The original mansion was burnt and totally destroyed during the early part of the civil war, but the grand old ruin still stands firm as a rock with its battlemented walls and tumbling towers; while, instead of crumbling away, the coquina walls seem absolutely to have been so hardened by the action of the fire as to be almost time-defying. This property has passed from the hands of the Green family, and I am told that the present owner talks of pulling down the ruin and building a modern mansion on the site thereof. Social opinion lifts its voice loudly against such an act of vandalism, but a man has a right to do as he likes with his own; and reverence for the past and love of the picturesque must be inborn, it cannot be ingrafted on a commonplace mind, even though its owner be a millionaire. The visit of a single day to Dungeness is nothing, you will want to go again and again, and you could occupy your time in no better way. The sail thither across the smooth waters of the Sound, with the green land lying around it, is delightful, and once ashore you feel as though you would never tire of wandering through this enchanted land, which is teeming with unwritten poetry and romance. There are quaint gardens aglow with brilliant flowers, fruit trees and apple orchards, labyrinthine walks through glorious avenues and groves of live oaks and magnolias--a luxuriant growth of tropical green is everywhere. Now with entranced eyes you gaze on some magnificent view of land and water; passing onward through tangled vines and scenes of Arcadian loveliness you come upon a glorious beach, with the sea waves softly rolling to and fro as though they longed to leap up and meander over the forbidden land. There is plenty of work here for the fishing-rod and gun, but I fancy that the most inveterate lover of either would be disposed to lay aside fishing-rod and gun and lounge in dreamy idleness through this sweet, romantic land, and at the day’s end would be loth to leave it. At present there are no hotels in Dungeness; people take their luncheon baskets and pic-nic on the ground, but no doubt when the spirit of improvement has swept the ruin away and smoothed the picturesque wrinkles from the face of the dear old island, “accommodation for tourists” will be speedily prepared; the demand creates the supply. Although there is but one strip of railway leading to Jacksonville, and that runs through low-lying swampy land, yet one of the most important lines in Florida, the “Atlantic Gulf and West India Transit Railway,” starts from Fernandina and runs directly across the south-west part of the state to Cedar Keys. The Mallory line of steamers also call at Fernandina on their way to and from Charlestown and Savannah.