The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-06-15
A Beautiful and Wonderful River
Source Near Tallahassee, Florida.

source Nchf iallnhaSsee, IIOridn.
The greatest attraction of Middle
Florida, and that which draws most
tourists to Tallahassee, is wonderful
spring, which forms at one outburst a
river that flows into the Gulf. It is six
teen miles south of the capital, and is
reached by ali abominably sandy road,
! lying through wilderness of scrub oak
and pine, most wearisome to the eve.
After descending from the breezy hills
about the city you lose all glimpses of
beauty until you approach, through a
narrow path, densely fenced by thick
cts, the Wakulla spring. A dusky boat
man awaited me there, and l was soon
revelling In the wonders of scene which
do not think Is less beautiful than the
dreams Of Aladdin. The most poetical
description could not do 1t Justice.
The spring or small ''locll" as it
might be called, is about five hundred
yards wide, and its banks are crowded
with expresses, bays, magnolias and
oaks in splendid exuberance of vernal
attire. If on the Wacissa river | had
felt as If were suspended between two
heavens, the neither one being the more
limpid, have perhaps robbed myself
should only have been employed here.
The water is perfectly colorless, but the
reflection of sky and forest mingled
with the rays of the sun unite TO pro.
duce the effect of greenish blue tinge
more exquisite than dyer ever conceiv-
ed. The sand below and the rocks,
which are really white, partake of the
Illusion. The brilliant, crystal-like
transparency of the medium on which l
foated caused thrill to pass through
me which was something very like trep-
idation. l looked timidIy over the side
of the boat, and it seemed like peering
through the diamond-paned roof of a
fairy palace. But the fanciful delusion
gave way to the most absorbing wonder
at the reality. In the southern portion
OF the spring great shelf can be dis
tinctly seen, over which the water as il
rises flows southward-a river. II
looks but couple of yards below the
boat, but is in fact more than ninety
feet. The rock abruptly breaks OF
here, and is the verge of veritable
abyss, the bottom of which has never
been fathomed. 1t extends far under
the ragged shelf, and out of that black
and mysterious vestibule of other nler.
maid halls, still deeper in the vast
crypts of the earth, slowly boils hugh
volume Of water. The eve fails to
pierce that dark and dismal profundity,
but ever and anon great fish will be
seen TO rise into the lighter regions and
wheel about and about as if dazed by a
forced and rapid voyage Just completed
through places alien TO the sun. The
bubbles rise, rise, rise, like fountain OF
iniinitcsimal diamonds. a little be.
yond the edge of the submerged cliff |
was just able TO see the bottom by the
sparkle of the sand. The old boatman
told Inc that the depth there is two hun
dred feet, and believed him, for fishes
which were far from the bottom seemed
still farther from me. Patriarchal trout
such as seldom grace the cuisine, moved
majestically through their clement
sometimes even preserving a kind OF
order like line Of battle, their black
shadows cast upon the bottom seeming
like so many other ilnny monsters
More numerous than they, even, were
the mullet, whose scales in the singular
light which fell through the waterv lens
looked like chips of opal. They seemed
to be taking their constitutional exer
else and enjoying the glory of the sun
in the lambent depths of their crystu
palace. Where the river flows out o.
the spring | saw others of the tribe re.
peatedly darting from the water in play
at loast four feet above the surface. The
hues OF the spring changed with the
ripples made by our paddles from sap
phire. to emerald, from emerald to dia
mond and from diamond to opal.
While l gazed into that enchanted
world the boatmen related certain Incl
dents which | had heard before In con
nection with the spring, One was the
loss of two dozen bottles of the bes
French brandy there fifteen years ago
What a splendid cellar for it to attain 6
delicious maturity in! Many attempt!
have been made TO recover 1t but il
vain. No diver could ever reach the
bottom. A party Of young "massas'
had started at the spring to 90 down
the Wakulla river in boat; they were
quite tlpsy and were capsized. Theil
provisions and two guns are said still
to repose many fathoms deep. l triec
in vain to discover them, not, confess
without some curiosity as to the presen
mellowness of the brandy. | was sue
cessful, however, IN deserving two huge
fragments of the skeleton Of a masto
don, the principal portion of which Il
now i'll possession OF the Smithsonian
Institution. When the other bones were
obtained 1t was for some reason imprac
ticable to get these, and there they re
main.
From floating over such a Lowell,
scene landed with sigh, and felt a
If awaking from dream.-[N. Y. Her
aid