CHAPTER lY.

A   TEIP   THROUGH   NORTH   FLORIDA.

It was the middle of March when Captain Samuel
Fairbanks, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, set
out on an official pilgrimage through the northern sec¬
tion of the State, in search of information for the use of
his bureau. The Captain was peculiarly well adapted for
his official position, and especially to investigate this por¬
tion of the State, Avhich had in all its parts become fa¬
miliar to him, through a residence of over forty years.
He came originally from central New York, and there
are many other people here from that favorite section of
the Empire State.

The writer accepted a cordial invitation to join Cap¬
tain Fairbanks on the proposed trip, and enjoyed a de¬
lightful time, for the Captain was a pleasant, entertain¬
ing traveling companion, full of interesting information,
anecdotes, and reminiscences of the State and the people.
The previously described journey in the other portions
of the State had given me a fine opportunity to see the
wilder and more remote regions, and the present trip
gave me an opportunity to learn of the older and more
populous sections. Our route lay through the counties of
all the northern and western portions of the State, where,
in the " piping times of peace," the ante-war days, the
true era of Southern prosperity, the planters of Florida
lived and flourished  and waxed wealthy.    In those days