Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1855-05-31
"reminiscences Of Travel,
NUMBER TEN.
For the fayetteville Observer.

For the fayetteville Observer.
Hello, boys! get up: the sun is
half an hour high, it is time we were ,
on the road, said Capt. Brown as he
rubbed his eyes sleepily, while he sat
in the middle of the floor. We were
all up and had our mush prepared in
a very short time, and were soon on
the road. Lieut.. Graham took his
wager andthe pony, andwentin search
ofsome game. Aftertravelling about
two miles we came to the forks Of the
the road, one leading to Cedar Keys
and the other to Martins Island
The appearance Of the country be-
gan to change as we approached the
Gulf: We were now in open pine
woods, with Considerable quantity
of cabbage palmetto scattered about.
These stand like stately cabbage
stalks, from fifteen to thirty and for
ty feet high, with large fans punching
out from the top. The stalk of the
tree resembles a cabbsge-stalk very
much, and the grain Of the wood is
very coarse and spongy. At the ter
mination of the trunk there is soft
pulp which people sometimes cook
and eat as we do cabbage, and it is
considered great delieacy. have
eaten the pulp raw and find its taste
very agreeable, resembling the taste
of a chestnut, before it is thoroughly
ripe. Its texture is very white and
delicate, and l think well adapted foI
culinary purposes. The road now be-
gan to be very rough: the palmetto
scrubs covered the whole surface,
and their large clumsy roots were as
} troublesome as Tennessee Hmestones.
!, We soon entered a very dense thicket
of something like hazle-bushes, snd
as the road was very sandy we dis
covered bear tracks andpanther tracks
in abundance. White began to strain
!, his eyes in every direction and look
: very uneasy. At length he stopped
: his team and said he heard something
J rafting the bushes. We all snatehet
our guns and jumped out of the wag
y on and told White to drive on, fo-
II we expected to have bear fight in {
k short time. We all dispersed through
/ the thicket with our guns cooked, ex
: pecting every minute to overtake
l. bear. After wandering about for
n while, l came to a vacant spot wher
j. | saw several tracks. While / wa
looking at the tracks I saw the bush
es moving, and heard something al
preaching the spot where ! stood.
o had my gun cooked and leyeled in tn
B. twinkling of an eye, and stood i
d breathless silence for moment, whel
Of to my great surprise, Capt. B. poke
Ie his hatless head out from among tn
IS bushes, and was worse frightened a
muzzle of my gun than if he ha
|. seen a bear. He Immediately Gale
e off the b'hoys lest they might shoe
d one another, and we all started afte
q the wagon, which we found but fey
e PAGES from where we left it. Whit
IF said we had all the guns and he wa
d afraid to drive through that thicke
= without being armed He said Oh
l. hea,n something growl." After pro
If ceeding little further we got into tn
o open woods and found the profile o
!. an Indian Chief cut on the side of {
t large pine. We now assembled con
S siderable rise and all at once the wide
0 expanded Gulf lay before US. Sucl
: shouts of joy as We sent up then wer'
L mo doubt) greater than those OF BAL
!. boa and his company when they dis
0 covered the Pacific. Capt. Brown
: got eloquent and poetic, and every
one gave demonstration of joy a:
3 they surveyed the magnifcentsheet o.
water that lay spread out before them
. After descending the other side Of
, the hill we arrived at the beach. Mar
! tins Island is about half mile dis
tant from the main land, and at low
tide seems nothing more than apro-
, montory. The tide being down, we
concluded to attempt land passage.
A kind of crossway had been thrown
up and several small bridges, but the
tide had carried away the bridges and
the earth lying between the bridges