Nov. t% 1587.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



326 



The following: week the sheriff of the county, with a 

 posse of ten men, started for the settlement with the in- 

 tention o? arresting the guilty parties. When within 

 live miles of it lie was met by a delegation informing 

 him tihstf his design was known, and the whole neighbor- 

 hood was assembled in one cabin with plenty of arms and 

 provisions, and ready to endure a siege, but no one could 

 be arrested while a man or woman remained alive. 

 Under these circumstances, and considering "discretion 

 the better part of valor," the sheriff beat a hasty retreat. 

 Tli us J-.he matter stool two weeks subsequent, as I was 

 about to enter the community, my informant closing up 

 bis narration with tbe remark that he felt it his duty to 

 lei me know the character of those to whom I was about 

 to trust myself aud my party, but cautioned me on no ac- 

 count to breathe a suspicion of any one or reveal the 

 secret to either of my companions, lest it might be sus- 

 pected by the outlaws that we had some knowledge avail- 

 able to the government, and, on the principle that "dead 

 men tell no tales," find our last resting place in concealed 

 alligator holes, even if their cupidity should permit us to 

 return from the swamp after they had fleeced us to the 

 extent we might permit. Forewarned, forearmed, I the 

 more persistently determined to penetrate the mystery 

 and walk the strand of Lake Okechobee. 



Saturday, punctually at 12 o'clock, our teamster ap- 

 peared with two yoke of steers attached to a double set of 

 shaky wheels. In an hour or two the boat was launched 

 upon the axles and loaded with our provisions of coffee, 

 hominy, bard-tack and pork; our ammunition, of powder 

 and shot; our preserving materials, of salt, arsenic and 

 alcohol (the latter poisoned, lest the teamsters should be 

 tempted to try the preserving of themselves with it); our 

 capturing apparatus, of fish-net, insect-nets, etc., (guns, 

 pistols and hatchets are on such trips to be a constant ap- 

 pendage of the person l ; besides the camera and necessary 

 chemicals of the Explorer for procuring pictures of the 

 ruins said to be in the lake. When ready to start, I saw 

 plainly the weight was too much for the wheels, and pre- 

 dicted a breakdown, to which, however, no other one of 

 the party would listen. 



The cabin of the teamster lay upon the direct route to 

 the lake, ten miles distant, where we expected to make 

 our first encampment. All went well till we entered the 

 bordering swamp of Five Mile Creek, when, after wading 

 deeper and deeper for half a mile, and the oxen were just 

 ready to plunge in all over for a swim across the channel, 

 crash went one of the wheels. There was no alternative 

 but to wade back to dry land and camp without our tent. 

 Fortunately, our provisions and cooking utensils were on 

 the top of the load, and, by judicious distribution of the 

 weight, easily borne back. From a stagnant pool near 

 our camping place we obtained water for our coffee, after 

 frightening" away from the margin the lizards, etc., and 

 then straining it to get rid of the smaller nuisances, both 

 vegetable and animal. Eolled up in our blankets, we 

 composed ourselves to sleep with clouds of mosquitoes 

 settling down upon every exposed spot of flesh, and amid 

 the hooting of owls and howling of wild beasts, having 

 just before the breakdown crossed the fresh track of a 

 puma. To repair the damage there was no alternative 

 but for the teamster and his driver to push on with the 

 oxen to his home and return as soon as a new set of 

 wheels could be procured. 



At neon, on Monday, he reappeared with a stouter set, 

 for which he had meanwhile made an entirely new axle. 

 Transferring the load, the old wheels were left in their 

 tracks, wh ere five weeks later they still remained. Reach- 

 ing the bank of the creek, it was f ound that neither oxen 

 nor wheels could touch bottom. To effect a crossing, the 

 yoke was taken off, and swum over, and so placed on the 

 opposite shore as to be quickly hitched on again. The 

 driver stripped naked, as well as the Explorer and Er win, 

 the former to swim at the heads of the oxen at the risk of 

 being gored in their wild plunges, the other two to swim 

 astern and guide the boat against the cm-rent. The mo- 

 ment the steers got foothold, on the opposite bank, they 

 i-efused to move, leaving the wheels sinking in the quick- 

 sands and the boat rising from the. axles. It was a criti- 

 cal moment, but the leaders being hitched on and a sim- 

 ultaneous shout raised by all, a "long pull and a strong 

 pull altogether" landed the boat on the bank and relieved 

 our anxiety. 



Five miles further brought us to the clearing of our 

 "teamster." Selecting a place for a camp, I went on 

 alone to a well near the cabin, and observed two men 

 dressing a hog hung to the limb of a tree. Coming sud- 

 denly upon them around a corner of the cabin, I noticed 

 that the younger of the two instantly dropped his work 

 and rushed for the cabin door, out of which he soon 

 issued with a double-barreled gun in his hand and stood 

 defiant. Apparently not noticing him, I passed back to 

 my companions, wondering at his behavior. Soon our 

 teamster took me aside and asked why I wore a pistol 

 belt with TJ. S. on the buckle. I told him I had borrowed 

 it from my cousin, who was color-bearer of his company 

 during the late war. "Then you are not a United States 

 Marshal?'' To me the idea was so ridiculous I could not 

 restrain my laughter, and he returned to his cabin. Sub- 

 sequently I learned that the young man was "Tom," and 

 the United States belt with its pistol on one side and claw- 

 hatchet on the other, together with the gun in my hand, 

 had aroused his suspicion that I had come with a posse in 

 disguise for his arrest. "The criminal doth fear each 

 bush an officer." Spreading our tent and smoking out 

 the mosquitoes with pine knots. Fred and myself slept 

 soundly with the expectation of rising at daylight to 

 renew our trip to the lake. 



In the morning we were told by our teamster that the 

 load was twice as heavy as he promised to carry and he 

 should go no further unless it was reduced at least one- 

 third, and he was paid sixty dollars instead of forty. 

 Lesson second in "Cracker" honesty. Fred and myself 

 volunteered to remain, while Doctor P. and Erwin in- 

 sisted on advancing. Assuring Erwin I should see the 

 lake before leaving Florida, if health permitted, he still 

 chose to take Iris risk with the Explorer, alleging that he 

 left New England with that sole object in view and now 

 saw no other certainty but to go with the boat. Poor 

 fellow, he went on, and he saw the lake and circumnavi- 

 gated it, but while lying on his back most of the time for 

 five weeks, shaking with fever and ague, hardly firing 

 his gun during the whole trip. Of all this I was happily 

 ignorant till I found him on my return from the swamps 

 at Fort Capron, unable to walk across the room. 



Just before they were ready to start, the teamster came 

 to me and said he had in the woods another pair of steers 



that six months before had been yoked. These Tom 

 would catch and with a light cart take the luggage of 

 Fred and myself on the morrow, and carry us too, except 

 in the deepest wading places. By following their wheel 

 tracks and with a light load, we could easily overtake 

 them. Besides, we had learned from a neighbor during 

 the evening that Fort Bassinger was not more than ten 

 miles from the lake; moreover, this neighbor had left a 

 boat at the fort, in which he would take Fred and myself 

 to the la'-e and back to the fort in one clay, while the 

 oxen were resting. Then we would return to his cabin 

 together, and let the rest of the party pursue their plan of 

 exploring the lake. For this service he must receive four 

 dollars per day, including Tom's wages, who was at work 

 for him. The plan sseming feasible, I concluded to adopt 

 it, and after much persuasion obtained Tom's consent, 

 who was not yet, as I afterwards learned, entirely free 

 from the suspicion of my being a United States officer 

 sent to arrest him . 



After frivolous delays of several hours Tom started for 

 the woods, and toward night drove into the inclosure a 

 "bunch" of cattle ha ving one of the steers wanted. In 

 singling this one out with the lasso it leaped the fence 

 and was quickly out of sight again. He must now go a 

 mile and get a neighbor, who, by the way, was his re- 

 puted companion-assassin, and the twain go two miles in 

 another direction and borrow some dogs, with which to 

 catch the runaway steer. About ten at night they pass 

 my tent, Tom ahead on a horse, holding one end of a rope 

 around the horns of the steer: his companion, on foot, 

 holding on to a rope around one hind leg of the animal, 

 which bad been caught by the nose with bloodhounds. 

 The next morning the woods were again scoured for the 

 other steer, which was brought in similarly about uoon. 

 An inspection of the cart decided, in the hxind of Tom, 

 that the wheels were too weak, and he mu3t borrow a 

 pair from a neighbor some eight miles away. This he 

 would do next day and be ready to start, Friday morning, 

 three days behind time. Yielding at length to my re- 

 monstrances, he started soon after dinner to exchange 

 the wheels and break in the wild steers, returning past 

 midnight. In the morning the last caught steer was 

 Utterly exhausted, and the third day of delay must after 

 all be spent in hunting up and breaking in another, 

 Friday morning we started, the first essay of the wild 

 creatures being to upset the load in their zig-zagging 

 through "a right smart palmetery"— rough palmetto 

 roots above ground. J. W. P. Jenkb. 



Bnows University, Providence, H. 1. 



Kintal j§istorg. 



Address all communimtions to tlie Forest and Stream Puh. Co. 



NOTES OF THE FIELDS AND WOODS. 



in. 



IT IS interesting to think of the changes that have taken 

 place in the plant world under the hand of man. _ It 

 was not very long ago that our fields, now waving with 

 wheat and maize, and our hillsides and valleys, covered 

 with the soft verdure cropped by the grazing herds, were 

 occupied solely by plants native to the soil. They grew 

 and flowered and' scattered their seeds to the wind under 

 no husbandry save that of nature. There was no favor 

 shown then; tender plants and strong were treated alike. 

 There was the virgin soil for all, and there were light 

 and heat and rain for all, but there was no breaking up of 

 soil for the destruction of some, nor scattering and cover- 

 ing of seeds for the introduction of others in their places. 

 Nevertheless there was a great, though silent, struggle 

 for place going on. Nature is prodigal. Every plant pro- 

 duces seeds calculated to increase its kind a hundredfold. 

 But where every inch of soil is taken there can 

 be no increase of numbers. Hence the struggle; 

 of the hundred seeds flung to the winds there 

 was room for the development of but one; the 

 ninety and nine were choked out in the strife 

 for existence. The struggle was between members of 

 the same species, but more observably between different 

 species. The contest was fiercest here, silent but intense. 

 The weakest species must go to the wall. It was a 

 survival of the fittest, if fittest means hardiest and pos- 

 sessing greatest adaptability to surroundings. For in 

 this warfare there was one alternative to utter destruc- 

 tion, and that was retreat. Many species of plants saved 

 themselves from extermination by withdrawing from the 

 soil first contested and adapting themselves to new condi- 

 tions. Take, for example, the lichens. Now we see 

 them growing in apparently very disadvantageous situa- 

 tions, on bare rocks, the trunks of trees, roofs, etc. Can 

 it be doubted that they have taken these abodes for any 

 other reason than that they have been crowded out of 

 better ones? Their capability of adapting themselves 

 to changed conditions doubtless saved them from 

 utter extinction. They are secure in then- present places, 

 for no other plants could live under the same conditions. 

 It is not unlikely that the dry, brittle, crumpled growth 

 that now clings with slender hold upon the bare rock was 

 once a green pulpy leaf, full of sap and vigor. The lichens 

 were among the first plants to appear upon the earth. 

 It is only a speculation, but it does not seem too great a 

 license to imagine that at first they consisted of a green 

 thallus (like that of the liverworts) held to the ground by 

 thread-like roots and getting their food from air and 

 soil. But new plants came into being and sought pos- 

 session of the same soil. The newer were hardier and 

 grew more vigorously and gradually crowded out the 

 first possessors. But here and there was a favorable situ- 

 ation for the tender lichen; some spot rich enough in 

 means of life to supply its humble wants, but not those 

 of its rivals. Gradually it adapted itself more perfectly 

 to its new surroundings; its manner of life became modi- 

 fied to fitness to its new environment. Formerly depend- 

 ent upon soil and ah it came at length to find sustenance 

 in the latter element only. There it could, grow and 

 flourish upon the rocks and" trunks of trees. Then must 

 have come a new chapter in the lichen's history. For it 

 is now known that these plants are not sol sly aerial in 

 their habits, but that they live partly by parasitism upon 

 other plants — minute single-celled alga?, that live inside 

 the lichen leaf. These little green cells scattered 

 in the tissues of the leaf were until a few years 

 ago supposed to be true cells of the lichen plant. They 

 were known to be singularly like the minute alga? that 



live everywhere on the bark of trees, old I'oofs and sim- 

 ilar situations, giving to the surfaces to which they ad- 

 here a green color. And it was observed that the green 

 cells inside the lichen leaf multiplied in just the same 

 way as the alga? living outside, namely, by division. 

 Tims a few cells in the leaf would increase to very many, 

 forming rows and layers that filled the spaces between 

 the filaments of the lichen leaf. Finally it was observed 

 that these filaments gave off branches which applied 

 themselves to the green cells and absorbed nourishment 

 from them. These observations led to the opinion that 

 the green cells were just what they seemed to be— algas 

 living inside the lichen leaf, protected and kept moist by 

 it, and in compensation giving up a part of their substance 

 as food for the lichen plant. Thus a lichen is not a simple 

 plant, but a community of two kinds of plants, each af- 

 rding service to the other. 



Now, it is not difficult to imagine how. the alga? came 

 to be tenants of the lichen plant. In the first place, the 

 alga? live in their natural free condition in the same situ- 

 ations as the lichens, as on the bark of trees. It would, 

 therefore, very easily come about that alga? cells would 

 become lodged upon a young, growing lichen leaf. This 

 situation being a favorable one, they would thrive there, 

 and the lichen leaf would slowly grow around them and 

 finally inclose them among its own cells. The algse cells 

 would then give of then" substance to the lichen cells 

 lying contiguous to them., and thus a parasitism be estab- 

 lished. These suggestions seem much the more plausible 

 from the fact that it is in just this way that we must con- 

 ceive the alga? to get inside the leaf of a lichen of to-day. 

 The must lodge upon the leaf and then be inclosed by the 

 latter in its growth. The alga? cells doubtless sustain 

 themselves in the same way as those living in a free con- 

 dition outside, namely, by materials derived from the air 

 and rain. 



The lichens are interesting plants m other ways besides 

 their manner of obtaining food. They are remarkable 

 for the great age to which they live; there is good ground 

 for believing that they endure as long as a hundred years. 

 An authority states that some plants have been forurd by 

 actual observation to endure forty-five years. Their 

 growth is exceedingly slow, indicating that only a little 

 nourishment serves to keep them alive. In a dry time 

 they have power of suspending growth altogether, renew- 

 ing it again at the fall of rain. In time of rain they 

 change then - color, becoming greener. Another interest- 

 ing fact about lichens is that they grow only where the 

 air is free from smoke or dust. They are never found 

 growing in the neighborhood of towns where the atmos- 

 phere is impregnated with soot and smoke. Thus these 

 plants afford an indication of the purity of the air. 



The lichens are of no little use to man. Some of our 

 most valuable dyes are made from them, and in the far 

 North, as is well known, the Iceland moss (a true lichen) 

 furnishes food to both man and his indispensable ally, the 

 reindeer. This animal scrapes away the snow with its 

 feet and crops the lichen from the ground, this plant con- 

 stituting its sole food. As the reindeer is not only a beast 

 of burden to the Icelander, but also furnishes him with 

 food and clothing, it is seen that the lichens render these 

 regions habitable. No plants grow in latitudes so far 

 north as they. 



There are quite a number of kinds of common lichens. 

 Most of them consist of a fiat, crumpled, grayish-green 

 leaf-like growth, but some have branched stem-like parts 

 growing out at an angle to the surface to which the 

 plants are attached. Lichens, like the other cryptogamic 

 plants, reproduce by means of spores. They grow in 

 cavities, which in the most common lichens are arranged 

 in discs easily discernible to the eye. The spores escape 

 from the cavities and under favorable circumstances 

 germinate into new plants. The entire productive pro- 

 cess of the lichens is not well understood. It is probable 

 that besides the spores other reproductive cells are pro- 

 duced, which are of a sexual nature aud which by their 

 union form a germ cell. 



When one goes out for a stroll in the fields nothing is 

 more common than to go further than one intended or 

 take a different direction from that in which one set out. 

 It has been so in the present writing. The writer had in 

 mind to put down some notes upon the changes that the 

 plant would have undergone under the cultivation of the 

 soil. The imagination likes to dwell upon the time when 

 the earth was virgin, when nature's face was yet un- 

 touched by the hand of man, our hillsides were covered 

 with mighty forests. The great trees threw out their 

 thousand leaves to summer's breeze or swayed their 

 pliant arms in winter's blasts. Our plains were carpeted 

 with endless wealth of grass and herb, waving in sum- 

 mer's wind and lifting up a thousand flowers to summer's 

 sun. But the woodsman's axe came and leveled the for- 

 ests, and the plough— that perfect engine of plant de- 

 struction — came, breaking through the soil, turning the 

 roots of the plants up to the scorching sun and the tender 

 light-loving blades down to darkness. Then upon the 

 fresh upturned earth seeds were scattered; seeds brought 

 from chines beyond the sea; they took root and flourished 

 and brought forth their kind. They have never relin- 

 quished their hold upon the new soil. The native plants 

 have never regained what for countless generations was 

 their own without dispute. To man was given dominion 

 over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. To 

 him was given every herb bearing seed, which is upon 

 the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the 

 fruit of a tree yielding seed; to him was it given for 

 meat. S. 



Is This the Sea-serpent?— The Cape Ann Advertiser 

 says: The schooner M. A. Baston, of this port, Capt. 

 Thomas Thompson, brought in a very peculiar species of 

 fish, caught on the LaHave Bank, and which resembles 

 the pictures and descriptions of a sea-serpent more than 

 anything brought into Gloucester. Nothing of the kind 

 has ever been seen by the fishermen or experts in the mat- 

 ter of rare fish. It answers no published description in 

 the works devoted to the. subject. It is 4ft. in length and 

 about 5.in. through, has one long dorsal fin extending the 

 whole length of the back. The head is triangular shaped, 

 the lower jaw extending 3in, beyond the uppt r jaw and 

 terminating in a soft extremity.' Both jaws are armed 

 with very sharp teeth, resembling those of a porpoise. The 

 upper jaw has three long prongs at the extreme tip. The 

 rest of the upper teeth are very fine and small. It was 

 packed in ice at the rooms of the American Fish Bureau, 

 and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 

 in gt on. 



