Florida Swamps and Forests 
October 20 . Swamp very dense during this 
day’s journey. Almost one continuous sheet 
of water covered with aquatic trees and vines. 
No stream that I crossed to-day appeared to 
have the least idea where it was going. Saw 
an alligator plash into the sedgy brown water 
by the roadside from an old log. 
Arrived at night at the house of Captain 
Simmons, one of the very few scholarly, intel- 
ligent men that I have met in Florida. He had 
been an officer in the Confederate army in the 
war and was, of course, prejudiced against the 
North, but polite and kind to me, nevertheless. 
Our conversation, as we sat by the light of the 
fire, was on the one great question, slavery 
and its concomitants. I managed, however, to 
switch off to something more congenial occa- 
sionally — the birds of the neighborhood, the 
animals, the climate, and what spring, summer, 
and winter are like in these parts. 
About the climate, I could not get much in- 
formation, as he had always lived in the South 
and, of course, saw nothing extraordinary in 
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