The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-23
IN THE LAND OF FLOWERS.
Who Leaves and Who Stays, and How
Time Is Passed in Florida Inlets.
Interesting Information About Poisonous H.
sects and Reptiles-COmfortab COmpan-
iofyfor the TOurist-Tarpon Fishing,


TARPoN SPRINGS. Fla, Aug, 1851 write
IN tie coolest spot at Tarpon Ranch. but with
the mercury at 1902 in the shade. The springs
are pretty we'll deserted, the Northern tourists
having departed, with as strong delegation Of
natives can we'll get away. A few of us. OBJ
stinate cranks, they call us, refuse to be
squelched by heat or by poisonous insects anu
reptiles. We came down when the mercury was
down, down, far below zero; and we said that
the Southern summer could not be as bad as a
Northern winter. Anyhow, we wanted to sac
what the climate was like in the hot dog-days.
and to follow the seasons and productions of the
land throughout an entire year, that we might
speak as experienced observers, seeing and
knowing for ourselves; and we are
seeing, rather. Early in April the
long hot drought commenced, and
the surface of the soil soon became burning
white sand, through which no vegetation could
push its way. The northern element mostly
fitted to cooler regions-in many cases to find
the winter not yet gone, and to wish they had
tarried another month in the land Of flowers.
Those who remain stand it bravely, but, to say
the truth, the process of getting acclimated
southern Florida and the insects are worse than
in the Amazon valley speak from experience,
having spent two summers on the Amazon river,
between Para and Manaos. There are three dis
tinct varieties of the mosquito here-the little
black, crocky mosquito of the keys being the
worst; and there are at least five different sorts
of large flies which bite savagely besides the little
sandiy. which is identical with the 'punkle OF
Pennsylvania and the Adirondac region But
the worst bitter of all is the insect known as the
man eater" He is bug of the chinch species
with the general appearance of squash-bug a
row of ornamental dots along his edges, and a
fearful lance on the forward end of him. He is
active wary and hard to catch, working mostly
sleeping victims and quick to take
hint of danger. with special cuteness in
hiding. TO most people his bite is very poison
Gus and painful. Then we have the red bug, an
infntesimal insect, so small to be al
most invisible to the naked eye, but
capable of producing sores Of a size much dis
proportional to his bulk He infests the
palmetto, bay, pin oak, and other shrubs or trees
by the Million and you get him on Your clothing
in going through the woods and thckets. He
can work his way quickly through ordinary
cotton WOODEN cloth, and has way of bur
rowing and biting under the skin that is almost
maddening He is easily squelched when first
felt by wash OF brine, kerosene, strong liquor,
or ammonia. But, if allowed time to get fairly
settled in the flesh he is capable Of causing pain
full itching sores that sometimes last for months
He is the insect known as the moquim in Brazil
and is common throughout tropical and semi
tropical America. have dweIt at some length
the insect pests of this region, for they are i'm
portant factors to the man who contemplates
Southern tour and win add that some persons
complain bitterly Of feas declaring them worst
of all. | have not seen half dozen feas since
coming to Florida BY avoiding dogs, hogs, and
places frequented by them, we'll as old de-
serted camps and then using insect powder
freely on clothing, feas may be laughed at
Perhaps it may not be amiss to say word
about the venomous reptiles of Florida. Not
that they need cause a visitor much uneasiness,
but they are here from the little gray Scorpion
whose sting is about like a wasps, to the
"grampus," a large variety of scorpion, with
claws like lobster, whose sting is sufficient to
kill a mule in an hour. And with the little
ground RATHER" no larger than a garter snake
and with only rudimentary rattles, to that
ajeStic terror, the Florida or diamond rattle
snake growing to ght feet in length, eighteen
inches IN circumference, and having fangS two
and half inches long, a snake whose bite is as
sure death as a well directed rifle ball. having
proved fatal in some instances In fifteen minutes
The water moccasin and the cotton mouth are
both deadly, and the highland moccasin, though
less fatal, is still dangerous to life The ground
RATHER can lnflct poisonous bite, but IS seldom
fatal. They all eSchew human society and keep
themselves out of the way so far as maybe
though there have been three fatal cases of
snake bite within a few miles of this place
least, were the results of carelessness.
l have been trying for five months to
procure specimens Of the erampus and the large
diamond RATHER, but have been unable to do So
The fishing, by the way, is excellent
Channel bass or red fish, red snapper, grouper
jack, sea trout and Spanish mackerel may be
freely taken in the tdewaters of the coast, while
black bass, Dream and speckled perch or google
eyes are abundant in all fresh waters; and the
bass are large growing to fifteen pounds in
weight. In the bays and inside the keys the
regal tarpon, the silver king, is plentiful. This
is the time for him to run" and parties daily
go out "tarponing," as they call tho sport. They
do not take him with hook and line, though he
will take bait freely; but the fact that nine in
every ten tarpon, when hooked. manage to tear
or break away, causes the fishermen of the coast
to prefer the grains-a sort of two pronged
harpoon with a short socket, into which pole
twelve to fifteen feet long is fixed loosely,
so that in granting the FISH the pole
drops out, leaving the grains, attached
to 200 feet of Strong line, in the fish,
1t is magnificent sport. A tarpon weighing 80
to 200 pounds will tow heavy skiff with three
men in it at lively rate, and keep up the pace
for an hour or more. L am disposed to concode
all that is claimed for him by his admirers as a
game fish, food fish. and-well, call him THE
Silver King" You cannot put it better. or in
better words There is 10 doubt about the sill
YER All along the lateral line, and above and
below it, he is glitter and CLEAN of FURNISHED
silver, shading to pearl white on the belly, and
and rich olive brown the back. AS a game
fish, he can run longer. faster and stronger than
big trout muscalonge. and as a leaper he
has peer On the table he deserves higher
place than has yet been accorded him. The
dark color of his flesh goes against him with
many people Not with me. judge of eatables
by their palatable and wholesome qualities.