le in 1838. As soon as this was done the pilots
went in search of a tree to make canoes. They found not far off a large
cypress which served, and by the next night they had completed two
canoes, each about twelve feet long and eighteen inches wide, suitable
for navigating the lake and able to carry four men each. In the mean
time we had commenced hostilities against the alligators, which were
here very large, bold, and numerous. They lay basking in the sun upon
the beach in front of our camp, some of them fifteen feet long, and it
became necessary to drive them away, lest they should devour our dogs,
or even our mules, for some of these monsters looked able to do it.
We opened fire upon them with repeating rifles, and if any Indians
were within hearing they must have supposed that General Taylor had
come back again, such was the rapidity of our fusillade. The brain
of the alligator is small, and developed chiefly in the region of
destructiveness; but after a dozen were killed and many more wounded, it
seemed to dawn upon their perceptions that this part of the lake was
unsafe, and they gradually took themselves away. I disapprove of killing
animals for mere sport, and destroy not deliberately except when I wish
to use them for food; but the alligator is the enemy of all living
creatures, the tyrant of the waters, and the death of one saves the
lives of hundreds of other animals. So blaze away at the 'gators, O ye
Florida tourists!--you will not kill many of them, anyway: their shells
are too thick,--but spare the pelicans, who are a harmless race of
fisherfolk, like ourselves.

[Illustration: ON THE COAST OF FLORIDA
FROM A STEEL PLATE]

There were great numbers of large turtles in the lake, _Chelonura_ and
_Trionyx_, from two to three feet long; gar-fish also, almost as big as
the alligators. These mailed warriors, like the knights of old, exercise
their prowess chiefly upon the defenceless multitudes of the fresh
waters, but I have heard of half a large alligator being found in the
stomach of a shark at a river mouth. In spite of all these destroyers,
the lake swarmed with fish. Pecetti could generally get enough black
bass, pike, or perch at one or two casts of his net to feed our whole
party if at any time it happened that they would not bite at the hook.

A curious feature of the lake and river scenery is the floating island.
This is principally formed of the water-lettuce, or _Pistia_, an aquatic
plant with lo