The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-12-08
Florida Generally, and Particularly
as "a Health Resort.

Baxter, w llSOU, anu
E,oriaa Generally, and Particularly
as "a Health Resort.
For the Dispatch.
snont awinter in Florida rs an Invalid
and nhysician, and / am able to give your
r.oders some account Of the appearance or
tbero1Iutry. and also to show in what respect
Il is suitable Tor that large class Of persons
Who arc suffering from chronic complaints,
and for whom q mild climate during the
winter months is necessary. Iherc Is lnuch
error on this subject; and many patients are
injured by improper advice. A SICK man IS
ALWAYS more or less n fool because be is
sick: and although the adage is true one
TINT every one should have that knowledge
of himself and his own constitution which
gives him athorough acquaintance with NM
self, and is, therefore, fool or physician at
forty. am sorry to say that l have known
some who at forty We're both. And in no
thing is this more frequently seen imam III
prescribing Il change of climate.
7 have seen men come to Florida merely
TO die and be buried. Surely they might
have found graves at home without incur
ring expense and having their lives short
cncd by the harshnesS Of lourneylng ana
the MANY certain inconvenience OF travel.
10 die among strangers is unpleasant, and
the hopelessness Of the journey, when II Is
at last found ont by the SICK man, olten
hastens his end and elnbttcrs his last hours.
have seen many curious instances OF TINS,
and will narrate some O1 tncln III the cottise
OF my writing.
No sick man, then. should leave the
comforts Of home, and incur the expense
and trials of long journey, unless there Is
Il reasonable Il may say strong) prospect
Of his deriving benefit from the change of
climate. lie should have the positive adj
Vice, even command, Of 4 competent ply
stefan to make the change. lie should travel
in company, or have some one to take care
of him in case OF any sudden sickness
coming upon him while travelling, or be-
fore he has comfortably placed himself and
made acquaintance, After being placed,
lie NAV be safely left His companion can
leave him and return, unless the case Is one
requiring much attention.
flere / must remark that a mans wife is
generally the very worst companion he can
have her 0nXieties commonly make bad
nurse, and with the best intentions Ill the
world she will, from very affection, worry
Il sick man half to death. Let him have
some man with him vino can rough 1t, take
MI the trouble that bcsets 4 traveller, and
who will not humor all his whims, and yet
be perpetually talking about home and the
comforts left behind. Ii a sick man has
woman to take care of in his journey, he
will not be much benefited. If he has not,
he can better indulge all the seltishness of
an invalid and 4 traveller-do what he
pieases and as he pleases, and be the better
for it. | have noticed more deaths among
those who carried their wives with them to
Florida than in those who went under other
companionship.
The best plan is for one or more lnVallds
TO put themselves under the charge of
physician, and thus form sort of travelling
hospital. Thus. change Of place and eli
mate, diet, and medicine, can be at once
properly regulated.
The class of persons to be benefited by
Florida are not alone, or even chiefly, those
called consumptires, although this climate
is especially useful for all affections of the
lungs and air passages. All chronic disor-
ders of the stomach, and all rheumatic cases,
will find good in this mild atmosphere IL
the sulphur waters Of this strange land.
For it is the strangest country my loot has
ever trod.
speak of East rather than of West Flo
rida. The two portions are az distinct as 1t
IS possible to be, both unlike i'll appearance,
and with inhabitants dlssimilar and uncon-
Genial. 1t will not do in one section to
praise the other-it will be taken as an in
suit.
| speak of East Florida und of the Attain
tic side. When Spain offered to sell, and
Congress proposed to buy, John Randolph
Of Roanoke bitterly opposed the pur-
chase:
ct is worthless-a mere mixture of sand
and mud, inhabited by mosquitoes, snakes,
and alligatorS where sensible VOL Will
not stay. A land without inhabitants, and
10 which there will be no migration. No
one, if compelled to remain, would 60
there even from Purgatory no, sir, not
even from He'll ITSELF"
This description is pretty accurate If ap-
piled TO many portions Of East Florida. 1t
is a general, and therefore not perfectly
correct, description.
Florida in the winter months is good for
inralids, and Florida is always land OF
wonders.
propose, then, to give you some descrip-
tons OF this strange and wild land that has
been settled for three hundred years, and is
not yet inhabited-a land ofshifting sand and
Of deep mud--of noble rivers that rise IN
swamps and consist of chains of shallow
lakes-of wide plains covered with solemn
sounding pines-of spots so barren that no.
thing can be made to grow, ana yet Win Win a {.
soil SO fertile that elf you tickle it with o
hoe it will laugh with harvest" OF
sugar, cotton, and rice-a land OF
orange, lemon, pomegranate, and pine
apple-whose rivers TEEN with fish, Its
land with game, and its very air with wild
fowl-where everything will grow except
wheat and apples-where everything can
be found except ice-yet where the people,
with productive soil, mild climate, and
bountitul nature, atfording every table
luxury, live on corn grlts, molaSses, ana
sweet potatoeS-Where many men possess
10000 head of cattle, and yet never saw q
glass Of milk in all their lives-where, if
you try to milk COW, you would scare her
to death, as well as brighten whole neigh
borhood by the unheard-of phenomenon
where cabbages grow on the top Of trees,
and bread may be dug out Of the ground
where the castor oil plant becomes large
tree Of several years growth, and pump
kin or bean vine will take root from the
branches and spread and live year after
year-where the cattle do not know what
hay is, and refuse ii when offered, prefer
ring in the mild winter, when the land-grass
Is dried up, TO wade and even swim in the
ponds and streams, plunging their heads
deep under the surface to bite the water
grass and mpsses-where the lakes have
holes in the bottom and underground COM
munication, so that they will sometimes
shrink away to q cupful, leaving many
square miles OF land, and then again I'LL up
from below and spread out over their
former surface-where some of them
have their outlets in the ocean, far from
shorc, bursting up perpetual spring of
Fesh water Ill the very midst Of the briny
sadness or the sea--Where in times of low
water, IN long exhaustive dry season, men
nave gone underground in one of these sub
tefranean rivers, from lake to lake, dis
lance OF eight miles-Where the ground will