The trip across Florida, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, is made by railroad. Rising with the birds and eating an early breakfast, a ten minutes walk takes us to the depot, which is about a mile from the hotels. There is no commotion or hustling, no noise of many hackmen nor crowding of passengers, neither any difficulty in finding a seat; a single car is sufficient to accommodate the few persons that have occasion to travel. Of the small number, probably one-half will stop at stations by the way; the principal business of the road is the transportation of freight, and were it not for the extensive business in the forwarding of merchandize, consisting of cotton, rosin, sugar, lumber, etc., on account of the steamship connections which form, together with this road, a through line from New Orleans to New York, by which much time is saved compared with the other routes, it would, doubtless, prove unprofitable to its proprietors.
The ride from the Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico absorbs nearly a day, for it will be supper time when we reach Way Key. The landscape is exceedingly monotonous, and the journey somewhat tiresome; nevertheless, it affords an opportunity for observation, and a very fair idea of the general character of the country can be obtained. There are no pretty villages with neat houses and bright garden patches to please the eye; a few shabby towns are passed through, or stopped at for a moment to discharge freight or to allow a brace of passengers to get off or on. Away from the sad looking villages, an isolated cabin or a cluster of huts occupied by tar and rosin makers are passed by. The forest scenery has neither tropical beauty nor the grandeur of the pineries of Maine, Michigan or California, which so impresses the beholder; the prevailing timber is the Pinus palustris, or pitch-pine; the trees are not above medium size and stand many paces apart; hundreds may be seen whose sides are defaced by the rough scars or notches made by the ruthless axes of the pitch gatherers, and some trees have many of these wounds. At one place there is an extensive establishment for the distillation of the spirits of turpentine, which employs several persons; at other points saw-mills may be seen. The products of the pines are the prime fountain of revenue to the inhabitants of the neighborhood for many miles along the line of the railway.
Here, as elsewhere within the territory of the United States, the pine tree and not the palm, contributes wholly, or in part, to the maintenance of large communities, and although the palms, by their fruits, furnish the chief subsistence for a large portion of the inhabitants of the torrid zone, and entire tribes of men in the valley of the Orinoco live for several months in the year on their fruits, yet it is undoubtedly true that a much greater proportion of the population of the globe are indirectly supplied with their daily food through the generous bounty of the pines than by any other of the forest tribes; yet, perhaps, the voluptuous beauty of the palms has inspired the poetic muse more frequently than the sedate bearing and sturdy merits of the noble pines; the Artocarpus incisa is no more the "tree of bread" to the naked natives of the South Sea Islands, than is the pine tree to a greater number of civilized and refined people. But each is glorious in its way!
The sallow and sickly faces of many of the people hint strongly of fever and ague. The small size of the cattle shows that the country is overstocked, or that the pasturage is limited and poor; the milk used in the so called hotels is the condensed milk from the North; the butter is imported, and the beef is stringy and dry; most of the corn used, at least in this part of the state, is brought from abroad, and the country does not produce the wheat that the people consume. Few fruit trees are seen from the car windows; an occasional orange or peach tree is therefore noticed. We are informed that this is not a fruit region, but that in the vicinity of the St. John's River, and in that part of the state, the orchards are large and numerous.
The stranger is impressed by the general flatness of the country; nothing like an embankment or an excavation upon the line of the road can be seen. The surface is never more than very slightly undulating, and is covered with sand, except in such places as are wet or swampy. After a rain every depression becomes a pool or lake, to be in time absorbed by the sand or evaporated by the sun; as the elevation of the land is but little above the sea, the process of draining the surface by the sinking of the water must be exceedingly slow. The topography may be better understood, perhaps, when we consider that South Florida is but a succession of beaches piled up by the sea, a superstructure of shore debris resting upon ancient coral reefs. This is confirmed by the outcroppings of the old reefs, that, projecting from the ground, are visible at various points by the side of the road. In addition to the accumulation of sands portions of the state have undoubtedly been, and perhaps are still being gradually elevated.
Agassiz estimates that not "less than seventy thousand years have elapsed since the coral reefs already known to exist in Florida began to grow." What the area of the state may be seven hundred centuries hence we can only conjecture. The same agencies are still in active operation. It will, probably, extend much farther in a southerly direction, and the southern part of the state will be greatly widened toward the west. Those insignificant (so far as size is considered) but persistent workers, the reef-building masons, the Astroeans, the Meandrinas and the Porites, are cooperative workers at the present time as during the centuries that have passed. Deep in the sea the foundations of future reefs are being laid, upon which the more ornamental coral-workers, the Madrepores, will attach their snow-white shrubbery, fringing the surfaces and edges with beautiful forms, an elaborate and graceful finish to otherwise substantial structures.
The few tree Palmettos or Cabbage-palms (Chamoerops palmetto) that we have already met, indicate that we are approaching the Gulf; as we move along the number increases, and numerous fine specimens are seen.
Here the road runs through wet and swampy ground, with lagoons and stagnant water upon the right and left. The sun bade us "good night" nearly an hour ago, and objects not distant are indistinct in the dusk of the twilight. Presently the train moves more slowly, and looking out we see the twinkling of lights; like a boy travelling in a lonesome place the locomotive whistles, but with the vim of a thousand fifers, and then comes to a halt. Out we get into the darkness and look around; sand is under our feet, and a scanty show of vegetation, principally coarse wiry marsh grass, is about us, and the air is chilly. With a benediction upon the inventor of overcoats, we wrap ourselves closely, and realize that a fireside would be more comfortable than the open air; so with a negro for a guide we start for a public house, to await the dawning of another day before farther spying out the pride or nakedness of the land.
Way Key is one of a group of islands known as Cedar Keys; it is of small size, irregular outline, and for the most part sandy and low, though in some places marshy and wet. Here, as at Fernandina, the railroad company have made extensive improvements, by the erection of a large freight-house, and a substantial wharf for the accomodation of steamers that touch here en route to and from New Orleans, Key West and Havana.
The town consists of a few buildings, not remarkable either for architecture or workmanship, and the hotels are a practical joke upon the traveller. From the end of the railroad wharf, the disciple of Izaak Walton can enjoy his favorite pastime by catching trout, which are plenty, and fine fat oysters abound in the neighborhood. Were it not for the fishes and oysters the fare at the taverns would be wretchedly mean.
The scenery, as viewed from the long wharf, is attractive; other islands of the group being quite near. The "old town," as it is called, is much better located, in point of elevation, than the recent one. It is built upon an island directly opposite from the principal wharf, and presents a pleasant appearance; beyond is the lighthouse, situated upon an eminence on Sea-horse Key. Sea-horses are, probably, the only horses in or about Cedar Keys, for at Way Key the sole beast of burden, at the time of our visit, was a poor cow, which, harnessed into a dray, was forced to do the hauling for the place. What a commentary upon the progressiveness and business enterprise of a community! Our regard for the sex made us indignant at beholding the degredation of the patient brute.
At the south end of Way Key there is a group of mounds of unusual size and elevation; the largest and most southerly presents an abrupt face to the beach, having been partially dug away. Its height, as seen from this point, cannot be far from twenty-five feet; it was, probably, before being disturbed, not less than thirty feet; but this, as well as others of the group was, like the larger mound near Fernandina, used for military purposes during the recent war. The aggregate thickness of the shell strata with the intercalated seams of ashes, upon the southerly side of the principal mound, and directly facing the sea, is about twenty feet, and composed principally of the valves of Oysters (Ostrea Virginica), while on the north side of the same mound the shell deposit is somewhat less in thickness, and largely composed of the valves of Scallops (Pecten dislocatus?). But it must not be understood that the above are the only species of shells found here, for numerous specimens of the mammoth Fasciolaria (F. gigantea), and others of the same family are represented. Large shells of Busycon perversum, and fragments of Quahaug valves (Mercenaria Mortoni Conrad), are quite abundant. Without a farther enumeration of the species contained in this, the largest of the Way Key mounds, we will hastily glance at others near by. Just north of the above is the second in point of size, but the shell deposit, composed of the same species, is not as thick or deep, while at the north-east is a third mound of exceedingly regular form, also composed of shells; this latter has not been materially defaced, though a house of considerable size has been erected upon its summit. Between the two largest mounds, and connecting them, is a piece of flat or slightly uneven ground, which was used apparently for burial purposes, for here can be obtained human remains undoubtedly aboriginal. During the war this island was the asylum for deserters and refugees, and the yellow fever and cholera carried off great numbers. They were buried carelessly, and the unmarked graves are scattered over the higher land of the Key.
In examining this part of the island, which is covered with various forms of shrubbery, the visitor frequently stumbles over the hidden resting-place of some poor victim of pestilential disease. A few trees may be seen here and there growing out of the sides or summits of the mounds; the latter are so crossed and defaced by the embankments, ditches and rifle-pits, that it is difficult or impossible to define their original forms and proportions. Before leaving this extensive and interesting cluster of mounds, we ascended to the highest point to obtain a view of the surrounding scenery. Immediately below, and but a few yards from the base of the elevation, a sloping shelly beach runs gradually down beneath the placid waters of the Gulf; the white sail of a boat, hardly moving in the bland and gentle breeze, and the whiter wings of the circling gulls, with islands near and distant, a cloudless sky, and a bright sunshine, combined to form a scene of quiet and dreamy beauty. Not far from the mounds is a mill, where the soft cedar is sawed into blocks of convenient size for the use of the manufacturers of lead pencils, and in the neighborhood are rude shanties, cabins and houses, that, viewed with the trees and mounds and water, furnish pretty sketches for the drawing-book.
Not many species of shells can be found upon the beach, though much of interest may be dredged in the deeper water of the channel a few hundred yards from the shore. Upon an old wreck, reached at low tide by means of a boat, a species of Murex (M. rufus) may be collected, and the very common Littorina (L. irrorata) may be gathered in quantities, sticking to the marsh grass just above the mud.
The steamer from New Orleans that is to carry us farther South having unexpectedly arrived, we were prevented from making an examination of the adjoining islands, or as thorough an investigation of the mounds as their importance demanded. Early in the afternoon we were "all aboard," and soon after the hawsers were cast loose and the steamer was under way; slowly feeling the course through a crooked and insufficient channel an hour passed away before we were in water deep enough to admit of greater speed. The water is so shallow that vessels are compelled to keep a long distance from shore, and the land being flat, but little can be seen from the deck. The mildness of the temperature, the clear sky and smooth sea, made it a delightful trip; and we shall ever remember with pleasure the down voyage from Cedar Keys to Tampa Bay.
背景和作者介绍
这篇生动的叙述描述了通过铁路穿越佛罗里达的旅程，捕捉了沿途的自然景观、当地产业和小型社区。 这篇文章可能源于 19 世纪的游记或博物学家的记述，反映了对当时环境和社会的详细观察。 作者的风格是描述性和信息性的，旨在为读者提供该地区地理、经济和文化的清晰画面。
详细解读和意义
这个故事不仅仅是一本日记，它还是一个窗口，展现了佛罗里达州在转型和发展时期的历史和生态结构。 铁路之旅象征着进步和互联互通，连接了遥远的地方并促进了商业。 然而，作者也强调了该地区面临的挑战：人口稀少、农业有限以及恶劣的自然环境。
对松树林、珊瑚礁和贝冢的详细描述揭示了对这片土地自然历史的深入了解。 提到松树的经济重要性与棕榈树的浪漫形象形成对比，显示了对自然在人类生存中的作用的务实观点。 贝冢和墓地暗示了深厚的人类历史和土著人民的存在，将过去与现在联系起来。
给学生的经验教训和见解
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观察技巧： 作者对细节的细致关注教会学生仔细观察周围环境的价值。 无论是在大自然中还是在日常生活中，注意到微小的细节都可以帮助更深入地了解世界。
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对自然的欣赏： 本文鼓励尊重自然资源和对生态平衡的认识。 学生可以了解不同的生态系统，如松树林和珊瑚礁，以及它们对人类社区的重要性。
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历史意识： 这个故事让学生得以一窥过去，邀请他们思考地方和社会如何随着时间的推移而变化。 了解历史有助于为当前事件和挑战构建背景。
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批判性思维： 作者对经济活动（如木材工业和交通运输）的反思鼓励学生思考环境、经济和社会之间的关系。
在生活和学习中应用这些经验教训
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在学校： 学生可以通过观察自己的环境并生动地记录细节来练习描述性写作，就像作者所做的那样。 他们还可以探索当地的历史和地理，将课堂知识与现实世界的地方联系起来。
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在社交场合： 故事中对理解不同社区及其生活方式的强调可以在学生中培养同情心和文化意识，帮助他们欣赏多样性。
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个人成长： 叙述中对进步和挑战的反思可以激发韧性和适应能力。 学生们了解到，虽然环境和情况可能很艰难，但人类的努力和合作可以带来改善。
培养积极的价值观和行为
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好奇心和学习： 鼓励学生对周围的世界充满好奇，提出问题并寻求课本以外的知识。
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对自然的尊重： 通过向学生传授可持续实践和保护自然栖息地的重要性来促进环境管理。
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历史尊重： 帮助学生欣赏土著人民和前几代人的遗产，培养对不同文化和历史的尊重。
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毅力： 使用故事中对小型社区在困难面前生存和努力工作的描述来教导毅力和社区支持的价值。
结论
对于学生来说，这篇叙述是一个丰富的资源，可以探索地理、历史、生态学和人类经验。 通过阅读本文，年轻的读者可以培养观察技巧、批判性思维，并更深入地欣赏自然与社会之间的相互联系。 通过反思这段旅程及其教训，鼓励学生成为自己社区中思想深刻、见多识广和负责任的个体。
