Sept. 18, 1875. 
379 
March 17. We run out of the river into the fine Lake 
Kissimee, quite a large lake, with fine shores. We find 
a stiff but favorable breeze ruffling its surface, making 
it anything but pleasant to sail through. The water of 
the Florida lakes appear specifically lighter than our 
more Northern waters ; a light breeze raises a sea at 
once. We pass Bremen Island, named from the fact of 
some cattle imported from Bremen being placed upon it. 
Their descendants are now perfectly wild. Our sail 
starts a drove of six from out the bushes, soon to disap- 
pear into the dense timber. We coast along, passing 
four small hammocks, named by F. the “Sisters," for 
his four little daughters, and soon again enter the mouth 
of the river. Here, by the best of fortune and a good 
breeze, we work our way through the three miles of 
bonnets and floating grass to the open river below, and 
now feel that we shall meet with no more such obstruc- 
tions clear down to Lake Okeechobee. Numbers of 
alligators are now seen, some lazily slipping off the 
bank as we pass them, some asleep and oblivious of our 
nearness, others with their heads above the waters, to 
be gradually drawn under as we approach them. W’e 
abstain from shooting them, as their carcases would 
foul the w'ater. Each one seen is counted, as we want 
the sum total seen during the expedition. Water birds 
of all varieties are numerous ; beautiful flowering vines 
festoon each bush, and everything shows that we are 
approaching a truly tropical clime. We make a fine 
run, and at night camp on Orange Hammock, the low- 
est point reached by us on our former visit. 
March 18. We are now entering upon an unknown 
region to the most of us. Soon old Fort Kissimee is 
reached, and we go ashore to wander through the old 
fields. On returning aboard our boat, an accidental dis- 
charge of S.’s gun, barely missing the foot of one of our 
guides, warns us to be more careful, and to remember 
that surgical aid is impossible for us. Our camp this 
night was in a beautiful maple grove, named by' Mr. F. 
“Alabama." Here shall we rest. Nearly one mile 
above this camp a huge alligator, nearly 14 feet in 
length, was shot, and left apparently dead upon the 
bank, the bullet having gone deep into his head. Fully 
one hour afterward we are startled by tremendous 
splashings. On looking up the stretch we see his great 
body shooting out of the water, and writhing in his 
death struggles, which soon cease. This shows the great 
vitality possessed by these reptiles, and how careful a 
person should be in interviewing them. 
March 19. We reach a beautiful hummock settled by 
the younger Dortery, whose cattle range over Istock- 
pega Island. This island is formed by the junction of 
the river of that name with the Kissimee and the long 
stretches of sun grass and water to the south. On this 
island are ancient mounds, in which several relics of 
the old Spanish rule are found. E. and F., who have 
tastes for such things, were fortunate enough to obtain 
from this family two ancient axes marked V. N. , besides 
several trinkets of gold and silver. A thorough examina- 
tion would probably unearth many others, ages ago 
buried. We make a bed of the moving moss, and stretch 
ourselves out comfortably for the night. The quaint old 
live oaks in these hummocks would be studies for the 
artist, and worth a journey here to give their outlines to 
the world. We are now below the post line, and many 
vines and plants are perennial. 
March 20. To-day we reach Fort Bassinger, one of the 
prominent points during the Seminole war, for here is 
solid ground on each bank of the river, and a command- 
ing hill, where the old fort was located. Mr. Henry 
Parker has settled here, and is making some good im- 
provements. We remain here till the afternoon of tlvs 
21st, then drop down the river to the hummock of the 
elder Dortery. The evening promising rain, we take 
possession of some Indian sheds, but soon find out our 
mistake, for myriads of fleas assail us and drive us out. 
It was days before they were clear of our blankets. The 
families on this island live in palmetto sheds, nothing 
more substantial being necessary in this genial latitude. 
Here is the paradise of the invalid, and at some future 
day will be visited by thousands in search of health. 
March 23. We are now within a day’s sail of the large 
Lake Okeechobee. Mr. F. and our guide think we shall 
reach its waters in time to run over to the eastern shore 
by night. The river now becomes more crooked, the 
cut-oflfs more numerous, timber smaller, and confined to 
the cypress and bay. While turning a sharp bend of the 
river two bears stand, looking at our boat, but retire 
into the swamp before we can get a shot at them. F., 
however, shoots as they disappear, but without success. 
We land to follow them, but hear the splash as they 
rush through the swamp, which is here impracticable 
for us. Many beds of this family are found as we land 
at different points, showing them to be plenty. 
A few more bends of the river, and we enter the in- 
land sea of Okeechobee. We stand for the beach on the 
eastern side, but before we are half way over, the wind 
hauls ahead, bringing with it a tremendous sea, which 
warns us to seek safety in running for the nearest haven, 
as we are in unknown seas. We almost felt that the 
stories that had filled our ears ever since we had been in 
Florida about the spirits who }'et adide in the lake, were 
true, and they were resisting our incursion of their ter- 
territory. Toward evening we venture out to a small 
sand beach, and camp for the night. 
March 23. Before daylight we leave our uncomforta- 
ble camp, landing for breakfast near the mouth of Segler’s 
Creek, where he had his most severe action of the war 
with the Seminoles. We sail lei.surely along the shore, 
landing frequently to examine the remains of the old 
Indian towns; and seeking for relics, we find old tools, 
scraps of iron, boat gearing, and other articles left in 
their store houses, but all showing decay, and that the 
Indians have abandoned the lake forever. Many splen- 
did banana, mulberry and persimmon trees are yet left 
in their old fields. 
High up on the beach one old warrior yet remains, 
and he evidently a chief, for his insignia of rank, num- 
bers of beads, one old flint-lock gun, two axes and nu- 
merous kettles are by his side; but time has mouldered 
his cut coffln till parts of his bones and their thick skin 
covering are exposed. A few years, and he will have 
entirely disappeared. 
Many tracks of deer, wild cat and panther are seen. 
This night we reach the extreme of the beach, the end 
of solid ground. Here are remains of pottery and fine 
clay, and E. selects many specimens. 
March 24. We determine from this point to make a 
full exploration of the extreme end of the lake. After 
passing two islands, the passage between nearly filled 
with grass, we discover an opening to our left, and en- 
ter it. Here a scene of beauty is before us. The man- 
grove trees form a complete arch over our heads, while 
every foot of them is covered with the beautiful crimson 
avis plant, fully in bloom. We follow the windings of 
this inlet till it divides into numerous labyrinths far into 
the everglades. As we pass, out, we see the heads of 
numerous alligators, waked up by our intrusion; and 
here, as no hunter for their skins will visit the un- 
known inlet, we shopt them for their very 
hideousness. These creatures, in and about this 
lake, have red eyes and jaws, while those in the river 
above are black. We follow the shore line as near as 
the depth of the water will admit of, and for the whole 
distance round the southern end find no outlet, no cur- 
rent setting out of the lake. We decide that there is 
none; on the contrary this one is fast filling up with 
grass and vegetable matter reaching almost to the 
swampy shore. W'e now head for the largest of the 
islands in sight of the lower gronp, having a white beach 
line along its side. From there we think we can make 
out the tall rubber trees on Observation Island far to 
the north. Immense flocks of curlew and white heron 
are either sitting upon the bushes or flying lazily over 
the water; they show but little alarm as we sail by them. 
After passing this island we see a blue point far to the 
north of us, pronounced by F. and our guide to be the 
tops of the rubber trees on Observation Island. Assist- 
ing the sail with our four oars we soon weather the east- 
ern point and have our boat well up on the beach, not 
wishing to become Crusoes in the event of a storm. The 
island is nearly one mile long, and has a beach of white 
sand along its northern side. The centre is far above 
the water level, covered with a thick growth of rubber, 
ash, maple and persimmon trees; quite a number of 
the Indian fig-tree is scattered around. Climbing a tall 
maple tree I look upon a curlew rookery, covering the 
entire east end of the island, while to the south and 
west vast colonies of the white heron are to be seen. 
March 25. This day we pass upon the island collect- 
ing what plumes we want and selecting the male birds. 
We notice the camps of Messrs. Ober and Fletcher of 
last year, also many marks upon the trees, some quite 
old, and evidently made by the look-outs during the 
Seminole war. These have been full}' described by the 
former gentleman ; we add our names to the list. But 
one snake was killed, and no tracks of animals seen, 
making it a secure place for the birds to breed. Any- 
one wishing to turn hermit would here find a retreat 
from the world. We seek in vain for the old cathedral 
with its massive bell, though we were told by several 
that its tones could be heard miles away, and think its 
existence, like many other wonderful tales we have lis- 
tened to, to be a myth. 
March 26. We leave the island to its solitude, steering 
by comp.ass for the mouth of Fish Eating Creek on the 
western shore. We explore several inlets but fail to 
find it. We conclude that it must be so obstructed by 
drift that no current can show itself. We vainly seek 
good camping ground along the whole western shore; 
the wind rising and the waves growing momentarily 
higher, we are glad to enter a quiet inlet behind the cy- 
press trees, where we drop anchor. Stretched upon the 
seats and thwarts we prepare to pass the night. Toward 
morning I am awakened by E. bending over me. Says 
he: “I am trying to hit that ’gaiter’s head with the til- 
ler; he has been cruising within two feet of your .shoul- 
der;’’ a bullet soon sends it to the bottom. 
March 27. We re-enter the river, having made the en- 
tire round of the lake. The wind hauls to the south 
wafting us onward on our return. We reach our former 
camp at Dortery’s, but give the sheds a wide berth. 
March 28. To-day we start some ten miles inland wuth 
.some of the settlers for a tiger chase, promised us on 
our return here; but although we start our game, also a 
bear, both refuse to come out of the saw-grass to be 
minced by man. A wild-cat is killed, al.so a deer, but 
we are forced to return without our coveted panther. 
March 30. Saying good-bye to our hospitable friends 
we pull up the river. The dead rivers, or bayous, are 
filled with fish, jumping out of the water in all direc- 
tions, while the alligators are siezing them by scores. 
We again pass our old camps, stopping at the most 
pleasant ones, varying our journey with hunting, deer 
and turkeys, the latter so plenty that we were sorry to 
see them brought to camp. On the 9th of April arriving 
at the “Hunter’s Retreat,” having traveled the entire 
length of the Kissimee River to the end of Okeechobee 
Lake. Comparing notes with each other we found the 
actual count of alligators seen during our expedition to 
be twenty -one hundred and eighty. 
TaE. Denver News tells of the Yale E.xploring Party 
as follows: 
Many new and interesting results have been obtained 
since my last letter. Since the the fifth of .July we 
have shipped fifteen hundred and ninety pounds of fos- 
sil vertebrates, comprising sixty-four saurians, fifteen 
pterodactyls and one bird. Among the saurians were ob- 
tained the largest and smallest specimens of the mesosaa- 
rian order known. The one comprising the head and 
twelve vertebral weighing one hundred and seventy-five 
pounds, and the other, including one hundred vertebrae 
and fragments of the head, ribs and paddles, weighing 
one pound. Perhaps this size will be more readily ap- 
preciated by saying that the larger one would have 
measured more than fifty feet in length, and was 
more than one hundred times larger than the smaller 
one, which was estimated at about four feet and a 
a half long. One, at least, if not both, are of a new 
species. The head of this monster reptile was found 
perfect, measuring from the tip of its snout to the oc- 
cipital condyles, forty-four and a half inches. The ver- 
tebrie were six inches long, and weighed nearly four 
pounds each. Among the saurians was one excellent 
specimen of the Plesiosaurus order. Bird remains in 
this formation are exceedingly rare. During the entire 
year but one single specimen was obtained. Thi.s, how- 
ever, was one of the very best. The specimen com- 
prised nearly half the skeleton of a heavy aquatic bird 
Bones of the legs, feet, wings and vertebrae were 
extremely well preserved, and about two-thirds 
of the head. The species is undoubtedly new. 
It is now on the way to .New Haven, and will 
shortly be described by Professor Marsh. Scarce- 
ly less interesting than these vertebrate fossils are 
discoveries made among the invertebrates. To-day 
Prof. Mudge brought to camp a numb'er of fine speci- 
mens of baculites, the first known to have been obtained 
from this formation. They were found about a half a 
mile from this station. They closel}' resemble the naut- 
ilus in general characteristics, but are straight instead 
of being coiled. The nautilus proper has never been 
known in this formation before this summer. A second 
large lot of crinoids or encrinites was found last week, 
excellently preserved. The genus is probably new, 
and the specimens are creating considerable interest 
among scientific men. It is not only in fossils that these 
plains have become so interesting to scientific men; but 
the quality of the mineralogical specimens is unsurpassed 
anywhere in America. Calo spar, very regular and 
clear in its crystallization, can be obtained by the ton. 
Barytes, or heavy spar, in .small crystals, is more or 
less scattered throughout the lime crystals; to-day, how- 
ever, a single twin crystal, regular, translucent and am- 
ber-colored, and weighing eiglit and a quarter pounds, 
was found, by the Professor in this vicinity. Sheridan 
has for some years been known for the perfection of its 
selenite or gypsum crystals. They arc of the leaf form 
never known in America. !Mos3 agates and various 
other gems of great beauty exist in great profusion, 
washed down from the tertiary sandstone. 
Tsb hull of the Great Eastern has not been cleaned since 1867. 
While on the grid recently fur cleaning, the mussels adhering to her 
bottom were computed at 3t0 tons weight. 
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