The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-03
ouR FLORIDA CORRESPONDENCE,
ALAFIA, Fla, June 20, 1879.

til the long Ago days of Spanish ro-
niance, tradition tells rs that certain
Knight (Poncc de Leon) who had become
rich in honors and high in commnndi but
to whom had succrsdea also gray hairs,
lured by the tales of his mistress Of
spring on the coast of the great Mexican
Gulf, "whose waters would bring back
the fires of youth and renew his wasted
years." set sail in search of this fountain,
and landed among the mangrove bowers
and painted birds of the Western Coast
on "Easter Day." or day of flowers,
somewhere about the year 1512, and bap-
tized the newly discovered land by the
name of Floridal And the legend of
those seas isl "Having f5und tho long
sought fountain of perpetual youth the
Knight with his followers still lives,
wandering where the coral bowers make
forests of beauty where the sands arc
strewed with jems and the Summer ncrer
,rdnes !"
This is pretty picture, well calculated
in that age of romance and discovery to
excite the adventurer, and while have
never met with any of these gentry, there
is enough of beauty here to make ono
doubt if Hans Anderson's pictures of
"fairy land" are wholly imaginary.
In seeking n country, however, the
emigraht, unlike the adventurer, gives
little thought or care to the ideal, but re-
CARDS things really as they exist; and
from this standpoint will endeavor to
fulfil the promise made to some of the
readers of the INTELLIaEECER to give
them SOME description of this country,
or more properly this section of it, its
advantages and disadvantages, what may
be accomplished here in the way of a
living, and what inducements it offers to
the settler. In attempting this I can only
hope to give very imperfect idea, as I
have been here but little over year, and
while shall speak from my own expe-
rience and observation in that time, I
shall have to draw from what have
heard from others, who have been here
longer and arc consequently not only
better informed, but better able to give
practical demonstration by their sur
roundings of what has been accomplished
here, and we are generally agreed that
what has been done once can be done
again; provided, always, that the same
operative forces are brought to bear for
its accomplishment. That Florida has
been considerably written up by tourists
am well aware, and the views of oppo
site extremists have grossly misrepresen-
ted the State; diverting, too, it is to note,
how different the impressions made upon
minds too contracted to take in more than
one thing at time. Thus, one viewing
everything through rose-colored glass,
will draw you picture all of sunshine
and flowers; and his imagination rum
ming wild with him at the sight Of an
orange or banana grove pendant with
golden fruit, or perhaps fragrant with
beautiful flowers; or the lake scenery or
bay view; the earth covered with its va
riegated carpeting, and the waters spark
ling with miriads of fish, cries out in his
fullness, "Eurekar' Another, seeing
through the glass darkly, will tell you
that this is a land of alligators, snakes,
mosquitoes, sand flies, &C., and even
these can hardly live here in any enjoy
ment of health and comfort. I say these
are narrow and contracted views, be-
cause they do not represent the general
condition of things.
There are sections here where, from a
we'll regulated flower garden, one may
obtain fresh and beautiful bouquet of
flowers as well at Christmas as on the 4th
of July, and where fish can be had in
abundance all the year round and there
are sections where one may count fifty
alligators at one time, some of them II
or l5 feet long, and the country has the
appearance of being so unhealthful "that
respectable tadpole could not live and
enjoy good health all the year." But
these are isolated spots, such as may be
found in the swamps Of South Carolina,
and furnish no criterion from which to
judge a country.
Health being paramount to every thing
else, it may be appropriate in this con-
nection for me to say, and speak, of
course, of Hillsboro county, as my OBJ
servation has been confined principally
to its limits, that the endemic diseases of
the county, while of malarial type, are
mild and quite remedial to treatment.
Indeed, congestive type of romittent
fever is not known here, and my practical
experience and observation will justify
me in saying that the only endemic dis
ease of this county is intermittent fever.
Since I have been here have met some
sporadic cases Of disease other than in
termittents, but fow that are not Of that
type. 1t is an accepted fact now that
typhoid fever and diphtheria, that are
much dreaded where they have been
known, are infectious diseases, and as
the tide of emigration flows in, they may
be introduced; so with the eruptive
fevers-measles, scarlet fever and small
pox, none of which have come under my
experience since 1 have been here, but
are common to all sections where mate
rial exists. Pneumonia is said, by resi-
dent physicians, to be extremely rare,
and bowel affections, when they exist,
are generally the result Of improprietieS
in diet, and rarely of a malignant charac-
ter. have met some here who claim
that when they came here they were
physical wrecks from pulmonary dis
ease, but are now hale and hearty and
could not live elsewhere. There is some
thing so painful in the terrible march of
this disease, snatching away in the very
prime of life the most cherished objects
of human affection, that I should like to
be able to write that had found in this