CHAPTER VL

THE ST. John's kiver.

This famous river, from its mouth to its head-waters in
the far-off regions of Southern Florida, is purely tropical;
its waters, shores, scenery, vegetation, all animate objects,
the birds in the air and on the water, the fish and reptiles
within its depths, are mostly strange, attractive, and in¬
tensely interesting, especially to the Northern traveler. It
is the only really tropical stream in the United States navi¬
gable its entire length, and is different from all others in
that it reverses the usual order of the water-courses of
America and flows due north. A sluggish, slow current, its
entire length lies parallel with, and is only separated by a
narrow belt of land from, the Atlantic Ocean, into which it
empties at a point eighteen miles east of Jacksonville, close
to the Georgia State line.

From its source to its mouth it embraces three varieties
of streams, each entirely distinct in form, width, depth,
scenery, shores, soils, and vegetation; and these strange
transformations not only add greatly to the interest of the
river, but relieve it of the monotony characteristic of long
rivers. The first stretch of the river, from its mouth to a
point shortly above Welaka, a total distance of ninety-seven
miles, is a vast lagoon, averaging from one to six miles in
width, deep, with a slow current, the shores a series of bold
bluffs and declivities, everywhere covered with extensive
forests of great live-oaks, sweet-gums, cypresses, willows,
and occasional magnolias.   These forests tower up grandly.