FLORIDA.


wrapped in a soft, dreamy,


delicious quiet.


Yet there is


no sense of loneliness. On the broad bosom of the stream
at all hours may be seen the beautiful, swan-like steamers
as they come and go to and from New York, Savannah,
Charleston, and other ports; and the countless sailing-ves-
sels that "go down to the sea" lend a perpetual animation
and interest to the scene. A winter home here, with a well-
kept garden, fruit-grove, and flower-decked lawn, a horse,
dog, gun, fishing-rod, and yacht, is as near an approach to
the original Eden as one can reasonably expect in this world.
 As is the case with nearly all the Southern rivers, the
mouth of the St. John's is obstructed by a sand-bar, which
interferes seriously with navigation, and which is now being
dealt with on the Eads system of jetties. Near the en-
trance is the famous Pelican Bank, the resort of myriads of
sea-fowl; and a little north is Fort George Island, which is
a favorite summer resort of inland Floridians, and which
has an hotel, several handsome residences, an observatory,
a lighthouse, a quaint old Pilot Town, and some fine shell-
roads.*
 The round trip up the St. John's River from Jackson-
ville and return involves about eight hundred miles of travel,
and every mile is deeply interesting, with its rapidly shift-
ing scenes of tropical vegetation and life. Always on the
steamers will the passengers be seen clustered on the decks,
forward and aft, all intently observing the novel and ever-
changing panorama, admiring the numerous strange birds,
of several varieties, as they gracefully wheel off in the dis-
tance, or curiously studying the hideous attractions of the
alligators that may be discovered basking in the sunshine
 A good view of the lower St. John's is obtained from the steamers
which run from Charleston and Savannah to Jacksonville. A better plan,
however, affording an opportunity for a short visit to Fort George Island, is
to take the little steamer which runs down the river from Jacksonville
every afternoon, returning next morning.