134 FLORIDA.

 Ocala numbers about one thousand inhabitants, is the
county-seat of Marion County, and was a flourishing place
in ante-bellum days, the center of a large neighborhood of
wealthy planter society. A railroad has just been com-
pleted there from Waldo, on the Transit Railroad, and
another road, now building, will soon reach there, giving
Ocala at last the much-needed quick steam communication
with the commercial centers of the country. Its popula-
tion is enterprising and energetic, and Ocala is evidently
destined to be an important railroad center in the near
future, for it is in the direct pathway of other railroads
necessary to develop that portion of the State.
 The return voyage down the Ocklawaha was without
special incident, but repetition can not wither nor custom


stale the infinite variety and int
Every visitor to Florida should
"up the Ocklawaha," and no
will be likely ever to forget


rest of that unique scenery.
Make the famous excursion
one who has once made it
a night-journey upon what


has been well called "The Mysterious River."
 Until recently Silver Spring was the end of the ordinary L/
tourist journey on the Ocklawaha, but the little steamers go
far beyond that, threading the upper river, and making the
circuit of Lakes Eustis, Harris, and Griffin. These three
lakes are among the largest in Florida, and the trip upon
them enables the tourist to see some of the most striking V
and picturesque scenery in the State. Just south of Lake
Eustis, with which it is connected by a channel that has
not yet been opened to navigation, lies Lake Dora, another
large lake, whose high and bluff-like shores remind one
rather of the lake region of western New York than of the
low and sandy levels that usually characterize Florida.
From the summits of several of the headlands on its north-
ern side may be obtained views far and near that will prove
memorable in their loveliness-that will haunt the mind
long after the vision of them has vanished.