CHAPTER V.
"The fragrant birch above him hung
Her tassels in the sky,
And many a vernal blossom sprung,
And nodded careless by.
But there was weeping far away;
And gentle eyes for him,
With watching many an anxious day,
Were sorrowful and dim."--BRYANT.
Florida, in which state I now found myself, is divided into East, West,
and Middle. It is a wild extent of country, about 300 miles from north
to south. The king of Spain held possession of the territory in 1810,
but it was afterwards ceded by treaty to the Federal Government. It was
discovered in 1497 by Sebastian Cabot. St. Augustine is the capital of
East, and Pensacola of West, Florida. This country is, for the most
part, a howling wilderness, and is never likely to become thickly
populated. The dreary pine-barrens and sand-hills are slightly
undulating, and are here and there thickly matted with palmetto.
In pursuance of my original design, I had now to penetrate nearly a
hundred miles into the interior; and, as the Indians and fugitive
negroes were scouring that part of the country in hostile bands, I
contemplated this part of my route with no little anxiety.
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