182 FLORIDA.

ter price in the New York market. All other tropical fruits
grow here to perfection. The surface of the lands is rocky
almost beyond description. In surveying upon them, I had
frequently to pile up rocks around my Jacob's staff to make
it stand upright. In fact, the entire cultivation is done with
the hands and the use of a wooden stick; a common hoe or
plow can not be used. The woods growing upon these
islands differ from those of any other portion of the State;
they are mostly exceedingly hard, heavy, and when dressed
very beautiful.
 "The Caloosahatchie and Pease Creek, upon the Gulf-
coast, are large and beautiful rivers, and have upon their bor-
ders a very large amount of excellent land ; and upon these
waters the cocoanut, banana, pineapple, guava, and other ten-
der tropical fruits grow to perfection. It is also well adapt-
ed to the culture of sugar-cane. The Caloosahatchie River,
from its entrance into Charlotte Harbor for forty miles up,
is more than a mile wide ; it then narrows into a deep chan-
nel with precipitous banks, and is from one hundred and
fifty to two hundred feet wide. It so continues to the
falls at Fort Thompson. All the streams that flow from the
Everglades, both on the Atlantic and Gulf, have falls, thus
proving the practicability of draining this immense area of
submerged lands. In my judgment the Caloosahatchie is
the best tropical region of this State ; indeed, it would
be hard to excel it for beauty of location and adaptation of
soil for tropical fruit-culture anywhere. Besides, it com-
mands a large area of country south of it, embracing the
best cattle-range in the State. The propriety of connect-
ing this with the Okechobee Lake and the Kissimmee
River by canal, thus giving an inland navigation for several
hundred miles in the center of the peninsula, is a matter
that has been ably stated by other persons.
 The country around Forts Meade and Bartow, upon the
 head-waters of Pease Creek, is in many respects one of the
 most desirable portions of Florida. It is a region of clear,
 open-water lakes, with beautiful running streams of lim-
 pid water. The land is generally first-rate pine, with clay
 subsoil, and is very productive. This is an exceedingly
 healthy region, and is almost entirely free from mosquitoes.
 The lands on the head-waters of the Alafia are similar in all
 respects to those just mentioned.