The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-02-09
miscellaneous.
Through the ''Land of Flowers. "

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 30.-Leaving
Baltimore at 9.42 A. NJ, and speeding
away through portions Of Virginia,
North and South Carolina and Geor-
gia, the next day finds us in the Land
of flowers"
Our first point of interest is Jackson
Vile, Florida, the metropolis of the
State, named in honor of Gen. Andrew
Jackson.
1t is a bustling seaport, railroad and
commercial centre. Thirty-seven miles
due South, through an unrivaled will
derness of pines and palmetto scrubs,
and st. Augustine, with the sudden
magic OF mirage, appears. Through
myrtle and orange thickets, where the
knocking birds are singing their sweet
est lays, we approach that bewild-
ering group of Mauresque palaces.
whose red towers and pearl-gray CO.
quina walls and tiled roofs are massed
in outline against a pure sky. The
court of honor is a tropical maze of
palms, aloes, cacti and water plants,
cooled by the spray of frequent foun-
tains. The entrance archway in the
| Spanish facade, and the inner court
in which it opens, give the illusion of
| the palace of the Moorish Kings at
| Seville.
As the day declines, the silken tints
| of heaven that roof this Alhambra
court run the scale of sunset tints
orange, rose-gold, saffron and sea-
green-then dusk drops like a quick
curtain. Myriad stars in the SKY sig
nal elecric lights below, the latter
| twinkle forth in tiny globes of colored
glass, like gorgeous gloriousness,
1 ln 4
pin G foliage. A string orchestra
strikes up i'll a distant parlor, and the
knocking birds carol in response from
the magnolia trees outside. Indefin-
able sensation, singular domain of
beauty and luxury
1t is not European, still less Ameri-
can, it is modern st. Augustine. The
old town lies ON a sandy peninsula
between the st. Sebastian and the
Matanzas river, or lagoon, which con-
stitutes its harbor. The light house,
with its spiral steps, the languid salt
breeZes, and the ebb and flow of the
tide are the only indication OF the i'm
mediate neighborhood of the Atlantic
coast. The climate is caressiugy soft
winter" in Florida, is scarcely more
than an astronomical expression.
Leaving st. Augustine, on our south
ward journey, we Immediately plunge
into an immense wilderness on either
side, giving the traveller the impression
that Florida is but one immense piece
of forest, with an unbroken floor of
sandy marshes and palmetto scrubs.
We now pass rolling lands, under cul-
tivation as farms and gardens, dotted
with orange groves. Here also at
every bend in the river are to be seen
alligators. Far from being in danger of
extinction they seem to increase and
multiply, even in these comparatively
settled and much hunted regions.
Farther South they literally swarm,
and have by no means degenerated in
size or ferocity. At Rockledge we saw
u live alligator fifteen feet long, and
the skull of another. killed not long
since, whose length had been seven
teen feet, and live weight 200 pounds;
the skull alone weighed sixty pounds
and Its jaws contained eighty wicked
looking teeth. The opposite extreme
of this alligator in Floridais the slender
little lizard which is the American re-
preventative of the tabled chameleon.
These quaintlittle creatures, which are
very numerous, are from three to five
inches lJng, half OF which must be
credited to the strung-out tail. In the
freedom of their native wilds their color
is usually a tender green, but the in
slant it is caught it runs the gaunt of
the grays and drabs, and finally settles
down to q reddish brown 1t is not an
uncommon sight to see a live chanel
con with Il tiny gold ring and chain
about its body, attached to u lady's
bodice, the dominating shade of which
it calamity adopts as its color. Scores
of them are sold as pets. They will live
and flourish through Northern Win
ter, if kept in Il green house among
| the flowers. They live on flies and in
sects.
! The business of Rockledge is culti-
waiting and shipping oranges. The
harvest season begins in December
and lasts through January, February
and we'll into March. Within ten
weeks five or six million boxes of Or
anges arepicked, packed, and shipped.
The pIckers are provided with
strong canvas bags which they sling
over their shoulders, Il pair of shears
and light ladder. Each orange
is clipped off so, that a good stem
is left attached to the fruit, and
then are dropped carefully into the
bags, which, when full, are carried to
! OiiC t'e1ShlhS5 anu ClilpllSI III
pile. A long wooden trough, placed
at an angle, is made for the purpose of
sorting the fruit. At intervals of a
foot round holes are made in the
trough just large enough to permit
oranges of a certain size to pass
through and drop into boxes under
meath. The smallest come first, and
are caught as they pass the holes. 1t
takes an average of 220 of them to fill
a box of the next size 200 fill a box :;
the next 100 and others respectively
176, $50, 100 and so. The latter are
very large fancy fruit, and several
trees will only yield two or three boxes
of such. Orange wine is largely made
here from unsaleable fruit, and that
which is bruised or drops from the
trees.
From the orange belt of Rockledge,
we pass to the cocoanut and banana
belt, $50 miles southwark. This coun-
try is such as the sportsmen dream of.
Black bears haunt the peninsula and
mainland, and are frequently shot on
the beach while despoiling the nest of
the turtle. The red deer is found
through the whole East coast, and
can be hunted with dogs or stalked
at the springs. Wild cats, panthers,
dlllSdlolo tthNi 9hS < eau dl'tliOIu bttC1N
rattlesnake, as we'll as the flamingo,
are shot by the Indians, who are the
best guides to the hunting country
The opossum, raccoon, gray squirrel
and rabbit are also plentiful
On the shores of Lake Worth we
have our first sight of cocoanut
grove. Great branches of green husIl-
ed nuts hang from the crown, and the
gray pennants of the bushy dried bios
SONS rustic in the sea breeze.
Beautiful and interesting scenery
now breaks upon you on all sides.
| Live oak, water oak, palmetto, mag