The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-27
FLORIDA'S EVERGLADES
MYSTERIOUS REGION THAT is STILL
NOT FULLY EXPLORED.
Tangies, and Rare Birds Around
the NOrasses.
New orleans Tlmes-Democrat.

1900 square miles, VIII oh IS dI aimed by Lake
Okechobee and it covers nearly the entire
| counties of Dade and Monroe and portion
of Manatee.
/ The geological substructure must be
| coral, as nearly the entire State is built
upon such foundation. But above this the
| miry boys of and water of unknown
| depths forbid investigation and exploration,
| and, in consequence, there are regions in
| that interior no human foot has yet trod
! and lagoons that no human eye has ever
| seen.
The general composition is a wilderness
| of tangle growth, immense regions of mo-
rass dense stubble of cane and scrub pal
| metto and tropical paradise of sweet
shrubs. beautiful flowers and delicate ferns.
| The swamp is overlooking with animal,
reptile and bird life, which here find little
| to disturb them the everlasting quar-
rels among themselves, which often end
| in their own destruction,
Strange cries are sometimes heard COM
| ing from the depths of this inaccessible
domain, and fierce lashings of the water.
| accompanied by savage belowings and
| screams from birds in midair bear testi-
mony to some sanguinary conflict between
| huge saurians or other brutes of the jungle.
| 1t is possible that creatures of former
| age may yet exist WllnlD the Sedleu pre-
cincts of this huge swamp; for not long
| since the jaws of a mastodon were ex-
| humed not far from the shores of Lake
| Okechobee, and bones resembling the skel-
eton of a giant tapir were found by some
| Seminole Indians quite recently on the
banks of the Kissimee river
OF animals know of, the swamp con-
ceals the largest alligators and rattlesnakes
on the continent, besides bears, wildcats,
deer, wild hogs catamounts, lizards, cha
meleonS, turtles, gopherS, turkeys, guam,
many kinds of fish, and every species of
water fowl known to the tropicaI regions
of the United States
The largest alligator ever captured of
which any record remains was taken in the
EVerglades nine years ago by an old hunt
er named Hickman. 1t measured twenty
two feet six inches from end of nose to
tip of tail, and weighed. much more than a
full-grown OK. The writer has killed rat
tlesnakes in different parts OF the swamp,
ranging from six to nine feet in length,
and saw the skin of one, owned by a Sem
mole Indian, that must have been twelve
feet long in life.
The biggest frogs on earth find home
in the Everglades. and it is not uncommon
to run across Jumbos of the family
weighing anywhere from six to ten pounds.
BIRDS AND BEASTS.
The Everglades is the true home of the
ivory billed woodpecker, a bird that is al
most a rarity to naturalists and museums.
1t can be easily located by it's call, which
sounds very much like the cry of hurt
child. The Indians have a great respect for
the bird account of its powerful beak
which is used as a mechanical tool or
weapon of attack as occasion may re-
quire. The Seminoes, like our Western In
dams, must wear a charm of some kind
and the beautiful ivory BILL polished and
pierced, answers for them the same symbol
as elk teeth do for our Western tribes.
Perhaps the most interesting of all feath-
cred creatures found in this great waste OF
nature are the family OF humming birds,
winch oli 1T, the semlnoles very suggestively
be passed but what some little family of
aerial diamonds can be observed balancing
on the extremites of slender plants and
bits of downy cotton scattered here and
there among the roses afford the only uni
verse these beautiful creatures require
Inc black bear is quite a well-known in
habItant of the Everglades and while he
IS, IN this section, neither as large nor as
Ierce or strong as his cousin of other lati-
tudeS yet he SurpaSSeS all others OF his
kind in keen Shrewdness ingenuity and in
nate nate rascahty when meal is the object
Notwithstanding the vast stores of honey
easily obta1nable, and which can be gained
turn Nimrod, and actually hunts his food
W1h a skill and an apparent enjoyment
that at once stamps him as one of natIlre's
SR E sSlneH' IL such a term may be used.
Perhaps he is rambling through the for
est e TO some private haunt, when suddenly
ne! ne stops, shifts the air, and is ali ears
Ine grunting OF wild pigs or the yobbic
OF turkey catches his attention where
upon he quietly stretches his huge black
oooy on the ground, and resting his head
on his paws like a dog, lies perfectly sti1i
ana awaits developments.
Pretty soon the unconscious turkey
Genes along, pecking industriously at the
shrubs in on either side. or the porkers nois-
busily engaged in searching for toothson1e
h3s to notice the dark shaggy mass
den there is a mighty rush. tremendous
sWlpe OF the paw, and the dinner is Sc
The black bear of the Everglades in his
native wilds may possibly hunt his prey in
anothef fashlon-by batting, as a case in
point here at Fort Myers will aptly illus
trate The big fellow in question is a pris-
on6r conflned to a post by a long chain,
and, although he has plenty of food at ali
times. and generously supplied he seems
to prefer to gain his daily allowance bv
offers.
The device he practices is to scatter his
food about him as bait, and then to lie
poultry or domestic pigs feed up within
reach of his deadly stroke, the watchful
gourmand quickly swings his paw and a
dead pig or a dead rooster is the result
The proper time for white man to visit
the available portions of this great swamp
IS III mid winter and even then myraids of
huge black mosquitoes assail you at every
step, and dangerous reptiles under foot
ton. 80
On all sides the spectral trunks of giant
cypress trees tower in the air, clothed in
twisted vines and covered with evergreens
and from their limbs. a hundred feet above
you, graceful festoons of Spanish moss hide
the sunlight and leave you sometimes al
most in total darkness.
THE LYNX-EYED CAT
While wandering amid this solitude with
nothing to disturb the awful stiffness Won
might imagine that no living creature was
within miles of where you stood and vet
at that moment perhaps a thousand ewes
are watching you. High up in a tree and
crouched behind limb some lynx-eyed cat
IS staring at you: gray squirrel fiattened
against a trunk is curiously peering down
upon you; in the tall grass at your feet a
deadly moccasin lies quietly awaiting his
opportunity; in the brush close at hand a
startled deer may be breathessly fearing
your approach; hidden in the dense under
growth bear is noting your progress and
far away through the trees an ibis sits mo-
uonlesS, but sees your every motion and
prepares for flight.
But look above on any bright day that
you can see the sunlight. and a glance will
reveal thousands of busy insects shooting
like bullets through the air, all engaged on
the same commendable mission. There are
the innumerable colonies of bees that by
years of industrious accumulation, have
made the Everglades the greatest honey
depository in the world.
EnterDrising settlers near by have ser
out desirable box homes and work for