The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-05-15
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.
Ponce De LeOn's Famous Spring, i'm the
FIOwery Land.

Ponce De Icons Famous Spring, i'm the
FIOwery Land.
A recent issue of the Tallahassee
Floridian has an admirably written
sketch of Central Florida, contributed
by Mrs. E. E. Long, of that state, from
which we make the following extract
It was en- route to Suwannee Old
Town that Gen. Jackson and his troops
halted beside the famous fountain of
Ponce de Leon, now miscalled the
Wakulla Spring. The line of march
made by the Spaniard confirms the sup
position that this was the spring sought
by the adventurer, and its curious char
acter is quite sufficient to have given it
distant renown. What makes it a
marvel of nature is its great depth and
exceeding Transparency transparency
greater than that of the atmosphere, as
evinced by seeing the smallest object at
near two hundred feet below, and in
passing over its unrippled surface in a
floating skiff, the novel sensation of be-
ing suspended between skies is pro-
duced. The Ponce de Leon fountain to
be seen to advantage must be visited on
a still, sunshine day, without breeze,
and with the sun as near his meridian
Jagged, grayish limestone precipice, and
from a dark yawning, nnfathomable
abyss, springs the fountain, spreading
out into circular form of several hun
bred yards, forming the Wakulla river.
The water is not particula ly cold and
does not in it's taste betray any of that
mystical power we would like to estab-
fish. 1t is the ingredient of lime that
OLE g.,
ing quality to the spring. The smallest
through it's depth, enlarged at 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 observation can give
an idea of the picture. The moscow
cred stones jutting irregularly from
four to near two hundred feet below,
where they centre around a boundless
depth; the flexible roots and grasses
all bathed in rainbow hues the numer-
GUS fish, eels and even alligators sport
ing in their element, rejecting the same
prismatic coloring, and the gentle,
dreamy, gliding over the depths of
aqueous transparency, accompanied by
the music of the warble-throated mock
ing-bird, make it, with its kaleidesco-
pic changes, more than a fairy-like
scene, and we lose for time our sense
of the earth, earthly. Dense hummocks
of evergreens, magnolia, bay laurel, in
terlaced with the grapevine, clematis
and ever-graceful jessamine, with their
ried tints of Leaf and blossom, so t.
ened by veil of gray moss, affords
fit setting for so curious gem, suggest
ing a magnificent opal.
Several years ago the frame of a mas
todon was, with the use of graphing
wires, drawn from the spring and sent
to the Patent Office at Washington. It
was nearly complete, but some portion
was lost at sea en- route. This spring is
supposed to have a subterranean con-
nection with Lake Jackson, which lies
twenty miles or more north of it, and
more than once in the memory of man
the waters have escaped from the lake,
except at its greatest depths, leaving it
an extensive meadow, much priced as
pasturage by the land owners of the
surrounding plantations.