THE SEMINOLES OF FLORIDA 211
through living authors one may study the life story
of these people-a story dating back in its traditions
for more than three hundred years; brought to the
doors of a sympathetic civilization, the citadel of
the hardest heart is touched, for it is a narrative
full of pathos.
 Here, in the rich Kissimmee Valley, are the camp-
ing grounds and council seats of his ancestors. With
wordless patience he looks out upon the landscape
and the glittering waters of To-hope-kee-li-ga and
for the time lives in spirit with the. eroic deeds of
his ancestors; he sees in the long ago canoes laden
with men and women and little children, brown-
skinned and picturesque, garbed in brilliant colors,
leaving the ancestral shores of their old hunting
grounds, as they escaped, terror-stricken, through the
lakes and rivers to the mystic land of O-kee-cho-
bee.
 Today, naught remains of the Seminoles in this
region save the melodious names of rivers, lakes and
towns-an enduring heritage of beauty, which is one
of Florida's most cherished and priceless posses-
sions.
 To study the history of a secretive people, whose
story is so closely woven into our own American
history, is a research work full of difficulties, but
full of happy surprises.
 Away from the jungle home, in the white man's
town, the Seminole is silent and stoical, answering
to the questions put to him by the curious "Me don't
know."