Morning journal and courier., 1885-08-12
neokband. The sleeper awoke and assumed

neckband. The sleeper aWoke and assumed | to be going through the process of strangula- tion, at which the other said loftily. ''Pohl Yo' needn't make such a fuss bout dat. Yoll have something worse dan dat bout yo'r neck some ob desc days" "I spec you means gol'eu chains, responded the other dryly, evidently thinking of Daniel when in the enjoyment of the kings favor. And so they went on talking so wittily and acting so inimitably that thought they must have once been on the stage until informed to the contrary. Then one of them sang one of the weirdest compositions ever heard, the theme being the last sickness of President Garfield The refrain was Garfield dying, dying. all most dead" was exceedingly interested in this new piece, as proving that the capacity of this curious sable race to originate their peculiar order of music is not altogether ex- hausted.
 Just before we entered the mouth of the Ocklawaha (which is thirty-fve miles above Palatka) went up on the deck and sat down beside my travelling companion, who was watching for alligators.
 Where are you going when you leave Florida9' I asked. "Back to Russia" was the reply; "clear to Herat if I can get there."
 "1n view of the present aspect of things, don't you think that would be rather He ratio course to pursuea" He looked at me a moment and then replied: q think that comes very near being of Pun n-jaub." Now hadn't thought to call down such dreadful retrlbutlon upon my head. It hurt me, that answer did, and I set my wits to work to correct the indignity. I had a chance speedily, for I noticed an opportunity presented in the attitude of man who sat on the upper deck with his feet hanging in front of us and swinging back and forth. "Do they see alligators in the St. Johns 'nuch!" queried my companion. "You abbreviate that word alligator by eliding the first two syllables," I replied with the pom pous air of the veteran tourist. ftOh, yes, have seen twenty or thirty gators on trip further up where the river is narrow; and even here you will occasionally see them swimming about. Didn't you ever see ga- tor at large in his native elementa' ''Nary a gator"
 Dear me, with commiseration; then of s sudden, "why there's gator now-two of 5hem!" "Where, oh where?' Cant you see them? Right there-danglingl" And I pointed between the swinging feet of the man above. I had just time to get inside of my stateroom and bolt the door, thus esca- ping the fury of the mob that would fain nave annihilated me. Then we called it quits.
 cannot stop to dwell upon the magnif- cent vine-hung and moss-hung jungles through which the river wound it's tortuous way; to tell of the mammoth expresses and pines laden with huge punches of mistletoe; or of the masses of bonnets, lily pads, water ettuces and other interlacing aquatic plants through which the steamer ploughed her way; of the strange birds that skinned the surface of the river before, us, laboriously Tapping their great wings; of the narrow places where we could pluck moss from the trees on both sides at the same time.
 It was not very reassuring to reflect as to what we would do in case of fire.
 The water extended for some distance in among the trunks of the trees so that there was seldom good foundation upon which to plant our feet If compelled to escape from the boat. There was an occasional log which would have proved serviceable if it had hap pened to be alongside at the critical moment. We might have crowded ourselves upon this, but then there would be no telegraph line with which to signal to the civilized world. To be sure we would not have wanted for so- ciety. There were snakes and alligators and other pleasant but hungry citizens in the To- callty ready to entertain us. Perhaps even the log upon which we sought accommoda- tions might prove to be the best parlor of some inhospitable saurian. But human aid would not be accessible.
 Altogether we might as well have been in the middle of the Pacific ocean so far as safe ty in case of fire was concerned.
 Early the next morning we reached the point where we were to enter the outlet or run of the Silver Spring, a phenomenally clear stream eight miles long, varying from ten to sixty feet in depth. Can I ever forget that subsequent memorable ride of two hours over the startlingly transparent water? The mysteries of submarine life were unlocked before us, and way down, down in the glassy stream we could discern the monster gArfish darting about with their blade-noses crossing and recrossing like the weapons of skilled fencers, and the corpulent wide-mouthed cat fish phlegmatically exploring the lime-coated bed of the run-all these things as visible as the goldfish which restlessly, gracefully glide in the globe on your bay-window table.
 In less than an hour we left the gently boiling, mysteriously spring and began the return journey. The trip down the Ock- lawaha is made in three or four hours less time than that up the river, but requires much more skillful navigation. The two ne- groes who regulated the movements of the double rudder had to keep the steering wheel in rapid motion all the time. The engine was slowed so much of the time that it would seem more accurate to say the throttle-valve was occasionally opened. And yet we would run into the bank with more or less violence every ten minutes and then have to back out and be poled around the sharp curve. The projecting boughs of the trees were also con- stantly scraping the sides of the boat, break ing an occasional window and brushing back the careless lounger by the gunwale. At night fire of pine knots was kindled on top of the pilot house, which not only served to show tEe wheelsmen where to guide the steamer, but also lit up the cypress fastness- es with strange fantastic brilliancy. Sure ly nothing could exceed the novelty of this scene, said to myself, as sat alone on the upper deck late in the evening and watched the glare of these torches it silvered the edge of each advancing water-swell, and weirdly danced and f1ickered as the on-roll- ing wave broke about the vine-garlanded trunks of giant trees that rose out of the very water and constituted the only margin of the river.
 But was not alone. am never alone in Florida. The mosquitoes always with me or else the gnats are on hand, or the sandfies, or the ehiggers, or the feas, or the red bugs, or some other equally attractive representative of the insect world. Too of ten there is combination of these guests present. I think each class in turn is the worst. The gnats are so bad in Eustis that you have to keep yonr hand f1ourishing about your face all the time to ward them off. met one man who told me he had got SO in the habit of waving his hand about his face that he did it unconsciously in winter as well as in summer, in church, on the water everywhere.
 portion of the State with part of the am pie front porch partitioned off and enclosed with wire netting, In the interior in ham mock lounged the luxurious owner, compla- cent at having thus circumvented his tor mentors.
  eism to offer touching the Ocklawaha There was one place where for about one hundred yards the course of the river was tolerably straight. I think for the sake of uniformity a few horseshoe bends ought to be inter spersed at the point in question.
 From Palatka I took the dainty cars of the Florida Southern narrow gauge railway and proceeded to this little city of Eustis on the lake bearing the same name. On the way 1 was amazed at the extent to which numbering has been promoted as an industry during the last year or two. Saw mills appeared in full operation every few miles, and yet the margins of mary of the beautiful lakes passed were covered with the smoking embers of logs that had been burned in order to effect clearings. Eustis is perhaps the brightest town in all this lake region, 8 fitting terminus for a line passing through long series of promising new villages. Tavares, new winter resort about five miles south of here another lake, gets all the tourist patronage, but commercially Eustis is the coming metrop- oils of this region. Leesburg, although at present larger, is painfully dead by con trast.