Ingraham Expedition: March 23, Wednesday

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Ingraham Expedition: March 23, Wednesday

Original Source

Encoded texts are derived from three typescript accounts of the 1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition found in the James E. Ingraham Papers and the Chase Collection in the Special and Area Studies Collections Department of the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries. Digital reproductions of the typescripts are available at:

Moses, W.R., Record of the Everglade Exploration Expedition

Ingraham, J.E., Diary

Church, A., A Dash Through the Everglades

Contents

Electronic Publication Details:

Text encoding by John R. Nemmers

Published by John R. Nemmers.

George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

2015

Licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.

These manuscripts are available from this site for education purposes only.

Encoding Principles

The three accounts of the 1892 Ingraham Everglades Exploration Expedition have been transcribed and are represented in Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) P5 XML encoding.

Line and page breaks have not been preserved in the encoded manuscripts.

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View Page Image CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd. View Page Image March 23rd View Page Image [Wednesday, March 23, 1892]
CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd.

Up to last night we made, approximately 14.7 miles from Shackleford which is better than anticipated.

Surveying party left about 2 A.M. [6 A.M.?] on foot, but taking one boat to carry stakes and a portion of the luggage. Broke camp and followed at 7 A.M. and proceeded very well until noon.

41 Islands of varying size but generally quite small were counted at one time in sight by Mr. Ingraham during the forenoon.

Reached Island No. 23 Camp No. 8, after sunset. In order to get to the island and secure a dry sleeping place were obliged to leave our boats about 2 miles behind, packing food and bedding on our backs.

Made about 7 miles on our course today, [though] we traveled considerably more than that distance, meandering the water courses and keeping the surveyors in sight as much as possible.

This island has a very tropical growth and is the richest yet visited. It is perhaps one acre in extent and as usual used by the Indians as a camping ground. It has been partially cleared and cultivated at one time, marks of the corn or potato rows being well defined, especially after lying on them at night. Enormously large ferns with coarse leaves grow on the edge of the island. A leaf from one measured 12 feet in length. Wild fig, or rubber, trees are also here and of somewhat large size relatively. The Indians make a practice of cutting off the limbs and sometimes the tree itself for firewood. It is usually cut at one time for use on future occasions, as it does not burn at all readily when green. We had no hesitation in using the seasoned wood we found and probably will be well execrated by them on their next visit, as the consumption of wood by white men is generally much greater than by Indians. The former piling their wood lengthways while the latter only bring the ends together and push them to the [center] as the ends are consumed. These trees sprout after being cut off, either [trunk] or limbs, and the cutting continues indefinitely. The seasoned wood gives out but little smoke, but it is quite acrid to the eyes.

Soundings made during the day showed from 3 to 5 feet of mud all underlaid with hard rock. In the saw-grasses, bottom could not always be found with a five foot pole. Mud was everywhere today little if any sand being felt by the feet. Reclaimed it would be very rich land; the richest we have yet seen, says our engineer.

Saw grass to the southward almost continuous, as far as the eye could reach looking from 15 or 20 feet elevation. Water averaged for the day 1.2 feet, except on saw grasses where it averaged .2 of a foot only.

Our Indian Billy Fiewel did not turn up tonight as agreed. Fresh Indian signs were seen by Mr. Newman who arrived ahead of the party an hour or two before sunset; so he may have come and seeing our saw grass fires to the south and west of the island, concluded we were too far off the course for him to bother about us.

The 2 miles of packing from the point where we left the boats was through the boggiest marsh and saw grass imaginable and all hands were thoroughly tired out when we reached Camp No. 8, Island No. 23.

The glades at this point present an endless sea of saw and other grasses, lily pads, a great many of them in bloom, with small patches of water amid clear spots in the grass and small islands here and there. Two large islands of considerable extent can be seen to the eastward from this island-only 2 or 3 very small ones to the south east and the cypress still very visible to the south west but further away.

We are 92,750 feet from Shackleford tonight on our course.

At this point the Secretary's work was interrupted for a few minutes by an inquisitive moccasin snake attempting to crawl up his left shoulder. The writer immediately rolled over and out of the way with more energy than grace and commenced a vigorous search for a stick but before it could be found his snakeship had retreated into the recesses of the roots of the rubber tree, under whose refreshing shade the records were being written up. In the brief time there was for examination, the snake appeared to be about 5 feet in length and marked in pale yellow and black. March 23rd. Broke camp at 6:30 A.M. All well. Arrived at island #23 at 6:30 P.M. after very hard day. Wading 2-1/2 miles in saw grass. Burned all we could ahead. Very rich soil. Abandoned boats temporarily for the night and took only ford to the island. Gum-a-limbo trees grow luxuriantly in all these islands. They are about two feet out of water. Next morning before starting off we reconnoitered from the top of a large wild fig tree which grew in the center of our island, and thought we could see an opening through the saw grass leading in the direction we wished to go, but about eleven o'clock the saw grass closed us in, and to go forward we had to go through it.

We stopped a few moments to rest and eat our lunch of soda crackers and fat bacon soaked in a bucket of grease, and then started forward again, for the nearest island was several miles ahead of us, and although we could see no passage through the saw grass leading up to it, we knew we must [reach] it to find wood to cook with and a dry place to sleep. The grass was high and thick, the ground so boggy that at every step we sank into it up to our thighs, and the sun was scorching hot; it soon became evident that at the rate we were going we could not reach the island by night, and so Mr. Newman proposed that we two go ahead and fire the saw grass so as to clear the way for the boats. The grass directly in front of us had already been lighted, and fanned by the stiff breeze that was blowing was rapidly spreading around the little pond we stood in. To get beyond this first wall of fire was now our object, and edging up to where the saw grass was thinnest, we waited until the wind lulled a little, and then with one dash we were through it. We now pushed our way towards the island, lighting fires every hundred yards or so, knowing that if the wind held and the saw grass burned with its usual fury there would soon be behind us a clear path for our boats. I was very weary when I started with Mr. Newman and after building fires and forcing my way through the saw grass for a mile or so my strength completely gave out. I stopped in a lagoon where the water and mud were nearly waist deep while Mr. Newman went on making fires toward the island. On all sides the grass was burning with a fury I have never seen equalled; to my rear the smoke and flames completely hid the boats and the men struggling to bring them forward, while very soon the fires kindled ahead swept down towards me, and but for the bayou in which I stood would have burned me up. I thought little of the fire, but only of the dreadful fatigue, a sense of faintness came over me, and the saw grass went round and up and down in a most strange fashion; I felt I could stand no longer, and wading to the saw grass where the water shoaled a little I sat down in the mud, and Oh! how good it felt to rest! The severe exertion I had made had been too much for me and a deathly sickness succeeded the faintness, and made me fear I would have to stretch out at full length in the mud. After resting in the mud the best part of two hours I recovered some of my strength, and the clouds of smoke behind me having rolled away I could see that our men had abandoned the boats and one by one were struggling on, each with a pack on his back. Nothing but stern necessity compelled me to move, but realizing that I must reach that island before night I gathered up my strength and crawled slowly along. Never did shipwrecked mariner eye with more longing the distant land than I did that island. The smoke had cleared and there it lay before me, not a mile away, with the delicate tracery of its trees outlined against the sky and the glistening leaves showing bright in the setting sun, and yet it seemed I never would get to it. Slowly I "bogged" along my feet working like suction pumps in the mud, stopping now and then to blow and to wonder where the strength for the next step was coming from. Occasionally some one would overtake and pass me, but we had no breath to waste in words so nothing was said. Just as the sun set, I saw a little smoke curl up from the island, and I knew that our Captain had reached it and was doing his best to cheer us on; about dark I reached the goal for which I had been making, and was happy to stretch myself on the ground once more. Weariness is no name for the suffering I underwent, and comfort no expression for my sensations of pleasure when I threw myself down on the ground by the fire Mr. Newman had made, and rested.

My advice is to let every discontented man take a trip through the Everglades;- if it don't kill, it will certainly cure him. All those who are suffering from "ennui", who have no taste for the good things of the world, and can feed on nothing but the dainties of the table, after a few days of such experience as we went through, fat white bacon warmed through, will be as delicate to his taste as turkey's breast, and "sinkers" will set as lightly on the stomach as the lightest white bread; he may have been raised to think iced champagne the only drink fit for a gentleman, but he will grow to think cold coffee without milk or sugar equal to nectar. If a man is a dude a trip through the glades is the thing to cure him. A day's journey in slimy, decaying vegetable matter which coats and permeates everything it touches, and no water with which to wash it off will be good for him; but his chief medicine will be his morning toilet. He must rise with the sun when the grass and leaves are wet with dew and put on his shrinking body clothes heavy and wet with slime, and scrape out of each shoe a cup full of black and odorous mud;- it's enough to make a man swear to be contented forever afterwards with a board for a bed and a clean shirt once a week.

But to resume my story;- as I said before several of the men had reached the island before me, and from them I learned that as soon as the saw grass had burned out before them they had advanced with the boats, but made such slow progress that they decided to pack what they would need that night and go on without them. But they found it was a case of "jumping from the frying-pan into the fire" for it was harder to carry the baggage on their backs than to drag it in the boats. One by one the men came staggering up, and it was late before we ate or slept; but memory still dwells with delight on the thought of that supper, and gloats with tender affection over the recollection of my pleasure in eating mush that night. Ordinarily I detest mush.
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View Page Image CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd. View Page Image March 23rd View Page Image [Wednesday, March 23, 1892]
CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd.

Up to last night we made, approximately 14.7 miles from Shackleford which is better than anticipated.

Surveying party left about 2 A.M. [6 A.M.?] on foot, but taking one boat to carry stakes and a portion of the luggage. Broke camp and followed at 7 A.M. and proceeded very well until noon.

41 Islands of varying size but generally quite small were counted at one time in sight by Mr. Ingraham during the forenoon.

Reached Island No. 23 Camp No. 8, after sunset. In order to get to the island and secure a dry sleeping place were obliged to leave our boats about 2 miles behind, packing food and bedding on our backs.

Made about 7 miles on our course today, [though] we traveled considerably more than that distance, meandering the water courses and keeping the surveyors in sight as much as possible.

This island has a very tropical growth and is the richest yet visited. It is perhaps one acre in extent and as usual used by the Indians as a camping ground. It has been partially cleared and cultivated at one time, marks of the corn or potato rows being well defined, especially after lying on them at night. Enormously large ferns with coarse leaves grow on the edge of the island. A leaf from one measured 12 feet in length. Wild fig, or rubber, trees are also here and of somewhat large size relatively. The Indians make a practice of cutting off the limbs and sometimes the tree itself for firewood. It is usually cut at one time for use on future occasions, as it does not burn at all readily when green. We had no hesitation in using the seasoned wood we found and probably will be well execrated by them on their next visit, as the consumption of wood by white men is generally much greater than by Indians. The former piling their wood lengthways while the latter only bring the ends together and push them to the [center] as the ends are consumed. These trees sprout after being cut off, either [trunk] or limbs, and the cutting continues indefinitely. The seasoned wood gives out but little smoke, but it is quite acrid to the eyes.

Soundings made during the day showed from 3 to 5 feet of mud all underlaid with hard rock. In the saw-grasses, bottom could not always be found with a five foot pole. Mud was everywhere today little if any sand being felt by the feet. Reclaimed it would be very rich land; the richest we have yet seen, says our engineer.

Saw grass to the southward almost continuous, as far as the eye could reach looking from 15 or 20 feet elevation. Water averaged for the day 1.2 feet, except on saw grasses where it averaged .2 of a foot only.

Our Indian Billy Fiewel did not turn up tonight as agreed. Fresh Indian signs were seen by Mr. Newman who arrived ahead of the party an hour or two before sunset; so he may have come and seeing our saw grass fires to the south and west of the island, concluded we were too far off the course for him to bother about us.

The 2 miles of packing from the point where we left the boats was through the boggiest marsh and saw grass imaginable and all hands were thoroughly tired out when we reached Camp No. 8, Island No. 23.

The glades at this point present an endless sea of saw and other grasses, lily pads, a great many of them in bloom, with small patches of water amid clear spots in the grass and small islands here and there. Two large islands of considerable extent can be seen to the eastward from this island-only 2 or 3 very small ones to the south east and the cypress still very visible to the south west but further away.

We are 92,750 feet from Shackleford tonight on our course.

At this point the Secretary's work was interrupted for a few minutes by an inquisitive moccasin snake attempting to crawl up his left shoulder. The writer immediately rolled over and out of the way with more energy than grace and commenced a vigorous search for a stick but before it could be found his snakeship had retreated into the recesses of the roots of the rubber tree, under whose refreshing shade the records were being written up. In the brief time there was for examination, the snake appeared to be about 5 feet in length and marked in pale yellow and black. March 23rd. Broke camp at 6:30 A.M. All well. Arrived at island #23 at 6:30 P.M. after very hard day. Wading 2-1/2 miles in saw grass. Burned all we could ahead. Very rich soil. Abandoned boats temporarily for the night and took only ford to the island. Gum-a-limbo trees grow luxuriantly in all these islands. They are about two feet out of water. Next morning before starting off we reconnoitered from the top of a large wild fig tree which grew in the center of our island, and thought we could see an opening through the saw grass leading in the direction we wished to go, but about eleven o'clock the saw grass closed us in, and to go forward we had to go through it.

We stopped a few moments to rest and eat our lunch of soda crackers and fat bacon soaked in a bucket of grease, and then started forward again, for the nearest island was several miles ahead of us, and although we could see no passage through the saw grass leading up to it, we knew we must [reach] it to find wood to cook with and a dry place to sleep. The grass was high and thick, the ground so boggy that at every step we sank into it up to our thighs, and the sun was scorching hot; it soon became evident that at the rate we were going we could not reach the island by night, and so Mr. Newman proposed that we two go ahead and fire the saw grass so as to clear the way for the boats. The grass directly in front of us had already been lighted, and fanned by the stiff breeze that was blowing was rapidly spreading around the little pond we stood in. To get beyond this first wall of fire was now our object, and edging up to where the saw grass was thinnest, we waited until the wind lulled a little, and then with one dash we were through it. We now pushed our way towards the island, lighting fires every hundred yards or so, knowing that if the wind held and the saw grass burned with its usual fury there would soon be behind us a clear path for our boats. I was very weary when I started with Mr. Newman and after building fires and forcing my way through the saw grass for a mile or so my strength completely gave out. I stopped in a lagoon where the water and mud were nearly waist deep while Mr. Newman went on making fires toward the island. On all sides the grass was burning with a fury I have never seen equalled; to my rear the smoke and flames completely hid the boats and the men struggling to bring them forward, while very soon the fires kindled ahead swept down towards me, and but for the bayou in which I stood would have burned me up. I thought little of the fire, but only of the dreadful fatigue, a sense of faintness came over me, and the saw grass went round and up and down in a most strange fashion; I felt I could stand no longer, and wading to the saw grass where the water shoaled a little I sat down in the mud, and Oh! how good it felt to rest! The severe exertion I had made had been too much for me and a deathly sickness succeeded the faintness, and made me fear I would have to stretch out at full length in the mud. After resting in the mud the best part of two hours I recovered some of my strength, and the clouds of smoke behind me having rolled away I could see that our men had abandoned the boats and one by one were struggling on, each with a pack on his back. Nothing but stern necessity compelled me to move, but realizing that I must reach that island before night I gathered up my strength and crawled slowly along. Never did shipwrecked mariner eye with more longing the distant land than I did that island. The smoke had cleared and there it lay before me, not a mile away, with the delicate tracery of its trees outlined against the sky and the glistening leaves showing bright in the setting sun, and yet it seemed I never would get to it. Slowly I "bogged" along my feet working like suction pumps in the mud, stopping now and then to blow and to wonder where the strength for the next step was coming from. Occasionally some one would overtake and pass me, but we had no breath to waste in words so nothing was said. Just as the sun set, I saw a little smoke curl up from the island, and I knew that our Captain had reached it and was doing his best to cheer us on; about dark I reached the goal for which I had been making, and was happy to stretch myself on the ground once more. Weariness is no name for the suffering I underwent, and comfort no expression for my sensations of pleasure when I threw myself down on the ground by the fire Mr. Newman had made, and rested.

My advice is to let every discontented man take a trip through the Everglades;- if it don't kill, it will certainly cure him. All those who are suffering from "ennui", who have no taste for the good things of the world, and can feed on nothing but the dainties of the table, after a few days of such experience as we went through, fat white bacon warmed through, will be as delicate to his taste as turkey's breast, and "sinkers" will set as lightly on the stomach as the lightest white bread; he may have been raised to think iced champagne the only drink fit for a gentleman, but he will grow to think cold coffee without milk or sugar equal to nectar. If a man is a dude a trip through the glades is the thing to cure him. A day's journey in slimy, decaying vegetable matter which coats and permeates everything it touches, and no water with which to wash it off will be good for him; but his chief medicine will be his morning toilet. He must rise with the sun when the grass and leaves are wet with dew and put on his shrinking body clothes heavy and wet with slime, and scrape out of each shoe a cup full of black and odorous mud;- it's enough to make a man swear to be contented forever afterwards with a board for a bed and a clean shirt once a week.

But to resume my story;- as I said before several of the men had reached the island before me, and from them I learned that as soon as the saw grass had burned out before them they had advanced with the boats, but made such slow progress that they decided to pack what they would need that night and go on without them. But they found it was a case of "jumping from the frying-pan into the fire" for it was harder to carry the baggage on their backs than to drag it in the boats. One by one the men came staggering up, and it was late before we ate or slept; but memory still dwells with delight on the thought of that supper, and gloats with tender affection over the recollection of my pleasure in eating mush that night. Ordinarily I detest mush.
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View Page Image CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd. View Page Image March 23rd View Page Image [Wednesday, March 23, 1892]
CAMP NO. 7, Island No. 22, Wednesday, March 23rd.

Up to last night we made, approximately 14.7 miles from Shackleford which is better than anticipated.

Surveying party left about 2 A.M. [6 A.M.?] on foot, but taking one boat to carry stakes and a portion of the luggage. Broke camp and followed at 7 A.M. and proceeded very well until noon.

41 Islands of varying size but generally quite small were counted at one time in sight by Mr. Ingraham during the forenoon.

Reached Island No. 23 Camp No. 8, after sunset. In order to get to the island and secure a dry sleeping place were obliged to leave our boats about 2 miles behind, packing food and bedding on our backs.

Made about 7 miles on our course today, [though] we traveled considerably more than that distance, meandering the water courses and keeping the surveyors in sight as much as possible.

This island has a very tropical growth and is the richest yet visited. It is perhaps one acre in extent and as usual used by the Indians as a camping ground. It has been partially cleared and cultivated at one time, marks of the corn or potato rows being well defined, especially after lying on them at night. Enormously large ferns with coarse leaves grow on the edge of the island. A leaf from one measured 12 feet in length. Wild fig, or rubber, trees are also here and of somewhat large size relatively. The Indians make a practice of cutting off the limbs and sometimes the tree itself for firewood. It is usually cut at one time for use on future occasions, as it does not burn at all readily when green. We had no hesitation in using the seasoned wood we found and probably will be well execrated by them on their next visit, as the consumption of wood by white men is generally much greater than by Indians. The former piling their wood lengthways while the latter only bring the ends together and push them to the [center] as the ends are consumed. These trees sprout after being cut off, either [trunk] or limbs, and the cutting continues indefinitely. The seasoned wood gives out but little smoke, but it is quite acrid to the eyes.

Soundings made during the day showed from 3 to 5 feet of mud all underlaid with hard rock. In the saw-grasses, bottom could not always be found with a five foot pole. Mud was everywhere today little if any sand being felt by the feet. Reclaimed it would be very rich land; the richest we have yet seen, says our engineer.

Saw grass to the southward almost continuous, as far as the eye could reach looking from 15 or 20 feet elevation. Water averaged for the day 1.2 feet, except on saw grasses where it averaged .2 of a foot only.

Our Indian Billy Fiewel did not turn up tonight as agreed. Fresh Indian signs were seen by Mr. Newman who arrived ahead of the party an hour or two before sunset; so he may have come and seeing our saw grass fires to the south and west of the island, concluded we were too far off the course for him to bother about us.

The 2 miles of packing from the point where we left the boats was through the boggiest marsh and saw grass imaginable and all hands were thoroughly tired out when we reached Camp No. 8, Island No. 23.

The glades at this point present an endless sea of saw and other grasses, lily pads, a great many of them in bloom, with small patches of water amid clear spots in the grass and small islands here and there. Two large islands of considerable extent can be seen to the eastward from this island-only 2 or 3 very small ones to the south east and the cypress still very visible to the south west but further away.

We are 92,750 feet from Shackleford tonight on our course.

At this point the Secretary's work was interrupted for a few minutes by an inquisitive moccasin snake attempting to crawl up his left shoulder. The writer immediately rolled over and out of the way with more energy than grace and commenced a vigorous search for a stick but before it could be found his snakeship had retreated into the recesses of the roots of the rubber tree, under whose refreshing shade the records were being written up. In the brief time there was for examination, the snake appeared to be about 5 feet in length and marked in pale yellow and black. March 23rd. Broke camp at 6:30 A.M. All well. Arrived at island #23 at 6:30 P.M. after very hard day. Wading 2-1/2 miles in saw grass. Burned all we could ahead. Very rich soil. Abandoned boats temporarily for the night and took only ford to the island. Gum-a-limbo trees grow luxuriantly in all these islands. They are about two feet out of water. Next morning before starting off we reconnoitered from the top of a large wild fig tree which grew in the center of our island, and thought we could see an opening through the saw grass leading in the direction we wished to go, but about eleven o'clock the saw grass closed us in, and to go forward we had to go through it.

We stopped a few moments to rest and eat our lunch of soda crackers and fat bacon soaked in a bucket of grease, and then started forward again, for the nearest island was several miles ahead of us, and although we could see no passage through the saw grass leading up to it, we knew we must [reach] it to find wood to cook with and a dry place to sleep. The grass was high and thick, the ground so boggy that at every step we sank into it up to our thighs, and the sun was scorching hot; it soon became evident that at the rate we were going we could not reach the island by night, and so Mr. Newman proposed that we two go ahead and fire the saw grass so as to clear the way for the boats. The grass directly in front of us had already been lighted, and fanned by the stiff breeze that was blowing was rapidly spreading around the little pond we stood in. To get beyond this first wall of fire was now our object, and edging up to where the saw grass was thinnest, we waited until the wind lulled a little, and then with one dash we were through it. We now pushed our way towards the island, lighting fires every hundred yards or so, knowing that if the wind held and the saw grass burned with its usual fury there would soon be behind us a clear path for our boats. I was very weary when I started with Mr. Newman and after building fires and forcing my way through the saw grass for a mile or so my strength completely gave out. I stopped in a lagoon where the water and mud were nearly waist deep while Mr. Newman went on making fires toward the island. On all sides the grass was burning with a fury I have never seen equalled; to my rear the smoke and flames completely hid the boats and the men struggling to bring them forward, while very soon the fires kindled ahead swept down towards me, and but for the bayou in which I stood would have burned me up. I thought little of the fire, but only of the dreadful fatigue, a sense of faintness came over me, and the saw grass went round and up and down in a most strange fashion; I felt I could stand no longer, and wading to the saw grass where the water shoaled a little I sat down in the mud, and Oh! how good it felt to rest! The severe exertion I had made had been too much for me and a deathly sickness succeeded the faintness, and made me fear I would have to stretch out at full length in the mud. After resting in the mud the best part of two hours I recovered some of my strength, and the clouds of smoke behind me having rolled away I could see that our men had abandoned the boats and one by one were struggling on, each with a pack on his back. Nothing but stern necessity compelled me to move, but realizing that I must reach that island before night I gathered up my strength and crawled slowly along. Never did shipwrecked mariner eye with more longing the distant land than I did that island. The smoke had cleared and there it lay before me, not a mile away, with the delicate tracery of its trees outlined against the sky and the glistening leaves showing bright in the setting sun, and yet it seemed I never would get to it. Slowly I "bogged" along my feet working like suction pumps in the mud, stopping now and then to blow and to wonder where the strength for the next step was coming from. Occasionally some one would overtake and pass me, but we had no breath to waste in words so nothing was said. Just as the sun set, I saw a little smoke curl up from the island, and I knew that our Captain had reached it and was doing his best to cheer us on; about dark I reached the goal for which I had been making, and was happy to stretch myself on the ground once more. Weariness is no name for the suffering I underwent, and comfort no expression for my sensations of pleasure when I threw myself down on the ground by the fire Mr. Newman had made, and rested.

My advice is to let every discontented man take a trip through the Everglades;- if it don't kill, it will certainly cure him. All those who are suffering from "ennui", who have no taste for the good things of the world, and can feed on nothing but the dainties of the table, after a few days of such experience as we went through, fat white bacon warmed through, will be as delicate to his taste as turkey's breast, and "sinkers" will set as lightly on the stomach as the lightest white bread; he may have been raised to think iced champagne the only drink fit for a gentleman, but he will grow to think cold coffee without milk or sugar equal to nectar. If a man is a dude a trip through the glades is the thing to cure him. A day's journey in slimy, decaying vegetable matter which coats and permeates everything it touches, and no water with which to wash it off will be good for him; but his chief medicine will be his morning toilet. He must rise with the sun when the grass and leaves are wet with dew and put on his shrinking body clothes heavy and wet with slime, and scrape out of each shoe a cup full of black and odorous mud;- it's enough to make a man swear to be contented forever afterwards with a board for a bed and a clean shirt once a week.

But to resume my story;- as I said before several of the men had reached the island before me, and from them I learned that as soon as the saw grass had burned out before them they had advanced with the boats, but made such slow progress that they decided to pack what they would need that night and go on without them. But they found it was a case of "jumping from the frying-pan into the fire" for it was harder to carry the baggage on their backs than to drag it in the boats. One by one the men came staggering up, and it was late before we ate or slept; but memory still dwells with delight on the thought of that supper, and gloats with tender affection over the recollection of my pleasure in eating mush that night. Ordinarily I detest mush.