[338] Le case loro sono edificate di stuore sopra scorze d’ostriche, e sopra di esse dormono sopra cuoi d’animali. Relatione que fece Alvaro Nunez, detto Capo di Vaca, Ramusio, Viaggi, T. III., fol. 317., E.
[339] On the geology of these bluffs, see the articles by Mr. Allen, in the first, and Mr. Conrad in the second volume of the Am. Jour. Science. (Second series.)
[340] Travels, p. 198.
[341] The peculiar hue of the whole St. Johns system of streams has been termed by various travellers a light brown, light red, coffee color, rich umber, and beer color. In the sun it is that of a weak lye, but in the shade often looks as black as ink. The water is quite translucent and deposits no sediment. The same phenomenon is observed in the low country of Carolina, New Jersey, and Lake Superior, and on a large scale in the Rio Negro, Atababo, Temi, and others of South America. In the latter, Humboldt (Ansichten der Natur, B. I., p. 263-4) ascribes it “to a solution of carburetted hydrogen, to the luxuriance of a tropical vegetation, and to the quantity of plants and herbs on the ground on which they flow.” In Florida, the vast marshes and hammocks, covered the year round with water from a few inches to two feet in depth, yet producing such rank vegetation as to block up the rivers with floating islands, are doubtless the main cause. The Hillsboro, Suwannee, and others, flowing through the limestone lands into the Gulf, are on the other hand remarkable for the clarity of their streams. I have drank this natural decoction when it tasted and smelt so strongly of decayed vegetable matter as almost to induce nausea. A fact not readily explained is that while the dark waters of other regions are marked by a lack of fish and crocodiles, a freedom from stinging musquitoes, a cooler atmosphere and greater salubrity, nothing of the kind occurs on these streams.
[342] For particulars concerning some of these, see Wm. Bartram, Travels, pp. 145, 165, 206, 230; Notices of E. Florida, by a recent Trav., pp. 28, 44; American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV., p. 165, I., (2 ser.) p. 39.
[343] Flint, (Travels, Let. XVI., p. 172,) says that neither of those found in 1810 measured more than four feet. This is an error. He only saw the female, whose age was not over fourteen, and the squatting position in which the body was, deceived him.
[344] Conq. de la Florida, Lib. V., P. II., cap. VIII.
[345] In French’s Hist. Coll. of La., Pt. I., p. 61.
[346] Mems. Hist. sur la Louisiane, T. I., pp. 154-5.
[347] Hist. of Louisiana, Vol. II., p. 230.