Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

34 To a Sick Child. Sick and suffering, dost thou languish ? Earthly pleasure must thou shun ? Think, when on thy bed of anguish Jesus suffered —little one. Sad and sorrowing, hast thou only Shed sad tears, while others smiled ? When thy days are long and lonely Remember, Jesus wept—my child. Jesus will be thy defender From all evil; meek and mild Is thy Saviour, kind and tender, — Come to Him, thou little child. Clarlceaville, Ga. M. MAROONER’S ISLAND ; OR, Dr. Gordon in Search of His Children. BY REY. F. R. GOULDING, Author of “ The Young Marooners.” CHAPTER IY. THE CRUISE BEGUN. gURING the conference recorded in the preceding chapter the cutter had remained with backed topsails, or else had sailed easy curves around the >t where she was first It was near mid-day be irge pushed off and spread her sails to the now freshening breeze. She had scarcely got into motion before the boatswain of the cutter was heard piping all hands to starboard, where fifty caps soon waved over the gunwale and fifty voices cheered the departing voy agers, while a flag was run up the mast in token of honor and good will. Dr. Gordon bowed his acknowledgments with uncovered head, while his men waved their caps, and Wheeler, who was sailing master, ran up to the masthead, in reply, the only piece of bunting at his com mand. This day was Wednesday, and although the hour was far too early for regular dinner, the captain of the cutter, with great hospitality, had ordered, through the steward, a plentiful lunch for all his visitors, both in the cabin and at the ves sels side, so that the departing crews were saved from all delay and inconven ience on account of rations before night. For several hours the cutter and the barge continued in sight of each other— the one making due east for the bay, at the north end of which lies Fort Brooke, and the other seeking a passage around the north end of Riley’s Island, in order to pass between it and the main, and thus to keep down the coast in the smooth water that prevails inside the long chain of reefs, shoals, keys and islands that skirt the western coast of peninsular Florida. BUEKE’S WEEKLY. In passing the sheet of water known as Manatee Bay, the exploring party de layed only long enough to look in and certify themselves that the missing boat was not there. They then continued so evenly between the shore and the reef as to keep a safe lookout on both sides. All that afternoon the land showed little more than a low, sandy bluff, surmounted every now and then with a heavy breast work of sand blown up by the wind and ornamented at intervals with clumps of tropical - looking palmettoes, o r with groves of wide-spreading live oaks, while patches of large-leaved cactus, high as a man’s waist, and crimsoned with beauti ful pears, the size of a pullet’s egg, occa sionally variegated the spaces between. Perhaps no opportunity more conven ient than the present, can be found for gratifying the desire of those who may wish to know more of the peculiarities of the western coast of Florida, to which our story confines us, and of which we seldom see any accounts. The Bay, known as Tampa, extends from Egmont Key to the town of Tampa, about forty miles distant, and varies in width from eight to twelve miles. Ex tending east for fifteen or twenty miles, it bends suddenly northward and divides into two tongues, the western of which, a shallow lagoon, is called Old Tampa, and the eastern, Hillsborough. The part which is common to both these tongues is called Spiritu Santo, or Holy Ghost bay, being the name given to it by De Soto when he landed here on his famous expedition in 1538. Os all the beautiful inlets and harbors on the gulf coast, this is the easiest of ac cess, and the best protected from storms. Its mouth is land-locked by the small low island, or key, called Egmont, on which is a light-house, and between which and Mullet Key, (another low island to the west,) is a pass or channel having a depth of twenty-three feet at low water, while to the southeast is an other pass not quite so wide or so deep. From Tampa, as far south as Punta Rassa, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchie river, the coast is double, having a chain of keys and shoals extending, with scarce ly an interruption, the whole distance. These keys are composed of sand and broken shells, some almost wholly of one, some of the other, and some of a mixture of both, and are covered with mangroves cabbage palmettoes, live oaks, and vari ous other trees and shrubs; and are in habited by wild turkeys, deer, raccoons, bears, and other denizens of the forest, and, in some instances, by wild hogs and cattle that have strayed there from the main. The palmetto is a tall, beautiful tree of the class known by botanists as endogtns , because its growth is by additions inside the trunk, and not, as in ordinary trees, by successive layers of wood on the out side. It has neither limbs nor bark, but grows by means of a single terminal bud at the top, which is always tender and edible, and being in flavor not unlike cab bage, has caused the tree to be called by some the cabbage tree, or cabbage pal metto. The fruit is a small berry grow ing in clusters. The leaves, of which there are sometimes as many as fifty, are all at the summit and constitute each an immense fan, from three to six feet in diameter, expanding from a flat stem a yard long and two or three inches wide. The trees grow singly or in immense groves, according to circumstances. The wood is worthless as timber, being nothing more than a dense pith, hardened on the outside by exposure to the weather, and strengthened within with long, tough threads, which run longitudinally with the trunk, and often project, like sharp needles, through the surface. The mangrove is a growth of the salt marsh and quicksands, requiring frequent overflow from the tides. It is a shrub, with a woody stem that is close-grained, hard and knotty, and when dry makes a quick, hot fire. The leaf resembles some what that of the lemon in shape and size, being thick and of a dark green color, so that a mangrove marsh at a little dis tance is a lovely sight. Its growth is peculiar: it has quite as many roots branching from the trunk towards the ground below as it has limbs branching towards the air and sun above. These limbs begin near the ground and extend laterally a great distance, sending out roots, like the banyan tree, to form new trunks, and to support the weight of the foliage above. These branches and roots interlace so densely that a mangrove swamp is almost impenetrable. When the declining sun approached the tree tops of a pretty key to the west, the bow of the barge was turned towards a creek or cove that set deeply inland, bounded by a luxuriant mangrove marsh upon one side, and by a sandy bluff dense ly wooded with cedars and stunted pines upon the other. Here they prepared to spend their first night. Two tents were pitched—one for Dr. Gordon, Tomkins and Wildcat, the other for Wheeler and the four men. A few armfulls of dead wood soon produced a crackling fire, and caused the merry kettles to sing the wel-