The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-01-10

green and beautiful. Vegetables OF all
kinds are in abundance. Mosquitoes
and flies arc us plenty here as negroes,
and the thermometer stood ut IS degS.
to-day, in the shade. It has not rained
for over a month, though we enjoy fine
breeze all day, coming from the Atlantic
Ocean on one side, and the Gulf Of Mexi-
co on the other.
THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE.
This city is situated on the cast side of
the beautiful st. Johns river, % miles
from the Atlantic. They claim 10 have
$1,000 inhabitants, but three.fourths Of
them arc Northerners. 1t is the princi-
pal city in the State Of Florida, and Is
visited every year by thousands Of strang:
ers. Its hotels arc large, spacious and
admirably managed, and in almost every
house borders are kept. Some one has
said that "the natives OF Florida live on
flowers in summer and on Northerners in
winter" The streets arc wide and full Of
deep white sand, and on both sides, are
large white oaks which shade the whole
street, and add very much to the beauty
Of the city. The buildings are princi-
pally one story and have no cellars.
WHEELING INvALIDs.
Among the many visitors here, l see
from your city, James Brown; Prof. w.
E. W. Martin, W. II. Irwin and his mother,
Ii. Brady and sister,are out at Gainesville,
67 miles from here. The invalids OF the
above party Brown, Irwin and Brady
are not improving in health as much as
they anticipated. They say that they arc
weaker now than when they left home.
The weather is too hot for invalids to i'm
prove very rapidly.
AN EXCURSION 70 ST. AUGUSTINE.
Last week joined IN excursion party
to visit the ancient city Of St. Augustine.
We went up the st. Johns river So miles
passed Mandarin, the winter residence OF
the well known Harriet Bcecher Stowe,
(who has purchased some 40 acres here,
and receives her friends in little brown
cottage near thcshorc end Of the pier) to
Tocoi. There We took the st. Johns
railroad, 10 miles back to the Walled
City.
VISIT TO FORT MARION.
After eating dinner We went out 10
Fort Marion, where there is at present
sixty.nine Indian prisoners, sent there
last May by the Government from the
Black Hills for numbering about one
hundred white people there last winter.
They gave us u buffalo chase out on the
plains near the fort. -Four Indians on
horseback got steer angry, then started
it to running, and they after It, yell
ing and shooting their deadly arrows.
Great chief, White Bear, made the fatal
shot, and in less than half hour il was
skinned and inside the Enclosure Of the
fort, being butchered up by some half
dozen "lniins." While this was going
on others built two big fires near by and
cooked the meat. Some fifty Indians
danced several war dances, and at night
they fought several battles, scalping,
yelping, etc, in their full dress uniform.
There is only one squaw. She is report
ed rs having killed only six white per-
sons. They are all strengthening get,
and ought to he made to stretch hemp.
Fort Marion is an old Spanish fort, and
it once bore the name OF San Juan. 1t
was commenced in l620, and stands upon
the sea front at the upper end Of the city.
1t is built almost wholly OF coQuina
rock, Quarried on Anastasia Island. The
walls are y feet feet high, with bastions
ut each corner, the whole structure being
in the form OF a trapc2ium, and enclosing
an area oil 60 yards square. The princi-
pal entrance il by drawbridgc, over
which is carved the Spanish coat-oi.arms,
surrounded by globe and cross, with
Maltese cross and lamb beneath. lmme-
diatCly beneath the coat-of-arms is this
inscription:
"Don Fernando VI. being King Of SpaIn the
Field Marshal Don AlOnEO Fernando Ilercda, Gov
CrnoF and Captain OF this city Of Snn-Angustln de-
ll-Fl0l1a and its provinces, finished this castle In
tho year 1886 the Captain OF Engineers, Don edrO-
de-llFOEaSy GAray, experimenting the work"
Underneath the bastions are subter-
rancan cells, formerly used Tor combining
prisoners, in which strong iron cages CON
tanning human skeletons have been found,
one Of which is now preserved at the
Smithsonian Institute at Washington.
ANTIQUITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE.
ST. Augustine is beyond all question,
the Oldest city on the Continent Of North
America, having been founded in 1865,
forty-three years before the settlement OF
jamestown, Va, and ffty-tive years be-
fore the arrival Of the Mayiower at Ply
mouth Rock During the Revolution it
was occupied as garrison for British
t5OOps, and before the Termination of"our
late little unpleasantncss" it changed
ownership at least three different times.
1t contains near 1900 inhabitants, most
ly OF Spanish or MoriOrcan descent. The
shape of the city is that OF an oblong
parallelogram travcrscd longitudinally
by two principal streets. On the east side
o! the city il the harbor known MS
Matarozas River, about eight fathOms
deep, and separated from the Atlantic
Ocean by Anastasia Island, narrow
tract OF land about fourteen miles long.
The streets Of St. Augustine are unusually
narrow, and the buildings are generally
composed Of coquina, a concrctiOn Of
fragments Of shells. Many Of their houses,
with their high roofs and dormcr win.
dows, have hanging balconies along their
second stories that almost touch each
other across the narrow streets. But
enough Of the walled city.
TOO MANY SNAKES.
The parts Of Florida that have seen is
generally lowmarshy and swampy; the soil
IL sandy, and they have here almost every
morning very heavy fog, which Is like
Il gentle rain and makes the atmosphere
very damp. The rivers and woods are
iull Of aliigator4 and snakes. Oranges
are dcarcr here than in New Orleans or
New York. Pardon the length Of this
scroll. wish all the readers Of your
paper "a Happy New Year"
FLORIDA.