Class Book. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. # THE Knockabout Club. NOW PUBLISHED. KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE WOODS. KNOCKABOUT CLUB ALONGSHORE. KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE TROPICS. By C. a. STEPHENS, AUTHOR OF "the young MOOSE-HUNTERS, "CAMPING OUT," ETC. KNOCKABOUT CLUB in the EVERGLADES. By F. a. OBER, AUTHOR OF " TRAVELS IN MEXICO," ETC. IN THE EVERGLADES. THE Knockabout Club In the Everglades THE ADVENTURES OF THE CLUB IN EXPLORING LAKE OKECHOBEE By F. a. OBER AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN MEXICO," ETC FULLY ILLUSTRATED BOSTON ESTES AND LAURIAT Copyright, 1887, By EsTEs AND Lauriat. All rights reserved. >^ ,^ \' CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. On Board the " Wandering Wind " 1 1 II, The Great Mosquito Lagoon 21 III. Among the Live-Oakers 31 IV. Pottery and Panthers 41 V. A Hunt for Turtle-Eggs 50 VI. Down the Indian River 63 VII. A Bear-Hunt on the Beach . ^ 77 VIII. Good Indians and Bad White Men 90 IX. Ten Days with the Seminoles 102 X. Lake Okechobee , 121 XL More about Lake Okechobee .142 XII. Indian Traditions and Folk-Lore 156 XIII. Something about Camping out 175 XIV. A Turkey-Hunt in the Piny Woods 185 XV. Herons and Alligators 195 XVI. Down the Ocklawaha 202 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page In the Everglades Frontispiece The "Wandering Wind" bound out . 13 Florida Coast 19 Lighthouse on the Coast 23 Scissor-Bills fishing 25 Fishing on the Florida Coast .... 27 An Episode of the Seminole War . . 35 " Numerous channels running off east and west " 39 The House on the Lagoon 43 The Naturalist in Florida 47 " A panther crept stealthily up" ... 51 Fishing for the Hammer-Fish .... 55 " Seizing a flipper and laying hold be- neath the upper shell " 58 Phosphorescence at Sea 59 Tiger Tail 65 A Little Bay back of Oleander Point . d"] The Great Colony of Pelicans , . . . 71 " A black paw reached up and grasped the rail " 75 " Birds that hovered in clouds above the bar" 79 Turtle on the Beach 81 Hunted by the Bear 83 " Toting " the Bear Z^ '* As soon as the anchor dropped we all turned in " 91 An Okechobee Indian 93 The Murderers' Cabin 95 The Camp in the Pine Woods .... 97 " Lang was a shrewd German " . . . 100 Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles . . . 103 Page "The desperate leaps of our frightened horses " 104 " His plantation was a mile away, in the cypress hammock" ..!... 105 " The next day the performance began " 109- " The gloom of the cypress " .... 113. " It was a desperate situation" . . . 117 " Impenetrable swamp and gloomy for- est " 119 On the St. John's 123 Van Buster 126 Flats and Prairies of the St. John's . . 130 Herons 135 " Soon the river resumed its crooked course " 139 The Camp on the Island 143 A Mounted Warrior . 153 Indian Scalp-Dance 157 Indian Burial-Place 161 An Incident in Indian Warfare . . . 165 Death of King Philip 169 Burial of De Soto 173 A Curious Floating Island 177 An Unpleasant Neighbor 181 One of the Doctor's Finds 184 The Home of the Heron 187 Herons and Alligators 193 Green Heron 197 " I was astride the tail, in the stern of the boat " 200 " Two brawny men soon after entered " 209 A " Walking-Stick " 212 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. CHAPTER I. ON BOARD THE "WANDERING WIND." THE MATE ON DECK. 'HE "Wandering Wind" was a handsome schooner, of about two hundred tons; and the second trip she ever made was perhaps the most famous of all, before and after, because it was on this voyage she carried the party whose adventures are to be ^ herewith described. The " party " proper consisted of two individuals. Their fares were paid to Mosquito Inlet, coast of Florida; and their luggage and mer- chandise — a ton's weight or more — were stowed away in the hold. It was a' cold December day on which they left Boston and sailed out of its harbor. That night their vessel managed to double Cape Cod ; but the greater part of the following week was passed in various harbors on the south coast of the cape, either wind-bound or rolling at the mercy of the heavy seas. Even after ten days had passed, they were no farther along than the harbor of Newport ; but after that they struck the right wind on the quarter, and put to sea in good earnest. They made such good time 12 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. that the " Wandering Wind " was driven in shore near Frying-Pan Shoals by a gale that came along out of season, and narrowly escaped the fate of a government cruiser which foundered almost before their very eyes. The mate said that he thought they " might as well visit every harbor on the Atlantic coast, and done with it ; " and if they ever got to Florida, they might thank their lucky stars. But they did reach their destination three weeks from the day they last sighted the Mas- sachusetts coast, though after more misery and sea-sickness than they had ever imagined one life could hold. The mate of the " Wandering Wind " was the only man on board not gloomy and morose; and he, to cheer them in their "sea-sickest days," as he expressed it, would spin yarns that would tax their credu- lity and excite their amazement. He had travelled sailor-fashion all over the world ; but the place of all places to him seemed to be San Francisco. " You were n't never there, were ye } Well, I tell you it 's a big city. Cost me fifty dollars a day when I went there fust. Cheap place to live in t Of course it is, — cheapest in the world. You can get a square meal for ten cents, all you want to eat, — taters, biled dinner, corned beef ; but I had money them days, and went in for a good time. " And them Chinymen ! They 're snug, them Chinymen ; don't spend a dollar a week. They're great on Mexican dollars; bag up all they can get, and send 'em home to Chiny. " I saw an old Chinyman once, in Singapore, goin' along the streets with a big bag of 'em on his shoulders. He was then in front of the ' Caledonia,' a kind of hotel, in which was about one hundred and fifty English men-o'-war's men ; an' they was just a-carryin' on, — they was, you know; an' one on 'em went out, and took his knife and slashed it across the stern of that bag of dollars, and then all them sailors went for 'em. You ought to have seen 'em scrabble! And there was the old Chinyman down on all-fours, and goin' this way THE " WANDERING WIND " BOUND OUT. ON BOARD THE ''WANDERING WIND." 1 5 and that, and spittin' and svvearin', and they a-passin' him from one to t' other ! I '11 bet he did n't save five dollars out of the whole lot. " Then he went and got a lot more Chinymen, and they all come up with clubs and knives, and tackled them sailors. But, bless you ! it wa'n't no use at all. " Them man-o'-war's men would chase 'em, and git 'em by their pig- tails, and cut 'em off chock-a-block. And you ought to see the way them Chinymen run ! You see, they wear these wooden shoes, and there ain't nothin' to keep 'em on but a peg that sticks right up between their toes ; and them fellers would just travel, and them shoes would fly way up over their heads, and they would n't haul up a bit, but just kept right on till they outsailed the Jacks. " After that they had a regular riot, the man-o'-war's men and the Chiny fellers and a lot of Rooshun sailors ; and they was a-draggin' Chinymen out of the canal for three days afterwards. Oh, they was a-carryin' on awfully ! " But I did n't tell you about my v'yage in the ' Orient.' Oh, that was a trip worth taking ! We sailors shipped at ten o'clock one night, and at 'leven a side-wheeler hooked on to us, and did n't let go till it had towed us outside Sandy Hook. Then we set sail for Africa ; had a good v'yage ; got there all right. But we was on a bad business ; for it wa'n't nothin' more nor less than nigger-stealin', — for that was before the war, when the South took all the black men we could smuggle in. ** There was two English men-o'-war steamers off the mouth of the Congo ; but we give them the slip in the night, and passed up the river right between 'em. " It was all right so far ; and we 'd got our cargo landed and all our water aboard and about twenty niggers, when we heard there was a couple of barges comin' up the river ; for they used to reconnoitre every few weeks. I tell you we just hustled them niggers ashore. It did n't make no difference to them whether they had irons on or not ; they 1 6 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. could swim just as well ; and so we chucked 'em overboard, and they paddled ashore just like dogs. Of course the barges had hoye in sight by that time, and they see some of the niggers runnin' for the woods. " Well, they put a crew aboard, and sent down the river for the steamer, and that steamer come up and hitched on to us and towed us out of the river and down the coast for two days and nights, and all that time the cap'n of the steamer was closeted with the cap'n of our vessel and tryin' to get him to give up the ship's papers. " Finally, our cap'n come up, and told us that he had been obliged to give up the papers, and said he thought the best thing we could do was to haul down the flag and give ourselves up, and perhaps we could have the long-boat, and so might reach a settlement and get clear. " As long as the American flag was flyin' over us the English cap'n did n't dare to overhaul us ; but if he could get one of our men to haul it down, then he would take possession and have the ship as a prize. " Our mate he was an old man, but full of pluck ; and when the cap'n had gone below, he said to us : ' Well, men, how is it } Are we goin' to haul down the flag ? ' " And we vowed we would n't ; for w^e knew just how the Britisher would serve us. Then the old mate went below, and when he come up he had two revolvers in his belt. " ' Now,' said he, ' the. first man that gits into them ratlines to haul down that flag gits a bullet in his head ! ' " Next day, the English officer come aboard, and asked us if we 'd haul down the flag. The first mate said, ' No ! ' " ' Don't you think,' said Johnny Bull, ' that I can send a man up there and haul it down ? ' " ' Yes, you can ; but you won't,' said the mate. ' When you do that you overstep your authority ; the commodore is the only man can do that, and he does it at his own risk.' And says he, ' The first man that tries that on will die, as sure as I 've got twelve charges in these revolvers ! ' ON BOARD THE " WANDERING WL\'D:' 17 " Johnny Bull glared at him, and then he said, ' I '11 string you up to the yard-arm as soon as I do get possession ! ' " ' All right ! when you do, you can,' said the mate. Well, they kept us there seven months, right between two men-o'-war, until our man-o'-w^ar come down ; then we were delivered up to her. " We were struck by lightnin', I remember, while we was layin' there. The bolt come down and rattled round our chain-box till the chains were twisted into all the kinds of kinks and half-hitches you ever see. I saw it travel for'ard, a great ball of fire as big as my head, and then come back and rattle round in that chain-box aoain, and carry on like a train of cars on a dock. Then all at once it stopped, and I s'pose it went out the hawse-hole into the water. " And there were them Jack-o-lanterns, will-o'-the-wisps, or Saint Elmo's fires, or whatever-you-call-'em ; we used to have them almost every night. I Ve seen 'em at the end of a yard-arm, and have crawled out to within six feet of 'em, when they'd disappear; I could n't ever reach one. " When the commodore of our man-o'-war was overhaulin' us, the English cap'n he would come aboard, and watch all proceedin's ; and his sailors would steal all they could git their hands on. Our mate he saw all there was goin' on, but he didn't say nothin' till the cap'n had stepped aboard his gig; then the mate told the commodore he did n't want them Englishmen carryin' off all our stores. The com- modore says to the cap'n, says he, ' The mate says your men are carryin' off his stores.' Well, they had the stern of the gig stowed full of canned meats and such. The English cap'n he turned red and glared at the mate, but didn't say nothin'; but next morn- in' he strung them sailors up and whipped 'em so two of 'em died. We could hear every blow of the cat. That was at eight o'clock, and at 'levcn two of 'em was carried ashore and buried. " Well, young men, they sent us home, put a prize crew aboard, and sailed for New York. When they got there, they chucked us into 1 8 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. jail and ironed us witli them same nigger manacles ; and when we went from the jail to the court-room, every nigger in New York was a-follerin' us, hootin' and yellin'. " When I got into court I felt kind of blue, and thinks I, this 'ere is carryin' on awful ; and when I see them big-wigs a-writin' and scribblin' 'round, I thought 't was all up with us. " But a feller behind touched me on the arm and says, says he, 'Don't git down in the mouth, hearty; it's goin' to be all right with you fellers ; ' and sure enough, so 't was, after a few days. They marched us back to jail ; and next day old Gomez, a Portu- guese, who owned most of the ' Orient,' come down and told the keeper to let us have anything we wanted from outside, — wine, cigars, or anything. And I tell you, we kept our skins full. In a few days we were all out on bail. The old keeper, he says, when he saw us goin', ' I 'm mighty sorry you 're goin', boys, mighty sorry ! ' " We stayed there on bail a month, a-gettin' our ten dollars a day, — to keep us there, you know ; for they was afraid we 'd go off, and they 'd lose our bail money. But there wa'n't no fear of that ; for all we had to do was to go down from the hotel to the court-house at ten o'clock, report, make a round turn up through the park and back again to the hotel. " Oh, they was gay times, and we all carried on awfully ! " After they had cleared us from the charge of nigger-stealin' I shipped aboard a government vessel that supplied the light-houses along the coast. We had a good cap'n, Cap'n Col man, but he was the fussiest old chap you ever see. Whenever he spied a sail any- where he always gave chase, even if 't was goin' in another direction from what we was. " One day, after chasin' a brig for nigh half a day, he finally come up with her, and propounded his long string of questions that he always asked. Then, as usual, he leaned over the rail, and told 'em ON BOARD THE " WANDERING WINDP 19 that his vessel was the ' Cynthia ; ' been to Galveston, supplyin' light- houses along the coast, and now goin' back to New Bedford. Then he told em his name was Colman, — C-o-l-m-a-n, Colman. The other cap'n listened patiently, and then bellowed back, ' What do I care for all that, you old fool ! ' Cap'n Colman was silent a minute ; then he turned to the man at the wheel and said, ' Keep her off, Timothy, keep her off ; he s a brute ! ' " Thus did the mate spin out his yarns, day after day; but with these as a sample of his sailor lingo, we will now let him drop out of sight. FLORIDA COAST. As soon as land was announced all thought of other things faded out of mind. It was on the first day of January that they saw the Florida coast, — a long, low, hazy line to westward. At night they 20 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. could see the trees on shore, and just at sunset caught a glimpse of two vessels at anchor inside the inlet, or break in the beach, through which they must sail to the great lagoons beyond. The captain of the " Wandering Wind " dropped anchor till morn- ing, as the breeze had died away and the inlet was too narrow to be entered at night. CHAPTER II. THE GREAT MOSQUITO LAGOON. daylight, next morning, the schooner drifted down opposite the inlet, and a pilot-boat came out to her. Then she was headed for the breakers, which rolled up the sands on either hand, and burst upon the wreck of a vessel almost in mid-channel. A steamer came out, — the " George M. Bird," — and the schooner was towed in through the narrow, tortuous, and dangerous channel, and tied up to a wharf on the left-hand bank of the lagoon. They were, at last, inside the famous Mosquito Inlet, about sixty miles south of the historic old city of St. Augustine. From the outside the inlet presents only a long line of foaming breakers, with no entrance visible ; and it requires pilots of nerve and experience to navigate its devious channel, which sometimes shifts about with every gale that blows. Any vessel drawing more than eight feet of water would have hard luck in entering, and probably strike and go to pieces. But the " Wander- ing Wind" had been here before, and she was loaded light with hay; hence we find her passengers safely landed on the shore of the great Mosquito Lagoon. The collector of the port, at the time of the arrival of the expe- dition in Florida w^aters, was Major Alden, a lineal descendant of the redoubtable John Alden; and he received the boys with all the 2 2 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. hospitality to be expected of one' of this historic name. His house was perched upon a shelly bluff overlooking the inlet, the Mosquito Lagoon and Halifax River corning down from the north. There were but two houses between the Major's and the inlet, two miles away, and his wharf was the best in the lagoon. Half a mile from his house, across a sunken plain covered with scrub-palmetto and live-oak forest, was the sea-beach, which ran southward many miles without a break. Here the boys went in bathing on the fourth day of January, finding the water excellent, and not cold at all. But a big sea-wave came roaring up and washed off their clothes, which they with difficulty rescued, and they thought they could see the fins of several sharks cutting the water amidst the foam. Sitting on the broad piazza of the Major's house most of the time during the first week in January, the boys arranged the details of the exploration they had undertaken. North of them lay the inlet with its foaming bar, two miles away, hidden by a palm-fringed headland ; westward from that could be seen the lower end of Halifax Lagoon, and the peninsula between this salt river and the ocean, stretching northward. West was a broad expanse of marsh, intersected by numerous creeks, dotted with mangroves and palmettos, and bounded by a horizon of pines. Nearly southwest across the marsh lay New Smyrna, showing only three houses of its small hamlet. Stretching southward was a vast waste of scrub-land and pine-barren, with a line of mangroves fringing the Hillsborough River. It was very pleasant to sit there and watch the scene spread out below them, — the peaceful river, over which, every morning, flew flocks of wild ducks and fish-crows, with great blue herons fishing on its margin, and flocks of terns, plover, and curlew skimming its surface. The curious shear-water, or scissor-bills, enlivened the scene by his odd flight at times, and the willet and kill-deer plover by their tell-tale cries. LIGHTHOUSE ON THE COAST. THE GREAT MOSCIUITO LAGOON. 25 A prominent point in sight between them and the inlet was Massacre Bluff, where a crew of shipwrecked sailors were killed by Seminole Indians forty years ago. But what was this expedition, thus undertaken, and the members of which we find sunning themselves upon the Major's piazza? In brief, these two boys had undertaken to explore a portion of Florida that was absolutely unknown at that time. The leader SCISSOR-BILLS FISHING. had already been once to Florida, but the younger member was now taking his first long journey from home. As each one bore equal share in the arduous labor, each had his adventures, and each took his turn in writing the journal of which this story is the outgrowth and faithful record, no special prominence will be given to any member of the expedition. It is the expressed wish of the participants in this exploration that their individuality be merged into one, and that the story be told as though written by one person. In this manner all heart- 26 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. burnings will be avoided, no one will feel slighted, and the reader's undivided attention may be given to the narrative. But each boy (or young man, if you prefer) had his individual preferences, manifested by the attention he paid to certain subjects. One of them was as eager for new birds as Audubon ; the other was equally interested in the history and antiquities of Florida. Both were united in the desire to co-operate for some end, and wished the result of their exploration to be good in every way. To further this they had had built, in Massachusetts, two flat-bot- tomed boats, one twenty-one feet long and seven broad, and the other twelve feet long, to act as a sort of tender to the larger. They were made of white pine and very light, yet capable of carrying heavy loads. These they launched, soon after their arrival in the lagoon, and loaded with their goods as fast as they could be removed from the hold of the "Wandering Wind." A more miscellaneous lot of material had never, probably, been brought to Florida's shores ; for it included dry-goods, groceries, arms, ammunition, arsenic (for preserving bird- skins), beads and jewelry (for trade with the Indians), and, in fact, everything necessary for subsistence in a wild and thinly settled country. When loaded with their goods, the large boat was brought nearly to the water s edge ; and then it was discovered that every- thing must be taken out, and a centre-board be put in, to improve her sailing qualities. This took several days; so the tent (which they had brought with them) was pitched on shore, and all the goods stored under it, and a watch kept over it, night and day, to keep away the half- wild hogs that roamed the beach. Little by little the plan was unfolded to the Major, and his approval gained. When he learned that the young men had as their destination the great Lake Okechobee, and that they in- tended to explore it fully before their return, he was nearly wild to accompany them. But this he could not do ; so he lent his ill *'aii!i 'I'll! THE GREAT MOSQUITO LAGOON. 29 aid and experience to them in providing for the long and dan- gerous journey. He was open-hearted and generous in his deah'ngs with them, and determined that they should succeed ; hence he kept them with him until fully equipped for their long voyage, and it was nearly two weeks before they took their departure. The day before they left him, he came over from New Smyrna with the mail, and, calling all the boys around him, read to them the following, from the columns of a well-known paper iDublished in New York : — Our Florida Expedition. — Just as we had begun to bewail the probable loss of our Commissioner at the bottom of the deep blue sea, we were gladdened by the announcement of his safe arrival at Mosquito Inlet, Indian River, and two days subsequently at New Smyrna, Florida, after a tedious passage of twenty- five days from Barnstable, Mass., in a coasting vessel. St. Lucie will be the headquarters of our correspondent. Thence he will penetrate inland, and explore regions almost inaccessible, including Lake Okechobee, of which latter he has already written extensively and minutely in these columns. These investigations will continue until April, and be aided by all necessary attendants and apparatus. He has two boats, tents, two men, the complete ordinary outfit of a sportsman, photographic appara- tus, with one hundred negatives, and a stock of artist's materials, — all of which were taken with him from New England, — and also an Indian and native Florida guide, with swamp ponies, etc. His labors include commis- sions to collect specimens of Natural History and Indian relics for the Smith- sonian and other scientific institutions. Altogether, the expedition is fitted out at considerable expense, and for the object sought to be accomplished, will prove itself eventually of considerable importance, and attach some credit to the enterprise of this Journal, under whose auspices alone it has been instituted. Both government and private enterprise have essayed explorations from time to time into the interior of Florida ; but the information gained has been so far of little practical value or benefit, even when most needed, as it was during the seven years' Seminole War. How frequently we shall be able to hear from our correspondent, we cannot say, as there will be intervals of time when access to mail facilities will be impossible. However, the material 30 THE KNOCKABOL'T CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. furnished will be voluminous in the aggregate. He will write over the signature of " The Historian." " Well, old fellow," he said, turning to the leader of the expedition, " what do you say to that } You did n't tell me you were out here under the auspices of a newspaper." " No," returned the leader (who will be hereafter designated as the "Historian"), — "no, I did not, because I thought, as has now been shown, that the paper could ' speak for itself, John,' as an ancestor of yours once similarly remarked." " That is true ; but is it your expedition, or is it theirs ? One would think by reading this item that theirs was the whole risk and expense of the entire exploration ; but from what I have known of newspapers in general, they allow somebody else to do the work, and claim all the credit. Come, now, isn't it so in this case.?" "You are not far wrong, Major. To tell the plain truth, I have got seven hundred dollars invested in this enterprise, and the entire amount pledged by the great journal does n't reach one hundred." "Just as I thought. But why do you let them do it? " " Oh, well, it does n't hurt me, and the paper seems to enjoy it. Its subscription list will be increased, and its readers have a taste of new adventures." " Perhaps you are right," returned the Major. " It is better to take these things philosophically ; but I should n't like to do all the vork and let another man get all the credit." CHAPTER III. AMONG THE LIVE-OAKERS. HE good Major did not relax liis energies, never- theless, and saw them off in '• first-rate style," as he put it ; and they left him standing on his wharf, with a feelincj akin to homesickness. The next edition of the contained a description of the voyage down the lagoon, from the pen of the Historian. It opened as follows: — We had what might be called a stormy voyage. The very night that saw the " Virginius " in such peril, we sighted the light off "Frying-pan Shoals," — just caught a ghmpse of it, only to be driven away far east of the Gulf Stream. Four times did we cross the Gulf Stream. For a week we lay to under double reef-spanker and foresail, drifting with the waves. Dolphins and porpoises, gulf-weed and Portuguese men-o'-war, swam and drifted in the water near us ; but they failed to excite the interest they ought, for the reason that the objects we sought on the shores of Florida were far away. The New Year brought a blessing ; for upon that day we first descried the long low line, far in the distance, that told us of the land we sought. The next day the palms appeared above the horizon ; but it was sunset ere we were boarded by the pilots and were threading the tortuous windings of the channel, in tow of the little steamer belonging to the port. Mosquito Inlet, our destination, is in about latitude 2(f , longitude 8i°, fifty- five miles south of St. Augustine, and one third the way down the Florida coast. It is about a mile in width, with two channels, obstructed by sand-bars, having a depth of seven to nine feet. It is the outwatering of two large 32 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. lagoons, — the Mosquito North, or Hahfax River, and the Mosquito South, or Hillsborough River. Thirty miles each lagoon extends, meeting in a com- mon channel at the inlet. Close in is Massacre Bluff, with its tragical history of the murder of shipwrecked sailors by Indians early in the Indian war. Two miles farther is Mount Pleasant, — a high shell-bluff, upon which is the residence of Major Alden, a Massachusetts man, whose hospitality many have shared. A mile farther is Lowd's Hotel, — the only one here, and one of the three houses constituting the town of New Smyrna. This place is about thirty miles from the St. John's, at Enterprise, the road to which fully maintains the reputation of Florida roads generally. Though to a stranger the hotel at New Smyrna may present few attrac- tions, being fronted by a muddy creek and backed by a dense forest, it is filled to overflowing every winter, the same boarders forming its quota each succeeding year, coming here to enjoy the superb fishing and get a shot at the game in the woods, — deer, bear, panther, and wild-cats. The only business of New Smyrna is in live-oak, which, in the hands of one firm, employs many schooners the entire winter. On both lagoons are large groves of delicious oranges, noted for their size and flavor. The guava, pomegranate, fig, and banana will flourish here, and have been successfully grown. The best location for building or camping is at Mount Pleasant, where the channel runs close by the wharf, with sixteen feet of water. We camped there upon its shelly shore, and passed two pleasant weeks, — pleasant, though I could not but heave a sigh whenever I thought of my field of labor so far away. The weather was unusually cold, even closing the jaws (if they have jaws) of the bloodthirsty mosquitoes for a time, and causing that omnipresent oldest inhab- itant to declare with fearful imprecations that no such had occurred before since the great frost of '35. Yet we would have days delicious in their dreamy warmth, when the air of a morning would be fuU of the music of robin and red-bird. "We" comprehends myself and a young man, — a friend, of my own age, who was to accompany me upon my boat excursions, and remain at camp while I was absent upon my explorations inland. "We," then, had a tent that had done service on the St. John's, which I had brought more for the good it had done than from any love I bore it. It was called the " lawn tent," and resembled the tents figured as belonging to the children of Israel. It was well adapted to the covering of a large surface ; but in a " norther " we had to get out guys in every direction, and then stand outside and hang on, while the winds howled and the floods descended. We had two boats. I had one built to AMONG THE LIVEOAKERS. 33 carry a heavy load in shallow water, and told her builder to sacrifice everything else to strength and lightness ; and he did. She was twenty-one feet long by seven feet beam amidships, flat bottom, centre-board, rigged with two small sails. I had always stood in awe of her, and was much relieved when after she had lain idle nearly two weeks, a rash sailor asked me if he could sail her; and when he came back and said she worked splendidly, I could have embraced him. When the boat was loaded with our freight, I saw the wisdom of my instructions to the builder; for she was full to overflowing. And so, one pleas- ant day, we started down the Hillsborough, laden almost to the water's edge. We were fortunate in getting a tow down the river for nearly twenty miles. The Hillsborough for twenty miles is filled with mangrove and marshy islands, making many exceedingly tortuous channels, difficult to follow. " Ship- yard Reach," fifteen miles south of Smyrna, is a noted place for ducks. The Mosquito Lagoon commences at the " Devil's Elbow," a channel of the Hillsborough where there are nine crooks in half a mile. We passed safely through the Devil's Elbow, and arrived at the headquarters of the Swifts, proprietors of the live-oak interest here. From Captain Swift and his em- ployees we have received the kindest attention. Mosquito Lagoon is here two miles in breadth, and ten miles to the canal connecting this lagoon system with Indian River. The live-oak is, or has been, one of the most valuable of our forest trees, — so valuable that the Government has protected and preserved large tracts or rqservations of it in Florida, where no person is allowed to cut any tim- ber. It is used altogether in ship-building; and the knees, or ribs, of vessels made from it will last a hundred years or more. There are yet shown on Cumberland Island, near the coast of Georgia, the stumps of trees from which were shaped the timbers of the frigate " Constitution," so celebrated in our history. The live-oak is fast decreasing in numbers, and men are yet employed in cutting its valuable timber, which is shipped to the various navy-yards and stored up for future use„ At Captain Swift's camp three hundred men were employed, and they lived in little villages of palmetto huts, each group having its captain, teamster, and cook. They all were Northern men, most of them from the lumber camps of Maine, — men born in the woods, and well accustomed to fatigue. At first the oaks were cut upon the banks of the lagoon ; but these were soon exhausted, and, mile after mile, the men had followed, building roads of logs across the marshes, and rude bridges over the creeks and swamps, until they had finally reached the margin of oak growth, seven miles away. There was no other 3 34 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. village near; and this settlement, with its many huts, huge barns (for all hay and provender for the cattle had to be brought from the North), stores, ware- houses, and wharfs, would be abandoned as soon as the supply of timber was exhausted. Every morning a gang of men went into the woods ; a certain number cut down the huge oak ; others hewed the logs square, cut out the " knees," or bent limbs, which are the most valuable, and marked on every piece its contents in cubic feet. The timber was then taken by the teamsters, who hung them under the axles of their huge wheels, eight feet in diameter, and drew them to the river. Their teams contained six, eight, and sometimes ten yoke of cattle ; and they were often nearly a day in accomplishing the distance to the lagoon. The native cattle were used, as, though hardly half the size of Northern oxen, they could undergo more fatigue, could travel more quickly and surely among the stumps and roots, and could live on less food. After the timber had been taken to the banks of the lagoon, it was loaded upon huge, boat-like rafts, and thence taken to the live-oak schooners, generally in waiting inside the bar at the inlet. Captain Swift, a native of New Bedford, in Massachusetts, and his clerk, George Weld, took charge of us on our arrival, and introduced us to the in- teresting features of live-oaking. They were then cutting over an old indigo plantation, where the growth of live-oak is nearly or quite one hundred years old, on old fields that were once completely cleared. This old field was once cultivated by the famous Minorcan colon}- that was brought out here by Ur. Turnbull, over a century since. Ruins of the old buildings may be seen to-day back of New Smyrna. Turnbull Castle was on an elevation near the hotel, back of which are the old fields once planted with indigo; and remains of great canals, and wells, walled with coquina, or shell-rock, are found on every side. The Antiquarian (the second member of the party) was deeply interested in everything pertaining to the history of Florida; and, to his great joy, he was introduced to one of the oldest residents of New Smyrna, Mrs. Sheldon, who lived here in 1835, when the place was attacked by the Seminoles. It was the day before Christmas that the Indians burst from the forest and set fire to all the buildings at three o'clock in the morning. Mrs. Sheldon escaped on a raft, under cover of the darkness, to a point south, just as the Indians reached the mouth of the creek. All the white people collected at " Bulow's," and there picketed themselves in, remaining close prisoners for six weeks, during which period occurred the fight at Dunbarton. The Indians began burning at New Smyrna, and followed the short line of settlements northward to St. Augustine ; and when the United States troops arrived, there was no property for them to AMONG THE LIVE-OAKERS. 37 save. Mrs. Sheldon saw the famous Osceola many times ; he was then about thirty years old, tall and fine-looking. The other Seminole chieftain — Coa- coochee, or Wild Cat — was not so frank in his bearing as Osceola, but wild and sulky-looking. After most of the Seminoles had been captured, many of them poisoned themselves sooner than leave the country. Mothers poisoned their children with a certain tea they extracted from a root dug in the swamps. The great Seminole war of fifty years ago, during which so many lives were lost and so much treasure wasted, was provoked by the aggressions of the white men, especially the cow-boys, who stole the land of the Indian and then his cattle. Both Historian and Antiquarian were eager to learn more of live-oaking; and one morning, hearing that an ancient pike-head (a relic probably of the Spaniards of three hundred years ago) could be obtained at the cutters' camp, they started on foot through the woods, — first through the open pine-barren, with several wet " slews " in it bridged over, then through a swamp, over a bridge of cypress trunks seven eighths of a mile in length, then a mile far- ther through " hammock " and wet prairie. Everywhere were birds, — robins, blackbirds, red-birds, woodpeckers, and ground-doves. Violets, honeysuckles^ oxalis, and blackberry bloomed on every side. The choppers' shanties were more open than those of the teamsters, which were near the lagoon, and were in the midst of a beautiful hammock. Every- thing was well appointed, the food abundant and well cooked; and two cooks were in charge, while the choppers worked a mile away. There were three gangs of choppers, each containing forty-seven men ; their first camp four miles from the lagoon, the second six, and the third eight miles away. To reach the timber, over five miles of corduroy bridges had been built ; the long- est bridge, seven eighths of a mile, was constructed in nine days, by a gang of two hundred men. Two hundred yoke of oxen were employed in the woods, hauling out the timber, each yoke travelling some fourteen miles a day. The "drafts" used to haul out timber are great wheels nine feet in diameter, used in pairs, each pair drawn by five yoke of oxen. Fifty teamsters had charge of this force of cattle ; and at the headquarters were extra drivers, clerks, carpenters, stable- men, and blacksmiths, all comfortably housed and busily employed. Live-oaking was first carried on by the Swifts nearly seventy years ago, in Georgia, and has been kept up ever since by father and sons, operating chiefly upon the Sea Islands of Georgia. They have cut live-oak in Louisi- ana, Georgia, and central and eastern Florida. They came to Florida forty years ago, operating upon the North Lagoon, or Halifax River, until driven T^S THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. away by the Rebels, who destroyed their steamer and sixty thousand feet of hve-oak. After the war was over they returned, and began work at this place. One should see all the different branches of the great work, each department in perfect order, to realize what has been accomplished by the indefatigable energy of these Northern men. CHAPTER IV. POTTERY AND PANTHERS. HUS far the Historian has had it all his own way; now let the Antiquarian come to the fore. This chapter is his. We tried to get under way from Major Alden's wharf about nine in the morning of January i6, having been shown the channel, witli its devious wanderings, from the mast-head of the " Wandering Wind." But our attempt ended in total failure, owing to the small size of our rudder and to our having loaded the big boat too much " by the head." We only succeeded, after nnich trouble, in getting astern of a " lighter " (live-oak raft) and making fast to her. As the captain was going to the live-oak camp down the lagoon, and in our direction, we gladly accepted his invitation to " come aboard," and let events take their course. WHien night came, he furnished us with sleeping-room on the floor under the bunks, where the water lapped and gurgled all night within a foot of our faces. But we slept very well, and next morning were oiT " Ship-yard Reach," where that immense shell-heap known as Turtle Mound looms up grandly above the ocean sand-ridge. The lagoon, up to this point, is full of mangrove islands, with numerous channels running off east and west, so that it is very possible that any one unacquainted with the navigation here would get lost. It had rained hard all night ; but our boat was covered with a good canvas awning, so that the goods were not injured. Our large boat is loaded heavily, its rail within six inches of the water; but she floats easily, and will doubdess go through in good condition. She is pretty full, however; and boxes, trunks, barrels, rifles, guns, and oars are sticking up in strange confusion. 42 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. The sand-ridge intervening between the lagoon and the ocean is covered with a low growth of palmetto known as " scrub," with solitary palms here and there, and a few clumps of them at long intervals. It is all one general level, except for heaps of shells, like Turtle Mound, which are found, at long distances apart, rising above the sea of palmetto scrub. These mounds, some- times of shell and sometimes of earth, are found scattered along both coasts of Florida. The earth-mounds are said to have been erected ages ago as the sites for the royal residences of the caciques, or head chiefs. There is one between Indian River and Salt Lake; and an especially noteworthy one is that near Tampa, on the west coast of Florida, which was found by the soldiers of Pamphilo de Narvaez, and used as a royal residence of a great cacique when in 1528 Fernando de Soto arrived there on his expedition. This Turtle Mound is covered with a dense growth of bayberry or similar shrub, intermixed with much Spanish bayonet, prickly-pear, and creeping vines of the convolvulus family. The summit is crowned with a few orange- trees and the same dense undergrowth. Its steepest incline is westward, and in some places is very steep, and presents the appearance of two hillocks separated by a narrow gully. It is composed of oyster, quahaug, and other shells, with a great deal of broken pottery intermixed. While the slow lighter was lumbering along, I took the skiff and rowed to a high shell-bluff, where lived a Dr. Wallace, who hospitably entertained me and showed me the Indian mounds, old fields, and burial-grounds, back of the bluff, of which there are but a few acres in all. The bluff is about forty feet high, in two hillocks, like Turtle Mound ; and from the seaward side a depressed roadway led back to a level field, where I counted the sites of twenty shell-heaps. The Doctor had a theory that this section, at the time of occupation by the Indians, was a mere sand-bar, and that the mounds were formed when there was little or no wood there. This he proved by showing layers of charcoal from burnt reeds and rushes found in excavations. These were the remains of fires upon which the Indians (as do the negroes of the present day) placed the oysters, to be opened by the heat. The oysters have not been found here for generations, the water of the lagoon is so salt; being so dense at times that even the fish are killed by thousands, particularly the cat-fish. In these great shell-mounds many articles of metal, beads, and vast quantities of pottery have been found. The Doctor showed me a piece of gold, about an inch long, which he found in exhuming an Indian skeleton; and he gave me the skull which was dug up with it at the time. POTTERY AND PANTHERS. 45 On the next day the Historian and I found an old pike-head amongst the live-oakers, which was seven inches long and an inch and a half in breadth. It was covered with an eighth of an inch of rust, and was found about a foOv beneath the surface of the ground. It was probably used by some member of one of the bands of Spaniards that ravaged this country three hundred years ago. The Doctor had several tropical and semi-tropical trees growing near his house; but the most curious to me was the pawpaw, both wild and cultivated, which was bearing both fruit and flowers, and which he says is indigenous here, though this is the most northern point at which it is found wild. There are but few houses along the banks of the lagoon. Perhaps the most interesting to me was the residence of Uncle Arad, whom we met first at New Smyrna. Uncle Arad was about seventy years old, about five feet high, and very much shrivelled. His pale blue eyes were sunken and watery; his beard gray with yellow tobacco stains. He had a peculiar habit of muttering to himself at odd times, when he would seem to be wholly abstracted, and would then gather up the hem of his coat, and holding it at half arm's-length would talk to it for hours at a time. At times he would look at me intently, all the while holding out his coat-skirt and talking at it. I once saw him on the beach thus occupied, and talking, apparently, to a duck. Every few steps as he walked along, he would stop and hold converse with his coat and whatever happened to be within range of his vision. Poor Uncle Arad ! All his troubles began with a lightning-stroke in Texas, which killed his idolized wife, many, many years ago. The Historian has described the live-oakers' camp, and it only remains for me to add such ^its of information as he has left for my chapter. By the time we had reached this point on our journey we were possessed of a veritable camping-out appetite; that is, we could sit down and eat all there was before us. And the coffee ! As my cup holds nearly a quart, I had at first great difficulty in draining it at a sitting ; but by this time that is a feat easily accomplished, and I regard it as a duty to see my face in its shining bottom at every meal. The provisions we brought from home were very wel- come, especially the cookies and doughnuts, though the pies were soft and mouldy. I really don't know how we shall get along without mother's pies; six months without pie is a terrible prospect to contemplate ! It was interesting to learn from Captain Swift that he saw the great natu- ralist Audubon, when he was in Florida ; but he remembered only that he was clad in a buckskin hunting-shirt, had a gun as long as himself, and was very dirty. He was alone, as usual. The Swifts were then beginning work upon 46 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. the same great hammock they have just now finished. Forty years working in one tract of woodland! It was here, doubtless, that Audubon got his episode (related in his Biography) of the Adventures of a Live-oaker. The Historian and I went out hunting frequently, but met with no great success. A Mr. Lewis, a famous hunter here, told us he saw a "tiger" in the road between New Smyrna and Enterprise, some time ago. It was about nine feet long, with a dark brown body, tail tipped and head barred with black. Upon seeing Mr. Lewis the panther stopped and looked at him, then cantered along leisurely ahead of him. Panthers are killing all the deer about this section, and are very trouble- some. The deer are still very numerous, and the be.st time to hunt them is in midwinter. The bucks drop their horns about February, March, and April, when the does have their fawns. By the end of August the fawns are weaned, and the does in fine condition ; but the bucks are poor, and are at their best between October and February, especially about New Year's. One may often find their cast-off horns in the woods, and see trees with the bark scraped off by the bucks when rubbing their horns " in the velvet," when they are growing. In the " piny woods " there are rattlesnakes, and in the swamps the mocca- sons, both very poisonous. One of the hunters we employed was poisoned by being scratched by the fang of a rattlesnake he had shot and was drawing out of the bushes after it was dead. Though he cut the end of his finger off, and tied up his arm to stop the circulation, he nearly died before reaching home, where he drank all the whiskey he could find, and barely saved his life. The opinion in Florida is, that the poison fang is dangerous so long as it exists, and that the head ought to be burned at once after the reptile is killed. The customary antidotes for rattlesnake venom are said to be, a solution of bread soda in water, to bathe the wound with and to drink, and equal parts of the white of an Qgg, salt, and powder, to be bound on the wound and renewed every few hours. A West-Indian remedy is to cut open a live chicken and bind it upon the wound while warm and bleeding. Whiskey, it seems, is the best thing to drink, except a solution of ammonia, and a great deal of the spirits is needed then to intoxicate. The limb, if an arm or leg is bitten, should be tied tightly above the bitten spot. The Seminole Indians have a remedy they cA\ pah-sah (or rattlesnake-master), — a small plant, the root of which they chew to a pulp and bind at once upon the incision made by the fang. It is the prevailing opinion that a rattlesnake will always give the alarm by rattHng before he strikes. But this alarm cannot be depended upon, as the POTTERY AND PANTHERS. 49 snake will sometimes strike first and rattle afterwards. A dog belonging to one of the hunters saw one day a rattlesnake gliding along, and pounced upon it, when the snake turned and bit it, and then rattled half a minute later. The do*'- lived but two hours, although everything was done to save its life, such as cauterizing the wound and flashing powder into it. The old naturalist Bartram, who came to Florida in the last century, would never kill a rattlesnake, calling it a generous animal that never struck at man without giving the alarm. But it must have deteriorated in the past hundred years ; and it will always be best to kill the snake at sight. Of all the animals of these woods that have the power to harm man and do not freely use it, perhaps the panther is the most generous. Captain Swift says that he and his brother once passed a panther in the woods, as they were riding, that only sat up and snarled at them. After they had gone some way, they tied their horses and were looking at some timber, when they saw the animal coming towards them, evidently following in their tracks. The Cap- tain picked up a handspike, and shied it at the beast (it came so near), when it drew itself up and snarled horribly, but soon bounded into the bushes and disappeared. Two of the axemen, at work in a hammock, were " squaring" a great live-oak log they had felled, and very intent upon their work, when a panther crept stealthily up, drew their dinner off the end of the log, bolted it, and disappeared. They were so frightened that they ran all the way to camp. This event occurred a few days before our arrival; but the panther episode most talked about was one in which figured Jim Scobie, an old Indian River guide. We asked Jim for the particulars, and he told us all about it: — " It was on Pelican Island. I was down thar durin' the last trouble with the Injuns, an' was a-huntin' pink curlew, that used to breed thar, for the officers of the rigiment at Fort Capron. I was a-goin' along, a-shootin' on the wing, an' lookin' up more 'n down, when all of a sudding I see two fiery eyes a-looking at me outen a clump of mangroves. Then I saw somethin' movin', and see another pair, an' knew to oncet they was both panthers. Wall, I slipped back, an' rammed in two buck-shot wire cartridges, and one of these I fired at the fust panther, an' killed him dead. The other, he run off, an' I let him have hit, an' he drapped. That 's all there is to my panther story. Yaas, there 's plenty in these hammocks, an' you youngsters may run across 'em yit, before you git back this yer way ag'in." CHAPTER V. A HUNT FOR TURTLE-EGGS. LD Jim Scobie, the panther hunter, took a hold upon our affections at once by his blunt, honest ways, and won our admiration by his great skill in sailing our boat and in hunt- ing. So we made a bargain with him to go with us to the end of Indian River Lagoon, sail our boat, provide the camp with game, and act as our guide. Jim only asked for time to run over to his little hut and place a stick against the door, after he had got his rifle and haver- sack ; and it was early in the morning that we set sail from the live-oak camps, and made directly for the " haul-over." This " haul- over" is the point where the two great water-systems of the East Florida coast, the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River, ap- proach nearest. There used to be a path here, over which the early navigators hauled their boats from one lagoon to the other; but now there is a canal, dug by Government, and boats of light draught can go through with little detention. There are several orange groves on this lagoon, both wild and cultivated. We entered the canal about noon one day, passing the first stake half a mile north, and standing away southeast till opposite the canal. The eastern end is invisible till directly at its mouth, owing to bushes and sand-bars. The canal is about half a mile long and twelve feet wide. Connecting the Indian River Lagoon with the Mosquito, it forms with them an inside route of water travel over one hundred and eighty miles in length. The water was at the highest when we entered, yet we barely passed through, drawing but a foot. Fallen coquina has narrowed the passage to seven feet in some places. The coquina is curiously hollowed by the water, leaving overhanging arches supported by A HUNT FOR TURTLE-EGGS. 53 fantastically wrought pillars. The kingfisher has driven his shafts into the rock, and then occupied them. A large tree, with table-shaped top, stands near the eastern end, and can be seen a long way, forming a conspicuous landmark. There is good camping-ground near here, and an abundance of fish and ducks close by. Deer and bear range the hammocks north. VVe camped that night at Andrew Jackson's. Andrew had the neatest little orange grove on the river. Close by, two miles, is the famous Dummitt orange grove, so often described. Captain Dummitt, the original owner of this grove, is now dead. He was an old resident, and highly respected. The grove is now owned by his three daughters and two others. It is about sixteen miles from the canal to the head of the river, and ten miles to Sand Point, upon the west bank of the river. In these lagoons and at the inlets, where openings are found to the ocean, the water really swarms with fish. The mullet were most abundant, swimming in shoals, and taken only by the cast-net, as they will not bite the hook. Many of the fish found in Florida have Spanish names, such as the crevalli, which sometimes weigh seven pounds apiece, and the pompano, taken by the net. Then there are the blue-fish, which afford excellent sport, the sargent- fish, jew-fish, bass, or red-fish, salt-water trout, red-snapper, sheep's-head, king-fish, toad-fish, croaker, and blow-fish. The shark, especially in the deep channels and in the breakers on the beach, were very ravenous, and would frequently bite a large bass in two. after it was caught, and while it was being hauled in. A walk on the ocean beach revealed many new and curious denizens of the sea, washed upon the shore, or recently caught. None attracted their attention more curious than the quaint porcupine fish {Diodon Jiystrix), which, when freshly found, looked like an inflated pin-cushion. Sea-shells of many varieties are cast up here by the waves, and several vegetable products of the West Indies, as cocoanuts and sea-beans. These latter grow in the forests in the West India islands, fall into the streams, and are carried by the currents to the shores of Florida. There they are found in great numbers, collected, polished, and sold by curiosity-venders to tourists as watch-charms and ornaments. Probably no more fragile form of sea-life came before their notice than that known as the sea-butterfly. A ramble anywhere along the beach on the ocean side of the ridge gave numerous .specimens to be added to the collections of the Historian and the Antiquarian. In the groves and gardens there were not only oranges, but lemons, limes, citrons, pawpaws, guavas, shaddocks, pine-apples, peaches, pomegranates, alligator pears, and bananas. 54 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. The scrub and thickets were alive with small birds, and the air with larger ones, — gulls, terns, and pelicans; while the eagles and fish-hawks were just beginning to construct their bulky nests of sticks. On the beach the turtles would soon begin to lay their eggs. The season for turtles' eggs begins, generally, in May or June; but Jim, our guide, was confident that we could find some this early if we should care to make a search on the ocean beach. Jim had come in from an interview with one of the settlers, and had been informed that turtles had been seen on the beach. It is a wonderful region, — that long stretch of sand that separates the lagoons of the east coast of Florida from the ocean. It is nearly three hundred miles in length, broken here and there by a river that forces itself through, — in some places five miles in breadth, in others but a few hundred yards across. It is mainly covered with scrub and low trees, interspersed with saw-palmetto and thorny plants, and is the home of many deer, wild-cats, panthers at times, and hordes of raccoons and 'possums. Rattlesnakes are often met with here, and make things lively for an inexperienced hunter who hears their rattle for the first time. This was good news that Jim brought us, — that bears were walking the beach, — for bears never walk the ocean beach without an object, and that object is turtle-eggs. The bears live in the great cypress swamps of the west side of the river, crossing to the coast at the season of turtle-laying, never a week too soon or too late. They are good swimmers, but are sometimes over- taken and killed in the water. Only the week before, one had been pursued by some men in a boat. The men caught up with him, and one of them made a blow at him with a hatchet, when he turned about and attacked the boat, get- ting one paw over the rail. The men were frightened and desisted, wisely con- cluding it better to let him escape than to run the risk of swamping the boat. To return to the camp : " Bears is walkin'," said Jim, " and turtles is crawHn' ; and if we don't give both a lively time, jest put me down for an apple-blossom." When Jim was particularly sanguine about anything, he always made the modest request to be recorded as an apple-blossom in case of failure. We ate breakfast, and then took our guns and went to the beach, where the great waves came in tumultuously and dashed up the smooth sand. He walked ahead, and I followed in his tracks until we reached a spot where the sand was softer, and we sank ankle-deep. " There ! don't you see them tracks, jest like you'd stuck the top of your head in the sand? Them's bear-tVacks. Now look here," continued he, going farther down, and calling my attention to FISHING FOR THE HAMMER-FISH. A HUNT FOR TURTLE-EGGS. 57 a broad trail that led up from the water to near the border of beach-grass, "that's a turtle-track." Two deep grooves were drawn in the sand by the turtle's fins as it had drawn its heavy body up the sand, between which was a broad furrow made by the body itself. The turtle had floundered over the sand with apparently aimless intent, and had gone back to the sea without depositing her eggs, seemingly not satisfied with the spot. The bear had come up from the south along the beach, and had stopped here and dug in several places, misled by the turtle's trail into the belief that she had laid her eggs here ; from this point he had gone ofi" into the scrub to look for oysters on the river-shore, Jim said. "No matter; they'll both be back to-night somewhere within a half a mile of this very place: the turtle '11 be back to lay her eggs, the bear '11 be back to look after the turtle, and we — we '11 be here to look after the bear." Saying which, with a chuckle, Jim led the way up the beach to look for fresh tracks. We found another trail, but no eggs, though all our observ^ations showed us that there was a good prospect for the night. There was a moon that night, — a moon that flooded even the dark grove where our hammocks were hung; and as we reached the beach equipped for spending at least half a night on the sand, it was almost as light as day. It was about eight o'clock when we reached the spot we had first examined. I was posted there, and Jim hastened on a mile farther. A tangled mass of scrub palmetto, with thick roots and broad leaves, over- hung an excavation in a sand-bank ; near and beneath this, in a hollow and in deep shade, I took my seat. No sound broke upon the air except that of the surf; not a living or moving object was in sight in all the long stretch of beach I could command on either side of me. Spreading an old coat upon the sand, I sat down with my gun across my knee and waited. Our desire was to get the turtle as she left for the sea after leaving her eggs, and also to identify the exact spot in which she placed them. After the eggs are once buried in the sand, this is no easy matter, as there is nothing to indicate their presence. Experienced egg-collectors walk the beach, in the season, with long rods in their hands, with which they probe the sand ; they can tell by the looseness or firmness of the sand whether it has been recently disturbed, and at once dig when they find a difl"erence in the resistance offered. One hour, two hours, I waited. It was getting cold, and I was growing tired. Up and down the beach I looked, and saw nothing but the white surf and sand. Nothing? A dark object at that moment seemed to rest in the surf 58 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. Watching it, I defined it growing into shape, and emerge upon the sand. Very slowly it moved up the sand ; inch by inch its huge bulk was carried on, till it was half-way up the beach. It was three hundred yards away; but I did not seek to lessen the distance between us, for fear it would return to the sea at sight of me. When it had reached its destination and begun to dig, would be the safest period. "SEIZING A FLIPPER AND LAYING HOLD BENEATH THE UPPER SHELL. At last it seemed to have settled upon a spot to its mind, and commenced to fling the sand about with its hind flippers. Soon it had nearly hidden itself, and had dug a burrow, by the time I reached it. nearly three feet deep. At my approach it protruded its head and gave utterance to a hissing noise, but did not offer to escape, and I stood watching it while it laid its eggs in the hole. This took a long while, for there must have been nearly a hundred, and I was beginning to get impatient, when it seemed to conclude it had done its A HUNT FOR TURTLE-EGGS. 6 1 duty for that night, and crawled out of the hole. It then carefully covered the eggs with sand, smoothing the place of deposit over with as much care as though one of her enemies hael not been watching her all the time, and then prepared to depart. "Now, madam," thought I, "is my turn, — my turn to turn you over!" The sea-turtles, once turned upon their backs, cannot regain their feet; conse- quently it is only necessary to turn one over to capture it for good and all. Seizing a flipper, and laying hold beneath the upper shell, I bore my strength against it ; but in vain, — I could not make it budge an inch. The turtle was not inactive all this time ; for it was scratching desperately, throwing up great showers of sand, which nearly blinded me, and all the while working its way towards the sea. I shouted for Jim ; but he was far out of hearing, and I was obliged to struggle on alone. It was humiliating to have to give up. I could at least, I thought, prevent the turtle from reaching the water till Jim's arrival. But though I exerted all my strength, she gradually lessened the distance between herself and the water, and finally was within a rod of it. A thought struck me: if I could shoot her in the head, I might wound her badly enough to stop her, if it did not kill. I started up the beach for my gun, where I had left it leaning against the bank, seized it, and darted back — just as the water closed over the turtle's back. This was an awful disappointment; our turtle-steaks had gone to sea, but the eggs were left. Digging them out, however, was not so easily nor so quickly done as I had imagined it would be. With my hands I could not begin to make the progress the turtle had made with her flippers; but after a while they lay uncovered, and I drew out, one after another, eight dozen eggs. These eggs were about two inches in diameter, white, covered with a leathery skin ; they are not so good, in my opinion, as the eggs of a fowl, having dL mealy feeling in the mouth. I laid the eggs in a pile, and waited for Jim. It was an hour before he came along, swinging in his hand an opossum he had captured in the scrub. His disappointment was great; but when I showed him the track of the turtle, and the evidences of our struggle, he agreed that the turtle must have been an immense one, and that he could have done no better himself, alone and un- assisted. He then took off his jacket, tied up the sleeves, and filled it with the turtle-eggs, and we carried them to camp between us. He remarked to me, as we marched along: "The bear ain't been here to- night, that's cert'in; but he's goin' to be here to-morrer. I'm willin' to bet a heap on it." 62 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. Jim was always willing to "bet a heap on to-morrer." He looked forward! cheerfully to " to-morrer " as a time of possible pleasure. We did not give Jim that coveted " to-morrer," not being so sanguine as he was ; but a fair wind springing up, we set sail the next night for Sand Point, on< the western bank of the Indian River. CHAPTER VI, DOWN THE INDIAN RIVER. K crossed the river one night, after waiting two days for a wind. The water was all aglow with phosphorescent light. Every dash of our little boat raised a silver shower, and thousands of fish darted hither and thither, leaving tortuous trails of fire, like those Fourth of July serpents of our boy- hood. Rafts of ducks sprang up with noise like thunder; invisible, but for the fiery shower they raised upon leaving the water. It was the Antiquarian who went for turtle-eggs over to the ocean beach. The Historian, during his absence, explored one of the creeks near the camp in his skiff. During this trip he declared he was a witness to one of those episodes in animal life that seem to warrant the belief that many birds are possessed of higher attributes than are generally accorded to them, and have somethinQT more than mere instinct. His attention was called to a disturbance among the mangroves of a little islet near, and soon there flapped into view a black duck, a female, evidently wounded. Close in her wake followed a sly-looking coon, his attention so occupied with the duck as not to notice the Historian till fairly in view. Then he hesitated; but the duck brushed so near his nose that he again took up the pursuit, throwing a glance occasionally at the Historian. It was interesting to watch them ; keep- ing just ahead of her pursuer, the duck would beat the water quickly all the time in evident pain, and would so delude the old fellow that he finally seemed to think of nothing else but catching her. What a 64 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. puzzled expression his shrewd face wore, when, after nearly placing his paw upon her, she would escape ! Then he would stop, look at the Historian as if to say, " What the deuce does all this mean ? " and arching his back, would again pursue with long leaps. For over a quarter of an hour did the duck play with him, till having enticed him a sufficient distance from her nest, she flew away. If ever the face of a sharp-nosed coon wore a sheepish look, it was the face of that same coon. And the Historian afterward acknowledged : " I accelerated his sneaking trot by a charge of duck-shot." .The moon went down as we reached Sand Point. We arose next morning, and looked about us. There had been little change since the Historian was first here, about two years before; but different people occupied the shops and boats, and there were few familiar faces. Jim, our guide, here met an old acquaintance, and improved the day of leisure here by going off on " a time," returning at night in a state of garrulous inebriety. He insisted upon telling us how it was he had the fight with the Seminoles, and why Charley Osceola had his hand slit. This is the way he began : — "Well, now, lemme tell you. You see, Charley and me, we got drunk, and he told me something on Tommy Tiger, and then I told it, and that made trouble. "What was it I told? Well, lemme tell you. Charley, he said Tommy kill white man, long time ago. So, when Tommy come in — he'd been hunt- ing out to Okechobee — I said to him, ' You miserable red rascal ! you kill white man.' And he said, ' How you know?' And I said, ' Charley told me; ' and then he and Tommy Tiger was mad right off. "What happened then? Well, lemme tell you. Charley, he come to me and wanted to kill me, and I said, ' You red fool, you. I kill you ! ' and we got to fighting, and Sim Smith, — he was drunk too, — he undertook to stop us, and grabbed Charley by the throat, who bit a chunk right out of Sim's hand. " Then the squaws come up and tied Charley and me, and then we cooled off. But, lemme tell you, next time Charley got drunk, he just went for me and wanted to fight ; but I got him quiet by telling him I had a bottle of whiskey out in the scrub, and he went out with me, and when he had his drink, I just hit him on the head with a billet of wood, and told him just to keep still after this, and let me alone. DOIVN THE INDIAN RIVER. "Well, lemme tell you. 'Twa'n't long after this before we both got drunk ag'in, and he got after me and I tried to cut his lights out of him. Then the squaws tied us both up to trees, and the mosquitoes nearly eat us up before the old hags cut us loose ag'in. "Did the tribe take any notice of it? Well, lemme tell you. They just held a council of war, when they all got back to Miami ; and old Tiger Tail, he split Charley's hand open. "Did n't he ob- ject? Well, lemme tell you. What could he do? It was either to have his ears cut off smooth, or his nose cut off, or his hand slit. He thought he 'd rather have his hand slit, and so 't was done. Then he had to go off by himself for one full moon. Tommy Tiger, he was afraid I'd tell of what he 'd done, and write to the Great Father at Wash- ington, and so he never bothered me any more." Thib authentic narration of Jim's exploits will give the reader some sort of conception of the guide v/e had. His wild freaks had given him a reputation throughout the whole coast region ; he was feared and admired by all the rough residents of this section, who generally allowed him to do as he pleased. We could, get no other man who would undertake to pilot us through to Lake S TIGER TAIL. 66 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. Okechobee, however, and so we put up with his vagaries ; only giving him as few chances as possible to get at the whiskey-bottle. The region about Sand Point presented a succession of beaches and bays, with whitest sand, and coquina rock overtopped by palmettos. The settlement was not a large one, comprising a hotel, boarding-house, and a few score houses; but it was then the most important on the river. Since our visit Sand Point has been connected with the St. John's by a railroad, and a steamer runs up and down the river, or lagoon ; but at that time the nearest point of the St. John's region was Salt Lake, six miles away, and the only water-craft were sloops and schooners. The white lines of sand between the blue water and the green hammocks- give a beautiful effect to the shores all along the lagoon. The "hammocks " consist mainly of oaks and pines, and they are the darkest green of all the clumps of trees along the shore. This term " hammock " may need to be explained to some readers ;. hence what follows below: — " An old writer classifies the land of Florida under the heads, ' pine, ha^n- mock, savanna, swamp, marsh and bay, or cypress galls.' He mentions the existence in the hammocks of ' cJiamcerops frondibiis palmatis plicatis, stipitibus ferratis, of whose fruit all animals are very fond.' He says the pine-barrens receive their name from the ' piims foliis longissimus ex una thcca terms' I suppose any one with a clear head can see the difference between lands bear- ing such widely dissimilar trees, when the author so clearly states their specific names. Further, under the head of 'high' and 'low' hammock is comprised the richest land of Florida. For land that produces crops of cane year after year, the Floridian will choose hammock land. If I were writing a letter upon the agriculture of Florida, I might go on and describe the many advantages possessed by hammock land over the rest ; but I am not, and find that instead of merely supporting myself in the use of the term ' hammock,' I have branched off into the relative merits of the peculiar qualities of Florida vegetation, soil, or what not, termed hammock and pine-land. Whether the term is con- fined to Florida or not, I am unable to say; but certain it is that it has a pe- culiar signification not possessed elsewhere. It may be applied to any clump of trees strikingly different from those surrounding it, as 'cabbage (palmetto) hammock,' ' liVe-oak hammock,' etc. Regarding soil, it is called ' shell, ' if high and growing upon one of the many shell-heaps of Florida, or ' swamp,' if low and wet." ,i:iPii''!i|':?'E:::fiiill;,";:"'r" Mi PiPiPliSii rfl|:¥S''''^!i'fl DOWN THE INDIAN RIVER. 69 The Historian interjects this item of information, as he is better acquainted with Florida's resources than the Antiquarian, who is sup- posed to be the writer of this chapter. But we will feel just as much oblisfed to him for the information as thouQrh he had been asked to contribute it. Some people are so full of knowledge, that they froth it over upon the slightest provocation. The wind blowing through the palmetto tops makes a peculiarly angry- sound, and is especially efifective when lashing the broad leaves against their trunks. This was the sound we heard on the second morning at Sand Point; but our boatman decided to start, and we had to follow his advice. Before noon the wind was blowing heavily and the seas running high, and our small boat astern twice parted the line by which it was towed. About mid-afternoon we were obliged to seek the shelter of a little bay back of Oleander Point. Here the coquina rock forming the shore is worn into a thousand fantastic shapes ; the most curious, perhaps, was where the pal- mettos had grown out of it, leaving a hole the exact shape of the bole after it had been blown over ; and not only this, but the various holes through which the roots and rootlets had penetrated, with their thousand ramifications. The beach is composed of disintegrated shells, white as snow, and forming a crescent- shaped bar running out into the water nearly half a mile. Hovering about this bar continually during the day, are those most graceful of sea-swallows, the roseate terns. Below our landing-place was an upturned boat, which had been wrecked in the gale, and its occupants drowned. It is said that Indian River can get up a heavier blow at shorter notice, than any other body of water of its size in the world. The Historian stretched a rope between two palms, and threw a piece of canvas over it, fastening one side down against the sand and leaving an open front, where a fire was built, and we had a most comfortable shelter for the night. The wind changed to the westward during the night, and we started at day- light down the river, reaching Elbow Creek in a couple of hours, into which we turned for shelter. As we went over the bar, a great wave struck us fairly in the back, setting some of our things afloat. Mr. Houston, the resident at Elbow Creek, is an old Indian fighter, having served through the seven years of the first war. His reminiscences were inter- esting, especially to me, as he had fought Indians I had met at the Seminole town and while hunting, and had fought at localities I had recently visited. 70 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. A wedge-shaped coquina rock terminates Merritt's Island, two miles east of Elbow Creek. The rocky shores here are worn into innumerable caverns, their roofs supported by water-wrought pillars and groined arches. The island comes down to this point, ever narrowing, till it terminates a mile north of a palm-crowned point upon the eastern shore. A deep bay is formed, crescent- shaped, covered with dainty shells. Bordering this bay is a high shell-bluff, covered with wild orange-trees. Back of this bluff is an ancient earth-mound, from which leads an elevated roadway, sixty feet in width, to the sea beach a mile away. On the extreme southern end of Merritt's Island, where the rocks are hollowed out in great caverns, and worn into every conceivable shape by the waves, a man named Stone had built himself a hut. " Old Stone" — as Jim called him — was not at home; so we inspected his shanty at our leisure. It was made of palmetto leaves, open at both ends, and filled witli all sorts of old wrecking-stuff. ^The bed was merely a pen of boards, with old gunny-bags as bedding; while all the cooking utensils were outside, the kitchen being in the open air. The only domestic animals about were a cat and a herd of goats, the latter led by a ferocious old " Billy " with glaring eyes and branching horns. The Historian thought this a good opportunity to try his camera and chem- icals ; and so, after a great deal of labor, the herd of goats was brought together near the hut, and the artist proceeded to focus the group. Just as he got his head under the focussing-cloth, old Billy started in his direction with such a determined air, and so suddenly, that the would-be photographer thought he would n't stay to complete that picture ; to tell the truth, he has n't finished it yet. About five minutes later, all of us were sitting on the fence, picking out of our legs the prickly-pear spines that had got stuck into them during our rapid retreat from the Billy-goat. As for old Billy, he overturned the photog- rapher in one desperate charge, and then pranced up and down the enclosure, chasing first one of us, then the other, till we were all adorning the top rail of the fence and looking exceedingly foolish. " Old Stone " evidently delighted in his island home ; for he had built a nice landing-place, and laid out a walk along the eastern side, besides clearing a large space which he had left for the growth of tender sprouts for his goats. He had long rows of prickly-pear and other cacti, seemingly taking a great interest in their cultivation. He had lived here for years, and might well be termed the " Crusoe of Merritt's Island." He had no love for " Old Titus," the King of Sand Point, who, he said, should be buried with his face downward, so that the more he scratched the deeper he would go. DOWN THE INDIAN RIVER. 7; Leaving this beautiful spot, where the beaches and bays were most attrac- tive of any on the lagoon, we sailed on till near the Narrows, before entering which we made a side-trip to a mangrove island famous for its great colony of pelicans. The pelican found on the east coast of Florida is the gray one, the Pelicanus fiisc?(s of the ornithologists, while the great white pelican is rarely seen except along the west coast. While coasting the numerous mangrove islets, we killed five blue-wing teal, and saw many hundreds of ducks and herons on the broad mud-flats. Flapping slowly above the surface of the water were the great gray pelicans, as big as geese, with their long bills and enormous pouches beneath. They grew more and more abundant, until at last the air was full of them, sailing around the low mangrove island which they had chosen as their home. This was their breeding-place ; and not only were there hundreds of mature birds, but a great many young. The ground was covered with them, as well as the mangrove trees, which latter had long ago been killed by the great weight of the nests and the constant visits of the birds. The nests were bulky affairs, built of sticks, as big as a bushel-basket. Some nests contained eggs like goose-eggs in shape and size, and appearing as though they had been whitewashed. Of these eggs we collected nearly a hundred, in order to have a supply not only for our own collection, but for exchange with other naturalists at home. It took us several hours to "blow" these eggs and clean them; and when the job was done it was nearly dark, and Jim declared — in his most emphatic way — that we must leave immediately, and set sail for the Narrows. The wind again hauled northwest, and a heavy thunder-storm burst upon us at the entrance of the Narrows. It was dangerous navigation here, even in good weather and by daylight ; but with a storm after us, and black clouds obscuring the moon, we felt that we were driving on to certain shipwreck. The channel was very narrow, and obstructed by long oyster-reefs, over which the boat's keel would frequently grate ominously. But there was no shelter on the east side of the lagoon ; so we had to " trust to luck, and let her drive," with the storm thundering after us and a pelting rain drenching us to the skin. Well along into the night, as we were sitting crouched under our tarpaulins, while Jim was at the tiller, we heard a sudden exclamation from that worthy, and looked out. "A bear!" he shouted, pointing to a black object in the water off the port bow. It was about thirty or forty yards away, and swimming directly down upon us. " And he 's coming this way, boys ! Get out your guns i " The guns and revolvers had been packed in the trunks, out of the way of 74 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. the rain, and wc had nothing at hand but an axe. " Give it to me, then, quick ! or he '11 get his paws on the rail and tip the boat over ! Take the tiller, one of you ! " One of us took it, while the other hunted for some weapon of defence, and Jim scrambled forward over the baggage to the bows. The wind was still blowing fiercely, and the rain falling in sheets, so that the boat was nearly unmanageable. It was only now and then that we could see the black object in the water, so gloomy and dark were the surroundings. At last we heard an excited cry from Jim, and then a dull thud. A black paw reached up and grasped the rail; but Jim's axe descended swiftly and it fell off, only to be followed by another, which another blow caused to relax its hold. For a while the bear struggled to get a hold on the boat, but repeated and well-directed blows on his head soon made him give it up. He then floundered about awhile, the boat forged ahead, and we were obliged to leave him, desperately wounded, no doubt, but still with life enough to prove a dangerous customer at close quarters. Jim then crawled back and took the helm, muttering curses upon "them Yankees" who didn't know enough to keep their fire-arms ready. "We mi-ht 'a' got that bear just as well as not, if you 'd only had your rifle handy ; and now," he snorted contemptuously, " there 's twenty dollars gone to grass, to say nothing of the meat we might have had." This episode kept us awake till a " lee" was made, and a shelter, when the boat was anchored and we crawled on shore to try to get a little sleep. With some splinters of light-wood Jim started a fire (after infinite trouble) ; and as the rain now fell less violently, we tried to dry our clothes. Failing in this, we warmed our chilled limbs, and then " turned in " in our saturated blankets, where we lay all night, with the rain pouring upon us. At dawn, next morning, the wind was still blowing, though less heavily, the rain had ceased, and the waves were lower. We were cold and wet and stiff-, and most grateful was the fire Jim revived from the embers. Over this we cooked flapjacks and potatoes, and made coff-ee, and then set sail for the east bank of the lagoon. • i ^ Following a devious channel amongst numerous mangrove islands, we at last met a strong current setting against us, and rounding a point found shelter near the mouth of Indian River Inlet. Across a spit of sand, a hundred yards, was the ocean surf, where the waves were breaking high, with thunderous sound. Landing on the sand, we spread our wet blankets and clothing out in the sun to dry, and basked happily in its warmth. CHAPTER VII. A BEAR-HUNT ON THE BEACH. ^^^^H^H pf r ^^^M fe^-= ^P=-^ r — ^^to ^ ^^ HIS chapter has been assigned to the Historian, who is an enthusiastic hunter as well as fisherman. He says : — The termini of the beaches on either side of the inlet were two long points of sand, with the channel between, and a sand-bar over which the waves break high. On the north of the entrance lies the wreck of a steamer ; on the south, the beach stretches away till lost in the distance, and above it hover thousands of terns, gulls, and pelicans. On the southern spit, during the War of the Rebellion, a large number of Southern refugees encamped, among whom was our guide, Jim Scobie. The inlet has three channels after breaking through the beach: one to the north and west, one to the southwest, the third due west, — a beautiful water-way, winding between banks of mangrove-trees. The beaches were covered with shells, thickly strewn with Portuguese men- o'-war, and delicately cut sea-weeds. We camped here two days, finding the best fishing we had ever met with. The first day was passed in fishing, drying our stores, and shooting the rarest of the sea-birds that hovered in clouds above the bar, and swam in the surf The memory of that day's sport will not soon fade away. Bass, sheep's- head, crevalli, — all bit well, and fully sustained the reputation accorded this inlet as the best fishing-ground on the coast. Jim had been hunting in the scrub along the sand-ridge, and returned to the boat as I hauled in my last fish. There was blood on his face, — blood on his hands, hair, and rifle. His shirt and pants were torn and likewise bloody. In reply to my questions he remarked in a careless way that he had run afoul of a catamount, and that yS THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. " the beast had showed fight." When I requested him to bring along his catamount, he said that it was out there in the sand, and that if I wanted it I might get it. Though I had doubts of the existence of said catamount, I went as directed, and did actually find one, — a beautiful creature, about four feet in length, curiously spotted and striped, and with tufted ears. Jim had discovered four of them, and had wounded one and then captured him. I again got out my photographic apparatus, and won the undying love of our guide by photographing him in the act of harpooning a shark. It was just here that I encamped one night two years ago. Jim was with me, and performed a feat that many men would shrink from. The captain of a little schooner had got his anchor caught beneath a sunken mangrove, and was going to cut his cable and leave it, when Jim volunteered to dive for and get it up. The water was alive with sharks, — this place is noted for them, — and the anchor was twenty feet under water ; but Jim, after giving me instructions in case he was attacked, dove repeatedly, with the sharks swarming about our little boat, and a rapid current running, till he had accomplished his purpose. So it was peculiarly fitting that I should photograph him in this heroic attitude of harpooning the dreaded monster of the deep. But to return to the catamounts. There were plenty of them in the scrub, Jim averred, and all we need do to get a full line of specimens was to go into the scrub and hunt for them. This we did, but were not fortunate enough to find any; and the Antiquarian, when he returned to the boat, laid aside his gun and vowed he would devote himself solely to historical research and an- tiquities. But I was not satisfied. Having been here before, I knew that the beach scrub contained game enough to supply us not only with specimens but with meat for our larder. As a result of this conviction that there was sport ahead if we would only hunt for it, we encountered the following adventure. Leaving the camp in charge of the Antiquarian, at sunset of the second day, Jim and I walked far up the beach, with our rifles. Why we went there, and what we got there, will appear below. Beneath my feet, as I write, is a bear-skin, with long hair, shaggy and black; though from its appearance a hunter could tell that it was not a bear of the North, — its coat of fur is too thin, and it has not the gloss of the winter coat of a Northern bear. But it is the skin of a bear, for all that ; and the sight of it carries me back to the second night of that camp on the Florida beach. I had posted myself on the beach half a mile from camp, and Jim had chosen a position at an equal distance on the other side. Bears had begun to visit the beach in numbers, in search of turtle-eggs; during the day we had traced the rrLirCZ/u BIRDS THAT HOVERED IN CLOUDS ABOVE THE BAR." A BEAR-HUNT ON THE BEACH. 8l footsteps of three, and there was promise of great sport during the night. There was nothing simpler than the mode of hunting them : in their wanderings in search of eggs the bears followed the beach, examining a track of turtle here, stopping to dig there, — if successful, not travelling far; but if not, some- times covering many miles. To get a shot at a bear, it was only necessary to choose a suitable ambush, possess yourself with patience, keep quiet, and pot the animal as he came along. It seemed simple and easy enough — But I anticipate. An hour after sunset I was at my station, my rifle (which I had carefully cleaned and oiled in the afternoon) held in my hand, a dozen spai'e cartridges TURTLE ON THE BEACH. in a convenient pocket. I did not doubt my ability to kill a bear. So many times had I listened to the tales of hunters who had killed them, — who rep- resented it the easiest thing possible, — that I had already slain many, in imagination. I sat down there in perfect calmness, arranged the thick scrub that screened me from the observation of anything on the beach, and waited and listened. The moon, which left the water at sunset, mounted higher and higher, until it nearly reached the zenith, and I knew it was near midnight; and still no bear. The measured beat of the ocean, as its waters fell heavily on the shore, lulled me to sleep at last, with its monotonous poundings. It was a glorious June night, warm and dewless ; the perfume of palmetto blossoms and wild verbena hung heavy on the air. 6 82 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. Wrapped in my blanket, my rifle in the hollow of my arm, I leaned against a clump of bushes and fell asleep. With the consciousness, however, that it was my duty to keep awake, it was impossible to sleep soundly. Now and then I would awake and peer above the bushes, then relapse into slumber. The third or fourth time that I did this, as I was about settling m3^self back in my nest, I fancied I caught a glimpse of some object up the beach. Think- ing that it was some creation of my sleepy brain, I yet ventured to assure my- self by another glance, and was startled indeed to perceive a great black form slowly moving towards me. In an instant every sense was alert, and my heart was pounding away with an energy that nearly suffocated me. That bear — for it was a bear — when he first hove in sight was a long distance off; but he soon decreased it, though he seemed to walk slowly. And how he loomed up ! I had never imagined a bear could attain such a size. In my excited imagination he grew a foot in height for every rod he advanced ; now he was as large as a donkey, now as large as a cow, and now he reached the dimensions of a small house. He grew so large as to obstruct the sea altogether, and I could see nothing but a strip of white sand, with that huge object moving swiftly down it to devour me. Then I saw what a fool I had been to place myself in such a situation ! Thoughts of safety had taken the place of those of glory to be obtained in the slaying of a bear, and I heartily wished myself back in camp. But this, was impossible ; a movement in any direction would betray me, and I could do nothing less than sit still, and, if too cowardly to fire, let the bear pass. Jim would then have a shot at him. This thought stirred me and touched me in a tender spot, — my pride. If I suffered that bear to pass without an attempt to stop him, I should never hear the last of it, — all Indian River would know of it. Not a hundred yards away from me, the bear stopped. He sniffed care- fully along the sand, followed a trail he seemed to have found along the beach to the dry sand near the bank, and commenced to dig. He worked industri- ously, scooping the sand out with his paws, and sending it flying over him in a shower. In watching him my excitement somewhat lessened. To be sure, there was still the same danger of discovery as before ; but the bear seemed so- unconcerned that I could not be otherwise than reassured at his indifference. I even caught myself searching in his dark form for the most vulnerable place for a bullet. From time to time I raised myself to fire ; but my hands trembled so with eagerness (not unmixed with fear, I confess) that I dared not trust myself "Not yet," I whispered; "wait till he is engaged in devouring the. eggs, then plug him." --^*^^, ■*/y < w o w A BEAR-HUNT ON THE BEACH. 85 His industry was rewarded ; for he soon came to a layer of eggs, and then proceeded more cautiously, drawing out one at a time with his huge paws, and laying them on the sand outside the hole. His head and half his body were immersed in the hole, from which he occasionally backed out to get a better foothold and to survey the eggs he had thrown out. At it he went again, throwing out eggs and sand. Suddenly he stopped and gave a growl, at the same time retreating from the hole. Looking from him up the beach, following the direction his nose was pointing, I saw another black figure approaching, — another bear ! At this I began to be nervous again ; for I had laid my plans to dispose of this bear neatly, but to take care of two bears with only one rifle was out of the question. The bear beneath me seemed alarmed also, but only on account of his eggs ; he quickly turned to them and commenced fo stow them away in a hurry, standing over them with one paw out ready for a blow, and an eye turned over his shoulder, like a greedy pig at a trough. The oncoming bear seemed to scent plunder in the air ; for he soon broke into a trot, lumbering over the sand at a rapid rate. He approached, and seemed disposed to join in the feast, — a disposition that bear number one was inclined to resent, and he turned upon him with a growl and a snap that plainly told number two to go off and dig his own eggs. With such dainties right before his eyes, bear number two very naturally objected to moving on; or rather he wholly ignored number one's presence, and pushed by and seized an &%'g. Such an infringement of number one's rights provoked him beyond the powers of endurance, and he drew off and hit number two a sounding slap on the nose. Recovering from this, the latter rushed at his adversary with such vigor that he recoiled ; but quickly regained his feet, and threw his arms around number two in a fraternal hug that made his bones crack. Wrapped in a close embrace, biting, hugging, they rolled over and over on the sand. The eggs were hopelessly crushed and mixed with sand ; but the bears seemed to have forgotten the object for which they were fighting, and now went on for the pleasure of it. At last they went plump into the hole number one had dug for the eggs. One of them backed out and commenced kicking in sand, as if hoping to bury his foe alive. This the other did not relish, and scrambled out sneezing, made a dash at number one (or number two, I could not tell which, they were so hopelessly mixed), and strove to pitch him into the pit. Then ensued a struggle of longer duration than the first. They at once changed their tactics, and commenced a sparring-match, using their great paws so skilfully that neither was able to get in a blow at the other. 86 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. As yet they had not suspected my presence. But suddenly one dropped on all-fours, ran a few steps, and quickly raised himself, sniffing the air suspi- ciously. As he stood there with glaring little eyes and foaming jaws, which, when opened, disclosed a red and cavernous throat, I trembled a little at the thought of what he might be able to do to me if we came into close quarters. I had made up my mind what to do while they were fighting: I would shoot the first one offering me a good chance. The opportunity had come ; both bears seemed to have dismissed all thoughts of fighting, and were on the qui- vive for some common enemy. One of them was on his haunches, his fore- paws dropped, his head raised as if in the act of listening. Sighting carefully at a little white spot oti his breast, I fired. Then in all haste I withdrew my rifle, extracted the empty shell, and inserted a loaded cartridge. This was done before the smoke had cleared enough to allow me to see the effect of my shot. It had not been exactly as I had expected. The bear I had fired at had fallen, all in a heap ; he hardly kicked. But the other bear, instead of running away as I had hoped and expected he would, had not moved a foot. He stood as though petrified ; only a moment, though. He recovered from his astonishment, and went up and sniffed the fallen bear. Then it seemed to dawn upon him that that was a dangerous locality, and he started down the beach in a hurry. In my exultation, I could not help rising and sending a bullet after him. Foolish act! He at once stopped, looked around, gave a savage bite at his hip where my ball had struck him without disabling, and turned towards me with as much eagerness in his actions as he had before displayed in getting away. Here was a dilemma ! In my haste, in my flurry, I could not get a cartridge into my rifle. He was within twenty yards of me, — the cartridge would not go in; ten yards, — it still stuck; not twenty feet away, and he was pawing at the crumbling bank below me. I was rapidly revolving in my brain where I should fly to, when the cartridge slipped in. Instinctively I snapped the lock, pointed the muzzle, and pulled the trigger. That settled him, and he toppled over just as his claws had grasped a firm support of roots that would have enabled him to gain the bank on which I stood. The tables now seemed turned. I was master of the field without a scratch. I laughed to myself over my previous fears, and declared I would as soon kill another bear as not. Two bears in one night ! What a hero this would make me ! The hunters of the river would respect me more, and address me less patronizingly than heretofore. Two bears with three shots! Two — Here I stopped in my toting" the bear. A BEAR- HUNT ON THE BEACH. 89 exultant speech, as my eye fell upon the place where the first bear had fallen. He was not there! He was 07t the bank, not many rods below me; and as I discovered him, he broke into a run, not away from mc, but after me. Leaping to the beach, I ran with all the speed I possessed, — exerted every muscle to keep ahead of the brute that, despite his wound, could yet run tremendously. The beach was my race-course; if I had taken to the scrub the bear would have overtaken me in ten minutes. Along the hard sand I ran for life. The bear was gaining. I was tempted to throw aside my rifle, which was a weight to carry, but clung to it, hoping I might gain one precious moment in which to load it. My strength was going, and the bear's, notwithstanding his wound, seemed gaining. I turned a curve in the beach, and there I saw my companion, not fifty yards away. He was equal to the test, and did not run, but waited. None too soon was he found, — as I reached him, I fell. He darted out. The bear stopped, — balanced himself on his legs a moment to regard this new foe. It was a fatal pause, and gave Jim the opportunity desired. A shot, and all was over. Two bears were ours, — two bears, which we cut up and skinned and "toted" to our camp before the morning fairly dawned. The Antiquarian was very much provoked with us for leaving him alone all night, but readily forgave us when he saw our game. He did not, indeed, give credence to my story of the shooting, — in truth, I could hardly believe it myself, the events of the night had been so strange and hurried. It might have been from envy of my good luck that my friend professed to doubt; but there was no gainsaying the evidence, — we had the bears, and Jim gave me the credit of shooting them. That was glory enough for one night; and I was better satisfied, perhaps, than the Antiquarian. CHAPTER VIII. GOOD INDIANS AND BAD WHITE MEN. T was two o'clock in the morning when we came to anchor opposite the bluff at Fort Pierce, on the western bank of Indian River. Fort Pierce was our destination, — at least, it was the terminus of our sea-journey. As soon as the anchor dropped, we all " turned in " and slept till day- break, [n the morning, after breakfast, Jim insisted upon carrying us lore on his back; for the water was shallow for a long distance the beach. I, the Historian, was the first passenger, and — Jim did n't carry any more, for a certain reason. About half-way to shore, as Jim was carrying me " pickback," I felt a sensation of coolness creep over me, and realized that, somehow, the water was climbing up my back. It got higher and higher, and I soon found that Jim (who meant well enough) was sinking in the mud ; and I had to get off and wade ashore, after all. The Antiquarian hooted his approbation of this proceeding, said he did not require any such assistance as that, and, taking off his shoes and stockings, calmly waded to the beach ahead of me. But Jim meant well enough; only he had found the place in which we had hidden the whiskey bottle. The trading-post at Fort Pierce was to have been placed at our disposition ; but the man in charge wanted a day to move out, and so we waited, not removing anything from our boats. About midnight a small boat came off to us stealthily, and the boatman in it awoke us with the startling intelligence that a murder had been committed ashore, and we were needed to join the force of residents who were going out to hunt up the murderers. Jim (who had finished his interview with the whiskey bottle, and was just sufficiently intoxicated to feel more valiant than discreet) insisted on taking my best rifle, and going off into the woods at once and alone. But I per- iiii;,it::;;i!!;!:ffiaiti:ii.:i.ii;ji:;L:iii:i.iiiiiLait;u.Hii:i'i!i;^.;;.^';:iin;j'r'| w^^ mM3 GOOD INDIANS AND BAD WHITE MEN. 93 suaded him to wait till morning, and he went to sleep ; and when morning came he thought better of it. The circumstances attending the murder were these: Two young men (" crackers ") named Drawdy and Pag- gctt came up to the cabin of a Mr. Lang, a German, who had started a nursery some miles from the lagoon, in the pine woods. After taking dinner with him, they requested him to set them across the creek in his boat. He complied, taking them over the creek, about an eighth of a mile from his house ; and at about the time he should have landed them, his wife (at the house) heard the report of fire- arms, since which he had n't been seen. That was two days before our arrival, but his distracted wife had just got to the lagoon with the news as we reached Fort Pierce. There were very few people in this section, the sheriff was nearly one hundred miles away, and it really looked — as one of the men who brought the news declared — as if there were no law in this county at all. We were all much excited. Everybody said it was outrageous, and that something should be done ; but nobody was ready to take the lead, and so the murderers went at liberty, defying the law. During the day we got everything ashore and safely housed in a small shanty of two rooms, one of which we occupied (temporarily) and the other was in possession of a negro family of six persons. AN OKECHOBEE INDIAN. 94 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. The ultimate object of the expedition, it will be remembered, was the re- discovery and exploration of Lake Okechobee, — the largest lake in the South, yet the least known. Two years before, I had tried to reach its shores by land, but had failed on account of having no boat in which to navigate the creeks leading into it. This time, however, I was prepared for all contin- gencies, and the only thing to discover was a practicable route across country over which to transport the boat. Nobody knew anything of the trail, and it was necessary for me to make a preliminary exploration. As good fortune would have it, the day after our arrival a party of Okecho- bee Indians came in to trade. They were of the family of Osceola, deceased, — the mother of Charley Osceola (with whom I had hunted two years pre- viously), and three small brothers. The old lady was very wrinkled, but fat and active ; the boys very small, but also active and vigorous. Upon my expressing a wish to see Charley, Mrs. Osceola said, " Ah ne hiepas-j ! " ("Come along with us!") I needed no second invitation; and an hour later was ready, with knapsack, into which I had packed some hard tack, condensed coffee, and pork ; a blanket over my shoulders, a canteen filled with coffee, a revolver and knife in my belt, and a rifle in my hand. We — that is, Sally Osceola, Billy, Jimmy, and Jarneky — then said good-by to my partner, the Antiquarian, and trudged over the sand-hills into the pine forest. Late in the afternoon we reached the only cabin on the trail, the house said to contain the men who had shot Mr. Lang. There was nothing to do but to stop there awhile, as the trail led right by their garden, though our camping-place for the night was four miles beyond. The owner of the cabin, Jernigan, I had known two years before, when he had led me off into the forests with the intention (as I afterwards believed) of losing me there and appropriating my " plunder." He was an evil-appearing man, with a black-looking face half hidden by a rusty beard, and always car- ried a gun over his arm. He hailed me with apparent joy, and introduced me to young Drawdy, one of the suspected murderers, — a simple-looking, not ill- favored young man. While I was drying my clothing — for I had forded a creek a mile above — this young man came into the house and got his gun, drawing out the buck- shot, seventeen in number, from the barrel, and then firing off the powder. TJie other barrel zvas empty ! The significance of this lies in the fact that with this gun he had shot the German, and had not reloaded it since, as was later proved, when he was captured. Jernigan tried to make himself agreeable, and was eager for news from the lagoon, saying he had heard that Mrs. Lang was at Fort Pierce trying to get GOOD INDIANS AND BAD WHITE MEN. 95 a posse out to search for the slayers of her husband. He was anxious to know if anything would be done, and particularly inquired if Mr. Stewart, the sheriff, had arrived. He said that he did n't know much about Mr. Lang, but had heard that he was a mighty bad man. " They do 'low round here," he ex- plained, " thet he hed been taken with hea^'t disease, and crawled off and died. It's a right smart sudding disease, is heart disease, and persons has ofting been tuk with it, specially sich as Lang, which shoots our cattle when they feel like it." THE MURDERERS' CABIN. It was apparent that he knew something of the murder, if he had not been concerned in it; and I thought that my best policy (at least for the time being) was a non-committal one. I realized that I had unsuspiciously stepped into a nest of serpents, and heartily wished myself back at Indian River. But it would not do to recede, and so I went on with my Indian friends. At Ten-mile Creek, four miles beyond, the sun went down as Billy was making our camp-fire. He built it Indian fashion, with the sticks and logs end together, radiating from a common centre, like the spokes of a wheel, first kindling a blaze by means of dry palmetto fans. 96 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. By the time the squaw and pickaninnies had arrived I had prepared coffee and hard-tack toast for us all; the packs were then opened, tin dippers and dried meat were produced, and we "fell to" heartily at the supper. They were easily satisfied, and did not complain at the small allowance I was com- pelled to give them. For an hour or two after dark I sat up, questioning them about Indian ways of life, and adding many Seminole words to my vocabulary; then spreading my rubber blanket on the ground, and rolling myself in my overcoat, I went to sleep. Whenever I awoke, I had only to kick the charred logs together to kindle a flame ; this being one of the manifest advantages of a fire built Indian- fashion. At daylight, Billy started a flame by throwing on fresh fuel. I again pro- duced coffee and crackers, and they some slabs of dried meat, which they warmed by hanging on sticks before the fire ; and soon breakfast was disposed of, the packs were made up, and we were off on the trail. Jimmy and Billy tried in vain to spear some fish in the creek, the Alpa- tiokee, with a spearing-pole they found in the bushes, and hid again when they left. We passed through the pine woods, and then had a long stretch of wading over the submerged prairie, which lasted nearly all day. The only trees here were the gray cypresses, which grew in " knolls," surrounded by water, and were the abode of hundreds of heron, ibis, and teal. We reached a strip of pine land at night, and there made a camp as before. In the morning I awoke refreshed, and but little the worse for my tramp except for a slight stiffness ; and after a hearty breakfast we took the direct trail for the Indian village, which we reached that night. What I found there, will be narrated in the next chapter; let us retrace my trail now, in order to finish my account of the doings of Jernigan and his crew. It was nearly a week later when, having finished my exploration of the country to be traversed with the boat, I returned to Indian River. I had a guide to a point within twenty miles of the lagoon, and thence went on alone, as the trail was well marked, though nearly ten miles of the distance was under water, through which I waded half knee-deep. At about mid-afternoon I reached Alpattiokee Creek, where we had first camped, and arrived at Jernigan's cabin " an hour by sun," or just before sunset. Jernigan and all the men were out hunting, his wife said; but she gave me a good supper, and then, in spite of her earnest appeals to stay till her hus- band's return, I went on towards the coast. It was then seven miles to the GOOD INDIANS AND BAD WHITE MEN. 99 lagoon. Two miles beyond was Five-mile Creek, which was a very bad piece of water to cross, and I wished to get to the other side of it before dark. So I was walking swiftly on, at the very top of my speed, and had almost reached it, when I heard a whistle near mc. Looking around, I saw Jernigan and Drawdy approaching, on horseback; while two other men could be seen slinking off into the distant woods. They said they had been out hunting; but they were heavily armed, and came from the direction of St. Lucie Prong, where stood the dwelling of Mr. Lang ! They rode close up to me, and urged me to go back with them to the cabin. I held my rifle carelessly in the hollow of my arm, but it was quite ready for action in case of any suspicious movement on their part ; and so I stood, half at bay, while they seemed to be making up their minds what course to pursue. Jernigan was the man I wished to engage to take my boat across country to Lake Okechobee, as he had the only oxen and cart-wheels in this section of the country. He was very willing to do it, as I made him a liberal offer, but was afraid to go into Fort Pierce to get the boat. If I would meet him at the creek, he would engage to carry my party the whole distance. This I could not do, and finally he agreed to go in for the boat in ten days' time, as he first had " right smart of planting to do; " but I was to treat him squarely, and not say anything to his hurt, for he had heard " how them Indian River fellers spicioned " him and his partners of the Lang aftair. Then I said good-by, and pushed on again, as they turned about and made towards their cabin. It was then quite late, and night was already spreading its gloom over the swamps as I reached the hammock bordering the creek, and walked over the slender poles across it in fear and trembling. Ah ! but it was gloomy above that deep alligator hole, into which a single misstep would have plunged me ! It was fairly dark as I waded the " branch " struck across the marshy plain, and pushed on into the woods. Just before darkness obstructed the view, I glanced back, and saw something that made my blood tingle with anticipatory danger. I saw the four men I had left behind me circling to right and left, — two on each side, as if to flank my course and head me off before I could reach the lagoon. Nothing has since occurred to justify me in the surmise that they intended to cut off my retreat and put me out of the way, as one possessing dangerous information against them, except some dark hints from Jernigan, two weeks later, that I nearly lost the " number of my mess " that night. It was said to be but four miles from the creek to the fort; but I found them long and weary ones that night, as I strode along in the darkness, my lOO THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. shoes and clothing saturated with water from the mud-holes into which I occasionally plunged. Pool after pool, and marsh after marsh, I waded through, guided only by the glimmer of the water. How anxiously I looked forward to my arrival on the sand-ridge that should show me that the coast was near ! It does not matter now, that the men I saw circling about in the forest did not succeed ; I then thought the chances were good for them to overtake me, and then — For an hour and a half I pictured to myself my fate should such an event have come to pass. At last I ploughed through the loose sand that indicated the proximity of the coast-ridge, and a little later reached the crest and saw the moon, half an hour high, shining brightly in the sky. It was the most grateful sight of that week, except perhaps the light streaming through the window of the house where my partner was quartered. The rest I got there in our half-room was very welcome, and not less grateful was the sense of security surrounding me. The people at the Fort had collected quite a number of facts regarding the murder, form- ing indeed a perfect chain of circumstantial evidence against the two Drawdys and Pag- gett, with Old Jernigan as accomplice. The sheriff had been here, but was afraid to act, as Jernigan and his friends were reported strongly intrenched in their cabin and had threatened to shoot every man coming out to arrest them. To complete this episode (which occurred several years ago), let me insert an extract from a Florida newspaper of two years later, which was sent me while absent from home in the West Indies. Jernigan had often said to me that he would never be taken alive, and it seems by this account that it w^as no idle boast. The following is the extract : — " A Murderer Killed. — Information has been received from Fort Thompson, Manatee County, saying that Elias Jernigan, one of the murderers of O. A. Lang, was killed near that place on the i8th of January, by a posse who were attempting to arrest him. The facts in relation to the murder of Mr. Lang are written by Mr. C. S. Williams, and published in the ' Union.' Mr. Williams, in the course of a long sojourn in the LANG WAS A SHREWD GERMAN. GOOD INDIANS AND BAD WHITE MEN. lOI Indian River country, became acquainted, we believe, with Mr. Lang, who, in some re- spects, was an odd genius. He says : ' Mr. O. A. Lang was a shrewd German gardener, educated and accomplished in his business, and well versed in botany and other scientific studies. He came to this country about ten years since, and some eight years ago settled with his family on Lake Worth, Dade County, Florida. Here he lived a solitary life, having no neighbors nor associates, except a few " beach-combers," or " wreckers," and some straggling Seminoles ; introducing foreign plants and cultivating vegetables and fruits about six years. He it was who opened the communication between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth, since become noted as the subject of a claim by W. H. Gleason under his contract with the State for ditching, — Gleason claiming that Lang did it in his employ. While living here, Lang made careful and thoroughly scientific examinations of tlie fauna and flora of that section, and prepared several books of preserved foliage as specimens, with botanical descriptions attached. Wearied of his monotonous life, he removed to a location on the St. Lucie River, some twenty miles or more from its mouth, where he estab- lished a home, and finally secured a title to a tract of land, part of which was on an island in the river, and there he made a clearing, and planted various tropical fruits, etc., but for some reason he acquired the enmity of his neighbors — if families living several miles dis- tant can be called neighbors, and it was reported that he was in the habit of shooting their hogs and cattle. Whether this was true or not, or whether it was but a pretext for getting rid of him, is uncertain, but one morning, about two years since, two men came to his house, pretending to be hunting horses. They were known to him, living not far away, and he took them in to breakfast, gave them such information as he could, and finally put them across the river in his boat, when they shot and killed him, — his wife distinctly hear- ing the shots. His body was sunk in the river, but it rose after a few days and was cut in pieces by the murderers, and the parts stufi"ed into alligator holes. Subsequent develop- ments revealed the fact that four men were connected with the murder, of whom the Jerni- gan above-mentioned was one. Some were arrested, and one is now in prison for the crime ; the others left the country. Mrs. Lang, with her two or three children, abandoned their plantation, and is said to be living with relatives near New Smyrna. The improve- ments have gone to ruin, although sugar-cane, bananas, and other fruits are growing there, to be gathered only by wandering Indians or stray hunters. For several years Lang kept a diary, which is said to be in the possession of a resident of Indian River, and contains much that would be of value to citizens and fruit-growers if it were published." CHAPTER IX TEN DAYS WITH THE SEMINOLES. r>^ O jealously do the Seminoles hold themselves in seclusion, that their existence is regarded by many writers as purely mythical. Of the thousands of people who annually visit Florida, not ten get a glimpse of the swarthy red-man. Along the waters of the St. John's, the mighty river which the Seminole once held as his own, are the winter- resorts of hundreds who little suspect, as they pass the forest-covered fields and mounds which the Indian once owned and cultivated, that the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants yet live in the State. Far down in the swampy Everglades, a ruined and degraded people eke out a bare existence upon a tithe of the lands which their ancestors once claimed by right of conquest. Few Northern men have ever visited them, so well have they covered the trails to their hiding-places. No tribe — or remnant of a nation, rather — has preserved its blood so free from contamination as this. No tribe has so sacredly guarded its customs and dress from innovation as this. Despite the changes and rude shocks which the war must have occasioned, the Seminoles have retained their old-time habits of speech, ceremonies, dress, and traditionary rites of religion. They have adopted the dress and habits of the white man only to such a degree as will benefit them, but they cling to the primitive style of garb and speech that their chiefs and old women strove so zealously to preserve in the early part of the last century. They are, therefore, more interesting as a tribe than any other in the United States. During the late war they maintained a strictly neutral position, though often approached with propositions that they should fight the Yankees. It is possible that they may break the bonds of caution that now restrain them, and TEN DA YS WITH THE SEMINOLES. 103 dig up the hatchet so long buried ; for they are subject to many persecu- tions by the white settlers who have penetrated into the unattractive Indian reserve. The Indian settlement near Lake Okechobee is about thirty miles from the Indian River, upon the Atlantic coast. Between the coast and the settle- ment, at the time of my first visit, there was but one white man's cabin, and this was some ten miles inland. From that cabin, one April morn- ing, emerged the settler aforesaid and myself. We mounted two tough stalhons, and turned their heads westward. My guide was owner of several hun- dred head of cattle, which roamed in a half-wild state through the woods and over the prairies, and these horses we were astride were espe- cially trained for hunting those wiry cattle, and ad- mirably fitted for our pur- pose. We each carried a gun, a pint-cup, and a knife, and across our horses' backs were thrown two well-filled saddle-bags of provender for man, and two more of corn for beast. A narrow trail led across the vast Alpattiokee Flats, following dry creek-beds, through cypress-swamps and saw-grass jungles, be- neath gigantic pines, and through dense palmetto-shrub. We followed this Indian trail in a southwesterly direction, till we struck the saw-grass bordering the Black Cypress, — a cypress belt of swamp nearly forty miles in length, but scarcely a mile in width. Through this swamp was a narrow, blind trail, carefully hidden, lest the white man should discover it. OSCEOLA, CHIEF OF THE SEMINOLES. I04 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. The precautions the Seminoles had taken to guard it were useless ; for my guide had trailed Indians in that very swamp years before, and it was to him as plain as noonday. Dismounting, we attempted to lead our horses through it. Bleeding and torn we emerged from the saw-grass, whose serrated edges had cut and gashed us, to enter the blackest swamp that ever defiled the face of Nature. The tall cypress grew high above our heads, excluding every ray "THE DESPERATE LEAPS OF OUR FRIGHTENED HORSES." of light. Long trailing vines, and hooked, cruel-looking briers, hung athwart our path, and festooned every tree. The mud in which we struggled was black, and exceedingly soft and tenacious. Stagnant pools of slime-covered water gave lurking-places to numberless alligators and poisonous snakes, which latter reptiles untwisted themselves in dozens from the gnarled cypress-roots, and wriggled silently away after darting at us their forked tongues. It required the utmost vigilance to elude the snakes and the alligators, so as to guide the- desperate leaps of our frightened horses. TEN DAYS WITH THE SEMINOLES. lOJ Never was daylight hailed more joyfully than by us at the moment we emero-ed from the swamp, and dragged our mud-covered horses out upon the solid ground. The Black Cypress was passed ; a few miles over level prairie, and we saw the first habitation. This, then, was the Indian country, the last refuge of a persecuted tribe, — these half-dozen miles of prairie, bounded north and east by the swamp, south and west by forests of pines. The scene before me was one of peaceful rest and happiness. The meadow- lark trilled his clear note from the grass as we rode along ; the quail whistled merrily, and the woodpecker tapped the aged pine. Paroquets flew by on golden wings, and the mysterious ibis winged his silent way overhead. As we neared the village the entire population came forth to meet us ; for those at work in the hammocks had been apprised of our arrival, and were there to greet us. The shanties were grouped together, about thirty in number. They were simply constructed; four posts supported a pitched roof thatched with pal- metto-leaves. Open at the sides and ends, a full view of the interior could be obtained. A raised platform of logs, three feet from the ground, was used to sleep upon, and hold the family treasures. The people that surrounded us were strange in appearance, but the women were most noticeable. Around their necks they wore a profusion of beads, — coil upon coil of great glass beads. They would omit any portion of their attire sooner than these beads, which are of all colors, shapes, and sizes, and the accumulations of years. So long as there is space between the chin and breast, so long do they crowd in beads until the weight is burdensome. Some of these strings have been weighed, and turned the scale at twenty pounds. They are slaves to fashion, — these untutored sisters. The only exception to the general style of dress was in the case of a young widow, who, according to the fixed and unalterable laws of the tribe, was permitted to wear no beads, no cape, no bustle, or polonaise. The law regarding widows is, furthermore, that they shall not leave camp for two years, nor comb their luxuriant hair during that period. If they pass the time of probation with credit, they may marry again. To summarize in respect to dress : Children of both sexes under five ca- vorted about in a state of nature. The boys enjoyed this freedom, unrestrained, until ten or twelve years old ; but the children of the softer sex donned a petti- coat. At fifteen the boys arrived at the dignity of a shirt. The girls of that age had accumulated vast possessions of beads, and when turned sixteen were allowed to wear a cape. I08 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. Upon great occasions both men and women ornament themselves regard- less of expense. The men disguise themselves in shirts of fine make, and long, flowing gowns of large-figured calico, embroidered elaborately and belted at the waist. Their legs are encased in fringed leggings, and their moccasins are shapely and highly ornamented. Around their heads they wind a large, gayly colored shawl, making a huge turban, from which the fringe hangs gracefully. Heron and egret plumes are thrust into the hair, and from the neck are sus- pended large gorgets of silver. The women use a profusion of ribbons, brace- lets, and beads. About their ankles they tie shells of the box-tortoise, which are bored with holes, so that they make a loud noise when struck together. They manufacture ear-rings from silver half- and quarter- dollars, without any instruments for working save the most primitive. These observations I made while surrounded by the motley crowd, and during my subsequent residence with them. After a short rest, we were invited by Indian Parker, a sub-chief, to inspect his plantation. It was a mile away in the cypress hammock. Their houses are built in the pine-woods for health, while their gardens are in the more fertile, swampy hammocks. His wife and children were hard at work when we arrived, but desisted at the first intimation of visitors, washed themselves in a creek, donned their clothing, and gathered about us with off"erings of the fruit of the place, — corn and sweet-potatoes. The corn we roasted in the ashes, and ate the great milky ears with much satisfaction, though our sleeves did not brush away all of the clinging dirt. It was in April ; and Parker had corn six feet high, and pumpkins, beans, peas, and melons, in flourishing growth. All worked, — men, women, and chil- dren. There were no shirks. This is a pleasing characteristic of the Seminole. He will hunt all the time that he can be spared from his plantation ; but when the season of planting comes, the rifle and arrow are laid aside, and he takes up the hoe and axe. Labor is mutual. The warrior kills the deer and bear, skins it, prepares the meat, and brings it home or to camp. The squaw, sister, or daughter dries and dresses the skin, smokes the meat for future use, and performs all the labor incident to the camp. From Parker's plantation we went beyond, to that of Tiger, his father-in- law. I had met Tiger two weeks previously. He had visited my camp and eaten me out of provisions. At the time of his visit I had enough food, with the game we shot, to last three weeks. He came with ten younger men, stopped with me over-night, and left me next day without a pound of flour or meat in the larder. "THE NEXT DAY THE PERFORMANCE BEGAN." TEN DA YS WITH THE SEiM/XOLES. 1 1 i My guide had attended the annual feast of the harvest, or " busk," the previous year, and described to me this interesting ceremony: — "Twas about the fust of July, and Aleck and me thought we'd go out and kind of celebrate the Fourth among the Injuns. They give us a shanty, and we turned our hosses loose, and the next day the performance began. You see that cleared place thar, about a hundred feet across? Well, that was all smooth, and was used to dance on, around that thar pole, which was hung with leaves, and one sort of thing and another. This house, here to one side, was a sort of sweat-house, and they had it stopped up tight, and a big kettle of water — two or three of them — in one end. " The women, they went round and collected all the old stuff and made a big heap of it, and then set it afire. Then they went out and got some kind of a root and made a strong drink ; and that physicked them, you bet. This took about all day. " Next day they got together on that level place, and danced about the pole. They did n't like it because we was there, and some of the Big Cypress fellows threatened to kill us ; but Aleck had brought out a keg of real good whiskey, and the promise of that, when they was through, made everything all right. " The women had them turtle-shells strapped around their ankles, and they'd clap 'em together and make a noise you could hear a mile. First they 'd dance kind of slow, then gradually quicken their steps till they would fairly wake things, and sing and howl fit to wake the dead. All these two days they hadn't had nothing to eat, and wouldn't give us anything; and if we had n't brought something, we should have starved. " Every once in a while one of the chiefs would get up and make a speech, and then dive into the sweat-house, where they had got up steam by chucking red-hot rocks into them kettles of water. There he would stay till nigh about dead, — for the house was all full of steam, — and then he 'd rush out and jump into that pond there, stark naked, and yelling like sixty! " All this time the old doctor seemed to be the master of ceremonies, and he was a-mumbling over big words, hard enough to choke a white man, and pretended he was conversing with the Great Spirit. Toward night of the second day they seemed to think they 'd got things about clean enough, with their sweating and physicking and dancing, and all the girls went off and got corn and melons and pertaters, and they had a reg'lar feast, and they eat and eat, till everybody had enough to make up for a two months' fast. ''This is all the ceremony these heathen have, and they don't care no more for religion than a cat. If they are good when they are on this earth, they 112 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. will go to a land of plenty, where things is cheap and whiskey and game is plenty. If they don't be good here, they will go to the land of the Bad Spirit, who is half starved, and has no bear's-oil or whiskey. After the ceremonies was all over, they elected old Tustenuggu chief, instead of Tiger-Tail, who has been chief so long, and that came near making a fight ; but it was proved that Tustenuggu was descended from old Micanopy, and had ought to have been chief long ago." Giving a last look to our horses, we retired to sleep upon the hard logs, awoke early the next morning, bade adieu to our kind friends, and departed, intending to return in a few days. Of the week that followed, — of our being lost in the woods, and finally emerging at the settlement we sought, — I will say nothing, for that had nothing to do with the Indians. When we returned we found the shanties deserted. Not a living being was within sight or sound. Carefully stowed away beneath the thatch were deer- skins, tortoise-shells, and small household articles. In one shanty we found a rifle and a spelling-book. We were out of provisions, and must find some Indians or starve. Start- ing for their plantations, darkness gathered about us before we could find the trail through the swamps. Wheeling the horses about, we galloped over broad stretches of prairie toward the trail through the Black Cypress ; for that way the trail led, and we felt sure we should eventually overtake them. The moon came up and flooded the prairies. We passed a group of deserted dwellings, and were greeted by the hoot o{ oopaJi (owls) from their bare ridge-poles. Soon we entered the gloom of the Cypress, Avhere scarcely a moonbeam could penetrate, and struggled for an hour in the horrible blackness, with the terrors of our previous passage increased tenfold by the darkness. Exhausted, we led our horses out into the moonlight, mounted and rode on, soon striking the prairie upon the other side. The trail of the Indians was fresh, and my guide followed it without difficulty. On and on we rode ; the outlines of the cypress, curved and beautiful, melting away in the distance. Halting to give our jaded beasts a bite of grass, we mounted again, anon falling in with herds of cattte and giving chase. The monotonous, long-drawn cry of wolves wailed out faintly on the air. My guide assured me that there was nothing to be feared from them, as well I knew ; yet that cry caused me to grasp my rifle tighter and look back over my shoulder more than once. Another wail, nearer now, and another answer- ing, gave promise of good watchmen, in case we had to camp alone. Our horses pricked up their ears at the sound, and pressed forward with renewed "THE GLOOM OF THE CYPRESS. TEN DA YS WITH THE SEMFNOLES. I i 5 speed. A long spell of silence, broken only by the thud of hoofs, ensued, worse in its suspense than the noise of the wolves. " They are on our track ! " said my guide, " but I don't know what it means. I ain't seen a wolf on this prairie this year, and there 's either a big pack after us, or a starved one." We entered the shadow of a palmetto-grove, and dashed over the cracking fans as though we heard the wolves on our track. At the farther end we halted just a minute. Patter, patter, — I seemed to hear the noise of many feet, and urged my horse on, while a cold thrill ran down my back. In the midst of a heavy canter we saw the gleam of lights at our right, heard the barking of dogs, and wheeling about soon found ourselves in the midst of friends. A host of dogs came forth to meet us, and leaped about and frolicked just as white men's dogs would do. As we crashed into the ham- mock over dead and brittle limbs and leaves, a sleepy Indian greeted us, who- assigned a place for us to sleep, and roused a drowsy squaw, who set out various vessels of food and then retired. Kicking the embers of their camp-fire together, a blaze leaps up that brings, out the weird features of the scene. Lofty palmettos, with imbricated trunks, stand out gray and ghastly, supporting an arching roof of broad leaves, beneath which, singly and in groups, are stretched the sleeping Seminoles. Many strange objects loom up, and familiar things take unfamiliar shapes ; but we are too tired to analyze the picture, and only too grateful to stretch our weary limbs beneath the palms, safe in the company of friends. It was long past midnight when we had finished our attack upon the meat, sausage, and " thin drink; " and the sun looked in upon us several hours before we awoke next morning. An Indian camp is this village, moved into the forest, minus the houses. Nearly all their personal property is carried with them. Hogs, dogs; hens, cooking-utensils, and every other movable thing, is taken with them when they set out on a grand hunt. This party was destined for the prairies of the St. John's, intending to be gone a month and procure hundreds of deer-skins. They marched by easy stages, and hunted as they went. They were to stop here a few days, to kill a couple of bears in the cypress-swamps near; then they would move on. Tied to a tree near my head was a half-grown bear, who lunged at me fearfully as I arose and threw off my blanket. Two small pigs were tied by the middle to another tree, and through all the day they raised their pitiful voices to heaven for deliverance. A litter of puppies, with eyes yet unopened, snarled and whined beneath the shade of a palmetto. Upon poles, stretched Il6 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. from tree to tree, were piles of deer-skins, and large bear-hides curiously stretched with sticks and thongs. From the trees hung pots and kettles, spoons, dippers, blankets, bladders, bottles, fawn-skins of honey, deer's brains wrapjDcd in moss, leggings, saddles, saddle-bags, bear-meat in huge flakes, axes, knives, and thongs, and as miscellaneous and varied a wardrobe of feminine garments as ever adorned an Indian camp. After breakfast, the sq'uaws and girls busied themselves with the various employments left them by their husbands and fathers. One dressed skins ; another prepared bread from the powdered contikatke, coontee, or bread- root ; while the little ones ran about, stark naked saving their beads, gleaning the fragments left from breakfast, inverting themselves in the huge kettles in search of some choice morsel, or licking the bowl of some huge spoon. I never tired of watching their antics. They were as cheerful and as jolly as white children, and carried on their games with as much gusto. They never cry. There was a babe there but three weeks old, laid out on the palmetto fans, which never even whimpered. They made curious little shelters of pal- metto leaves for the children. The stalks of some of these leaves are three feet long, and the leaves as much in diameter; and these would be thrust into the ground, the leaves joined at the top, forming a charming little tent, turning rain and dew, and allowing free play for the wind between the stalk-supports. The process of dressing the deer-skins is interesting. The skins are fleshed, thrown into water until the hair peels off readily, then thrown over a post sunken into the ground at an angle of about forty-five degrees, rubbed till perfectly smooth with a piece of wood, and then smoked. This smoking process colors them, in shades varying from yellow to brown, makes them comparatively water- proof, and gives them a villanous odor of smoke, which is retained as long as the skin exists. To smoke them, they dig a small pit, build a fire at the bot- tom, place upon the fire pieces of rotten wood, and over the pit place the skins, which have been previously softened with a mixture of deer's brains in water. After smoking, the skins are hung up to dry, and are ready for market. Toward noon one of the girls led the surly bear-cub to a neighboring pond to drink. He walked by her side peaceably enough until he got opposite us, when he darted so fiercely in our direction that the thong that held him parted. Forgetting the peculiarly ursine predisposition to climb, so inherent in a bear, I started up the nearest tree. It was smooth. A dozen feet from the ground I hung, unable to proceed. It was a desperate situation. Below was a raging bear, sharpening his claws in bloody anticipation ; above, the smooth bole of the tree, slippery as glass. I ask the reader. What would you have done? Verily, nothing difl'erent from what I was doing, — digging toes and finger-nails TEN DAYS WITH THE SEMINOLES. 117 into that miserable tree. But there is a hmitto human endurance. My arms weak- ened, legs shook, muscles quivered. One desperate effort — I was gone! So was the bear! After playfully scratching at the root of the tree awhile, he allowed himself to ' be caught and led away. Not being aware of that, I had hung to that tree full fifteen minutes after his depar- ture. I never did love bears. Late in the afternoon a handsome squaw came in from the swamps with a huge load of brier-roots. Without vouchsafing a word to any one, she deposited her load on the ground, procured water, washed a ket- tleful carefully, and then placed them in another kettle half filled with water. This she hung over the fire, packed a thick layer of Spanish moss over the top, and placed over this a strip of the inner fibre of the palmetto ; all this was done to keep in the steam. A few hours' steaming over a slow fire was sufficient ; they were taken from the kettle, mashed to a pulp, strained in several waters, dried, and then reduced to a fine flour. This was the ah-hd, or China brier, by some called the wild potato. This and the coontee furnish the Semi- noles with an abundance of farinaceous food. It is of a brick-red color ; the powder of the coontee-root is of the color and appearance of rye-flour. The squaws baked thin cakes of it, and gave them to us, served up in honey. The honey found in these woods is delicious, made mostly from the wild pennyroyal. The Indians are exceedingly fond of it, and spot a bee- tree a long way off. They carry it in fawn- skins, said skins being stripped from the "IT WAS A DESPERATE SITUATION. IlS THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. animals nearly whole, stretched out till dried, when, with the nose tied up, they make water-tight bags. At an hour before sunset we heard the report of a gun, then another. That was all; but the squaws looked at one another, and said, "No ko-se " (Bear), and busied themselves in preparing a repast for the hunters and putting the kettles in order for trying out the oil. A little after dusk the braves came in. First came villanous-looking but honest and pleasant Parker and his son, each loaded down with bear-meat ; and behind them Parker's son-in-law, bearing a portion of meat and a huge hide. Old Billy came next, the most perfect specimen of an old Indian I have met. He was tall, with brawny limbs, a large Roman nose, and large eyes. Tommy Tiger, a Spanish Indian, followed after him, threw his meat at the feet of his squaw, and stood upright, with folded arms, eying us savagely. Tommy Tiger was a son of old Tiger. He was over six feet in height, large and mus- cular. His eyes were black and fierce ; his mouth, firm, but not cruel, was shaded by a small black mustache. We soon made friends with him, and found him gentle and pleasant-voiced. Every one was now full of activity ; the squaws took the bear-meat and venison, cut the former into small slices, which they strung upon sticks to smoke, and trimmed the hams of the latter. The brave's work for the day was done. He had procured the meat and skins; the squaw was to prepare and preserve them. Though wet, weary, and hungry, they were very kind and courteous, an- swering quietly the questions of the children as they clung to their legs and hands, while at the same time conversing with us. And this has been my experience with the Seminole. I have found him ever kind, hospitable, generous, and brave ; worthy a better fate than is before him. So long, however, as he is left alone, he asks nothing more. He is happy. The forests and rivers furnish food in abundance; and if the native Floridian does not extend his encroachments farther, the Seminole will con- tinue to live in peace and harmony with mankind, asking nothing, needing nothing. We remained with them several days ; and, were this but a tale of adven- ture, I might prolong it many a page ; but my only aim has been to represent the Seminole as he is in these pictures of camp and village life, and enough has been written to show the manner in which he lives. CHAPTER X. LAKE OKECHOBEE. ^AR down in the Everglades, in the unknown interior of Florida, surrounded by impenetrable swamps and gloomy forests, lies the mysterious lake of the South, — the vast Okechobee. When its existence was first made known to white men history does not affirm ; but if one were to choose to believe that an intimation of it was conveyed to the gallant De Leon in the oft-related story of the chimerical " Fountain of Youth," — restorer of health and rejuvenator of the aged, — he would seemingly have support in historical facts. It is related that De Leon received his infor- mation from a Carib maiden, — one of a tribe then inhabiting the Florida Ever- glades, the Keys, and the adjoining islands. He landed, it is said, upon Cape Sable, the southernmost point of land in Florida, and penetrated northerly in the direction of the lake. The traditions of the earlier tribes of Indians were few. Respecting their origin, the country from which they came to Florida, they knew little. Their traditions related principally to tales of wonderful hunting-grounds and .waters. If, like the later tribes occupying their lands, their legends referred to the Great Lake, it is more than probable that those " Indian sages," met with by the old soldier Ponce de Leon, had this in their minds when they said (accepting the poet's rendering), — "The leafy Bimini, An island of grottos and bowers, Is there; and a wonderful fountain Upsprings from its gardens of flowers." Either this rendering or the Indian, De Leon or the poet, was imposed upon. But if we cannot claim for the Great Lake that the fact of its existence was imparted to white liien in 15 12, we can bring forward historical data to prove 122 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. that its presence was not unknown a few years later, in 1539, when Ferdinand de Soto first landed upon the coast of Florida. Then the discoverer of the Mississippi was told that the province in which he landed was called Macaco ; that the ruling cacique, or chief, bore the same title, and that the great source of supply of the various rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico was known by that name. By this name, Macaco, as well as by that of Mayaco, Lake Okechobee is known to the older writers. We may deduce from these facts that the possibility of there being a large body of water in the unexplored interior was intimated to Europeans more than three centuries ago. To the Indians of the interior it was the symbol of the Infinite; and doubtless they worshipped it, and the sun that arose above its far eastern horizon. They regarded with veneration the largest body of water known to them, excepting the ocean ; and this may account for the universal manner in which, from first to last — from swarthy Yemassee to olive Seminole — they have hidden it from the search of their white brother. Its vastness filled them with awe; and, unable to explore it in their frail canoes, they called upon the imagination to supply what they could not discover. Thus it was the paradise of the red man — his happy hunting-ground on earth. Thus was the lake dotted with wondrously beautiful islands, and the far shores of white and glittering sand bordered a land of crystal fountains, beautiful birds, and flowers. To this lake has been attributed the source of the St. John's, the wonderful river of Florida. When Aviles descended the St. John's, many years ago, he was told that the river had its rise " in a great lake called Miami, thirty leagues in extent, from which streams also flowed westerly to Carlos " (Carlosahatchee River). A learned Avriter remarks: "Lake Mayaimi is identical with Lake Okechobee, called on older maps, and, indeed, so late as Turner's and Gary's, Mayaco and Macaco." The ancient geographers represented water in the southern interior of the peninsula; so it seems that they must have been better informed than later ones, who have omitted the lake entirely. From evidences in various portions of the adjoining country, it would appear that the early Spaniards were more thoroughly informed of the lake than their successors. Lake Okechobee has had a great reputation as being the chief source of supply whence the enormous quantities of pearls once possessed by the natives were obtained. Mention is made of a certain Spanish governor who despatched a successful expedition to the Great Lake for these precious sub- stances. Whether this lake was the seat of the pearl-fisheries whence came LAKE OKECHOBEE. I 25 the supplies of the natives, from whom De Soto and his soldiers took away bushels, will not be argued ; but certain it is that they were obtained from a source now exhausted or unknown. The only mention of the lake in the last century is by Romans, who in 1772 relates the story of a Spaniard taken captive by the Indians and carried by them to the shore of the lake. He escaped, and returned with wonderful tales of the region he had penetrated. The Seminoles have a tradition that the first white man ever seen by their ancestors was upon the shore of this lake. He came out of the sea, they said, • and then disappeared. It may have been the same captive whose adventures were related a hundred years ago. At the commencement of the present century the lake was as little known as at the time of De Soto, and it was not until the necessities of war demanded the search of the Everglades, forty years later, for our enemies, the Seminoles, that any definite knowledge regarding it was obtained. Until that time, as stated by a writer of that period, " the interior of this part of the Territory was wholly unexplored by white men, and the description of the Indian inhab- itants was at best imperfect. When I explored the coast, my force was not sufficient to ascend the large rivers that enter the Gulf of Mexico, and the great lakes that are believed to supply these rivers are wholly nnkiiow7iy During the protracted Seminole War of 1 836-1 843 the lake was crossed once or twice. In the later war, 1856-1858, more accurate information was obtained of the northern portion of its shores, and two military stations were located near its borders, — one west, the other east of the lake. But notwithstanding the frequent visitation of its northern shores during the war, upon the with- drawal of the troops all communication with the lake ceased, and it returned to the seclusion its past history had awarded it. Since that time it has re- mained wholly forgotten until recently, — except, perhaps, by the few hundred Indians living in a half-wild state in the Everglades. These Seminoles have steadily repulsed and discouraged all attempts at its exploration, for reasons important to them, perhaps, but unknown. Erom time to time have appeared sensational stories of the wonders of Lake Okechobee. Ruins of castles and monasteries, with carved and ornamented pillars; ruins of Indian cities ; dens of pirates, containing untold treasure, — were found upon an island somewhere in the Great Lake. Indeed, some ubiquitous party had explored the lake, and had found monkeys and baboons, — whether on land or in the glassy water they had seen them, no one knows ; and delightful groves of tropical fruits decked beautiful islands, and everything was charming and serene, and everybody wanted to take the first boat for Okechobee ! Ruins they had found also, and 126 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. islands with breezy bluffs and grassy plains. They had seen — O horror! — " spiders of four pounds' weight ! " Such was Okechobee when I first undertook its exploration, which proved a failure. Nothing was definitely known; everything partook of that vague- ness and was tinged with that romance which such a mysterious body of water in a section of country unknown and unexplored for years, surrounded by Indians alleged to be hostile to white men, and swamps heretofore impassable, was likely to create. But the semi-tropical lake was not forgotten, especially when the blasts of winter came; and now I was once more on Indian River, fully prepared, by the experience of my previous misadventures, for a thorough exploration of the lake. Though I had undertaken the exploration alone and unaided, when the final start was made my party included five persons besides myself and the two drivers. As each one was an active participant in the scenes herein to be described, it is but just that the reader should form their acquaintance. The Professor had come to me recommended by the leading naturalist of America. He was a valuable acquisition, erudite, and companionable. The Doctor, his friend, was an indefatigable collector and naturalist, who had visited nearly every Indian tribe in North and South America, and had had much experience in tropical countries. Two students accom- panied them, fresh from college and enthu- siastic. But the mighty man of valor was a Dutchman, whom we will call Van Buster, whose only aim in life seemed to be to see new and strange sights and lands, and re- port thereon. His " corporosity " and visage "f^ gave ample credence to his statement, oft reiterated, that he was of Dutch descent; and a subsequent reading of the " History of New York " has satisfied me that his claim of descent from one of the first fami- lies of New York is fully substantiated, from a union of two of the most noted clans, — the "Van Houters, of Kaatskill, most horrible quaffers of new cider and arrant braggers in their liquor; " and the "Van Kortlandts, much spoken of for their skill in shooting with the long-bow." Thus it will be seen that our party was eminently respectable, and competent to undertake a complete exposition of the fauna and flora of southern Florida. VAX BUSTER. LAKE OKECHOBEE. I 27 Leaving the party assembled at the river, I departed for the interior in search of a team for the transportation of my boat across the country. The man^ whom I had selected as guide was an old "trailer" during the Semi- nole War, who owned a little cabin ten miles from the coast, half a thousand head of cattle, and a few horses. He was ready to go, but had no wheels; and we visited a neighboring " Cracker" who had just arrived, to solicit his. As a Cracker, typical of the species, a slight sketch of him and his estab- lishment will be given. The two carts, simply rough boxes of pine plank, were mounted upon hard-pine axles and very shaky wheels. Over the top were drawn strips of thin cotton over arched hickory-poles. They were a very feeble imitation of the Western immigrant wagon. In the carts was the entire collection of domestic utensils and furniture, including several hide-bottom chairs, a spinning-wheel, a cradle, a rough pine table and hominy-mill, which nearly filled them. Astern of each cart was lashed a rough-slab hencoop. Two yoke of diminutive steers were quietly grazing a little way off; the hens were seeking food about the camp, and some half-dozen children were playing about the cart. The wife of the Cracker, his " old woman," was busy cooking hominy in an iron pot suspended from a pine limb, smoking a cob pipe the while, and con- torting her pasty face fearfully in vain attempts to make the " blamed thing dror." We saluted the Cracker. His name was Pigpen. " Good-evening, Mr. Pigpen ! " " How d' ye, gen'lemen? " " I want them wheels of yourn a few days." " Well, I reck'n you ken hev 'em." " How much will they stan'? " "Well, I 'low as how they'll stan' right smart, — reck'n they'll stan' twelve hundred poun's." "Are you sure?" I interposed. " Heap sartin ; they 'se brung all them traps from Manatee, an' my old woman 'lows they 'se more 'n twelve hundred poun's to the keert." This individual desired to make a favorable impression, and informed us that he had a " hundred head uv hens an' a heap uv cattle in Manatee." " Do the hens all roost in the coops? " " Well, no ; kinder squats round permiskus." Other information of a kindred nature did he vouchsafe, but I quickly closed a bargain with Jernigan, the cattle-hunter, and rejoined my party. At ^ Jernigan, mentioned in a preceding chapter. 128 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. the appointed time (noon, of February 14th), Jernigan appeared witli his assistant and team of two yoke of steers. We were awaiting his arrival; and after an hour or two spent in fitting the axles to my boat and disposing of dinner, we loaded the boat with the articles each considered necessary. Besides our provisions of pork, hard-tack, hominy, and coffee, of which each had ample supply,- there were many things. The Doctor and Professor had large cans of alcohol, bales of paper for plants, cans of arsenic for birds and beasts, fish-nets, insect-nets, etc. A huge knapsack of tin, weighing fift}- pounds, containing every known appliance for capturing, preserving, and transfixing every living, creeping, crawling, walking, flying, swimming thing upon the face of the earth, the water upon and beneath it, and the circumambient atmosphere, the Professor proposed carrying upon his shoulders, but we labored with him successfully not to do so. The students had other knapsacks, a hundred pounds of powder and shot, and vast stores of arsenic for the preservation of birds. For myself, there was a trunk of chemi- cals, and provision, ammunition, etc. The camera and necessary chemicals were for procuring pictures of the ruins said to be in the lake, and thus assist in bringing shame and confusion upon those unprincipled persons who dared assert that this nation, this free and enlightened people, " possessed no ruins ! " Our armament was complete. We had thirteen deadly weapons to the party. More weapons of destruction were started upon that expedition than had been in the country before since the war. When all was ready the" team was started, and the panting oxen drew the rickety wheels through the loose sand. Slowly they filed out of sight, — the diminutive oxen ; the swearing drivers ; the Colonel (with this sobriquet the people of the river honored Van Buster), to whom I had yielded my claim to the only horse ; the Professor and students, looking for birds ; the Doctor, seeking bugs. Half an hour later when I walked to the brow of the sand-ridge with my partner, who was to keep camp, there was no one in sight. " Good-by, old fellow ; I '11 be back in a month ! " " Good-by ! Send a note back by Jernigan ! " Then I trudged down the hill, across the marsh and into the pine woods, leaving behind me the truest-hearted fellow in all Florida. The sketch of our route was something as follows : It was called sixty miles to the Kissinee, a river supposed to flow into Lake Okechobee. My boat was to be transported overland to that river, where it was to be launched, and we were to descend and explore the lake. There is an old military road crossing the peninsula from the Atlantic to the Gulf, which crosses the Kissinee, but at a LAKE OKECHOBEE. I 29 point farther north than another, — an Indian trail, which I had chosen. This latter was but knee-deep in water on the average, while the other was neck-deep even swimming. We were to keep the trail for about twenty-five miles, then strike across the prairies of the head-waters of the St. John's, travel a few miles on the old military trail, and then cross the Kissinee Prairie southwest. Four miles out, I discovered the party assembled about the boat bewailing a broken wheel. Though all despatch was used, it was two days before that acci- dent was repaired, and during that time we camped in the pine-woods. A new set of wheels was procured with difficulty, and the boat was reloaded and the old wheels left in their tracks, where they remained five weeks later upon our return. The first deep water encountered, Five-mile Creek, was swimming, — that is, so deep that neither oxen nor wheels could touch bottom. The leading yoke was taken oiT, swam across, and the team entered. Our driver stripped naked, and one of the students and myself did likewise. With a shout from all hands, the steers plunged into the stream with Miley, the driver, at their heads, where he swam at the risk of being gored in their wild plunges, and Shores and myself swimming astern to guide the boat as it struck the bank. As soon as the wheels struck bottom and the steers had gained footing, they refused to move. It was a critical moment; for the current, though not swift, was gradu- ally raising the boat from the wheels, which were sinking in the quicksand. There was no time for delay, as the sand was slowly, surely, creeping up the spokes. The leaders were hitched on, and amid the plaudits of the Colonel and the Professor, who stood on the bank aiding us with encouraging smiles and advice, the boat was drawn from the creek, and our team stood pant- ing and dripping upon the bank. This creek is formed by the converging of the waters that, miles above, spread over the flats and prairies of the St. John's. Four miles farther is Jernigan's cabin, where we halted, and where we parted with much regret from the Professor, who afterward reached the lake by a different route. The road to Ten-mile Creek was " right-smart palmeetery," — rough palmetto-roots causing the alcohol-cans, chemicals, etc., to dance in a lively manner. We reached and crossed the creek without serious delay, and camped upon its western bank at noon, beneath a huge oak. Here we caught a few large black bass, which had been left in small pools by the drying of the creek, and took a refreshing bath. After a short rest we marched on, striking the Alligator Flats just beyond the creek. These flats are miles in extent, submerged over half the year. At Trout Creek we struck a curious formation of cypress-clumps. They are in 9 I30 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES, rounded knolls, and stretch away in every direction, resembling in appearance the Holyoke Mountain of Massachusetts, as seen from Springfield. The mud and water grew deeper and deeper, and as far as we could see was one stretch of water, dotted with cypress-clumps. The poor oxen tugged and strained, yet moved but slowly through the mud, nearly axle-deep, through which we on foot plodded wearily, half knee-deep in its miry depths. FLATS AND PRAIRIES OF THE ST. JOHxN'S. Occasionally we started a moccason-snake from the grass ; and many times did we tread near them, barely missing their heads. These snakes are deadly poisonous, as much to be dreaded as the terrible rattlesnake. Lurking in the tussocks of grass, and concealed beneath the water, they are more to be dreaded than the rattlesnake, which generally gives warning before it strikes. These, however, give no warning, but swiftly and surely strike their envenomed fangs deep into the leg ere the traveller is aware of their presence. Toward night I walked ahead of my companions, with orders for the team to- meet me at the Indian camp, in a pine-island in the swamp. At dusk I reached LAKE OKECHOBEE. I -> i the camp, and finding a convenient log of pine-wood left by the Indians, started a blaze for the guidance of my fellow-travellers. Soon they came in, one by one, wet and tired, and dropped by the fire. After the oxen were turned out to feed, Miley baked potatoes, barbecued meat, and cooked hominy, the water being obtained from a cypress-pond near by, where the snakes writhe and twist among the cypress-roots, and where the frogs hold noisy concert all night long. After an hour's talk over the fire we " turned in " and slept profoundly till morning, when we arose at daybreak, and started an hour or two later. It was but a repetition of the day before, except that there was more prairie with deeper marsh, where we waded knee-deep in the swampy mire, with the ' snakes wriggling among the small bushes and grass-roots in close proximity to our feet. I have not mentioned that the Doctor, Shores, the student, and myself were barefoot most of the time, and any anxiety may be attributed to our disinclination to come in contact with a snake; for a snake always does feel cold and clammy when touched by the naked skin, and v/e do not like to give our nervous system such a shock as must inevitably ensue. We kept an eye open for snakes. We travelled for miles over a broad prairie, across which we could see a. line of cypress; around us, and occasionally surrounding us, was a dense marsh. " Yonder 's a 'gator, boys ! " said Jernigan. We all made a rush for him, and soon were grouped about an eight-foot alligator, high and dry on the prairie. He made no attempt to escape, as he was perfectly well aware that all efforts would be perfectly useless, and received our shots without a motion ;, hardly a groan escaped him. As it was the first alligator Shores had encoun- tered, to him was awarded the privilege of shooting him. We pushed on, till noon found us at the largest cypress-clumps and spurs of a beautiful rounded outline, conspicuous from their isolated positions, called the " Blue Mountains." Here we took a long nooning, as the oxen were nearly famished. The grass was short and sweet, as the prairie had been recently burned over. South of us, ten miles, was the Seminole town, and about twenty miles southwest. Lake Okechobee ; though, from the character of the country inter- vening, we were obliged to treble that distance. A slight shower passed over without wetting "us much, and we travelled on till nearly dark, crossing Cow Creek and an old trail once used by the soldiers in passing from Fort Loyd to the Kissinee River. At Cow Creek we struck the St. John's prairies, in no wise different from the others, except that they extend far to the north to Lake Washington, the extreme head of navigation on the St. John's. 132 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. At dark we reached " Cow-bone Camp," where is a chimp of palms and grass for our cattle. The place received its name from the bleaching skeletons of cattle, the accumulation of years, which were strewed around. " Many 's the bull-fight I've had here," said Jernigan ; "and many's the bull we 've had to kill before we could go on with the branding." Multitudes of cranes dotted the prairie and marsh, and turkeys were occa- sionally seen; but our numbers precluded a successful approach and capture. Deer were seen at times ; but the Seminole had hunted here for a generation, and this made them scarce and shy. It was late next morning before we started, as the cattle were lost in the marsh ; but after finding them we forced our way through a " cypress-slue," where the mud was axle-deep and the cypress-knees thickly strewed, and emerged upon a clear, open prairie, where we could see ahead for miles. North and east was the broad prairie, dotted with pine and palmetto ; south and west, a line of cypress-swamp, extending for forty miles. After crossing this prairie we entered a wood of pines, and emerged from that upon the old military trail, where every tree was blazed, and not a tree or stump obstructed. Three miles over this trail brought us to a deserted house, where once lived a well-to-do settler. One of the distinctive characteristics of a Cracker is his unrest. He rarely stays half a dozen years in the same place, but wanders from county to county, seeking the promised land of Crackerdom, — a land flowing with corn and whiskey, hog-meat and hominy. He will settle at a new place upon the slightest provocation ; perhaps there is promise of a good cattle-range, or a " right smart chance " to grow corn or potatoes ; then stops the team, the cattle are turned out to graze, and a log or palmetto shanty goes up in a jiffy. Upon equally slight grounds will he vacate the premises. If the fleas get uncomfortably thick, if a panther kills a few calves, or if the proprietor hears of a better land, away he goes, and the house and clearing are left desolate. So now, where I found thrift and apparent prosperity two years ago, I found a home deserted and a wilderness. A flock of wild-turkeys were feeding in the cleared field ; and as I was ahead of the party, I had an excellent opportunity to secure one. Wild-turkeys are excellent barbecued, with just the right proportion of fat pork to baste them, and our driver was just the man that could do it well. He could barbecue a turkey so nicely as to make one's mouth water after a hearty dinner. Mine watered. I concluded to have that gobbler, the leader of the flock, and drew my Remington revolver, which had never failed me, and fired. The turkeys looked up in astonishment, but soon resumed their feeding. Bang ! The bullet ploughed the earth at their feet, but the one nearest where / LAKE OKECHOBEE. 133 it struck merely hopi)cd up and resumed his search for food. This was pro- voking. I never had such shooting before. The next shot winged the gobbler, and the way those turkeys " dusted " was astonishing. ^L^ Vv>. v. Three miles farther is the site of old Fort Dunn, with nothing to indicate it except the old parade-ground, covered with a younger growth of pines. Here we crossed Fort EKinn Creek, the ultimate head-water of the St. John's River. " Do you remember that cypress-bulk down yonder? " said Jernigan. Ah ! well I remembered that dark-green clump ; for that was the first land- mark known to my guide when we were lost two years ago. There commenced the most southern affluent of the mighty St. John's. At the same place " headed " another creek, taking a different direction southwardly, into the St. Lucie Sound and Indian River; reaching the Atlantic coast two hundred miles south of the waters of its brother creek, flowing into the St. John's. The creek at the crossing, two miles north, is very shallow, but in the wet season ver)'- broad. We camped in the pine-woods near the Kissihee Prairie that night, and our horse and cattle luxuriated upon the fresh grass of a recent " burn." At sunset we saw the sun go down upon the Kissinee Prairie, and gild with its last rays the blue cypress-swamp containing the fountain-heads of two of Florida's largest rivers. At one o'clock next morning, Jernigan aroused us, and we soon had the coffee boiled and a hasty breakfast disposed of. We then started, for we were determined to reach the river before night. We had twenty miles farther to go, having accomplished forty. The darkness was in- tense, and it was wonderful how Jernigan, walking ahead, could discover the trail. Soon we left the old road, and struck a narrow trail leading southwest. A dense fog hung over the land, but we pushed on, with our guide ahead ; and no sound broke the stillness, save the crack of the driver's whip and his occa- sional shout to the cattle. For an hour we went steadily on, and I closed my eyes and yielded myself to the drowsy influence stealing over me. But something soon caused me to sit upright with a start and rub my eyes. The wind, which had fanned my left cheek as I lay down, now blew directly upon my right. While I was striving to account for this phenomenon, the team came to a sudden halt, the driver uttered an exclamation, and he and Jernigan held a consultation in low tones. We had missed the trail. In the darkness and fog we were as wholly lost as a ship at sea without a compass. We go farther to the north and strike a marsh, in which we bog. Extricated from this, we turn south, and are lost in a wilderness of reeds. We have had the wind from all quarters, and are completely at loss as to our course. Jernigan then seized the horse and started off in a circuit about the boat. We whooped at intervals to guide him in the darkness, and anxiously awaited 134 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. a response. Minutes seemed hours as they glided by, with no answering cry. Then there came a cry, — the long, shrill whoop of the cattle-hunter, — faint in the distance. Turning our cattle that way, we sought, and after a long search found our guide. Lighting some dry grass, we found unmistakable evidence in the worn soil and smooth palmetto-roots of the trail. Not long after, the first gray of morning appeared ; and it seems that we had been lost for hours, for we could see the woods we left far in the distance. The eastern sky slowly brightened, and the sun came out and dissipated the mists. An hour after daylight we passed a cypress-swamp, where rises the famous Taylor's Creek, which runs into Lake Okechobee, upon the banks of which General Zachary Taylor fought one of the hardest battles of the Seminole War. The slope of the prairie is unmistakably west, toward the Kissinee River. We saw what looked like a river, but what, in reality, was only fog. The illusion produced by the fog was complete, and we saw houses, gardens, and cattle, which another mile of distance resolved into mist. Occasional bunches of cattle, a few sand-hill cranes, and a few herds of deer bounding over the scrub- palmettos, were the only living objects we saw. Nearing a belt of pines, fifteen miles from our starting-point, we saw unmistakably a house. The trail leads through a swamp and then into the pine-woods, by this log-cabin. This proved to be the residence of Henry Parker, a large cattle-owner, who had made this wild place his home to avail himself of the size and excellence of the cattle- range ; for, with his brothers, he was owner of twenty thousand head of cattle, which were shipped to Cuba from the Gulf coast, as the market required. From Parker's to the Kissinee is about five miles, — three through rough pine-woods, half a mile over prairies, and a mile and a half of wading, then the Kissinee River, deep and dark, though narrow. Alligators grunted at us from the reeds, coots and gallinules swarmed in clouds before us, and the ibis and snake-birds covered every shrub. There was just dry land enough upon the river-bank to unload the boat upon ; which done, we launched her, put in all the luggage, sent the team back to the pine-woods, and rowed rapidly down- stream to the western bank. Here, at the ford, we found high, dry banks, and a good camping-place. Two small water-oaks mark the ford on the western bank, and some rotten cattle-pens, in the swamp, the eastern. The land is cov- ered with a dense growth of scrub and water oak, back of which is a broad stretch of pines and prairie. The road from Manatee to the Atlantic coast crosses here. Above is a marsh of lilies, willows, and reeds, and marsh below. A mile south is the site of old Fort Bassenger, where General Taylor crossed, marching to subsequent defeat, at the battle of Okechobee. The Kissinee River rises far north, in a succession of lakes, and flows, for / HERONS. LAKE OK ECU ODER. I 37 two hundred miles and more, with tortuous course, southward into Lake Okechobee. The upper waters are beautifully diversified with islands ; and the country through which the river flows is covered with oaks and pines, affording shelter to numerous flocks of turkeys and herds of deer. The southern portion, however, flows through a marshy region, with little game, and few localities suitable for hunting. Throughout its whole course it is narrow, and extremely crooked. At the ford its width is about fifty yards, though, at high seasons, it spreads over the adjoining country for miles. The current is swift ; the water dark, cool, and sweet. No one knew the distance to the lake, and there had been but three white men there for fifteen years. We camped at the ford two days, waiting the arrival of Mr. Parker with a "beef." Here the Doctor came near being drowned, and would have been had it not been for the gallant efforts of Shores, who, though the unfortunate cause of the mishap, nobly atoned for all by his prompt rescue. The 22d of Feb- ruary, being the Sabbath, should have been devoted to its proper use as a day of rest; but that being impossible, from the superabundance of mosquitoes, and the nearest place of worship we were cognizant of being three hundred miles away, we did the next best thing, — got our boat loaded and started for the lake. The air was balmy, and vocal with the songs of birds. We rowed easily down the stream, between banks of water-lettuce and yellow lilies, passing still lagoons where coots, gallinules, and water-turkeys swam and dived and chattered, in blissful ignorance of guns and hunters. The river makes a grand sweep not fiir from Fort Bassenger, and we boxed the compass in a course of three miles. A flock of hundreds of white ibis flew before us for miles; the sun, glinting their glossy backs and black-tipped wings, produced a beautiful effect. Alligators were not numerous, preferring those sections of the river where low shelving banks or projecting sand-bars give them sunning-places. The shore preserved its marshy character as we proceeded ; occasionally a water- worn bluff made up to the shore, covered with a wilderness of trees and tangled underbrush. Ten miles down we discovered a rookery of white herons. Their large nests, built of sticks, a foot and a half across, were placed in low bushes, just above the water. Each nest contained two large, greenish-blue eggs. We secured a couple of dozen in a few minutes, and pushed on, promising to call again upon our return. A few miles farther a rifle-shot of ours provoked an answering bark. Rounding a live-oak bluff of unusual thickness, we saw two boys and a pack of 138 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. dogs standing beneath a large oak. We brought our boat to anchor near a palmetto-thatched shanty, and there soon appeared a white woman and a negro wench. We learned that this clearing was the property of Thomas Doughtery, — a Tennessean by birth, a Floridian by adoption. He had moved here from Fort Dunn because " varmints was powerful bad thar," and he could n't raise good corn. This bluff was formerly the property of a Seminole, of whom Mr. Dough- tery bought it. The Indian shanty was still there, and we visited an old Indian field and inspected a corn-crib of Indian workmanship, rat-proof and water- tight. The Doctor said it was exactly similar to those now in use in the Choc- taw and Seminole nations west. Upon the logs of his shanty was stretched a large panther-skin, that had been taken from an animal killed near our camp of the night before. Giving some fish-hooks and lines to the boys, we cast off, and drifted down the stream. This was the last white man's residence we should see for several weeks. No one had passed their bluff since their arrival but a family of Indians a few days before. A mile or two farther we discovered a small hut, made of pal- metto-leaves, evidently the work of the Indian family ahead of us. We stopped here to dine and give the Doctor rest, for the heat was intense. A sweep in the river soon hid the hut from our sight, and we rowed between tree-fringed banks, with very low shores, where opportunities for landing were few indeed. A pine-ridge on our left seemed to approach the river, but did not reach it, and nothing broke the monotonous swamp-line; and night approached, with no prospect of a camp. At last one of the numerous curves disclosed a large maple upon a high bank. The place was instantly seized upon for a camp ; the boat was brought about, and, secured in an eddy, lay safe for the night. A fire was started at the roots of a fallen tree, and ran through the dead wood and grass to kill vermin and start out the snakes. The bank is narrow, but large enough for a fire and sleeping-place, and we stretched our canvas and turned in, after a good supper of bass, caught on our way down. A pine-dotted prairie is seen back of us, with a mile of swamp intervening. Casting off bow and stern lines in the morning, we floated between banks overhung with maples and occasional palmettos. Coming to a place where the river forked, and beds of water-lettuce and masses of canes made choice, of course, very difficult, we let the boat drift, taking the stronger current. Then we came to a glimpse of prairie, where pines and palmettos diversified the plain. A sudden turn to the left revealed an aged oak, — lone sentinel in this vast swamp, its trunk and broad limbs clothed in a dense covering of long gray LAKE OKECHOBEE. 139 moss. Upon its trunk were cut the letters " F. L. S." and " J. C." I climbed the oak and looked off. Before me, south, lay the river, — a bright, stretch of water for a mile, then suddenly lost in the marsh. Far away to the cast I could see two large cypress-bulks, seemingly the terminal points of the pine- ridge which had followed the course of the river several miles away ; west, a palmetto-ridge came down, sweeping away far westward. Between these two ridges was a vast plain, with here and there a single tree. Beyond that, I felt — " SOON THE RIVER RESUMED ITS CROOKED COURSE." I could not see — was Okechobee; for the line of the horizon seemed beyond the line of plain. Quiet lagoons opened out here and there, where the trees and bushes were white with the nests of the snake-bird. Numerous as are these birds upon the St. John's and the Ocklawaha, they were in tenfold numbers here. The most abundant bird was the odd crying-bird, — the Hmpkin, cour- lan, or Indian hen. Everywhere we saw it, jumping from the grass at every turn, rending the air with its cries. Soon the river resumed its crooked course, narrowing to less than twenty yards across, which width it held to the end. No pen can describe its crooked- ness. Twisting, turning, doubling on our course, we rowed between banks of I40 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. saw-grass and reeds, and marshes of canes so high that they overtopped our heads as we stood upon the rail of the boat. It was depressing in the extreme, and we grew weary long before night came on. Just before sunset we dis- cerned a lone cypress, — a broad-topped, well-formed tree, with branches reaching to the ground. It was covered with snake-birds, which flew away silently at our approach. The bow of the boat touched the shore, and I sprang into the tree and climbed to its very top. Turning about, I saw at last the long-sought lake, the ultima TJmlc of our hopes, Okechobee, — a faint-blue line ; upon the east, a darker line of cypress ; west, an immense plain. Darkness prevented us from staying, and we had but a moment to peer through the glass, which the Colonel brought up, before descending. By the faint light of the stars and the new moon, we sought the channel, rowing in the shadow of the trees, and finally emerged into what seemed a broad bay, where a gentle swell rocked uneasily, and we could hear the murmuring of waves. In the darkness we concluded it was not safe to go farther, and accordingly threw the anchor over, and drifted to leeward of an old cypress. Mosquitoes attacked us. Fury! how they bit! This was our welcome to Okechobee, — our first reception, — music by the band ! We retired beneath our bars, where we might listen to the soothing strains unmolested. This was our first night aboard the boat. As but one of several nights thus spent, it will answer as a description of all. The Colonel and myself slept aft There was space there, four feet by three. We squeezed ourselves into that space, drew the bar'^ver us, and essayed to sleep. The knees of the boat were troublesome, and we used, in lieu of feathers to soften the bed, sundry boots, bags of shot, and bits of broken wood. The Doctor stretched out on a thwart, six feet long and a foot wide. He did not sleep well. He had not yet re- covered from the terrible shock at Fort Bassenger. Shores had, for his exclu- sive use, the cracker-barrel. For the first time in his life he was heard to utter the wish that barrels were longer and curved the other way. An old cormorant flew around me many times as I lashed an oar to the tree, next morning, for a landmark. He seemed anxious to obtain, for the ben- efit of his friends, a good description of the first white man he had ever seen. The bay formed at the entrance of the Kissinee into Lake Okechobee is a mile in length from east to west, and half a mile in breadth. It is nearly filled with yellow lily-pads and the floating water-lettuce, though the line of the marshy shore may be easily traced. East is a large body of cypress ; west, a smaller clump; between, north, is interminable marsh. The blue waves dance in the sun, and I could see nothing to the south but water, — far away south to the horizon-line. LAKE OKECHOBEE. I41 A heavy swell came in from the lake ; but we rowed out into the open water, and sought a landing upon the western shore. Cypress, dead and white, against which the waves dash violently, stand far out in the lake. Cautiously we forced our way through them, and made a happy discovery. Back of the phalanx of cypress-knees is a little drift of yellow sand, — merely a drift, such a ripple as a huge wave throws up in a moment, and wastes away again ; but it seemed a very paradise to us, this sand-bar with its overhanging maples and ash, intertwined with huge grape-vines and hung with moss. Landing, we built a fire and cooked a much-needed breakfast. We spent nearly half a day here, drying our provisions and investigating the flora and fauna of our little island. In the marsh behind it was a black lagoon, whose still surface was crossed and recrossed by huge alligators. The Colonel and Shores shot at them, laying low many a one. The Doctor unearthed many an innocent bug, and deposited a few new specimens of plants between his sheets of bibulous paper. The wind rose, and our sand-bar proved a poor place for the night's camp. Skirting the cypress, we scanned the shore for a landing-place; none appeared. A few miles west, a sand-bar gleamed out behind the cypress ; but no sloping beach appeared upon which we could run our boat, and the water was full of cypress-knees, which threatened destruction to it. While my companions held her in position, head on to the rollers, I jumped into the water, waded ashore, and sought a place to land; found a narrow passage leading by a land-locked lagoon, and through this we ran the boat, and hauled her up, secure against wind and waves. We found indications of an old camp ; and the charred logs, with the ends together, radiating from the centre, proclaimed it to be an Indian camp. Availing ourselves of a large log cut by our unknown friends, we soon had a fire started and supper cooked. The Doctor and myself were the self-elected cooks, as Shores was unwell, and the Colonel was too lazy to do aught but smoke and talk. We had appe- tites like wolves, and rapidly and ravenously devoured hominy, pork, and beef. Our old friend the crying-bird, with whom we had got acquainted on the Kissinee. paid us a visit, and cackled and shrieked for our benefit all night long. From this point we could trace the eastern shore — a line of trees — till lost in a deep bay. The western shore runs southwesterly, and is mostly marsh. The wind was ahead. We could not sail ; and the Doctor and myself took the oars and rowed all the forenoon toward what appeared to be an earth- mound, but which a near approach resolved into clumps of reeds. A deep grass bay sends an arm into the marsh, and a few grass-shoals loom up in the water, like islands afar off. CHAPTER XI. MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECHOBEE. N a little bay, separated from the lake by a fringe of grass, we tied up to a cypress-tree, and started a fire upon some cypress-knees, where had lodged a foot or so of earth. The water of the lake is so thick with organic matter that we could not drink it unless boiled with coffee, and so a fire was necessary every time we took a drink. Shores made a fire ; the Doctor put in the coffee while I held the pot over the flame ; and the Colonel descended the tree just in time to get a drink and escape an attack from a swarm of carpenter-bees, who had neatly chiselled holes in every limb of the cypress. In the afternoon we rowed on, striving to reach a dense cypress-point; but toward night a sudden squall came on, blackening the water and sending rippling masses scurrying over the surface, and we hurriedly ran the boat through a bank of grass and reeds to the still waters of a quiet lagoon, where a noisome stench proclaimed decaying vegetation. Our old friends the mosquitoes renewed acquaintance, and seemed desirous to watch with us through the night; but we bade them good-night, and turned in. Sleeping in the boat was rather difficult at first. Doubtless there are softer feathers than old boots and bags of shot ; but the Colonel and myself occupied the bed in the stern, while the Doctor and Shores covered, respectively, the thwart and cracker-barrel. From various and sundry kicks and snorts, which came to my wakeful ears during the night, I judged that the mosquitoes were doing what they considered their duty. At daylight we crept out into the lake, gladly leaving the black pool to the alligators and snakes. The wind was from the north, and we sped along, under double-reefed sail, beneath a sky of inky darkness. The cypress were reached THE CAMP ON THE ISLAND. MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECIIOBEE. 1 45 after sailing through a narrow channel between floating vine-covered islands and a broad grass-shoal. But what a disappointment awaited us ! Instead of the land for fire and rest, we found floating islands, the trees surrounded by water and densely matted together with vines. The tall cypress rose far overhead, and many lay floating on the water; but there was no land. Throwing the anchor over a fal'en tree, we started a fire upon its dry roots and boiled our coffee. Pushing our way through stunted cypress, causing the snake-binls and cormorants nesting there to rise in clouds, we finally reached a beautiful ham- mock, Vvhere, back of the water-line of cypress, could be seen the delicate foliage of the maple. We ran the boat upon the sand and stepped out. Stiff and cramped with our long confinement on board the boat, we hailed with joy this opportunity to stretch our limbs. The narrow ridge was densely covered with a growth of cypress, maple, ash. India-rubber, boxwood, and mulberry. Here upon a box-tree, in whose trunk was cut an inscription in large characters, we found signs of the former occupation of this island. We gathered about this tree, and speculated what the characters were meant to reprercnt, — • (J. Smitch 1°-). " I have it," said the Colonel ; and when the Colonel said he had it, we all listened attentively, — "I have it. These characters were made by some of them Norsemen we read about coming over here eight hundred years ago ! See ! 1000, the year they came here ; Z']'^, the number of the men. This name, here, was that of one of their chiefs." " But," said the Doctor, " that can't be ; the bark would have covered the inscription, and the tree would have decayed hundreds of years ago." "That may be; but couldn't this be a young tree, — a sucker grown up from the roots of the old one?" " I think the Colonel 's the sucker," said Shores. I connected this inscription with a story told me before we left the ford, of one John Smith, who essayed to find Fish-eating Creek, who was lost, went three days without food, and would have perished but for timely discovery by a band of Indians. The most noticeable feature here was a gigantic cypress, six feet in diame- ter, enveloped in a mesh-work of wood, — the trunk of the parasitical fig, or "India-rubber." Towering aloft a hundred feet, wrapped in the close embrace of the parasite, wound about with vines whose leaves rivalled in color our Northern maple in autumn, the feathery foliage of the cypress blending with 10 146 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. the glossy leaves of the rubber made a charming picture of tropical beauty and luxuriance. The nests of the osprey were everywhere ; and as his enemy, the white- headed eagle, does not live here, it seems as though Mr. F"ish-hawk might pass his days in peace and happiness. Our course was southwest. We crossed a deep bay, some five miles across, to examine its farther shore for that creek with the unpronounceable name, — Thlathtopopkahatchee, or Fish-eating Creek. Not that we wished to revel in a feast of fishes, or were actuated by any other desire than to explore the lake. But we dipped into bays, and navigated blind creeks, and threaded sinuous channels, beneath the hot sun of mid-day, and not a glimpse of Thlathtopopkahatchee did we see; and it is our private recorded opinion that, should we have found the mouth of Thlathtopopkahatchee, it would haye been rather small, anyway. Late in the afternoon we reached a small island, — just a hint of sand above the water, — and seized upon the opportunity offered for an attack upon the coffee-pot. The low trees were filled with nests of snake-birds and herons, loaded with eggs and young. The alligators were very numerous and familiar; they would sail slowly up to our boat, rub their noses against it, and manifest an inclination to form our acquaintance, until there were several dozen about us. A few rifle-shots and sundry raps over their snouts would cause them to retire a few yards and gaze at us in a wistful way, truly touching. The marsh here is intersected by many creeks and bayous, but very few trees appear. We undertook to cross a bay south of this island, but darkness came on, and a sudden gale of wind lashed the waves into immense billows. We scurried for shelter into a bay in the marsh, and were forced to pass the night there, witli a strong force of mosquitoes to keep watch. 'T was a fearful night. Shores and myself were afflicted with a touch of fever, and in the morning he was so sick as to be unable to work. The south shore stretched away for miles, — the same desolate expanse of marsh, fringed with scrubby willows. In a long stretch of coast but one tree was in sight; and just as we reached that tree, next morning, the wind died away. It was well. Our only mode of observation was by ascending trees, and we should have stopped to climb that tree if the wind had blown a gale. Tall trees were few. Perhaps we had passed a dozen isolated ones, and we had climbed every one. Our feelings were elevated proportionably to our elevation above the level of the lake. The inclination so grew upon us that we were seized with a desire to climb every tree higher than our mast. MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECHOBEE. 147 From that tree I descried a dim island, and all the weary afternoon we rowed for that island, with the sun shining fiercely upon our blessed skulls. Distance was deceptive on that lake, and it was sunset ere we struck the grass shoal sur- rounding the island, toward which white wings had been flapping in the dis- tance, and snowy birds had been winging their way. It was dark before we found a landing and ran the boat ashore, on a high, dry sand-ridge, over- topped by ash and India-rubber. As I shouted my discovery to my friends, there was a rustle in the tree-tops. White, ghostly shapes flitted from tree to tree and fluttered overhead. A black snake darted from some wood that I was gathering, and startled me still more. The light of the moon struggled feebly through the leaves; but it was not until I had a rousing fire that I discovered tliat the island was inhabited, — that the great white heron had nests on every tree. Two days were devoted to a systematic exploration of the island ; for here, if anywhere, in this, the only island at all inhabitable in the lake, should be found those remarkable ruins discovered by those remarkable mythical explorers who claimed to have preceded us. The only things bearing any resemblance to ruins were the beautiful rounded clumps of the dark-leaved ipomea, — shapes easily transformed into ivy-draped castles and towers. The centre of the island was covered with huge India-rubber trees, deli- cately foliaged box, and sweet-scented bay. The eastern or lake shore is a rim of snowy sand, beaten hard by the waves ; the western, a dense, tangled mud- swamp, swarming with snakes, alligators, and mosquitoes. Here grew gigantic ferns, and gorgeous, flaming, epiphytic air-plants. The entire length of the island is about a mile and a half. The northern end termi- nates in a rank growth of swamp-trees, and is in places covered with wild- gourds and pawpaws in flower and fruit. Near the southern end is a tall cypress, from which an extensive view of the lake is obtained. From its top 1 could see the shore north, west, and south; east, all is water. Two islands loom up south, — one a little islet a mile away, the other dim and misty. Southwest I could see a row of palms, and a beauti- ful glassy lake lifted up into the sky, — a mirage, occasioned, I think, by the presence of some lake miles west of Okechobee ; probably the head-waters of the Carlosahatchee, which connects with Okechobee at wet seasons. Upon a limb of the cypress was cut " T. W., 1857," thus confirming the report that this island was used as a place of reconnoissance during the war that drove the Seminole from this his last resort, and made peculiarly applicable the name '* Observation Island." 148 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. In the afternoon of a pleasant day the Colonel and myself shot a few herons for their plumes. The dark masses of the ipomea were dotted with herons, white as snow, beautiful, graceful, their long plumes waving in the wind. At the first reports of our guns they left the island and their thousand nests to the mercy of those egg-thieves, the fish-crows, who reaped rich harvests. We saw a few of those magnificent birds, the rosy spoon-bills, and found a few of their eggs. The Colonel shot a huge snake as we entered the swamp, which circum- stance deterred him from penetrating very far into its dismal depths; but I, unconscious of the fact, was far in advance, having excellent shooting. As soon as a heron was killed, I would strip the plume of downy filaments from its back, and throw the body upon the ground, passing on to the next After coming out of the swamp I heard a report, and then another; and soon appeared the Colonel, very much blown, but jubilant, holding high above his head, out of harm's reach, one of the herons I had shot and stripped. " I've got one," said he, " a reg'lar stunner; but, by thunder! how I raked his back ! " He would not accept my version of the shooting, but made himself miser- able for three successive days and nights in vain endeavor to convince me that " the charge of shot just raked every feather clean off" the bird's back." Our sick man was much refreshed by our stay at this island. The few days had been filled to overflowing by the Doctor in collecting bugs and plants, so that we left it, after a sudden gale had abated, in good spirits. The dim island, as seen from the cypress, proved to be a mile or so of sand-beach, backed by interminable marsh. Huge cypress covered the beach; down the long vistas are charming views. We call this lonely beach " Fossil Beach," from some rare fossil shells the Doctor finds here. Three deep bays, each some five miles across, terminate Lake Okechobee at its southern shore. They are lined with the same desolate shores of reeds, canes, and scrubby willows, and the successive points terminate in scraggy "custard-apple" trees, filled with the nests of cormorants and snake-birds. A lone cypress terminates a long point of marsh, and back of this is a deep bay, the last and southernmost. Here are the Everglades, where the water of the great lake filters through an immense swamp, through the spongy shores of grass, canes, and lily-roots, through gloomy forests of cypress, to the ocean and the gulf. No creek, no river, forms the outlet of the waters of this vast lake ; the accumulated drainage of thousands of square miles of territory slowly perco- lates through the Everglades by thousands of channels with countless ramifica- tions. Northwest of the cypress is a chain of partially submerged islands. MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECHOBEE. 1 49 which wc reach one night just at darlc, vainly seeking a fragment of terra finna sufficiently large to build a fire upon, and casting anchor in a dark pool, peopled only by ibis and alligators. Our attempts to sleep were ineffectual, as the mosquitoes were cruel and bloodthirsty; and after several hours' battle, wc concluded to sail for the eastern shore. It was midnight. The moonbeams feebly lighted up the dark Everglades; the same moon had accompanied us from our first camp on the Kissinee until now we were looking upon the river for probably the last time. It was a fitting ending to our dreary voyage along the Everglade shore that we should leave the forsaken stretch of marsh and swamp, and enter upon the home-stretch with all the repulsive features softened and chastened by the moonlight. Farewell, forever, to the Everglades ! A few hours after the wind died away, leaving the water like glass; and we lowered our sail, and anchored opposite the southernmost point of the eastern shore. Shoals of alHgators swarmed up, their black heads dotting the water like water-worn pine-knots. They rubbed their noses against the boat, and grunted loudly and deeply, — • a welcome, perhaps, though we viewed it in the light of a welcome addition to their bill of fare. Time and again we shot at them ; but neither the death-dealing bullets nor the reports — which reverberated through the swamp like noise of cannon, and started out large flocks of ghostly ibis — alarmed them, and we lay down to rest, secure of a watchful guard throughout the night. The heat of the sun awoke us next morning, and we pulled for a clump of palms and a snowy beach, where, beneath graceful palms and overarching vines, we stretched our weary limbs. The beach was covered with shells of various hues, fragments of coquina, and nodules of clay. Windrows of mussel- shells with iridescent hues we discovered, but did not find the famous pearl- mussel, which history affirms the Spanish governor of long ago found in such quantities. As we sped along the shore, we noticed that the trees grew larger, — cypress, ash, and India-rubber, — and we could trace the line of the shore far away to the north. Late in the afternoon we made a landing. As the keel of the boat grated the sand, an ominous splash greeted us, and the water was covered with bubbles and foam. In explanation of this we saw a huge snake — a moccason, poisonous as death — slowly unwind himself from the upturned roots of a prostrate India- rubber, and glide into the water. Out of the grass and down from the trees 150 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. they came, — a repulsive, hideous concourse of sHmy snakes. We waited until the procession had passed out of sight, and then leaped ashore, determined to camp, snakes or no snakes, as it was nearly dark. The ridge of sand is very narrow, covered with palmetto, boxwood, and rubber trees, and back of it is an impenetrable marsh of saw-grass. A well-beaten alligator-trail led from the lake to a little pool in the edge of the swamp, where the sand had washed over, forming a pure white basin of clear water. From this pool we dipped up water clear and sweet. Oh, how refreshing to our parched lips, after two weeks of the green broth of the lake ! In this we found beautiful water-lilies, exactly the counterpart of our Northern Nvvtphcea odot'ata, but tinted with the hue of yellow topaz. The next day we found a beautiful bay, with a wide white beach, above which rose large trees, draped with graceful festoons of long gray Spanish moss. The song of the cardinal-bird and the exquisite notes of that inimitable mimic the cat-bird fell gratefully upon our ears. A stiff southeast breeze sent us flying along the shore, and caused the waters of the lake to rise in huge billows that threatened to engulf us as they increased in size. In the after- noon we sought a lee behind a marshy point, only to find that we had entered a deep, narrow bay, down which the wind drew us as fiercely as from the lake. There seemed to be a creek emptying into it, and it is about two miles in depth. It is the bay known upon the old military maps as Cohancy Bay. Finding no shelter here, we again sailed on, the waves growing heavier and larger, dashing at times clear over us. Several miles farther a white beach gleamed out behind the cypress, and we made a landing after much danger and a complete soaking in the surf. A surprise awaited us. As I ran up the beach with the anchor, I stumbled over a hewed cypress-plank. Looking about, we saw a group of bananas, their broad leaves lashed by the wind. Beyond were the ruins of several palmetto shanties, the corner-posts alone standing, the roofs sunken into the ground. Pawpaws in flower, sugar-cane, and guavas flourished amid a wilderness of swamp-growth. There were boards strewed upon the beach, ten feet in length and a foot in width, hewed by hand. This, the first permanent camp I had seen on the lake, I afterward ascertained was during the Indian war the village of a Seminole chieftain, who now resides in the " Big Cypress," southwest of the lake. The clearing embraced several acres, but was now so completely over- grown as to be impenetrable. One of the cow-hunters subsequently told me that he had visited it while hunting Indians from the prairies behind it, and was obliged to wade nearly a mile in mud and water. I was upon the prairie back of this swamp in 1872, but could not reach the lake. It is about fifteen MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECHOBEE. 151 miles from the Kissinee. Next morning, the waves having subsided, we launched the boat in time to take the southeast breeze, wliich rises at about nine every morning, blows through the day, and subsides at sunset. A deep bav, similar to the bay of the Kissinee, deceived us, and we sailed far up it, with a fair wind, and were obliged to row painfully back again, reaching the main shore at dark, when we camped in a dry swamp. The next morning, as we rowed along the cypress-fringed shore, we saw the strangest sight of all our trip. Upon the shore stood a man, a nomadic Hoosier, " looking at the country." He was tall, well formed, roughly dressed. His boat was a dozen feet in length, a foot high, and built of hard pine, — merely a box. His oars were whittled from pine-slabs. He had a blanket for a sail. A small box contained everything he had else ; no gun, rifle, or fish- line. All we could induce him to accept was a box of matches. Leaving our new-found friend, who had braved the dangers of the lake in his frail skiff, we rowed through the floating islands of lilies and water-lettuce to the cypress at the mouth of the Kissinee. Our voyage up the river was without incident of any note; we reached the ford the third day up, and the Atlantic coast the thirty-third from our departure. In all that time there were but two falls of rain. The average daily temperature was 75°; the nightly, So'^toss^ The lake is about forty-five miles in length, from north to south, and thirty in width, from east to west, near the centre. The distance from the Atlantic to the Kissinee is sixty miles ; down the river, fifty-five ; and around the lake, at least a hundred. This makes our journey a hundred and twenty miles land-travel; a hundred and ten by the river, — lake and all, over three hundred and thirty miles. The lake has been for the first time thoroughly explored. Its topography you have examined with me, and its natural history will be made known when our dear friend the Doctor brings to light the contents of his bales of plants and cans and bottles of alcoholic specimens. Until the line of stage and steamer connecting the St. John's with Okechobee is inaugurated, the tourist desiring to visit a new and in some respects a little-known country cannot do better than take boats and guides for the largest lake in the South, the much- maligned Okechobee. Taking warning and wisdom from the narration of our misadventures, he may be able to " do " the river with as little discomfort as is practicable in more northern waters Our first day of unalloyed happiness was at Judge Parker's, where we engaged horses and means of transportation to the coast. There it was that we stretched our legs beneath a table for the first time in many days. We 152 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. rehearsed the story of our adventures to an attentive audience, with the Colonel as spokesman. He detailed every circumstance, from the first con- ception of the enterprise to its fulfilment, with a minuteness that showed profound study and powers of observation. He had saved the Doctor from a watery grave by shouting a talismanic word as he went down. His provisions had kept us from starvation, — in fact, he had been the savior of the party. He incidentally alluded to his descent from one of the oldest families of New York; spoke in glowing terms of the prowess and renown of his valiant pro- genitors, and modestly affirmed that he was winning a fame that promised to eclipse that of his forefathers, wholly dependent upon his individual effort. Then he recalled a scene in the lake when the whole party was in imminent danger of being drowned by a furious alligator. Warming with his theme, he grew eloquent, describing the approach of the alligator, his horrid appearance as he rose from the water and climbed into the boat, and the horror of the Doctor as he saw his beloved cans of alcohol and bales of plants disappear down the cavernous throat of the monster as he approached the party, huddled together in the stern of the boat. " It was at this juncture," said the Colonel, "that I recalled my presence of mind. I was the only one of the party brave enough to face the alligator. The rest sat paralyzed with fear. Fortunately, I was equal to the emergency. I advanced boldly. I seized the alligator by the snout, spit tobacco-juice in his eyes, and while the creature was blindly seeking to strike me, I, by a dexterous movement, seized him by the tail, and — " What was the denouement no one will ever know, for the Colonel disappeared from our sight. In his excitement he had arisen from the table and taken a few steps into the outer darkness, beyond the light of the blazing pine-knots. Like the puffing out of a candle, he had gone. His voice had ceased. We looked at one another, rubbed our eyes, and looked at the Judge. He smiled. " Flea-pit ! " To explain : So annoying and plentiful are the fleas that pits, two feet in depth, are dug for the reception of any unwary one that may be skipping about in the exuberance of its spirits. Two pits are generally considered necessary. From beneath the table came groans and oaths ; subsequently appeared a frowsy head and a red face, plentifully besprinkled with sand and little sticks. That sight would have upset the gravity of a graven image. Our sick man exploded and collapsed. The Doctor choked and grew black in the face. I rose to pat him on the back. Tears blinded my eyes, — tears of mirth soon changed to those of genuine sorrow. As I rose, a hog darted between my legs. He was a tall hog, with the A MOUNTED WARRIOR. MORE ABOUT LAKE OKECHOBEE. I 55 frame of an elephant, the backbone of a racer. To express it briefly, he was taller than my legs were long. I rode a few feet and then fell off. I felt a shock ; my cervical vertebrae seemed driven against the roof of my mouth. The toes of my boots abraded the cuticle from my nose, and it dawned upon me that this was the other flea-pit. To this day I consider the laughter that greeted my premature exploration wholly uncalled for. The Doctor, even, laughed himself off his chair, and rolled on the ground, emitting a succession of" Oh dears ! " that grew fainter and fainter as his breath grew shorter and shorter. There is little now to add, for our return journey to the coast over the same old trail was without important incident. I found my partner, the so-called Antiquarian, anxious over our protracted stay, and happy to see us once more safely with him after the month's absence. His trading had not been so successful as we could have wished, and in another week we had "packed our traps" and were aiming for the head-waters of the St. John's River. CHAPTER XII. INDIAN TRADITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. EFORE taking final leave of the Indian River country, we lingered awhile for additional information regarding the Seminoles, particularly of those who had bought stores of us and had promised to pay at a certain time. At exactly the time appointed the party of Seminoles came in, headed by Indian Parker, the honest sub-chief; and as they stayed several days, camping out on the beach, we improved the opportunity to obtain additional words for our vocabulary. According to Indian Parker, there are now two distinct bands of Seminoles in Florida, sometimes further divided into three or four. The wildest of them all live over in the Big Cypress, on the west side of Lake Okechobee, in a region practically inaccessible. These are direct descendants of the original Creeks, who came into Florida, from the north, about a century ago. The Okechobee Indians are the wealthiest and have the best land, and contain among them such famous personages as Indian Parker, Micco, Tony, Charley Osceola, Tustenuggee, Billy Smith, and Tommy Tiger. Away south of Okechobee and Indian River, on the borders of the Ever- glades, near Key Biscayne, is another collection of Indian families commanded by young Tiger Tail, and having with them, a few years ago, Little Tiger, Big Tiger, Old Tiger, Ellick, and Chipco, the last of whom was among the bravest fighters in the last Indian war. The patient Parker sat on the sand hour after hour, imparting to us such information as we desired ; and as we have never seen many Seminole words in print, WQ submit a portion of our vocabulary to our readers, merely remarking that if they do not wish to read the list, they can "skip it " and turn to something more to their mind. INDIAN SCALP-DANCE. INDIAN TRADITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 159 The Seminole word for '' a mile " is akiska ; " How many miles? " is akiska nachoma ? "An axe" \s, potsasna ; "an arm," chesukpa ; "a hoa.\." pishloo ; "a book," nacotsee' ; "beads," kokose' ; "a bear," nokose\ and "a boy," onunawah. "A camp" is istahapo' ; "an Indian camp," istachattahapo' . "A crow" is oshaha- wah ; " a cabbage-palmetto," tallahako' . When an article is cheap they say, iiiskiheta' . " A deer" is ichoo' ; " don't know " is stuntosh ; " a deer-skin " is ichoo-hablepe' ; " a dipper," ahloo' . " To eat " is humbuxjay ; " Me eat," hompalahia. " Fire " is totkaJiK " Good " is Jiitletutsjay ; " no good," holawaukus. " Go " is hiepusjay ; " Me go," aJiiidiepusjay. "A girl " is 7iocktoche' . " Hungry " is loivkow ; " Me hungry," salowetntsjay. "How many?" naclunna 1 "How much?" innachomah? " House," choko' ; " Indian house," istachatta choko. " A huckleberry " is chafakana. "A knife " in Seminole is slafkah ; " a pocket-knife," slafkah pccotskah. " The moon " is hutiisshe' ; " a moccasin," stillcpikah. " Me" (I), ahne' ; " Me buy um," nesalanesjay ; " money " (dollar), shatokonoioah ; " man," hoomintakah. " Pipe " is chippakawah ; " potato," aJikah. "A rabbit" is chofe' ; "raccoon," wootkoa ; "rifle," itsah ; "breech-loading rifle," Hsasolotkah ; " road," «i Their backs were turned toward us, and the conversation ad been carried on in a low tone for fear of awaking us. To say that they were surprised at my sudden demand would be stating it but mildly. DOWN THE OCKLAWAHA. !09 " What will you take for that bottle of collodion ? " A satisfactory bargain was concluded, and after much conversation we re- tired, happy to find, in this isolated clearing, far from any settlement, one of those deluded beings who at some portion of their ives imagine they will wrest a fortune from the world as peripatetic pho- tographers. The young Harrisons had here a comfortable cabin, ten acres of cleared land, with various outbuild- ings, a large garden well planted with thrifty orange- trees, and at the river a "TWO B'^ .WNY MEN SOON AFTER ENTERED. warehouse and a grist-mill and cotton-gin run by steam. They had taught themselves everything per- taining to the running of the engine and cotton-gin, and seemed to be young men of i lore than ordinary intelligence. How it warms one's heart to recall, 14 2IO THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. even after the lapse of years, such instances of cheerful pluck and large-hearted endeavor as were here manifest! Many a time, when reflecting upon the great number of young men in our cities earning a precarious living by doing woman's work behind counters and in office, have I recalled the noble exer- tions of these cheerful young men in this clearing in the wilderness. Thou- sands of acres of land are open to trial in this land of sunshine, which will give a young man decided returns for outlay of labor, in at least refreshing slumber and a contented spirit. At noon, next day, we drifted down again, through the same tortuous windings, to Log Landing. A picturesque little creek tempted us to make a side exploration, and we rowed past a thrifty little settlement, containing a nursery of orange-trees, cotton and sugar-cane, to where a large water-wheel was slowly revolving; and this made such a pretty picture, with its background of palmettos and cypress, that I tried it with my new collodion with success. The creek had been dammed and furnished sufficient water-power to turn this wheel with its dependent cotton-gins, rice-mill, and grist-mill. In this man- ner, all over the State, are the citizens of Florida settling the problem of its future. Running out of the creek into the river, we rowed on, the banks not notably pretty, though hung with an increased abundance of bignonias, past Forty-foot Bluff, — a long, high ridge, crowded with palmettos and deciduous trees. In a couple of hours we suddenly came upon a lone and dilapidated warehouse standing on the river's bank, with a great pile of light-wood and orange-box shooks its only company. This, we concluded, was lola, where we had been told we should find food and lodging. There was no other sign of house or individual; but after a long walk we reached a rambling, disjointed planter's dwelling, surrounded by fields full of wild plums and cane-grass. In these fields wild rabbits and gophers burrowed in abundance, and flocks of small birds dwelt in the mulberry, oak, and China trees that surrounded the stables and cookhouse. Here we were made welcome, and our goods were locked up in the warehouse. From this point the famous Orange Lake was at that time reached, and we hired a cart, with mule and attendant driver, to transport us thither, desiring to see a native wild grove in process of being subjected to man. At Ocklawaha Church, a noted landmark, we met the parson on his circuit, which embraced the territory lying between Orange Springs and Silver Springs, twenty-five miles by land, and seventy-five by river. The road was stumpy and sandy, passing through palmetto-scrub and pine-barren, and there were very few settlers. The widow who owned the house at the river had expatiated upon D O U 'N THE O CKLA IV A HA. 2 11 the 'beauties of the wild grove at Orange Lake in such glowing language that we both had departed from our intended route and gone to the discomfort of this ride of twenty miles in a mule-cart. The grove itself was so far beneath our expectations that we returned three days later in a pet. It was at first pro- posed to pass the house and go on to the river ; but our better feelings prevailed, and we concluded to stop and say good-by. Arrived there, we found the widow departed, but her two demure and pretty daughters in possession and awaiting us with a tempting dinner. Ah ! but that was a temptation to stop ! But we were thoroughly mad, from our three days of jolting, and steeled our hearts and our stomachs, and turned our faces to the river. The girls seemed grieved that we should slight their hospitable preparations, and I confess to a pang of remorse, even at this day, five years later, that we should have allowed ourselves to be so ungallant. The younger damsel — a black-eyed, tangle-haired beauty of sixteen — did not appear to credit our intentions of leaving, and darted into the garden for some oranges for dessert ; and we saw her, as we passed, plucking the golden fruit from the trees. "Look! did you ever see a lovelier picture?" She stood in the sunlight, with hat hanging loose, clad in pure white, brought into beautiful and strong relief against the dark green of the orange-trees. " No," replied the unhappy Antiquarian, " I never did ; but we can't go back in honor now; let's go on." And so we left the plantation, with many a backward glance and reluctant feet. But we were well punished for our stubbornness that night, by a supperless camp and misfortunes that the sequel will show. Paddling on, we reached at dusk an overgrown clearing, which, seen through a vista of cypress-trees hung with Spanish moss, and containing a small shanty, invited us to rest there for the night. No man disputed our entry, and we cut fresh leaves for a bed and built a fire near the " lean-to " roof of pal- metto-fans. Having nov/ nothing but our tea and a few crackers, we soon had supper disposed of and essayed to sleep. It must have been about midnight — everything of importance always occurs at midnight in a well-conducted camp — that my partner leaped up with a loud shout, and, to my alarmed and sleepy eyes, appeared trying to divest himself of all his apparel. " I 've got a centipede on me, or a scorpion ; he 's crawling down my back. There ! there he is ! By Jove, but what a beast ! " And he jerked something out from under his vest and flung it on the ground, stamping it out of shape in a second. " Pooh! " said I, " it wasn't anything harmful; there isn't any- thing of that kind here. Don't you remember what the land-company's books say, — ' There are no noxious insects, not one, in the entire State ' ? " 21 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES. "But that wasn't an insect, he was too big; he spread himself the whole length of my spine," " Oh, that's all imagination ; you must n't let such little things — Jerusalem ! Say, just reach down my back and catch that animal! Oh, I know this is a centipede, sure ; he 's got a thousand and one legs." "No, you don't!" retorted the unfeeling Antiquarian; "there are 'no noxious insects' in Florida, hey? How do you like it?" Meanwhile I was writhing in an agony of apprehension, feeling a most hor- rible rasping on my skin from this "something" that had crawled down my back. Feeling gingerly for the ani- mal, and with my flesh creep- ing at the sensation, I at last seized and drew it forth, drop- ping it at once it was in sight. Then the cause of our terror was revealed as a "walking- stick " insect, with a slender body some four inches long, and wiry legs, looking like an animated green twig. It rolled its protruding eyes so wickedly and felt for us so viciously with its wriggling legs, that, finding a lot more of them in the leaves, we unanimously agreed to sit by the fire the remainder of the night. This we did, groaning over our perverseness at leaving the widow's hospitable roof; and thus the young ladies were avenged. We found a trolling spoon and line tangled in some water-plants, the next morning, probably dragged away from some ascending steamer, and that day we caught some fine black bass. It grieves me to relate that we had no further adventure with the alligator ; and though I am aware that the reader will severely frown upon any Florida story without more alligator in it, y^t it is impossible to lug one in to this truthful narrative. We saw but few, though every tourist that went up on the steamer and came down on the same, returned boasting that he had slain his thousands and tens of thousands. With our small revolver we peppered at a few black snouts, and once got near enough to one to rap A "WALKING-STICK." DOWN THE OCKLAWAHA. 21 3 him on the head with a paddle, but captured no more. The river widened, as we neared its embouchure, and approached the mighty St. John's, and we drifted placidly along, past quiet bays and silent creeks that were margined with lily-pads and reflected the woods above them. On the other shore our voyage ended. University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.