Street in Reykjavik, IcelandStreet in Reykjavik, IcelandLINK TO IMAGE
At one time a band of these fearless sea-robbers made their lairs in the Shetland and Orkney Islands and even plunderedthe coast of Norway, the abode of their kinsmen. Their conduct so exasperated Harold that he determined to destroy the freebooters of the Orkneys root and branch. Gathering a large fleet, he relentlessly pursued the raiders up every bay and inlet. Leaving the ships, he chased them among the rocky islands and the sinuous fiords. When they were overtaken the pursuers showed them no mercy. A few escaped, and, stealing away under the cover of darkness, the hunted sea-robbers fled in their ships to Iceland.
All the while the tide of immigration was augmented by the migrations of disaffected nobles from Norway. This naked volcanic island had more attraction for them than their own country where freedom was denied them.
Sixty years after the first settlement fifty thousand people had made their homes in Iceland. The inhabited parts were along the coast, in the river valleys, and in the vicinity of the fiords, rarely extending farther than fifty miles inland.
In order to better maintain rights and settle disputes, in 930 the chiefs or nobles established an aristocratic republic and adopted a constitution. The republic existed four hundred years. Many just laws were enacted, some of which England was glad to borrow. The legislative meetings were held in Thingvalla, a picturesque valley thirty-five miles east of Reykjavik. This valley was formed by the sinking of a lava area of fifty square miles. In the middle of the valley, flanked by two huge jagged walls of lava, is a triangular floor of lava like a large flatiron having separating chasms meeting at the apex. Here the Althing, or general assembly, met annually to make laws and settle disputes. Toward the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The scenery hereis one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by, a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a legislative assembly.
Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by Denmark in 1874.
Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change their names when they marry.
Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.
It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields, one of which occupies four thousand square miles.
Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter snowstorms even in August.
The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the white and the blue. These animals probablydrifted on the ice from Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because they attack the sheep.
The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked. Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines. There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark galleries.
Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most prominent are east of Reykjavik.
According to its area probably no other part of the world except the island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously; the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder. Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted the vegetationfar and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.
North Cape, IcelandNorth Cape, IcelandLINK TO IMAGE
Iceland is well watered, having many streams, all of which are rapid, for the greater part flowing over beds of lava and quicksand. In some of the wider fords stakes have been set so that the traveller may not get lost in crossing them on horseback during a dense fog. In the summer the frequent rains make travelling very unpleasant unless one is suitably equipped with water-proof garments. In the Hvita, or White River, is the celebrated Gullfoss—literally, "goldfall"—a fall that rivals Niagara in the height of its two cataracts.
A few garden vegetables excepted, little or no agricultureis attempted; the chief dependence of the people is the rearing of sheep, cattle, and horses, fishing, and the collecting of eider-down. The streams are filled with excellent fish, including the salmon; off the coast are codfishing grounds equal to, if not surpassing, those of Newfoundland.
The most valuable mineral is sulphur, the supply of which appears to be inexhaustible. The chief exports are wool, oil, fish, horses, eider-down, knit goods, sulphur, and Iceland moss.
Transparent calcite, a mineral commonly called "Iceland spar," is found, one mine of which furnishes an excellent quality. It is highly prized by mineralogists on account of its double refractive qualities. If a piece of this mineral be placed over a word, the letters forming it will appear double. Iceland spar is used chiefly in the optical instrument known as the polariscope.
Eider-down consists of the soft, fine feathers growing on the breast of the eider-duck, great numbers of which frequent the coast and lakes of Iceland. This duck is wild except at the nesting season; then it is as tame as the domestic fowl and makes its nest not only around and on top of the buildings but frequently inside them. A heavy fine is imposed on any one killing a duck at this season.
When about to lay, the duck carefully lines her nest with down plucked from her breast. Then people remove it from the nest and the duck pulls more down from her breast to replace that taken. This process is repeated several times. When the duck has stripped her own breast the drake comes to the rescue and furnishes down from his. A certain number of the eggs are also taken. These, though inferior to those of the swan, are esteemed a great delicacy. Swans also are killed on many of the lakes.
Iceland is the resort of the fishing fleets of several nations; the value of the annual catch averages about tenmillion dollars. Much of the catch consists of food fish, but many are caught for the oil.
The only trees found growing on the island are birch and ash, and they seldom exceed ten feet in height. A few juniper bushes and willows are found here and there.
In the remote and isolated sections most of the dwellings are built of blocks of lava laid one upon another, making a wall six feet thick. Upon these are placed rafters made from ribs of whales, drift-wood, or anything else that will answer the purpose. The roof is then covered with grass and turf. In the hamlets many of the houses are constructed of imported lumber, there being no trees of sufficient size on the island for building purposes.
The inhabitants are very hospitable and every house is open to the traveller. They live in a simple manner, drink sour whey and milk, eat rancid butter, fish, mutton, and occasionally the lichens called Iceland moss. When well cooked, the last named is quite palatable. It is also a sovereign remedy for bronchial ailments.
Notwithstanding their many privations, the people are loyal to their country and lovingly call it "The Maid of the North." They lead pastoral lives and their customs are much like those of the Homeric age. Story-telling is much appreciated by all classes. There are wandering minstrels who gain their livelihood by going from house to house to recite the stories in prose and poetry which they have learned by heart. Spindle and distaff are used in spinning the wool into yarn, which is then knit or woven into cloth on a hand loom.
Education is universal, and no child of twelve years can be found who is unable to read or write. The families are so isolated that there are few schools outside of the capital; but the parents diligently teach their children whatever they themselves have learned.
During the long winter evenings one member of the family reads aloud while the others are busily at work, the men making nets and ropes, or removing the wool from the sheepskins, the women embroidering, sewing, or using spindle and distaff.
In no other country of Europe are so many books and papers published in proportion to the population as in Iceland. On the average one hundred books are issued annually from Icelandic presses. Several excellent newspapers and periodicals are also published.
Every Icelander to-day knows perfectly the sagas, the legendary stories that commemorate heroes and heroic deeds and which are so dear to his heart. It is not uncommon to find an Icelander who is well versed in the ancient classics or one who can speak several languages. They are well acquainted with the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, which have been translated into their own language. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Iceland produced a literature equal to that of any other nation in Europe within the same period.
CHAPTER XIVGREENLAND
The history of Greenland really begins about the year 986 A. D., when Eric the Red, a chieftain who had been banished from Iceland, landed on the island with some of his followers and made it his permanent residence. At different times these hardy and daring seamen made expeditions to the eastern coast of North America, and sailed as far south as Chesapeake Bay. They attempted to found a colony on the east coast at a point thought to be on thecoast of New Jersey but, after contending with the savages for some time, deemed it best to abandon the project and to return to their Greenland home. The location at which they attempted their colony is by no means certain.
Stone igloos on the bleak coast of GreenlandStone igloos on the bleak coast of GreenlandLINK TO IMAGE
All this island, a half million square miles in area, except a small part of the southern coast line and a larger area in the north, is covered by an immense glacier. And this field of ice, like a huge piece of plastic wax, is constantly moving from the interior down toward the sea. As it approaches the ocean it divides into branches which flow down the numerous fiords and valleys into the sea. As the fronts of the branch glaciers are pushed out into the water their ends are broken off by the buoyancy of the water. These glacial-born masses then float away as icebergs, carrying with them on their southward journeys therock waste—moraine detritus it is called—gathered by the parent glaciers.
When these floating leviathans are off the coast of Newfoundland, they encounter the waters of the Gulf Stream, melt, and scatter their débris of stony matter over a large area of the ocean bed. This process, having gone on for thousands of years, has shoaled the ocean in certain parts, forming the so-called Banks of Newfoundland.
A gelatinous slime filled with minute animal life forms on the bottom of the ocean in the arctic; the cold currents flowing south carry some of it along with them, and much of it is lodged on the stony bottoms of these banks. Fish, especially the cod, are fond of this gelatinous substance, and throng thither at certain seasons of the year in countless numbers to feed upon it.
One ignorant of the currents of the ocean might be puzzled at times in observing that an iceberg floats southward at the same time that pieces of wood are floating northward, both apparently acted upon by the same current. This may be explained by recalling that warm water is lighter than cold and hence is found as the upper layer when a cold and a warm current are flowing in different directions, one upon the other. It should be borne in mind that seven-eighths of the floating iceberg is under water, leaving but one-eighth above the surface. The Gulf Stream drift spreads out as it travels northward, and, being much shallower than the arctic currents, carries floating objects northward on the surface, while the deeper and more powerful arctic currents force the huge masses of ice southward.
When the warm air over the Gulf Stream comes in contact with the floating ice it is chilled, and the moisture which it holds is condensed into fog. The fogs in turn, which are off the Newfoundland coast, being in the line of steamship communication between Europe and America, are a constantmenace to navigation. The near presence of ice is usually detected by a greater chilliness in the air. In order to avoid collisions with one another, and also with icebergs, a ship constantly sounds its sirens and fog horns as warnings while in the fog belt. The signal of another steamship is a warning of the one; the answering echo announces the nearness of the other.
A large icebergA large icebergLINK TO IMAGE
The high interior of Greenland, about ten thousand feet in altitude, is thought to result largely from the accumulation of ages of snow and ice, only a part of which melts or moves oceanward to form glaciers. No other part of the world is such an absolute desert as the greater part of this island. Animal and vegetable life are wholly absent.
The colony which was planted in Greenland by Eric the Red, and subsequently augmented by other Norsemen, continued to prosper for four hundred years. At the end of that period there were about two hundred villages, twelve parishes, and two monasteries. These, however, disappeared. The hostility of the Eskimos in part accounts fortheir extinction, but an encroachment of ice from the north, which encompassed the southern part of the island, is thought to have been also a factor. The fact that foreign trade with Greenland was forbidden by the mother country may account in part for the gradual disappearance of the colony. At all events, intercourse with Europe seems to have been cut off. This condition continued for upward of two centuries, and when intercourse with the mother country was again possible there was no Greenland colony. Perhaps the finding of "white" Eskimo in Victoria Land may explain this disappearance.
A group of Eskimos in south GreenlandA group of Eskimos in south GreenlandLINK TO IMAGE
Subsequently the island was again colonized, but concerningthe disappearance of the former inhabitants history is silent. The mute testimony of a few ruined buildings and relics is all that has been found to give the least shadow of information as to the final struggle of the wretched colonists. We only know that they mysteriously disappeared. But the great glacial cap is slowly receding and ages hence more ground will be laid bare.
The present inhabitants number about ten thousand, most of whom are Eskimos. They are lacking in thrift and live chiefly by hunting and fishing. Among the wild animals living here are the arctic fox, the arctic hare, the musk ox, the seal, the polar bear, the ermine, and the walrus.
The principal resources of the island are sealskins, eider-down, oil, and cryolite.
Cryolite is a mineral from which common soda is easily extracted, and also from which the light silver-like aluminum was formerly prepared. The mines near the village of Ivigtut furnish practically the world's supply of this mineral. Formerly it was carried to Philadelphia, but in recent years not much is used. The fisheries are a monopoly of Denmark, and each station is visited from one to three or four times a year.
CHAPTER XVWHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET
Perhaps there is no section of the globe about which most well-informed persons know so little as the southern part of South America. Judged by the reports of early discoverers and explorers, this region until recently has been considered a desolate stretch of snow mountains, barren plains, and extensive morasses, sparsely inhabited by a fewthousand human beings of the lowest type and worthless to civilized man.
Such a picture is but partly true. Many of the highest mountains are snow-capped throughout the year and are scored by immense glaciers which are constantly moving down their grooved sides; but there are also heavily forested slopes flanked by valleys and plains covered with rich grasses, making most excellent pasturage. The best land, comprising a large area, is now occupied as grazing grounds principally by sheep farmers.
In the early part of the sixteenth century it was rumored that a water passage traversed the southern part of South America. This rumor was proved true in 1520, when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Charles V of Spain, sailed through the strait which now bears his name. He called the passage Todos los Santos—literally, "All Saints"—but later the name was changed to commemorate the bold captain who discovered the route.
Magellan was the first not only to sail through the strait, but to cross the broad Pacific Ocean, which was so named by him on account of the quietness of its waters. Because he saw the fires built by the natives blazing on the islands along the south side of the channel, he called them Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire."
The Strait of Magellan varies from three to seventy miles in width. The scenery along its shores, low and treeless in the eastern part, elsewhere is mountainous and heavily wooded—mainly with beech. In various places lofty precipices rise abruptly from the water's edge; throughout most of its extent the shore line is rock-bound and studded with islets.
A more picturesque route, and one abounding in the grandest and most stupendous scenery in the world, is that from the Pacific by way of Smyth Channel, the entrance towhich is four hundred miles north of the entrance to Magellan Strait. By this route one follows a series of channels and reaches the strait proper near Desolation Island. On account of the dangers besetting this course, underwriters refuse to insure vessels taking it.
The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end_Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, New York_The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western endLINK TO IMAGE
It remained for a Hollander named Schouten to discover Cape Horn, in 1616, and thus find a safer way for sailing vessels going from the one great ocean to the other. Schouten named the cape "Hoorn," from his native city in Holland. Afterward the name was shortened to Horn, which is applied both to the cape and to the island from which it projects. Since the western entrance to the strait is subject to rough, tempestuous weather and strong currents, very few modern sailing vessels take the shorter course, preferring to double the cape. Though doubling the cape is the safer route, yet this passage itself is beset by dangerous storms and tempestuous seas. Fortunate is the sailing master who rounds the Horn with pleasant weather.
Some of the smaller islands of the archipelago are densely wooded and practically unexplored. Gold has been found on the beaches of several of the islands in paying quantities, and these placers have been worked successfully for several years. On the islands are found wild strawberries of great size and fine flavor, wild raspberries, gooseberries, grapes, and celery; in the spring the pastures are covered with a variety of wild flowers. A profusion of ferns is seen almost everywhere. Wild geese and swans are found on the lagoons and lakes in large numbers.
Once upon a time Patagonia, as the southern part of the continent is popularly called, was regarded as a waste; now it is recognized as a wonderfully fertile region, and is being rapidly settled. European colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous. The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth. The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and ostrich feathers.
The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders and excel in the use of a peculiar lasso called the bolas. It consists usually of three balls of stone or metal covered with rawhide and attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is indispensable. The operator, holding one of the balls, swings the others over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them go. If well aimed, the connected balls circle around the legs of the animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.
The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South American Indians, they go about wellclothed. Occasionally they kill their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and clothing is the guanaco.
Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superstitious dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded mountain slopes of the Cordillera.
FuegiansFuegiansLINK TO IMAGE
The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish. The canoe Indians, asthose in the western part are called, build boats of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet long, and in the centre a quantity of earth is carried, upon which a fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish may be obtained. At night they generally go on shore to sleep. A hole scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing that if they do not move on an evil spirit will catch them.
In the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego and on some of the other larger islands two tribes of Indians are found whose subsistence consists of sea food, guanacos, and such sheep as they can steal. These tribes are continually at enmity with the white settlers and will kill them whenever possible.
In spite of cloudy weather and cold winds, which are common a part of the year, the climate of Patagonia is milder than that of places much farther north, and the sheep require no feeding during the winter season. In the matter of sheep farms this section rivals Australia, since there is no fear of drought. The grass continues green the year around, and the sheep easily fatten upon it.
The drawbacks to successful sheep-growing are many and the business requires constant vigilance. Vultures, foxes, wild dogs, pumas, and Indians make serious inroads on the flocks. The wild dogs live in the surrounding forests and from time to time rush out in packs of from ten to thirty and attack the sheep. Notwithstanding all these troubles, however, the profits of sheep-growing are large.
Russians, Germans, French, Australians, English, andScotch, many of whom have amassed large fortunes in a few years, are engaged in this lucrative business. As in all other sheep-raising countries, the collie is an invaluable aid to the shepherds. Not only are the principal islands chiefly devoted to sheep-raising, but a considerable part of the southern mainland is also devoted to this industry. On the island of Tierra del Fuego alone there are upward of a million sheep.
Most of the land is leased from the government for a long term of years. Many of the proprietors have enclosed their holdings with wire fences, thereby lessening the expense of caring for their flocks. Some of the holdings range from twenty-five thousand to more than two million acres.
Southern Patagonia has immense numbers of guanacos, or wild llamas. These animals frequent the Andean slopes and the adjacent pampas. During the winter season they come down to the lowlands to drink in the unfrozen lakes and feed upon the herbage. During severe winters sometimes hundreds are found dead from starvation in the valleys near the frozen lakes.
Thousands of wild cattle are found on the eastern slopes of the Andes, but they are difficult to capture; they are exceedingly wary and can scent a man far off. In agility in climbing the steep, rough places they equal the goat. If one of their number is killed the whole herd deserts the locality at night. When wounded they are fierce fighters, if forced into close quarters.
Punta Arenas, or "Sandy Point," is on the north side of the Strait of Magellan and is Chilean territory. It is a new town cut out of the woods, and even yet many of the streets are diversified by the stumps of big beech trees. The place is an important coaling and provision station and, next to Honolulu, the most important ocean post-office in the world. It has a population of twelve thousand,and is the capital and centre of the great wool industry of the Territory of Magellan, which comprises a majority of the islands south of the mainland, together with the southern part of Patagonia.
A few years ago, in order to encourage the building up of Punta Arenas, the government offered a lot free to any one who would erect a building on it. Many accepted the offer, and to-day some of the lots in the business part of the town are very valuable. Although most of the buildings are constructed with regard to economy rather than beauty, yet some of the business blocks will compare favorably with those of the new cities in the United States.
Like several Australian cities, Punta Arenas was a convict colony. It was founded as such in 1843, and so remained until the European steamships began to thread the strait instead of doubling the Horn. Then it became a coaling station, a supply store, a half-way town, and an ocean post-office. All this business was previously carried on at the Falkland Islands, but the route through the strait settled the business for both places. The Falkland station was abandoned; Punta Arenas became a thriving town. A ticket-of-leave was given to each convict who consented to join the Chilean army.
The town forthwith blossomed into a typical frontier settlement—banks and gambling dens, churches and saloons, schools and bullfights. Every race of people and almost every industry is represented there. The Spanish see to it that the Sunday bullfights are correct; the French insure the proper social functions; the Germans manage the banks; and the Americans take the profits of the railways, telegraph lines, and flour-mills. As to latitude, Punta Arenas is cold and inhospitable; but for business and social affairs, it is very, very warm, especially in the matter of social affairs.
CHAPTER XVIRECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS
If only Dame Nature had distributed the rainfall of the United States a bit more evenly, land enough to feed about fifty millions of people would not have required an expenditure of half a century of time and several hundred millions of good, hard dollars. One must bear in mind, however, that if Dame Nature had done otherwise, it is just as likely that the same time and the same amount of money would have been required elsewhere for those same fifty millions of people.
The reclaimable swamp lands of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains aggregate about one hundred and twenty thousand square miles in extent—an area nearly equal to that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined. Of this, Louisiana has about fifteen thousand square miles, a tract about as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut combined, and Florida has about half her entire area in swamp land. West of the Rocky Mountains, California takes the lead, with enough swamp land to make a state of respectable size.
In the case of California, if the "forty-niners" could have waited about a thousand years they would have found the precious swamp lands all properly filled in for them and ready for use; for the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers long since have been working at the task of filling up the big hollow between the mountain ranges. But the rivers are a trifle slow, and Californians are always in a steaming hurry. So Uncle Sam's engineers are driving their reclamation schemes with railroad speed. A few years ago theselands were worth nothing; drain them and they are worth one hundred dollars per acre; improve them according to modern farming science and they are worth ten times as much.
The Everglades of FloridaThe Everglades of FloridaLINK TO IMAGE
In many instances even the quick methods of the reclamation authorities are too slow for the California farmer, and so he takes matters into his own hands. First he acquires his land; then he mortgages all his worldly possessions to surround the land with a ditch deep enough and wide enough to make a dike high enough to keep out flood waters. His land after draining is full of the stuff for which he otherwise would pay thousands and thousands of dollars. Phosphates and lime form the coverings of minute swamp life and nitrogen compounds are a part of their bodies. The polders of Holland are not richer than this swamp land;indeed, they are not so rich. One or two crops will pretty nearly extinguish the mortgage and three or four more will put the owner on "Easy Street."
In the bottom-lands of the Sacramento River is an island that for fifty years went a-begging. Then a company with a shrewd head bought it, diked it, and drained it. Now the island has immense celery beds and the largest asparagus farm in the world. The celery and canned asparagus are shipped to the produce markets of New York City.
Another great swamp area covers a large part of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. This swamp was made when the head of the Gulf of Mexico reached half-way up to St. Louis, for the delta of the Mississippi River has been travelling leisurely southward for several thousand years—so leisurely, in fact, that Iberville and Bienville opened the region to settlement fifteen hundred years or more too soon. But Uncle Sam is taking a hand here likewise, and in another fifty years a population half as large as that of New York may not only live comfortably but get rich on the reclaimed lands of this and adjacent coast swamps.
The Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia all have large areas of coast marshes—"pocosons" they call them—only a small part of which has been reclaimed. Formerly these were the property of the general government; then they were given to the States with the understanding that they were to be reclaimed. Large tracts were sold to speculators for a few cents an acre, and there you are! Few States are rich enough to handle extensive reclamation enterprises, and so the general government stepped in again and assumed the responsibility. That means that the work of reclamation will be skilfully and honestly done. Uncle Sam may play some questionable politics, but he never mixes politics and government business.
Of all the swamp lands of the United States, the regionin Florida known as the Everglades is the most interesting and the most romantic.
Ponce de Leon, an aged Spanish governor of Porto Rico, who was seeking the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, discovered—not the long-sought fountain, but a peninsula decked with such a profusion of flowers that he named the country Florida.
From that time until years after it was ceded to the United States Florida was repeatedly baptized in blood. From the first there were encounters between the Spanish and Indians in which no quarter was given on either side. Later, an exterminating warfare broke out between the French and Spanish when a Huguenot colony was massacred and not a man, woman, or child spared. In 1586 St. Augustine was burned by Sir Francis Drake, and a century later it was plundered by English buccaneers. Still later, frequent contests were waged between the English colonies and the Spanish in Florida.
Previous to the acquisition of Florida by the United States hostile Indians, together with fugitive whites and renegade negroes who had joined them, made many raids upon the settlements in Georgia, robbing and burning plantations, murdering the whites, and carrying off the slaves. Retaliation to a certain extent was meted out to the blood-thirsty savages until Spain was glad to cede the peninsula to the United States in 1819 for five million dollars. Thereby she ridded herself of her troublesome protégés. The Indian raids still continued after the acquisition, and the United States Government therefore sent troops into Florida to punish the treacherous savages, who gradually retreated southward until they reached the Everglades. There they made their final stand.
In these almost inaccessible sinuous water passages and the dense island vegetation for a long time the Indians baffledour ablest military officers. A seven years' contest followed which cost the United States fifteen hundred men and nearly twenty million dollars.
Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of FloridaGroup of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of FloridaLINK TO IMAGE
After much negotiation and no end of trouble the Indians—they were the Seminoles—ceded their lands to the United States on the promise of an annuity of twenty-five thousand dollars and suitable lands in the Indian Territory. About four thousand of the Seminoles were then removed to their new homes; a small remnant refusing to emigrate were left behind.
The name Everglades is applied to a vast swamp containing a multitude of shallow lakes studded with numerousislands. The region embraces most of the southern part of Florida. The water of the lakes, of which Lake Okechobee is the largest, varies in depth from a few inches to ten feet. The region itself has an area six times that of the State of Rhode Island, and on account of the difficulty in traversing it is but imperfectly known. Countless winding intricate water channels extend in every direction. Many of these are filled with tall sawgrass which, growing from the bottom, greatly impedes the passage even of small boats. The average elevation of the Everglades above sea level is scarcely twenty feet. The water is both clear and wholesome, but the surface is so nearly a dead level that the current is imperceptible; it can be distinguished only by noting the position of the grass.
The islands are covered with a dense growth of oak, pine, cypress, and palmetto trees, together with a jungle of luxuriant tropical vines and shrubs. They range in size from one to one hundred acres and are but slightly elevated above the surrounding waters.
About three hundred Seminole Indians inhabit the interior and live by hunting and fishing. Deer, bears, otters, panthers, wild cats, and snakes frequent the land; alligators, crocodiles, fish of various kinds, and waterfowl dwell in the water. In the western part of the Everglades is Big Cypress Swamp and in the extreme southern part Mangrove Swamp, where myriads of mosquitoes are hatched out. Extending along the eastern side of the Everglades is a long, narrow belt of dry, fertile land which is utilized for farming purposes.
A far-reaching project to reclaim the Everglades has been proposed. Unlike the Western projects, the problem is to get rid of water and not to supply it. The plans for reclamation include the construction of drainage canals and the clearing of the jungle growths. It is purposed to usethe land thus reclaimed for sugar growing. At the present time the United States is importing annually over two hundred million dollars' worth of sugar; it is estimated that by draining only a part of this vast area and planting it to sugar cane the local demands could not only be supplied but a large surplus for export would result.
The possibilities of this region, when properly drained and cleared of its superfluous vegetation, are almost beyond computation. It has a rich soil, abundant moisture, and almost tropical climate. Reclaimed land of this character is suitable for raising not only sugar cane and subtropical fruits, but a great variety of other crops. It is estimated that the cost of reclaiming the Everglades, so that the land may be made productive, need not exceed one dollar per acre.
A great impetus has been given to southern Florida by that wonderful achievement of engineering, Mr. Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. This railway stretches in a direct line along the coast from Jacksonville to the southern part of the State, and has been extended along the Florida Keys to Key West. When all arrangements are completed, the trains will be ferried across Florida Strait between Havana and Key West, and freight will be sent from points in Cuba to New York and Chicago without reloading.
The building of the Florida East Coast Railway is one of the great engineering feats of the world. In its construction from key to key thousands of tons of rock and cement were dumped into the water on which massive viaducts in fifty-foot spans have been built to carry the road-bed. These solid archways, rising from twenty to thirty feet above the water, defy tides and storm waves. This railway has become one of the chief factors in developing the resources of southern Florida and hastening the reclamation of the Everglades.
CHAPTER XVIISTRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS—NATURAL BRIDGES
Almost any unusual form in nature is apt to attract the eye and interest the beholder; and when such natural objects resemble artificial ones or bear a fanciful resemblance to animals the similarity intensifies the interest and almost always leads one to apply fanciful names to them. In wandering along a rocky shore one instinctively searches for the curious formations carved out by the unceasing action of the waves; and in journeying through rugged sections of mountain country each unusual rock formation rivets the attention at once.
Caves especially have a peculiar attraction of awe and curiosity combined. Such natural objects as Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Luray Cave in Virginia, Calaveras Cave in California, the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa are visited annually by many thousands of people. And no wonder that all mankind, from the savage to the most civilized, is charmed with natural arches spanning great chasms. No cyclopædia of natural wonders fails to give at least a brief description of the Natural Bridge of Virginia which spans a small stream that flows into the James River. So great a wonder was the structure regarded to be even in colonial times that it then claimed marked attention. Thomas Jefferson became so much interested in this natural wonder that he applied to George III for a reservation of land that should include the bridge, and in 1774 his request was granted. To accommodate distinguished strangers who might visit the bridge, Jefferson built near by a log cabin of two rooms. Concerning it he said: "The bridge will draw the attention of the world."