

 migrated from Georgia, and at a venture was being landed 

 in a swamp with a wife and several children between the 

 age of two months and twelve years. As their scanty 

 furniture was handed out and the family left on the 

 beach in the rain, with no shelter, and miles away from 

 any human sympathizers, three hearty cheers were given 

 by their departing fellow-passengers for the American 

 pluck, male and female, that ever adapts itself to physical 

 surroundings, however forlorn the prospect. 



Once more on the St. John's, we found its breadth 

 steadily narrowing, till it was reduced to less than 300ft., 

 an advantage to the hunters on board, of which they were 

 not slow to avail themselves, in popping away at every 

 alligator and large bird that appeared at short or long 

 range. Soon, however, the banks recede again and sud- 

 denly, as the steamer enters Lake Monroe, an expanse of 

 water covering an area of at least twenty square miles. 

 This crossed, the bluffs on either side are well-studded at 

 advantageous points with shell mounds till the last great 

 lake upon the river is sailed over, and the region of water, 

 prairie and swamp is fully reached. At high water it 

 makes little difference, in this region, whether the steamer 

 keeps the channel or not, her sailing course well illus- 

 trating the principle of "cutting across lots," At half 

 stage, as we found it, the channel was sufficiently dis- 

 closed to be followed, and equally well illustrated the 

 doubling track of a hare with the hounds close at his 

 heels. For a bird to rise from one side with the intention 

 of proceeding but a short distance up or down stream, 

 and alighting on the other side, and succeed twice in suc- 

 cession, would establish its claim to something of intel- 

 ligence considerably superior to instinct. At length, 

 growing weary of the monotony, I proposed to the captain 

 to set me ashore and let me have a hunt of 100yds. across 

 the base of a peninsula, while the steamer was doubling- 

 it at fifty times that distance. "Will you risk the snakes, 

 alligators and quicksands?" was the squelching reply. 



Leaving the St. John's, a few miles of navigation 

 through Snake River, still more tortuous in its windings, 

 and whose abrupt tiirnings often required the boat hands 

 to jump ashore and push the bow round with poles, 

 brought us into Salt Lake, so called from the saline taste 

 of its water, a phenomenon as yet unexplained. Our 

 voyage was terminated on the opposite side of the lake, 

 by grounding the boat an eighth of a mile from the shore. 

 A scow came off for us, having on it f our cords of wood 

 for the steamer. As our captain was supplied he declined 

 talcing it, and so our luggage to the amount of as much 

 greater weight was piled on the wood, besides fifteen or 

 twenty passengers, and the scow pushed off. Half-way 

 to the shore it grounded, and then the boatmen exclaimed, 

 "Why, here is just where it grounded going out." A fair 

 specimen of "Cracker" calculation, of which this was our 

 first, but by no means our last lesson. With the ground- 

 ing of the scow a race commenced on the part of the mule 

 and ox teams waiting for us on shore, to see which should 

 reach us first to secure a load of goods and passengers for 

 Sand Point, on the Atlantic coast, six miles distant. 

 When they reached us the cart bodies were just even 

 with the top of the water. For my part I selected a 

 single mule team. For the bridle, a cord passed through 

 the mouth and over the top of the head. Another single 

 cord to the driver on the bare back, answered for a rein. 

 A leather band supported the thills, and a collar made of 

 straw, with wooden hames and short chains, completed 

 the harness. Had the traces been of rawhide the whole 

 arrangement would have been unique as a specimen of 

 thriftlessness. Having packed on our baggage of 8001 bs., 

 with two of us on top to balance it, we started for the 

 shore, apparently better able to carry the little mule than 

 it to draw us. The intervening six miles gave us our 

 first Florida lesson in walking. Midway we passed a 

 large sand burial mound, from the top of which Professor 

 Wyman had exhumed a skeleton buried only a foot deep, 

 though 6ft. below pieces of charcoal and decayed bones 

 were discovered. 



While still hi the woods, our teamster commenced un- 

 loading at a hut constructed in part of logs and in part of 

 framework covered with boards split out oy hand. 



"Is this Sand Point?" I inquired. 



"This is Sand Point." 



"But where h- the ocean?" 



"A mile and a 'af further on." 



"Were you not to take us to the ocean, where we could 

 find a sailboat?" 



"You bargained for Sand Point, and this house is where 

 the post office used to be. To go to the wharf will cost 

 you a dollar more." 



"Did you not know when the bargain was made that 

 we expected you to take us to the "shore?" 



"A bargain's a bargain, and if you want me to take you 

 to the shore, I will come to-morrow night or Monday 

 morning, and do it for another dollar." 



Here, then, was our first lesson in "Cracker" honesty. 

 The captain of the boat having sent us ashore in the wil- 

 derness, fifteen minutes before dinner, when our appetites 

 were well whetted up for a bountiful repast, and which 

 our walk of six miles had not in the least diminished, we 

 concluded to dismiss our honest teamster and stop over 

 Sunday at the hut yclept in the guide book Sand Point 

 Hotel. 



The next day, inquiring for a church, was informed by 

 mine host of a Sabbath school recently started in a school- 

 house oiot far distant, he had "hearn tell of," but had 

 never seen. Treading my way along a cow path, I came 

 upon the building, just as the school of six pupils and two 

 teachers, one of whom was my honest teamster of the 

 day before, was assembling. The floor was of rough 

 boards, the apertures for light without glass, and the 

 long benches without backs, but the Bible was in the 

 building and the tender youth were taught its sacred 

 truths. Outside of my own tent it was my last recognized 

 Sabbath for seven weeks. 



Seeking negotiation for a sailboat, to take us a hundred 

 miles further south by the Indian River to Fort Capron, 

 the first boatman presenting himself was so under the in- 

 fluence of liquor that he was almost incoherent, though 

 profuse in praises of his boat and his skill in managing it. 

 Having declined his services, we fortunately secured the 

 best boatman and boat on the river. 



Berime Monday morning, we had our luggage stowed 

 upon the sailboat, and commenced a voyage of 100 miles 

 f urther south upon the Indian River, a misnom er for an in- 

 terior sea or rather lagoon, running parallel with the Atlan- 



tic Ocean and connecting with it by infrequent inlets. Its 

 salt water abounds in innumerable varieties of fish, while 

 the shores on either side are no less attractive to the sports- 

 man. In some places, the banks recede from each other 

 four or five miles, in others not more than 50yds. Oyster- 

 bed reefs obstruct navigation for vessels larger than com- 

 mon sailboats, but channels might be easily dredged 

 across them for the passage of a small steamer, and thus 

 open this more anspicuous region of Florida to the tourist 

 and invalid. 



Anxious to reach our most southern point of destination, 

 we restrained ourselves from capturing either fish, reptile, 

 bird or mammal, though the temptation was constantly 

 presented; especially when, to reef sail, we ran into the 

 mouth of St. Sebastian River, and saw upon the beach 

 fresh tracks of deer, wildcats, and pumas. At sundown 

 we anchored hard by the hut of our boatman's brother-in- 

 law, in which we found shelter and repose, though not 

 upon beds of down, but rather of dried hides. The larder 

 furnished venison steak and hominy for supper and break- 

 fast, hesides the inevitable pork and yam of a "cracker's" 

 repast. 



The western shore at this point presents geological 

 features of remarkable interest. That portion ordinarily 

 washed by the waves presents a bluff, 6 or 8ft. in height, 

 formed apparently of fragments of shells cemented into 

 firm rock by pressure or heat, but honey-combed with 

 cylindrical orifices 6 to 15in. in diameter extending per* 

 pendicularly from the surface of the bluff to a, line cor- 

 responding with the level of the beach at low- water mark. 

 The appearance is as though a sudden overflow of the 

 waves had deposited a mass of broken shells to the depth 

 of 10ft., more or less, around the closely growing trunks 

 of an extensive grove of palmetto trees; and then, the 

 shelly mass having consolidated ere the trees had de- 

 cayed, the moulds of the trunk remained, a geological 

 wonder. The same foundation structure is said to extend 

 inland beneath the soil to an unknown distance, having 

 been tested a half mile from the shore, and only kept de- 

 nuded on and near the beach by the more powerful action 

 of occasional storms. The geologic explanation of this 

 unique feature is a desideratum. 



Between watching the "looming" of distant "points" 

 ahead and astern, the "sailing" of pelicans and the 

 "breaking" of huge sharks, at times almost under the 

 bow of the boat, the hours of the second day whiled 

 away, till at 4 P. M. we landed at Fort Capron, the pro- 

 jected base of our swamp operations. Stepping from the 

 boat a Yankee explorer bound also to Lake Okechobee, 

 grasped my hand, and in a trice told me that he had 

 brought out a sailboat all the way from New York city, 

 with the intention of having it carried across the country, 

 sixty miles, by an ox-team, to Fort Bessinger, on Kissi- 

 mee River, down which he proposed to navigate till it 

 should usher him into the lake, and, moreover, lie was 

 only waiting to make up a party of four, having already 

 secured one. Here was a dilemma. The addition to my 

 party would make the number six, while the utmost 

 capacity of his boat would accommodate but four. It 

 was, however, quickly decided that we should all go to 

 the river together, and then mature our plans according 

 to circumstances. To secure the services of an ox-team 

 and a driver, the "Explorer" and Erwin volunteered a 

 tramp of ten miles to the cabin of a "cracker," who wag 

 understood to be able to furnish the team. On their re- 

 turn the following day they reported themselves success- 

 ful, and Saturday fixed upon as the date of our departure, 

 the "cracker" engaging to take the boat and all luggage 

 to the river at a point designated for forty dollars, 



Meanwhile indoor accommodations were furnished us 

 at Fort Capron by "mine host" Judge P., to whom I had 

 a letter of introduction from a former pupil. Erwin and 

 Fred, at the suggestion of Doctor P., commenced initiat 

 ing themselves into camp life by erecting their tents in 

 the yard. I donned my hunting suit and commenced 

 collecting, not a little encouraged in that my first seven 

 shots were each successful in securing the game. 



As the day of our departure drew near. I was informed 

 that we should pass through a settlement of outlaws, ten 

 miles distant, every man of whom had left his native 

 region for that region's good, and located himself outside 

 of "law and gospel" just over the frontier line of civiliza- 

 tion. The owner of our team was accounted a leader 

 among them, and by way of cautioning me, my inform- 

 ant related, under the promise of secrecy, the particulars 

 of a murder, within three weeks, by two of the gang, of 

 an honest, industrious German, who had made for him 

 self a home just outside of their settlement. He, being a 

 man of education and some degree of refinement, not 

 affiliating with them, and withal being envied the pos- 

 session of a better orange plantation than they had. 

 though wholly the result of his own industry, it was de- 

 cided to get rid of him on the damning charge of being a 

 stealer and killer of cattle. Among Floridian "crackers" 

 this is a far more heinous crime than that of taking 

 human life, and once fastened upon a man, if only on 

 suspicion, immediately puts him out of the protection of 

 such law as may exist. Finding their victim could not 

 be driven away, their usual resort to treachery was 

 adopted, and the deed committsd to two desperate 

 ruffians, one a young man of nineteen, whom we will 

 call Tom, and who will figure largely in the sequel of 

 this narrative. To him, as the story was told me, oiu. 1 

 team owner promised his daughter in marriage, if suc- 

 cessful. 



At first every effort was made to provoke a quarrel that 

 should give some shadow of an excuse for the execution 

 of their plot; but the iniperturbably good nature of the 

 honest German would not beguile him into a dispute. At 

 length, under the pretense of desiring some orange-slips 

 from his excellent grove, they called at his cabin and 

 asked for some dinner. Both dinner and slips wore 

 cheerfully given them, and then requesting their host to 

 set them "across the deep creek about a quarter of a mile 

 from his house, he went with them for the purpose, but 

 did. not return. Soon after leaving his wife heard f our 

 gun and three pistol shots in quick succession; but sur- 

 mising they were at game waited till near dark for her 

 husband's return and then repaired to the ci'eek, only to 

 be horrified with the sight of blood in the boat still securely 

 fastened on the other side. It was subsequently proven 

 that the assassins thought to cover up the evidence of 

 their guilt by dragging the body a half mile below and 

 tlrrustmg its dismembered fragments into alligator holes. 

 The wife, snatching up her young child, traversed the 

 gloomy wilderness for ten miles at the dead of night to 

 Fort Capron and reported the deed. 



