The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-10-01
THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES
A MYSTERIOUS REGION THAT IS
STILL UNEMPLOYED.
Weird Sights and Sounds Greet All
Who Penetrate Its Dense Ia IS
Rare Animals and Birds. ~

hVefgldueb lHe swamp proper uhe
an area of about 5000 square miles,
which is drained by Lake Okechobee,
and it covers nearly the entire eoun-
ties of Dade and Monroe and portion
of Manatee.
The general composition is wilder
ness of tangle growth, immense
regions of morass, dense stubble of
cane and scrub palmetto, and tropi-
cal paradise of sweet shrubs, beautiful
flowers and delicate ferns. The swamp
is overfowing with animal, reptile and
bird life, which here ind little to dis
turb them save the everlasting quar-
rels among themselves, which often
end in their own destruction.
Strange cries are sometimes heard
coming from the depths of this inac-
cessible domain, the fierce lashings of
the water, accompanied by savage bel
Iowings and screams from birds in
midair, bear testimony to some san
culinary conflict between huge saurians
or other brutes of the jungle.
Of animals we know of, the swamp
conceals the largest alligators and rat
tlesnakes on the continent, besides
bears, wildcats, deer, wild hogs, cata-
mounts, lizards, chameleons, turtles,
gophers, turkeys, quail, many kinds
of fish and every species of water fowl
known to the tropical 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 hunter named Hickman. 1t
measured twenty-five feet six inches
from end of nose to q. = of tail, and
weighed much more than full-grown
OK. The writer hes killed rattlesnakes
in different partl of the swamp rang
ing from six to nine feet in length,
and saw the skin of one, owned by
Seminole Indian, that must have been
twelve feet long in life.
The biggest frogs on earth find a
home in the Everglades, and it is not
uncommon to run across Jumbos of
the family weighing anywhere from
six to ten pounds.
The Everglades is the true home of
the ivory-billed woodpecker, bird
thet is almost q 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 great respect for
the bird by reason of its powerful
beak, which is used as a mechanical
tool or weapon of attack, as occasion
may require. The Seminoles, like our
Western Indians, 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
feathered creatures found in this great
waste of nature are the family of
humming birds, which the Seminoles
very suggestively call "sun birds"
The black bear is quite well-known
inhabitant of the Everglades, and
while he is, in this section, neither as
large nor as fierce or strong as his
cousin of other latitudes, yet he sur
passes all others of his kind in keen
shrewdness, ingenuity and innate
rascality when meal is the object
sought for.
The proper time for a white man to
visit the available portions of this
great swamp is in midwinter, and even
then myriads of huge, black mosqui-
toes assail you at every step, and
dangerous reptiles under foot threaten
movement in every direction.
But look above on any bright day
that you can see the sunlight, and
glance will reveal thousands of busy
insects shooting like bullets through
the air, and all engaged on single
commendable mission. These are the
innumerable colonies of bees that by
years of Industrious accumulation
have made the Everglades the greatest
honey depository in the world.
Enterprising settlers near by have
set out desirable box homes and work
shops for them. and thus secure all
the honey they require, with prac.
ticslly little trouble and no expense.
The only human beings that can
enter the Everglades, either in the
winter or summer, without fear or an
noyance or disaster are the Seminole
Indians, who claim this vast, dismal
waste as their birthright. Mosquitoes
and reptiles have few terrors for them,
and as for the heat of midsummer, it
seems that the hotter it gets the bet
ter they like it. There are about 500
OF these interesting natives left, who
in bands of from forty to fifty have
heretofore led nomodic life, living
for the most part by hunting and fish
ing, and in few cases cultivat-
ing small patches of ground. The
bucks also gain small income by
killing and selling "plume BIRDS"
and the squaws by weaving fancy
basket and fern work from the mate
rial SO ready at hand.
The Indians live under the name of
Seminoles, but each have their own
tribal chief under a. separate tribal
name, such as the "Miamis," "Talla.
hassess," s'Cow Creek" "Cypress,"
etc., and each is under the control of