The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-06-15
WONDERFUL VIEW or THE Ev-
ERGLADES.

If one could reach an elevated posi-
ton in the everglades and had the adj
vantage of the wonderfully clear at
mosphere that pervades the valley of
the great Salt lake, the view spread out
for one hundred miles to the south
would differ from any other TO be seen
on the face of the globe. A thousand
square miles of tall, waving sawgrass
covering the face of the earth, would
be seen, taking almost the exact shape
of an artists palette. Toward the
southern end would be seen systems Of
little inland lakes. fed with miniature
rivers, each iakeiet system looking for
all the world like a many armed cut
fetish. Intermingling everywhere with
these lakes thousands of islands would
be seen far beyond the sawgrass sea.
Many of these, during the flood, or
rainy season, are under water. None
of them contain NOR ethan three acres
of solid ground. The further south one
travels the greater the height and size
of the trees become, until in and about
the headquarters of Sharks river they
expand into the great forests that ex-
tend into the shore lines of the gulf
and Atlantic.
The glades present a wonderful
world of semi-tropical plant life. The
India rubber tree is one of its chief
products, and its thrift and abundance
are suggestive of rich possibilities for
future industry in this direction.
Year by year the rubber supply of
South America is becoming more ex-
pensive and scarce, and a new source
Of supply must soon be sought for. "A
word to the wise is sufficient" Many
of these wild rubber trees are twenty
TO fifty feet in height, with trunks
often of over two feet in diameter
They grow something like the banyan
tree, their limbs taking root in the
water or ground. When tapped they
yield a white fluid in large quantities,
which slowly thickens and turns dark.
Cabbage palms and cypress trees are
everywhere. Buttonwood and bay and
numerous other trees grow on the is
lands, to say nothing of the wealth of
vines and shrub underground.
The most dense growth lies between
Lake Okeechobee and the sawgrass.
Here we find a great belt of trees of
every variety to be found in the entire
region, so thickly interlaced with vines
of all sorts especially gourds, as to be
practically solid, almost impenetra-
BILE wall. AS one follows the small
the way, covers an area of 1000 square
miles, the roots of vines and trees
gradually join below, land the branches
of the trees Intervene overhead until
a curious corridor is formed, which
often terminates in a veritable Guide
as if they had been polished by lap
idary.
To the south of Lake Okeechobee the
water jungle is succeeded by a swamp
of custard apples, then comes another
swamp of the warm pea and scrub will
low, then a swamp of marsh grass,
which forms the connecting link with
the great domain of sawgrass. These
two grasses greatly resemble each 9TH
er. but each keeps to its own territory.
The sawgrass is here exceptionally tall,
often reaching height of Is feet
above the water. The whites and In
dams alike. in penetrating these
wastes, find it imperative to take ad-
vantage of the wind blowing ahead Of
them, so as to burn their way through
it.-Helen Harcourt, in Sunny South.