Paddling under Palmettos — page 163: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

156 Paddling Under Palmettos. “T have heard it said that long, long ago the St. Johns River was like the Indian River is to-day—a mere lagoon separated from the ocean by a strip of land, and with an inlet where Mayport now stands.” “For one I have never seen the theory disputed or proved untrue. These things are singular, and yet probably correct. The peninsula along the Indian River was once a series of reefs, which gradually filled in and formed land. Some time that will prob- ably happen to those reefs lying a mile or so off the shore, and a second lagoon be formed. ‘That will not occur in our day, however,” laughed Dick. ‘The springs here are of immense size. Isn’t it strange where they come from in a land where there are no highlands?” said Archie. “Yes, and some of the largest within a few miles of the coast, inland, are hardly above tidewater. They could float a man-of-war on some of these springs. It has puzzled me to tell where the duece the limpid water comes from.” “Oh, that’s plain enough,” said Archie, readily. “There can be but one explanation. The water comes from the nearest mountain range, probably away up in Georgia.” EMMI COS (E(0)