of men in the woods were heard.

Soon a gentleman, with two raftsmen, appeared and kindly greeted me.
They had been notified of my approach at Trader's Hill by a courier sent
from Dutton across the woods, and these men, whose knowledge of
woodcraft is wonderful, had timed my movements so correctly that they
had arrived just in time to meet me at this point. The two raftsmen
rubbed the canoe all over with their hands, and expressed delight at its
beautiful finish in their own peculiar vernacular.

"She's the dog-gonedest thing I ever seed, and jist as putty as a new
coffin!" exclaimed one.

"Indeed, she's the handsomest trick I ever did blink on," said the
second.

The two stalwart lumbermen lifted the boat as though she were but a
feather, and carried her, jumping from log to log, the whole length of
the raft. They then put her gently in the water, and added to their
farewell the cheering intelligence that "there's no more jams nor
rafts 'twixt here and the sea, and you can go clar on to New York if
you like."

Trader's Hill, on a very high bluff on the left bank, was soon passed,
when the current seemed suddenly to cease, and I felt the first tidal
effect of the sea, though many miles from the coast. The tide was
flooding. I now laid aside the paddle, and putting the light steel
outriggers in their sockets, rapidly rowed down the now broad river
until the shadows of night fell upon forest and stream, when the
comfortable residence of Mr. Lewis Davis, with his steam saw-mill, came
into sight upon Orange Bluff, on the Florida side of the river. Here a
kind welcome greeted me from host and hostess, who had dwelt twenty
years in this romantic but secluded spot. There were orange-trees forty
years old on this property, and all in fine bearing order. There was
also a fine sulphur spring near the house.

Mr. Davis stated that, during a residence of twenty years in this
charming locality, he had experienced but one attack of chills. He
considered the St. Mary's River, on account of the purity of its
waters, one of the healthiest of southern streams. The descent of this
beautiful river now became a holiday pastime. Though there were but
few signs of the existence of man, the scenery was of a cheering
character. A brick-kiln, a few saw-mills, and an abandoned
rice-plantation were passed, while the low salt-marshes, extending
into the river from the forest-covered upland, gave evidence of the
proximity to the sea. Large a