FOREST AND STREAM 
299 
CANADIAN! 
A PACIFIC ) 
\\ railway/^ 
our cooking vessels, consisting of two long-han¬ 
dled frying-pans, a coffee pot, a sheet iron water 
boiler, a dishpan, a small Dutch oven, a large and 
a small bucket, six tin cups, a small box of 
knives, forks and spoons, an axe, a heavy 
hatchet, and a dozen tin plates, together with our 
bedding, we packed in the large boat. This bed¬ 
ding consisted of one heavy blanket for each of 
us, and three hammocks of our own devising. 
These were made by taking two strips of heavy 
bed-ticking, four feet wide and six and one-half 
feet long, sewing them together along the sides, 
and at one end, binding a bunch of cotton into 
each corner, and behind these bunches tying 
strong cotton clothes-line cords. These cords, 
when tied to trees or stakes, held the hammocks 
above water or damp ground. When we camped 
for more than a single night in one place, we 
filled these bags with dry leaves, pine needles, or 
dry Spanish moss. When sleeping on them, we 
spread the large blanket over them, lay down 
upon the middle of the blanket, and drew the 
overhanging sides across our bodies. 
Our store of provisions consisted of bacon 
sides, one ham, fifty pounds of flour, an equal 
amount of corn meal, four pounds of ground 
coffee, one-half pound of tea, a gallon bucket 
full of lard, a few pounds of butter, plenty of 
sugar, salt, soda and pepper, a large' bottle of 
horse radish and vinegar, twenty ears of pop' 
corn, a few eggs, ten loaves of white bread, a 
good supply of half-grown onions, five pounds 
of rice, and a few young potatoes. Each of us 
carried a four-ounce bottle filled with matches, 
securely stoppered against possible wet. 
We took along two canvas “flies,” each nine 
feet by twelve, which, when stretched over a pole 
or taut cord became an “A” tent nine feet square. 
A hundred feet of strong cotton cord about the 
same diameter as that of a lead pencil, was an 
important item. A peck of wheat and an equal 
amount of shelled corn taken along at the sug¬ 
gestion of Jordan, proved the wisdom of the 
black man. 
We camped that night at the edge of the great 
swamp, because we had exhausted most of the 
day in preparation, and because of our wish to 
try out our hammocks. When stretched by the 
four corners to young trees, they proved so per- 
fectely adapted to our purposes that I have of¬ 
ten since used them when camping in the wild. 
The crackle of Jordan’s fire aroused us before 
daylight the next morning, and the three of us 
joined in cooking what we called the “departure 
breakfast.” Maurice and I were so anxious for 
the plunge into the unknown that we could not 
do the meal justice, but Jordan betrayed neither 
hurry nor anxiety. He knew the toil that im¬ 
pended. 
The spring and early summer of the year 1866 
had been backward, with a very unusual amount 
of rain, and, as Jordan said, the swamp was 
“high.” The streams flowing into it ran bank 
full or overflowing, and as we slowly glided down 
the Suwannee Creek, the first two miles were un¬ 
eventful. Obstructions multiplied every mile 
thereafter. At many points we had to cut our 
way through tangled logs. At others, make 
sloppy portages, and when at the end of less 
than five miles, we camped upon the north end 
of a long island called by Jordan “Parmetter” 
(Palmetto) Island, it was nearly sunset. Upon 
a map contained in Wright and Harper’s Biolog¬ 
ical Reconnaissance of Okefinokee Swamp, this 
island is no doubt correctly called “'Craven’s 
Island.” We had with us a copy of a map made 
for the state of Georgia nine years before, which 
proved to be useless, because nothing within the 
swamp was found in place. Our pocket compass 
was almost as inefficient, for our bearings taken 
along the thousand sinuosities of our route 
meant nothing. The stream widened near the 
upper end of this island, and the level of the 
water being high, we got upon the dry land with 
little difficulty. The island was not in the creek, 
but in the cypress swamp westward from the 
creek, and seemed to rise but a little above the 
level of the water. Much of it was sandy pine 
barren, underset with the saw-palmetto and 
huckleberry brush. Here we wasted about a 
dozen good arrows in the vain pursuit of some 
wood ducks that would not fly but swam in and 
out of the short brush and logs along the west 
margin of the pond or wider part of the creek. 
That night the Okefinokee proved its power. 
Oppressively silent during the day, it relaxed 
now, and the night gave up its voices. There was 
no wind, the air was very warm and, outside the 
glare of our campfire, the blackness seemed 
dense. The frogs’ serenade began early but 
ceased by nine o’clock. The great barred owls 
sent their deep, far-reaching cries through the 
Gamy Fish 
At Point an Bari!, Georgian Bay, French and Pickerel Rivers 
Black bass, muskallonge and other gamy fish in abundance. The waters of the 
30,000 Islands of Georgian Bay are considered inexhaustible. Make Point au 
Baril your Georgian Bay center. Good hotels. French and Pickerel Rivers, only 
recently accessible, are each a veritable paradise for fishermen. Go there by the 
Canadian Pacific Railway 
Write for Booklet No. 509 
W. H. SNELL, G. A. P. D„ 458 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N. Y. 
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STEEL BOATS 
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481 Franklin Street Salem, Ohio 
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