FOREST AND STREAM. 
{Nov. 9, 1907. 


BETWEEN 
few being seen 
turning from their daily wan 
home at night, 
The 
coast, only a gether, but re- 
dering to their island 
1 
devious channel through these narrows 
and along these islands is m st picturesque and 
delightful. Every turn in the tortuous channel 
brings into view some idea camping spot, where 
plenty of wood can ha 
the camp-fire and 
t 
ists 
where no fisherman ever a line in vain. 



Here, as the shades of night were falling, we 
were overtaken by a squall which Stirred up 
the river and rain poured down in great sheets. 
The cabin was dry to those who stayed in, but I 
Stood out with the captain and thoroughly en- 
joyed it. It was soon over and we kept the 
channel without difficulty 
The skill of the pilot he river is never 
shown to better advantage than when, night fall- 
ing, he has only his general knowledge of the 
tiver to guide him, All landmarks were lost in 
the darkness and we stole along almost by in- 
stinct, not slacking speed very much either, but 
keeping the channel as if by intuition until finally 
the lights at Fort Pierce were seen. Then we 
sailed on and on with that curious effect of light 
upon the water, which tells no story of whether 
Wt 1S near or far until you 
are close upon it, 
we were just before the wharf 
Then came for 
and sound sleep after 
orders to be ready to start again at 6 A. M. 
Fort Pierce and St Lucie and the 
the immediate vicinity have been mad 
to fishermen by the late 
fished so much for tary 
when 
the’ search 
quarters for the night. 
in 
e famous 
inlet 
Senator Quay, who 
on here and was so suc- 
cessful, but these fish can be at of 
caught 
the numerous jnlets along this 
any 
coast, 
We were all on board by 6 A. M. An open 
grocery at the foot of the wharf enabled 
us to 
replenish our larder without 
delay. The 
sat on the wharf with his line already 
ast for the early fish. The scene had changed 
A long straight stretch of open 
water; the bluff on the west side of the river 
crowned with many cottages 
coming 
any 
early boy 
c 
since yesterday. 
i 
; fields of pineapples 
to the water’s edge; everywhere 
prosperity is likely to stay as long 
apples remain 
down 
as the pine- 
a luxi:ry to men. 
The river there was like an immense straight 
canal for many miles. And now, not so far to 
the right, we noted the place where the St. Lucie 
River joins the Indian River known as Sewell’s 
Point: Almost opposite is Gilbert’s Bar, a shal- 
low inlet, and we sailed along just inside where 
one could almost throw a stone into the ocean 
beyond ; indeed, it is so close that the tide brings 
the sand of the bar over so far as to make our 
main channel very 
shallow. 
HILLSBOROUGH 
INLET AND POMPANO, 
We passed it and were at once amid the tortu- 
ous channels and islands of Jupiter Narrows. 
Here the to show, and the 
crooked channel seems to heighten the effect of 
the rapid changes of color and form. TF 
wanted to escape into the wilderness he could 
do it here, and with no company but rod and 
reel, find life, 
holiday. 
We 
finally 
mangroves begin 
one 
one 
if he loved to be alone, 
lavic 
10ng 
sailed several and 
Sound, 
for miles 
Hobe the islands of 
and the tortuous channel behind us, 
emerged 
into 
groves and 
another wide stretch of open water before us, the 
banks cultivated both and that last 
evidence of civilization, the boat club, at hand. 
As in the neighborhood of Fort Pierce, the 
pineapple 
on sides, 
plantations come down to the water. 
there was and still is, I think, a coleny 
of young Englishmen who find the life 
Here 
mostly 
pleasant. Here Joe Jefferson, of pleasant memory, 
has his winter home. Peace to that lovely spirit. 
Then the light at Jupiter came into our view 
and we sailed close to the bar as we weathered 
the point on the lighthouses stand. It 
has been an outpost of humanity for thousands 
of years, for the 
which 
light stands on a great shell 
mound, from which the very early dwellers on 
the continent, thousands of years ago, looked out 
to sea, and where the 
beacon to warn the 
has been a favorite 
his 
It 
mrodern has put up 
mariner. 
scene for the novelist. 
Sailing by the lighthouse and close to the rail- 
road, we entered the Jupiter Cut, the-canal con- 
necting the waters of Hobe Sound and Lake 
Worth. Here again the course of the canal fol- 
lowed in the main waterways that flowed, the one 
into Hobe Sound from the south, and the other 
from the north into Lake Worth. We followed 
what seemed a winding stream, with high banks 
rising on either side, as some of the deepest cuts 
along the entire length of the canal are found 
in this part of its course. 
We entered Lake Worth near its inlet, and 
as we were short of fuel, stopped at Pitt’s Island, 
which lies just inside the bar, for a small supply 
to last until we could reach West Palm Beach. 
A few yeats of time, and the expenditure of a 
great deal of money has transferred the east 
shore of Lake Worth into one of the most beau- 
tiful stretches of sub-tropical gardens to be seen 
anywhere. And this all the way to the immense 
hostelry at Palm Beach, the Royal Poinciana, Mr. 
Flagler’s residence, Whitehall, and beyond. This 
is true of all the trip. The contrasts are so 
sudden and so striking between nature’s wild 
beauty and the most highly cultivated landscape. 
After an enforced stay of several hours at West 
Palm Beach, until we were able to procure our 
venturesome 



man-~ 
supply of fuel, viz., 110 gallons of gasolene, wi 
sailed along Lake Worth, and at nightfall reachec 
the mouth of the canal, leading from the lake 
From the mouth to Delray, our stopping place 
for the night, passing by Boynton, is not so very 
far. .There we found good accommodations anc 
the usual order to be ready to start at 6 A. M 
From the station on the railroad to the canal i: 
not far, and we were all aboard and off on time 
in the bright early morning. This last stretct 
of the canal from Lake Worth to Miami musi 
be nearly sixty miles of almost continuous cut: 
ting, with here and there a lake lying in its 
course. The canal has done two things for this 
entire region; it has made a most picturesque] 
waterway where there was nothing but a chain 
of mud lakes, and it has effectually drained a 
most fertile region, and made of it the garden 
of the east coast of Florida. 





That morning we were greeted by great fields} 


1f black-eyed Susans, covering hundreds of acres, 
with their faces all turned in greeting toward the 
morning sun. 
tha 
ward the rising sun? 
makes these flowers to open their faces to- 
To all but the most stupid 
f men, he who floats upon the water as we did 
cannot fail to take in the subtle life of the water 
borders. As we to the Hills- 

and. its came 
borough, which is only like the other Hillsborough 
in name, we found ourselves upon one of those |, 
crooked streams of Florida which are a long 
repetition of the letter S, and tell the story of 
the slow rise of the land from out the ancient 
The canal necks of 
straight course, 
and enhancing 
the picturesque, as it does not seem to have in- 
terfered with the old current. A great variety 
of foliage covers the banks, and at Boca Ratone 
(Rat’s Mouth, from a little inlet from the sea) 
there is a group of royal palms planted many 
years ago, and now standing like sentinels in 
rather a lonely spot. 
has cut these 
land and made a comparatively 
thus creating numerous islands 
Se€a. across 
All the way we still were not far from the 
sea, and the little inlet of Hillsborough is indeed 
a little one. But the Hillsborough River, whose 
course the canal has followed and straightened, 
flows on to enter the sea at New River inlet. 
As we approached the inlet thé water grew so 
clear that the sandy bottom with all the playing 
fish were plainly seen. 
The homes of the winter dwellers who came 
here for fishing are on the shore, and we sailed 
along the sandy bank which forms the righthand 
shore of the Hillsborough almost to the bar, as 
if we sailed to the point of a V, almost to the 
ocean’s brink, and then making a short turn, 
entered the mouth of New River. 
New River is broad and deep; it has its source 
in the Everglades, and pours a large volume of 
water into the sea. Its banks are covered with 
a luxuriant growth, and as we proposed to visit 
the dredge at the head of the river, where the 
State is attempting to solve the problem as to 
whether or not the Everglades can be drained, 
we left our boat at the railroad bridge, at Fort 
Lauderdale, and taking a launch, were soon speed- 
ing toward that mysterious country that has thus 
far defied the traveler and even the explorer, 
whose wastes of saw grass have proved a more 
unsurmountable barrier than an African jungle. 
Mr. J. E. Ingraham and his companions came 
near losing their lives some years ago in cross- 
ing its wastes from Fort Myers to Miami, and 
the tale he tells is one of the greatest hardship 

What is nature’s subtle influence} 





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