A TRIP


THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA.


safe in this State, and that lawless desperadoism of


semi-political character-the "Mississ
be permitted or tolerated. The fact
born gentlemen are members of th<
the State is a greater aid to the ci
than may be supposed, even by the
best-disposed native resident.
 Near the city stands the famous


ippi
that
e Su
cause
mos


plan"-will not
these Northern-
preme Court of
of immigration
t observing and


Murat estate,


once


the property of Prince Achille Murat, brother-in-law of
the first Napoleon, members of whose family are buried
in the beautiful city cemetery. The estate is finely lo-
cated, and the building-site is unsurpassed, but the house
now standing upon it is quite plain and unpretentious.
Another local "lion" is the noted Wakulla Spring, which
I reached by a pleasant drive of sixteen miles. The
spring lies in a rather flat, uninteresting, pine-wooded
region, near several cultivated cotton-plantations. It is
nearly circular in shape, about four hundred feet in di-
ameter, and the shores are densely wooded to the water's
edge. A rude landing has been constructed, and an old
darkey is always present with his boat to row the visitor
about the glassily smooth surface of the pond. The sides
are very nearly perpendicular, and are composed of smooth
and solid rock. Sixty-six feet below the surface of the
water is the first or upper level, a broad, shelving surface
of clean rock; and through this is a large, irregularly cir-
cular opening apparently about one hundred feet in diame-
ter, through which can be seen the lower level or bottom
of this wonderful spring, a total depth of one hundred
and nine feet. The rock that forms the upper level is
evidently not very thick, for in one place there is a per-
fectly round opening about three feet in diameter, through
which can be plainly seen the second bottom, fifty-five feet
farther below. It is a great, thin fringe of rock, like a
crust, with a vast opening a little to one side of its center.