FIRST 
.OUTDOOR 
.. 
SOCIETY 
18 6 © 
Vol. LXXXVII 
DECEMBER, 1917 
No. 12 
LOST IN THE WASTES OF THE EVERGLADES 
By W. LIVINGSTON LARNED 
MAN and two boys, 
sick, discouraged, 
weakened by thirst and hunger, and 
scarcely able to drag themselves along 
the soggy hummocks, came suddenly 
upon a dead wall of tangled under¬ 
brush. There was no going farther! 
The sluggish stream they had followed, 
foul and grey-green in the dim light, 
disappeared beneath low-hanging mass¬ 
es of fern and vine. Somewhere, in 
the immense and mystic silence a Cur¬ 
lew cried . . . and was gone. 
The Man drew apart from the 
young members of his party. Half 
screened by foliage, he bowed his 
head and his lips murmured a prayer. 
He crumpled his wet hat in ever- 
FOREWORD: 
M 
tightening, nervous fingers. Some 
great, supremely high Power must 
rescue them. Their own efforts had 
brought them nothing. Death seemed 
nearer at hand than ever before! 
For weeks and weeks these three 
desperate members of a little end- 
neering party had fought the myster¬ 
ies and the baffling acreage of the 
Florida Everglades. And on the 
sixth day of March, poisoned by 
tainted waters and wasted from lack 
of food, their last lead proved another 
blind alley. That impenetrable barrier of swamp thicket 
was as invincible as though made of stone. They could 
only retrace their steps—back, back, to the chain of 
miserable coastal hummocks and muddy streams and 
barren, angular islands, and the nauseous sluices filled 
UCH has been written about 
the Everglades and many 
attempts made to explore 
these water wastes, but they re¬ 
main today practically virgin to 
the explorer. This report of the 
King expedition that Forest and 
Stream is presenting to its headers 
is a valuable addition to the geo¬ 
graphical and biological knowledge 
of this section. It is of particular 
interest to the sportsman and nat¬ 
uralist as Mr. King is a trained 
naturalist and zvoodsman as zvell 
as a civil engineer. His diary, 
packed to the brim with educa¬ 
tional notes, and his photographic 
records indicate a mind that closely 
observes all the quainter phases of 
Nature. The dramatic interest of 
the report of the expedition that 
Mr. Lamed has written so clearly 
is due to its being founded on- 
accurate scientific reports .— Editors. 
with putrid fish! They must manu¬ 
facture a new Hope and a false 
strength. That or disaster! Could they do it? Was 
there even need of trying? Would it be best to form a 
circle in the dim swamp and, with linked hands, take 
from Mr. King’s Medicine Kit that which would bring 
an unawakening sleep and end the story ? 
How the last desperate stand*was made . . how the 
King Paity won over almost unbelievable hardships 
. . . how the Everglades were mastered and the 
wonderful, enchanted trip down Shark 
River, past chattering villages of Cur¬ 
lew, negotiated, on the last leg of one 
of the most remarkable exploring ex¬ 
peditions of our times, will all be told 
and illustrated in chapters to follow. 
The narrative is not fiction. Every 
word of it was written in collabora¬ 
tion with the Man who headed the 
party. While the entire South hung 
feverishly in the balance, and search¬ 
ing parties were scouring the swamps, 
and aeroplanes from the aviation 
Camp at Miami, Mr. King and his lit¬ 
tle party were as completely shut off 
from the world as though lodged in 
Mars. That their real mission was 
achieved and important Government 
work accomplished, despite the most 
horrible suffering, was due to the 
indomitable perseverance and bravery 
of the individual members of the exploring party. 
And this expedition brought back to civilization a 
new story of the phantom Everglades. Parts of it, never 
before trod by human feet, were staked by Mr. King 
and the boys and invaluable scientific data collected. 
