"I am the sweetness of waters,
The light of moon and sun,
The perfume of earth, the splendor of fire,
I am the soul in all that lives,
Time without end am I
And the life of things to be
The spirit celestial and supreme."
-- Ancient Indian Hymn.
Water worship holds first place in the primitive religions of the world. In these beliefs it was the first of all things, the parent of all things, wherein even the gods themselves were born of water. Adoration of springs, or rather of the spirits that ruled them, prevailed everywhere among the American Indians, and a grove by a spring provided a ready-made shrine.
Of all the regions best fitted for water worship the ancient province of Ocali (earliest Indian name for middle Florida) ranks highest. Some new geographical term should have been invented to describe this expanse of lakes, rivers, sink holes, and giant springs, for it is more water than solid ground. And in the center of this aqueous land, as within a charmed circle, rises the greated of springs, whose influence on the history of the native inhabitants was as profound as it was mysterious and carefully hidden.
To the modern magicians of science many things which mystified the Indians are revealed. And so before we trace the strange spell of Silver Springs upon the Indians let us go back into the unimaginable reaches of time and see how great natural forces sharped this wonder.
