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

From sketch of Central Florida,
written by Mrs. e. E. Long, Of Flor
ida, and published in the Tallahassee
Floridian, we take the following
1T was c,e route to Sllwannec Old
Town that Gen. jackson and his troops
halted beside the famous fountain of
Ponce de Leon, now miscalled ii @ Wa
kulla Spring. The line Of march made
by the Spaniard confirms the suppose
ton that this was the spring sought by
the adventurer, and it's curious charac-
ter is quite sufficient to have given it u
distinct renown. What makes it q mar
vel Of nature is its great depth and OK
ceetting transparcncy,-a Transparency
greater than that of the atmosphere, as
evinced by seeing the smallest object ut
near 200 feet below, and in passing over
it's unrippled surface in q floating skill
the novel sensation of being suspended
between skies is produced.
The Ponce de Leon fountain. to be
seen to advantage, must be visited on q
still, sunshinny day, without breeze,
and with the sun as near tho meridian
rs possible. From beneath u rugged.
jagged, greyish limestone precipice,
and from dark, yawning, unfathoma-
BILE 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 in it's taste betray any
of that mystical power we would like
to establish. It il the ingredient of
lime that gives transparency and also a
magnlfying quality to the spring. The
not H.
seen twirling through it's depth, cnlarg-
cd ut every turn, until it rests on the
rocks below, and US like object could
not be seen through the atmosphere at
the same distance, this conclusion is
reasonable. Nothing but actual obscr-
Walton can give an idea of the
picture. The moss-covered stones
jutting irrcgularly from four hundred
to two hundred feet feet below, whero
they centre around bouudless depth
tho flexible roots and grasses MI batied
i'll rainbow hucs ; 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 NIL
sic of the warblc-throated mocking bird.
making it, with it's Kaleidoscope
changes, more like fairy scene, and
we lose for time our sense of the
earth, earthly. Dense hammocks of
evergrcens, magnolia, bay laurel, inter-
laced with the grapevine, clematis and
evcr.graccfnl jessamine, with their va
ried tints of leaf and blossom, softcned
by IL veil Of gray moss, affords a fit set
ting for so curious gem, suggesting a
magnificent opal.
subterranean connection with Luke
Jackson, which lies twenty miles north
OF it, and moro than once in the memo
ry of man the waters have escaped from
tho lake, except ut it's greatest depths,
leaving it IN extensive meadow, priced |
us pasturagc by the land owners of the
plantations
Fair in India.
An annual fair, ut which some 5000
people assemble, in honor of the Hindu
goddess Elamma, is now held ut her
temple near the town Of Jat, III India.
Fifteen years ago gardener got up
the idol and claimed that it appeared
there of its own accord. Both women
and men visit the temple anil worship
tho idol. Tho very strange fact about
this worship is that the worsllipprrs,
before commencing the worship, strip
naked, apply powdered san,lai-wood to
their whole bodies, put on the orna-
ncnts they may have, hold small
branch of the nimb tree III their folded
hands, aud leave their places of resi-
llcncc to visit the idol. After visiting
The idol they &" around the temple Il
certain n,,nhrr Of times. They then
leave the temple To lntI'c in Il neigh
boring tank. After bathing they re-
urn to the temple, Worship The idol,