The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-05-25

small band had TO be left behind
either dead or dying Of hunger. The
remainder pushed on to the villages
hoping to find food there, but found
instead Of the villages, only smoking
heaps Of ashes and the hostile In
dams fed. Of this band 81 three hun
dred who set out with such courage
and with such ambitious purposes in
search of a fancied empire only four
escaped alive to tell their tale OF peril
and hunger. But that was the Flori-
da of yesterday which refused food
to her sons. Behold the Florida of
to-day, Her fields green with celery
and crimson with strawberries,
which not only supply her needs, but
also help to satisfy the needs of her
sister states. Her groves from which
her people and other people are fed
pineapples and oranges in abund-
ance. Behold her truck farms. her
rich fields of potatoes, which would
not only supply several bands the
size of De Narvaez's but help to sup
ply the nation for her land is fertile.
Having heard of it's fertility there are
people who are searching for our
Florida of today, anxious to gain
some of the land on which yesterday
Florida buried her explorers who
died of hunger.
Florida was the mysterious land
in which ones dreams were believed
to be fulfilled. Not only was it a
country to be explored and colonized,
a country whose waters impaired
immortal youth to all, but also was
a country Astounding in wealth.
There We're nuggets of gold that
one might find lying around on the
shores; there were dazzling gems
that one might find hanging from
the trees, SO it was fondly believed.
And. expecting to reap wealth Her
fortune and to gain great glory for
himself. - The latter he accomplish
ed, but in the former he was bitter
ly disappointed. He explored Flori-
da all its length but did not find the
fabulous gold nor gems. He con-
quered the tribes and stripped them
of all their golden ornaments. Even
then he was not satisfied. Yesterday
De Soto was denied the wealth he
sought; today there is wealth for all
who seek it. There is wealth in the
kaolin mines and there is wealth in
the lime pits, but best and richest of
all are the mines which are veritable
gold mines in themselves, the phos-
plate mines. Everyday ships laden
with this money-bringing mineral
cross the ocean. Yet De Soto died a
disappointed man, and the fortune
for which he sought, for which he
gave his life and which the Florida of
Yesterday, so niggardly withheld
from him, the Florida of to-day
generously lavishes upon her sons.
There being no gold mines ready
for the Spaniards, no precious stones
with which to fill their greedy pock-
cts and especially since the Indians
We're so hostile to all invaders, Flori-
da was not colonized as soon as the
other portions of the new world
tied yet Florida was only a dumping
ground for runaway slaves, and a
refuge for the hunted criminals.
Here they mingled and intermarried
with the native Indians and defied all
their pursurers. And out of them
the Seminoles sprung. The impass-
able forests and painless swamps
were known only to them. They
would rush out of their hiding places
with weird war chants and descend
ing on the scattered settlers murder
them, kidnap their children, scalp
the missionaries sent to convert
them. then disappear into their aqua
tic jungle haunted by noisome rep
tiles. Here fallen trees and a mat
ted underbrush lay submerged ii
dank, black water. Cypress gloom
ed in forbidding shadows above the
stagnant pools, the swamp itself was
rife with horrible quacks and cfoaks
and OF somewhere the distant bel
low of an alligator. The Seminoles
were cunning and they were the ter
ror OF every inhabitant 1t was only
after repeated efforts and the en-
ployment of their own strategy that
they were finally captured and sub
dued. But the completeness of their
subjugation may be seen in the Flor
ida of today. The Indian trails are
now broad highways travelled by
honking automobiles: the little plots