Petals Plucked from Sunny ClimesBrooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
History
Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes
Brooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Florida -- Description and travel; Florida -- History
Opposite St. Augustine is situated St. Anastasia Island, which was named
for a celebrated saint in the Roman calendar of favorites. On this
island is found the coquina, or shell-rock, from which the fort and many
of the houses were built; here also roam the fleet-footed deer,
catamount, and wild hog. At low tide the ponies and marsh-cows resort
here to feed upon the long grass which grows so luxuriantly at all
seasons. The cattle, while in pursuit of it, frequently become bogged,
and die; but the horses, when reared here, are not so unfortunate, being
lighter and more nimble-footed; when they get beyond their depth, and
are sinking, they throw themselves on their sides, and commence
floundering and rolling until they find a surface sufficiently solid to
sustain their weight, when they rise and quietly resume eating, as
though nothing had occurred. Like all other places in this vicinity, it
has historic records. It was here, in 1740, General Oglethorpe erected a
battery of five pieces, four of which were eighteen-pounders. When he
had made the preparations necessary for an attack on St. Augustine, he
gave the Spanish Governor an invitation to surrender. General Oglethorpe
received the reply that he would "be glad to shake hands with him in the
castle."
The new light-house stands on this island--being constructed because the
old one was found to be undermining by the action of the waves. The old
coquina light-house was designed to subserve the double purpose of a
fortress and a beacon, having strong walls and loop-holes, with a cannon
on its summit, to be fired as a signal on the approach of a vessel. At
night a light-wood fire was kept burning, which could be seen by vessels
at sea for several miles.
On the coast below St. Augustine, surrounded by the briny waves, some
distance from shore, bursts up a fresh-water spring, from which ships
can obtain their supplies before going to sea. This remarkable fountain
of fresh water is produced from one of those subterranean currents so
frequent throughout the State, north of the Everglades, coming to the
surface only when they reach a point considerably below the level of
their sources, sometimes forming lakes, and at others channeling their
way to the sea.
The coral reefs, so abundant in Florida, are the
[Illustration: FLORIDA REEF CORAL.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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