100 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



there which are always dry, and these have often been 

 used as places of safety by runaway slaves, who have 

 lived many years in the swamp, despite all the snares 

 set for them by their masters, even if planters living 

 near-by, for they are chary of going in. So these 

 negro fugitives lived in security and plenty, building 

 themselves cabins, planting corn, raising hogs and fowls 

 which they stole from their neighbors, and naturally 

 the hunting was free where they were. In the midst 

 of this wilderness there is a great pond of fresh water, 

 said to be several miles in circumference and 2-3 

 fathoms deep. A company which under the name of 

 the Swamp Company owns the greatest part of the 

 lands adjoining the swamp and most of the swamp it- 

 self, had begun to make the bog tillable, chiefly for 

 rice-culture for which the region is especially well 

 suited. The war breaking out their enterprise came to 

 a stand (most of the negroes set at work there running 

 off or getting lost in some way), but the work would 

 have had very beneficial effects, removing in part the 

 dreadful cause of great sickness in the country round 

 about, and besides the very profitable culture of rice 

 would have opened a new branch of trade. + Great 

 numbers of cattle are raised in the surrounding 

 country, and the meat of the region is said to be 

 better than elsewhere, the cattle not pasturing on 

 dry sandy soil but feeding on sedge and reeds. Along 

 the side of the swamp where we passed, nothing in 

 comparison with the interior, our way was not smooth, 

 the roads full of mire and water through which our 

 horses pushed not without difficulty. 



To the account of this and other swamps must with- 

 out doubt be laid the numerous fevers which weaken 



