Chapter VIII: 121

A description of the animals and birds seen on the St. John's a century since--Lovely landscape--The happy family--Lake George--Enterprise--Mellouville--Sulphur Springs--Lake Harney and Salt Lake--Indian River--Settlers discouraged on account of the Indians--An order for blood-hounds--Battle of Caloosahatchee--Famished soldiers, and fidelity of the dog--Big Cypress Swamp--Locality of the chiefs--What the Indians cultivate--Their babies never cry--The Prophet, and his influence as a medicine man--Wild Cat in command of Fort Mellon--Speech of Sam Jones--Hanging of Chekika--Major Belknap takes his command into the Big Cypress--Country developed by war--Indian River after the war the sportsman's heaven--Game, oysters, and fish--Scientific theory on the formation of coquina--Fine products of the Indian River country--A resort for consumptives--Camp-cooking--Soothing influences from the surroundings--Coming down the St. John's--The sick man--Stewardess and "'gaitors"--Curious people with curious things--The chameleon--The fawn--The crane--The bug-hunter and his treasures--The many old people in Florida--The sportsman.

CHAPTER IX.....139

Stop at Tocoi for St. Augustine--Scenery along the route--Stage-contractor's notice--Murder of Dr. Weedman--Cloth houses--Two mail-carriers murdered--The blood-hounds--Mr. Francis Medicis and four others shot--Remarks by a resident on witnessing the scene--Wild Cat the leader of this atrocity--The theatricals fill their engagement--Coacoochee admires himself in the glass, also one of General Hernandez's beautiful daughters--His capture and escape--His twin sister and her pearls--Returns, dressed in theatricals, for a parley with the whites--Starts West, and dies on the way.

CHAPTER X.....154

St. Augustine described in rhyme--The old Spaniards--A place for stimulus of thought--Treachery of legends--Early settlers lured by tales of wealth--Historical antiquity--Astonished Seloes--Capture by Sir Francis Drake--St. Augustine, 1764--French privateers--Rory McIntosh the Don Quixote of the times--American flag raised in 1821--Freedom to worship God--St. Augustine archives--Dr. McWhir the founder of Presbyterianism in Florida--Appearance in 1834--The frost--Every thing shrouded in a kind of tradition--Fromajardis, or Garden Feast--Matanzas River--Nuns--Escribanio, or St. Mary's Convent--The ancient city sleeps all summer--The dear old folks from their Northern homes, and the young ones too--Curiosities--Crafts of all kinds--Gayety of the winter--Remarkable memory of the natives--Peaceful days--No welcome for adventurers--St. Augustine supposed to have been the residence of the Peri--Expressing an unfavorable opinion about Florida not popular here.

CHAPTER XI.....173

The cathedral--Regular attendance of its worshipers--Harsh tones of the church chime--Early mass--Cathedral finished in 1793--Material employed--Moorish belfry--Irreverent visitors--Religion of the natives a part of their existence--The bishop regarded as a vicegerent--Mistaken conclusions of outsiders--Peculiar frescoes representing death--Christmas Eve--Ceremonial conducted by Bishop Verot--Administration of the sacrament--Tolemato Cemetery--Its custodian--Murder of Father Corpa by the Indians--Chapel dedicated to Father Varela--Tablet-inscriptions erased by time--A medallion supposed to have been worn by Father Corpa, which was brought from Rome.

CHAPTER XII.....183

Castle San Marco--Indestructibility of the material employed--Commenced in 1565--Completed by Montiano, 1756, with the aid of Mexican convicts--Attacked by Oglethorpe--Appearance in 1740--Improper change of names--Description of Fort Marion--Its resemblance to Scott's Garde Douloreuse--The chapel and its holy mysteries--Iron cages--Caving in of the bastion--No cages sent to the Smithsonian Institute--The wooden machine--The old sergeant--Human bones not unusual in other ruins--Spaniards branded with the cruelties of the Inquisition--True version of the iron cages from Señor B. Oliveros--No nation exempt from cruelties during some period of their history--The Western Indians retained as hostages in the fort.

CHAPTER XIII.....198

The sea-wall--when commenced--Material employed--Boulevard of the city--City gates and vandal visitors--Tapoquoi village--Murder of Father Rodriguez--La Sylphide rose--Fine pulpit talent--Sabbath in January--The Presbyterian Church--Flowers from the gardens of Messrs. Alexander and Atwood--Gushing young men--Dr. Daniel F. March and his words of comfort--A description of the Episcopal church--A curious question about disputed grounds--Dr. Root, the clergyman--A peculiar man and his dog, that walked into the church from habit--St. Augustine a restorer to both health and reason--Public reading-room--Circulating library--What shall we eat?--Ships constantly coming in with supplies--Fresh vegetables--Oranges--Hotels and fine boarding-houses--Growlers--Gratuitous hospitality now obsolete--The most eligible houses--Summer resort--Pleasant people found by the sea.

CHAPTER XIV.....214

How they spend their time in the ancient city--A slight departure into history--Different kinds of visitors--Grand opening of the Lunch-basket on the North Beach--Music and moonlight on the water--The Indian buffalo-hunt near the old fort--Dancing inside by the Indian prisoners--Preparation for a gala day, March, 1877--Post-band--Yacht-race--A jockey-race--The hurdle--A foot-race by the Indians--Wheelbarrow contest--Victor and greenbacks--Ham and money--The cat a musical animal--St. Augustine Hotel, where music is made from their sinews.