550 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 7, 1911. 
mountains, and so we go along through these 
dense woods to the point near Diego, where 
the old Indian trail crossed the headwaters 
of the creek, and here we cross Menendez’s 
trail. To this point he had come from the head 
of North River over Diego Plains, and through 
Diego Swamp. 
A few miles further and we come to the 
headwaters of North River, which flows into 
the sea at St. Augustine, and here we pass the 
place where the Indian trail crossed from 
west to east, and again we cross the line of 
Menendez’s march. Upon the shore stands a 
razorback hog. a representative of a fast van¬ 
ishing race. No animal of its kind is better 
adapted to secure a living in the life he leads 
than he. for he has a snout long enough and 
neck and shoulder muscles strong enough to 
enable him to follow the food well below the 
surface of the ground, and while he runs as if 
made of wood he can, nevertheless, equal the 
speed of a horse, while his formidable tusks, 
which project several inches outside of his jaws, 
enable him to kill any dog that may attack him, 
or rip open a horse approaching too near. 
This part of the country still bears the marks 
of early settlement, as ditches and small canals, 
exposed during the dredging, bear evidence. 
Not far from the left bank are the remains of 
what was a tide-mill. Some of the machinery 
is still to be seen. After making two or three 
short cuts across the necks and bends in the 
river, the canal comes once more into the main 
channel of the river, and with only an occa¬ 
sional shoal place to deepen, finds ample room 
and depth in the river. 
Cook’s Hammock affords a delightful place 
for camping and from thence along to Piney 
Island, where the river makes quite a detour. 
A few miles further on we come to what is 
known as Shell Bluff, on which stands Sabate’s 
cottage. The bluff itself represents one of the 
oldest pre-historic dwelling places of which 
there are so many along the coast. 
A couple of miles further along and we come 
to the point where the Guanas Creek comes 
into North River. The creek runs nearer the 
coast than North River. Its head is about as 
tar north as that of the river itself. The junc¬ 
tions of these streams would be about one mile 
from the coast and this would be very near the 
exact point of the thirtieth parallel where 
Ponce de Leon landed in 1513. At this point, 
formerly cleared and settled, olive trees grew. 
There may be some still standing in the woods. 
Still further down and at the head of Marsh 
Creek stands a house known as Casa Cola, and 
those which stood in the vicinity represent the 
end of the settlement of which St. Augustine 
was the center. It was also the site of a large 
Indian village, referred to by Jonathan Dick¬ 
inson in his narrative of 1699. 
Sailing on, we come to a point in the left 
bank, where in olden times the shell heaps were 
so large and numerous that limekilns were es¬ 
tablished there. Burning the shells, furnished 
the lime used in making the mortar whose 
hardness and durability, as shown in the old 
building at St. Augustine, is still our wonder, 
for it is almost as hard as rock. To the right, 
in the distance, you may still see the site of 
Fort Moosa, so long the outpost of St. Au¬ 
gustine, and where so many tragedies of war 
happened. The Indian trail passed by it. From 
its outlook no canoe could pass up or down 
the river without being seen, nor could an 
enemy come stealing along the trail without 
warning being given to the city of St. Augus¬ 
tine. The river here is not more than a mile 
from the sea, and at this point on the coast 
landed Sir Francis Drake in 1585. We are now 
in sight of St. Augustine, and on the east bank 
of the river, on what is known as North Beach, 
may still be seen the earthworks of Oglethorpe 
when he bombarded St. Augustine in 1740, then 
called Point Quamtido. 
On our left, looking toward the east and 
across the narrow neck of land that separates 
the river from the ocean, the outlook is just 
the same as when Ponce de Leon, sailing south 
from his first landing place, was entering the 
harbor which from its form, he called the Bay 
of the Holy Cross. It looks the same as when 
Laudonniere sailed up the channel in 1564. It is 
just the same as when in 1565 Menendez sailed 
up the channel and began the foundation of the 
city. It is just the same as when Sir Francis 
Drake, a few years later, came in and sought 
to destroy it. One or two houses along the 
shore are to-day to be seen, otherwise, advanc¬ 
ing civilization has not changed its appearance 
for four hundred years. I take it that there is 
no other stretch of land within two or three 
miles of any other city whose foundations go 
back anywhere near the date of the founding 
of the city of St. Augustine, whose appearance 
has changed so little. 
St. Augustine itself, with its old fort and 
gates, tells of the time when like every other 
city in the world, it was mainly an armed camp, 
ready at any time to resist the encroachment 
of the pirates of the sea and of the Indians who 
lived in the forests all about. Within the area 
Continued on page 567. 
