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ter became alarmed for his safety, aud
moved up into Georgia, one or two hun
dred miles above the Indian border, and
far within a thickly settled neighbor
hood. Here he thought certainly he
would be safe, but not long after he had
left Florida, a party of Indians, led by
the warrior he had chastised, by some
means found out his whereabouts, made
their way through the settlements to the
place where the planter was living, and
in the dead of night he was roused from
his slumbers by the terrible war-whoop
of the savages. He sprang through a
window, and endeavored to make his
escape into the woods adjoining, but
the Indians overtook him, brought him
back to the house, and put him to death
with the most horrible tortures. They
then murdered every living soul about
the premises, except a lad who had con
cealed himself in a fodder stack near
by, and witnessed the whole proceed
ings, set fire to the house, and finally
made good their retreat back into the
nation, without ever having been seen
by any one, except by the lad mention
ed above. It is supposed that some ol
the planter's negroes gave the Indians
the information that enabled them to
track him so successfully.
I have seen it stated lately in some of
the prominent journals of the day that
a small remnant of these Seminole In
dians are yet living in the dense jungles
and everglades of the peninsular of
Florida, and that they are so badly
“reconstructed” they still hold on to
the institution of slavery, in spite of Mr.
Lincoln’s proclamation and the four
teenth amendment to the Constitution.
I hope my young friends will forgive
me for this long digression relative to
the Seminole Indians; but, indeed, in
many respects they were a noble race
of men, though savage, and richly de
serve a place in the archives of the
country, as well for furnishing the his
torian with the best and noblest type of
the aboriginal races of the American
Continent, as for the heroism and bra
very with which they contended for so
many long years against the overwhelm
ing numbers that sought to subdue
them.
And now I am going to tell you of a
narrow escape that four of my compan
ions and myself had from these Indians.
We had determined, by way of recrea
tion, to have what is called a “ camp
hunt;” that is, to take our tent, guns,
provisions, etc., and go out to some
good hunting ground, vdiere game was
plentiful, and not so shy as it usually is
in the vicinity of settlements, and camp
out for a lveek or longer, or until we
were tired of a “life in the woods.”
After debating the important question
among ourselves, as to the best locality
for the proposed hunt* we at length
came to the determination to try our
luck in the “big hammock’’* on the
head of the Wakulla river.
* Any section of country in Florida
heavily timbered with oak, hickory, ash,
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
l>ut before I proceed to relate our ad
venture with the Indians, I must give
you some account of the spring at the
head of this Wakulla river, which,
though so little is known of it, is un
doubtedly one of the greatest natural
curiosities in the United States. It
rises in the big hammock (or hummock)
I have mentioned, forming at once a
very considerable river, which after a
course of only ten or twelve miles emp
ties into the bay near the Old Fort and
Spanish town of St. Marks. The spring
is in a basin, surrounded by wooded
hills of slight elevation, and forms a
lake or pool perhaps a quarter of a mile
in circumference, from the eastern side
of which the river flows out seventy or
eighty yards in width and six to eight
feet deep. Boats of considerable size
can navigate this river from its mouth
up to its very head.
From the mouth of the river to within
a short distance of its source it runs
through dense jungles and cypress
stvamps, in Avhich thousands of huge
alligators and myriads of water snakes
make their home.
On a calm morning, in the spring of
the year, if you were sailing up this
river in a boat, you Avould be almost
deafened by the incessant roaring of the
alligators, whose huge black forms you
could see everyAvhere upon its shores,
basking in the sun.
But it is not only the immense vol
ume of water poured forth from this
mammoth spring, that renders it so
great a curiosity, but the amazing trans
parency of its Avaters. They are so
transparent that at the depth of eighty
or one hundred feet, a half dollar can
easily be seen at the bottom. I have
often paddled out in a canoe on still,
calm days and gazed for an hour at a
time Avith astonishment and delight into
the depths of this crystal pool. On the
bottom I could see huge alligators crawl
ing sluggishly along, but every noivand
then darting Avith the velocity of an ar
i’Oav upon some fish that incautiously
approached them within striking dis
tance.
The smallest minnow, as Avell as the
larger varieties of fish, —the buffalo,
trout, and huge alligator gar,—can be
distinctly seen at the depth of eighty or
a hundred feet, floating about as it were
in the air. Indeed, so very transparent
are these waters, that often, in looking
over the side of the boat into the depths
beloAV, I Avould grow giddy and my
head Avould swim just as if I had been
looking over the edge of a perpendicu
lar Avail or precipice. It is necessary,
howcA T er, in order to see the spring to
advantage that the day should be per
fectly calm, for when there is enough
breeze stirring to ruffle the surface,
everything, of course, appears dim and
indistinct below.
dogAVOod, etc., is called a “ hammock,” but I
cannot tell you the derivation of the Avord.
Anthon Webster gives the Avord as ‘‘hum
mock,” and says it is probably an Indian
Avord.— Ei>. Weeki.y. j
One Avould suppose, from the great
volume of water discharged by this
mammoth spring, that the surface of the
pool Avould be continually agitated by
the rush of the upward current, but its
vast depth prevents this, and its sur
face is as smooth as a stagnant lake.
The deptli of the entire spring is A r ery
great, but the bottom of about one-third
of it has never been found bv the long
est lines. It is all conjecture, of course,
Avhere the subterranean river that makes
its appearance at this point takes its
rise ; possibly in the mountains of up
per Georgia or Alabama.
The Avater of this spring, though ap
parently pure, is scarcely drinkable, it
is so strongly impregnated with rotten
limestone. It is best, therefore, for
parties of pleasure, or persons visiting
the spring, to take a supply of drinking
Avater Avith them.
I hope I have not tired you Avith my
long description of this spring; but
really it is a very great natural curiosity,
and one Avell Avorthy a much abler pen
than mine to describe its beauties and
Avonders.
In my next, I will tell you of our
camp hunt.
MARVELS OP MEMORY.
\-
*
examples of the marvels of
memory would seem entirely
incredible had they not been
given to us upon the highest authority.
Cyrus knew the name of each soldier in
his army. It is also related of Themisto
cles that he could call by name every cit
izen of Athens, although the number
amounted to tAventy thousand. Mithri
dates, king of Pantos, knew all his eigh
ty thousand soldiers by their right
names. Scipio knew all the inhabitants
of Rome. Seneca complained of old
age because he could not, as formerly,
repeat tAvo thousand names in the order
in which they Avere read to him ; and he
stated that on one occasion, when at
his studies, two hundred unconnected
verses having been recited by the dif
ferent pupils of his preceptor, he re
peated them in a reversed order, pro
ceeding from the last to the first.
Lord Granville could repeat, from
beginning to end, the NeAV Testament
in original Greek. Cooke, the tragedian,
is said to have committed to memory
all the contents of a large daily newspa
per. Racine could recite all the trage
dies of Euripides.
It is said that George 111. never
forgot a free he had once seen, nor a
name he had ever heard. Mirandola
would commit to memory the contents
of a book by reading it three times, and
could frequently repeat the Avords back-
Avard as well as fonvard. I Lomas
Cranmer committed to memory, in
three months, an entire translation of
the Bible. Euler, the mathematician,
could repeat the iEneid ; and Leibnitz,
Avhen an old man, could recite theAvhole
of Virgil, Avord for word.
It is said that Bossuet could repeat,
not only the Avhole Bible, but all Horn
er, Virgil, and Horace, besides many
other Avorks.
Mozart had a Avonderful memory of
musical sounds. When only fourteen
years of age, he Avent to Rome to assist
in the solemnities of Holy Week. Im
mediately after his arrival, he went to
the Sistine Chapel to hear the famous
“ Miserere” of Allegri. Being aAvare
that it Avas forbidden to take or give
a copy of this renoAvned piece of mu
sic, Mozart placed himself in a cor
ner, and gave the strictest attention to
the music. and, on leaving the church,
noted down the entire piece. A feAv
days afterward he heard it a second
time, and, folloAving the music with his
OAvn copy in his hand, satisfied himself
of the fidelity of his memory. The next
day he sang the Miserere at a concert,
accompanying himself on the harpsi
chord ; and the performance produced
such a sensation in Rome that Pope Cle
ment XIV. requested that this musical
prodigy should be presented to him at
once.
Being Eis oavh Pilot.
6 „ -A: .
BRIGHT boy who loved the
sea entered on a sailor’s life
Avhen very young. He rose
to quick promotion, and while quite a
young man was made the master of a
ship. One day a passenger spoke to
him upon the voyage, and asked if he
should anchor off a certain headland,
supposing he Avould anchor there and
telegraph lor a pilot to take the vessel
into port.
“ Another ! no, not I. I mean to be
in dock with the morning tide.”
“ I thought, perhaps, you would sig
nal for a pilot.”
“ I am my own pilot,” was the curt
reply.
Intent upon reaching port by morning,
he took a narrow channel to save dis
tance. Old, bronzed, and gray headed
seamen turned their sAvarthy faces to
the sky, which boded squally weather,
and shook their heads. Cautious p>as
sengers Avent to the captain and begged
him to take the wider course, but he on
ly laughed at their fears, and repeated
his promise to be in dock at day break.
We need not pause to dramatize a storm
at sea ; the alarm of breakers shouted
hoarsely through the wind and the wild
orders to get the life boats manned.
Enough to say that the captain Avas
ashore earlier than he promised tossed
sportively upon some Aveedy beach, a
dead thing that the waves were weary
of-a toy that the tempest avus tired of
playing with, and his queenly ship and
costly freight were scattered over the
surfy acres of an angry sea. How was
this ? The glory of that young man was
his strength ; but he was his own pilot.
His own pilot! There was his blunder
—fatal, suicidal blunder.
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