These
are the people that received the name of the Seminoles, or Wanderers, which
they still retain.
Bartram gives a pleasing picture of them at the time he visited them in
their wilderness; where their distance from the abodes of the white man
gave them a transient quiet and security. "This handful of people," says
he, "possesses a vast territory, all East and the greatest part of West
Florida, which being naturally cut and divided into thousands of islets,
knolls, and eminences, by the innumerable rivers, lakes, swamps, vast
savannas, and ponds, form so many secure retreats and temporary
dwelling-places that effectually guard them from any sudden invasions or
attacks from their enemies; and being such a swampy, hommocky country,
furnishes such a plenty and variety of supplies for the nourishment of
varieties of animals that I can venture to assert that no part of the globe
so abounds with wild game, or creatures fit for the food of man.
"Thus they enjoy a superabundance of the necessaries and conveniences of
life, with the security of person and property, the two great concerns of
mankind.
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