CHAPTER XIX.....270

Cedar Keys, the terminus of the West India Transit Railway--Extortion--Dr. McIlvaine's Hotel--Fourth of July toasts, 1843--Steamers from Cedar Keys to Manatee--Early settlement of Clear Water Harbor--The unfortunate Narvaez--Inaccessibility of South Florida--Manatee--Its dwellings embowered among orange trees--Tenacity of contesting Indians--Their independence subdued by association--The cactus pear eaten by Indians--Present population--Church privileges for worship--Schools--Good physicians--Sowing before reaping--Boarding-Houses kept as sanitariums--Pantry supplies--Fine fish--An Elysium for rheumatics--No starving--The grape-culture suggested--Also wine-making--A variety of crops--Sugar-cane ratooning for six years--Old-fashioned bees in gums--This locality a fine resort for those who wish to avoid cold--The sunny-side of nature turned out in February--Oleander and orange-buds bursting their pink and white petals--The banana--Spring flowers, etc.--Zephyr breezes--The rose--"A child of summer"--Historic records--Hon. Judah P. Benjamin--Remains of the mastodon and megatherium.