Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-06-11
Ponce do Icons Fountain Of Life.

From a sketch of Central Florida,
written by Mrs: z: E. Long, Of Flor
ida, and published in the Tallahassee
Floridian, we take the following
Z" It was en- route to Suwanneo Old
Town that Gen. jackson and his troops
halted beside the famous fountain of
Ponce de Leon, now miscalled Il Q Wa
kulla Spring. The line Of march made
by the Spaniard confirms the SUPPOSE
ton that thus was the spring sought by
the adventurer, and it's curious charac-
tor is quite sufficient to have given it a
distinct renown. What makes it mar
vel of nature is it's great depth and cx-
ceedlng transparency,-a transparency
greater than that of the atmosphere, az
evinced by seeing the smallest object at
near 200 feet below, and in passing over
it's unrippled surface in a floating skiff
the novel sensation of being suspended
between skies is produced.
The Ponce de Leon fountain, TO be
seen to advantage, must be visited on a
still, sunshinny day, without breeze,
and with the sun rs near tho meridian
rs possible. From beneath q rugged.
Jagged, greyish limestone precipice,
and from dark, yawning, unfathoma-
bic abyss, springs the fountain, spread
ing out into circular form of several
hundred yards, forming the Wakulla
River. The water is not particularly
cold. and does not Units taste betray any
of that mystical power we would like
to establish. 1t is the ingredient of
lime that gives transparency and also
magnifying quality to the spring: The
smallest coin, and even q pin, can be
seen twirling through it's depth, enlarg-
ed ut every turn, until it rests on the
rocks below, and as like object could
not be seen through the atmosphere at
the same distance, this conclusion is
reasonable. Nothing but actual obser-
walton can give an idea of the
picture. The moss covered stones
jutting irrcgularly from four hundred
to two hundred feet feet below, where
they centre around bouudless depth
the flexible roots and grasses all batiled
in rainbow hues the numerous fish.
cells, and even alligators, sporting in
their element, rejecting the same pris-
matte coloring, and the gentle, dreamy
gliding over the depths of aqueous
transparency, accompanied by the mu-
sic of the warblc- thr0ated hooking bird.
making it, with it's kaleidoscopic
changes, more like a fairy scene, and
we lose for time our sense OF the
earth, earthly. Dense hammocks of
evergreens, magnolia, bay laurel, inter-
laced with the grapevine, clematis and
ever.graccful jessamine, with their va
ried tints of leaf and blossom, softened
by veil of gray moss, affords a fit set
ting for so curious gem, suggesting
magnificent opal.
This spring is supposed to have a
subterranean connection with Lake
Jackson, which lies twenty miles north
of it; and more than once in tho memo
ry of man the waters have escaped from
the lake, except at it's greatest depths,
leaving it an extensive meadow, priced
us pasturago by the land owners of the
surrounding plantations"
Fair in India.
An annual fair, at which some 10. 600
people assemble, in honor of the Hindu
goddess Elamma, is now held ut her
temple near the town of Jat, in India.
Fifteen years ago a gardener got up
the idol md claimed that it appeared !
there of its own accord. Both women
and men visit the temple and worship |
the idol. Tho very strange fact about |
this worship is that the worshippers,
before commencing the worship, strip |
naked, apply powdered santlnl-wood to
their whole bodies, put on the orna-
mcnts they may have, hold small
branch of the nimb tree in their folded
hands, aud leave their places of resi-
dcnce to visit the idol. After visiting
the idol they g" aronnd the temple Il
certain number Of times. They then
leave the temple to bathe in Il neigh
boring tank. After bathing they re-
turn to the temple, worship the idol,
md ratnrn hnma