breezes laden with the suffocating heat from an African desert. From whatever quarter they come they breathe health and vigor upon its denizens. The peculiarity of its climate is due to a natural cause. With the Atlantic on the one side and the Gulf on the other, there is no spot within its entire boundaries that is not fanned by the Gulf or sea breezes. Coming as these breezes do from the Atlantic and Gulf respectively, and laden as they must be with moisture, the entire temperature of the State is necessarily affected. During the summer months, when the temperature at St. Louis, Philadelphia, and other large cities reaches 100 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, here it seldom reaches higher than 95, a fact that was conclusively established the past summer, when the thermometer reached 102 degrees at St. Louis, and so many were stricken down by the heat. Further, there has never been a case of sunstroke, or of that terrible malady so peculiar to the hot months, hydrophobia.

The same cause that operates to mitigate the heat of the summer, also contributes to lessen the severity of the cold in winter, and prevents those frequent and sudden changes of temperature that are so trying to the feeble invalid; for the same gentle zephyrs that bring cooling moisture during the summer months, moderate the cold that would, to a certain extent, prevail; for its mild winters are not entirely owing to its southern latitude. The temperature even in winter is higher and more equable than in other localities of the same latitude. This is likewise owing to its peninsular position.

Its contiguity to the Atlantic and Gulf, with its lakes, ponds and rivers, is also a great protection to its semi-tropical fruits, which would often be killed but for the vapor wafted from the Gulf and the ocean, and that rises from these lakes, ponds and streams. Having neither the dreaded northers of Texas during winter, nor the long dry

seasons of California during summer, this "Land of Flowers" can boast of a more equable clime than any other State in the Union. Having a most congenial climate, it has consequently a low rate of mortality.

To such a degree of note has this "Land of Flowers' reached, that the influx of invalids from the North is daily increasing, and every steamer carries many fellow-passengers, whose hollow cheeks and sallow complexions only too well indicate their destination. Enjoying a reputation for the cure of pulmonary complaints, similar to the European belief in the climate of Madeira, it has become a very Mecca to invalid tourists.

The travellers to the peninsula are not all invalids, however. Many go there lured by the attractions of its game; while others, inclined to luxuriate in the pleasures afforded by beautiful scenery and the study of Nature, find it a most attractive field. Hitherto most American sportsmen and hunters, as well as the Nimrods of Great Britain, have taken their trips to the Great West, attracted in that direction by the buffalo and the grizzly. But, leaving out these two quadrupeds,

we will venture to say the hunter will find as much, if not more, sport in Florida, with an equal, or even greater, variety of animals for his "bag." And if he have the proclivities of a hunter-naturalist, he will find within its limits, with its grand tropical vegetation, a feast spread before him the like of which he may seek for in vain on the prairies.

The tourist has the choice of two routes from the North to either of the prominent points in Florida. He who wishes to enter it from the Atlantic side, may take his choice of land or water travel. If he prefers the land route, he can go by rail through Virginia, across the Carolinas and Georgia, entering the peninsula at its northern extremity. This, however, is a somewhat circuitous route, partially due to the geological character of the Georgia coast, which is intersected by creeks and swamps, unfavorable to thick settlement, and forcing the railway traffic far inland. Besides, owing to the condition of many of these southern roads since the war, a journey by rail is not always attended with that degree of comfort and punctuality in time as

Charleston or Savannah semi-weekly. Then from either of the last mentioned places one may reship in a smaller craft, although a steamer, which will carry them into the St. John's River, and up this stream over a hundred and fifty miles into the very heart of the peninsula.

The many delightful ocean, beach and bay views, and the interesting and attractive places of note that dot the entire Atlantic coast, including the line of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, combine to make the water route both pleasant and attractive. It is not our intention, however, to describe, much less refer to, every point of particular interest that may present itself to the tourist taking a sea voyage to Florida. This has

usually rage along this point of the coast at certain seasons of the year. Once beyond and the dangers of the sea are mastered, and plain sailing is before us.

The first and most important point of any interest is the city and harbor of Charleston. It is the largest city in South Carolina, and is situated on a tongue of land between the rivers Ashley and Cooper, which unite immediately below the town and form a spacious harbor, communicating with the ocean at Sullivan's Island, seven miles below. The harbor is defended by Forts Pinckney and Johnson, each on an island, the former two and the latter four miles below the city, and also by Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island.