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Cedar Key? Jan 3d 68 Dear friends I was so glad to hear from you I thought a letter from you had been lost but it found
our Key at last about a month after it was written Slow wanderings which you applied to the motion of my letter may be applied
to all Southern Mails Postal arrangements are miserable. I did not tell you where to write because I could not I did not go
to places I came to them seld knew where I would be found I cordially wish you all happy N year I am glad to know that you
are all well I have been sick for two months with repeated attacks of fever bilious and intermittent. All who live here have
fever sometime Had I not been comp- elled to stop I could not have been caught. My ups and downs of health may be seen at
a glance upon this line Death line 100 80 60 Diagram drawn in here 40 Limits of health line 20 I mean to start for Cuba
tomorrow or next day I do not grow stronger here I shall be glad of the chance of studying the sea Matters here flow in a
different channel from those of Ind. The preachers do not preach ch illegible do not breathe lecturers do not come to mar
their comfort by building up that of others, nor do merchants spill each others blood all seek 100 per cent on every kind
of goods There are only two seasons on this Key warm summer warmer summer as the weather goes smoothly over the points of
union so our storms are not so loud nor so illegible . Thus our temp. of Dec. last was about 65 in shade this Key is 2 1/2
or 3 ms. in dia. is 44 ft. above the sea at the highest point It is surrounded by scores of other keys, many of them beautifully
covered by Palmettos Elders live oak trimmed united by many a flower vivid with shining evergreen foliage others consists
of just a bank of shells or sand with a few mangroves grasses encompassed with a broad rim of rushes forming a dear retirement
for gray weary seabirds especially pelicans rich in fish All of these islets are in shallow water inside the bars at low tide
some of them are united just below the house is quite a extensive tract regularly laid with farms rich favorite feeding ground
for thousands of white blue cranes a multitude of other waders, day by day they gather from the reedy islands from the woods
confident that their food ready I have watched these noble flocks of fowls with the deepest int- as they gracefully had their
daily bread upon these open banks shallows. Happy happy birds with such