All along this coast line the country is very prolific, and in the woods, in the air, in the lakes, and in the rivers, fish, flesh and fowl--especially oysters and turtles--are most abundant. This is a delightful region wherein to enjoy a perfect summer climate during the winter months; but at the midsummer time, gnats, flies, and mosquitoes are swarming, and become a perfect scourge. Here, too, at the furthermost southern point, jutting out between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, are the celebrated “Everglades”--an immense tract of country consisting of many thousands of square miles of flat prairie land, completely covered with fresh sweet water, clear as crystal, and varying from six inches to six feet deep. This in turn is studded with islands which bear an immense growth of oak, hickory, palmetto, pine, cedar, and other valuable timbers, and here in these peculiar wilds dwell the remnant of the Seminole Indians, once the most powerful of all the Indian tribes which formerly inhabited those isolated regions. It needs not be said that no white folk are dwellers herein, though occasionally a bold party of hunters will penetrate these desolate regions; and on their return to the civilised world they bring a pleasant account of the simple hospitality and kindly spirit of the inhabitants.
There is some talk of draining these Everglades; if this idea be carried out, it will open up millions of acres of valuable cotton and sugar lands, and will, no doubt, be quickly occupied by an adventurous multitude.
The first great need here, as in other parts of Florida, is population. Let a party of pioneers start with pickaxe and shovel, and hew out the first pathway; one builds the first shanty, a companion follows and builds another; men are gregarious animals, and the nucleus once formed, soon gather together. Small storekeepers bring thither the necessities of life (a saloon and liquor store is among the first erections); then follows the wholesale dealers, the bankers, and soon solid prosperity is assured to the little colony. Villages spring up and soon expand into cities, for wherever labour leads capital quickly follows. There is no need for labour to languish for want of funds, industry and brains are more valuable than money in the market; and no matter how poor, even penniless, a man may be, if he is willing to work and to aid in the developing another man’s land, he will surely end by cultivating his own. It is not wealth that has made the first step towards progression in any land, it is always the poor emigrant, with his rifle and wheelbarrow, who first penetrates the wilds, turns the first sod, and so lays the first stone of cities and civilisation.