FLORIDA IS BOTH THE nation's oldest and newest frontier. From the moment Ponce de Leon stepped ashore in 1513 to the moment of the most recent space launch, exploiters have meddled with the state, sometimes to its glory and sometimes to its shame. The people of Florida are of necessity adaptable up-and-comers, used to coping with change, but in recent years the pace of change has increased so much that in a few years, those who remember Florida in its numerous forms since the turn of the century will be gone, leaving little more than dry history and some views on vintage post cards. There will remain names, dates, and images aplenty, but how will we know anything of the human dimension of Florida's diverse population, as the state begins its sweeping metamorphosis? Speaking of Florida is an attempt to conserve a portion of something that cannot be made into a state park or put on the National Register of Historic Places: the personality of a people. Change is nothing new in Florida. Its modern history began with the greatest and, in the minds of many, the worst change of all: the coming of the Europeans. Little is known of the Native American tribes in Florida at the moment Ponce de Leon stepped ashore. He re-