Ebook Across the Everglades

Every one has heard of the Everglades; but I think that the general impression of what constitutes the Everglades is absolutely etronc ous. If you seek information, you will prob ably be told that it is a vast tract of swamp in Florida, into which the Indians were driven during the Seminole War, and where Uncle Sam was unable to follow them. It will be my endeavor to show, as this account of my last winter's expedition progresses, that the word swamp, as we understand it, has no application whatever to the Everglades; that it is a country of pure water; that this water is moving in one direction or another, depending on the natural topography of the country; that the air is wholesome, pure, and free from disease-germs; that near the coast and the mangroves the mos quitoes thrive; but deep in the Everglades, in the winter time at least, you can sleep comfort ably without a net. No stagnant pools exist for the larvae to thrive in. The winds blow gently over this almost level expanse most of the time from the southeast, though occasionally they come from the Gulf.