1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



699 



pearance, (though a continually chaDginy; appear- 

 ance,) of a little narroiv lake. Yet the water is 

 deep enough throughoutio floai a frigate. Though 

 as black as its name correctly |)urporlc-, the rivi^r 

 was clear of all iiiuddiness. The siill and dark 

 waters margined and over-hung by the thick ibr- 

 est growth of the swamps, seemed to belong to the 

 most silent and gloomy ."^oiitude of nature ; and 

 the contrast was even unpleasant which was pre- 

 sented by the introducing of a thing so noisy and 

 so highly arlificial as a steamer in rapid progress. 

 Tlie entu'e space between the high-lands is a 

 low swamp, elevated but a lew inches above the 

 ordinary lieight of the river, and of course always 

 wet and miry. The river continually changes 

 from one side of the highland to the .other ; and 

 therefore it alwaj's has swamp land on one side, 

 and generally high land on the other. The char- 

 acter of the swamp was conjectured merely by 

 what was seen Ir-om the vessel ; but from its little 

 elevation above ordinary or low water, still more 

 than from its being covered by every fresh, I con- 

 sider it as both irreclaimable and worthless. 



Though the leaves had mostly fiillen, there were 

 still enough of many kinds of trees and shrubs 

 clothed in their brilliant and varied autumnal tints, 

 to show how much more beautillil this river must 

 be at an earlier season ; in May and June espe- 

 cially, when the abundant woodbine and other 

 vines are in blossom, and the dense forest has ita 

 richest verdure. 



The margin of the river on the swamp side is 

 throughout a dike formed by nature, but so regu- 

 lar as to appear like an ancient construction of art. 

 It is generally above four feet high, and wide 

 enough for a road. Indeed a part of it, of nearly 

 a nnle in lengih, in the lower part of Southampton 

 county, in location happens to suit, and is used as 

 a public road. This natural embankment is ob- 

 viously the result of the deposite of sediment by 

 the overffowing water, and which liere, as on most 

 other streams drops the heaviest and most abun- 

 dant portion quickest, and of course nearest to the 

 stream. But the wonder here is, that this opera- 

 tion should have been so regular — and by a stream 

 which very seldom has suspended in its water any 

 perceptible earthy matter, and never any of coarse 

 or sandy kind as this is. When this ridge was de- 

 posited, the character of the stream must have 

 been very different flom what it is now. 



There is but little change of appearance in thp 

 Blackvvater, until it loses its name by junction with 

 the Nottoway, at the North Carolina line. The 

 Meherrin soon after joins also, and the united wa- 

 ters are known as the Chowan. The swamps, 

 which had been more and more taking the place 

 of the high-land margin, were now generally 

 stretched along both sides. And the river rapidly 

 increases in width, until, before joining Albemarle 

 Sound, the Chowan is six miles in width. 



All the former inlets (as they are called) of the 

 ocean, or rather outlets of the rivers and of Albe- 

 marle Sound, being now completely shut up by the 

 sand, and the pent-up floods having to seek their 

 difficult passage as fiir south as Ocracock inlet, the 

 Jevel of the waters has been raised above their 

 former limit. On account of the same separation 

 from the ocean, there is no regular, and scarcely 

 any perceptible tide in the sound, and its water 

 which formerly was salt, is now fresh. There are 

 no better waters in the world tor the navigation of 



vessels of the largest size than the Albemarle 

 Sound and the rivers vvhicii flow into it. Yet ves- 

 sels of no more than five feel draught can now be 

 used on these magnificent waters, because no 

 greater depth can be carried, and that through a 

 long and dangerous passage, to the ocean. The 

 best outlet to a market is through the Dismal 

 Swamp canal, notwiilislanding its deficiency of 

 de|)th and width, and the cost of tolls. One of 

 the ntost magnificent, and at the same time one of 

 the most useliil of public improvements, would be 

 to increase this canal to such size ae to admit the 

 passage of shi|)s. Then the great rivers of North 

 Carolina could be put to full use ; and at the same 

 tmie the passage of ships to the ocean would be 

 made as cheap, and far more sale and sure, than 

 if a ship channel could be opened through the wall 

 of shifting sand which binds the coast. 



Albemarle Sound, though crossed at the upper 

 and most contracted part, and seen on my passage 

 only by bright moonlight, still aj)peared a magnifi- 

 cpnt sheet of water. Our course to Plymouth was 

 up one of the seveial mouths of the Roanoke, 

 with swamps on both sides siill, and more extend- 

 ed and impenetrable than any passed before. 

 These different f)assages of the Roanoke form 

 several large islands, which are all of low swamp, 

 except small knolls of firm ground which rise a 

 little above the level of ibe adjoining swamp. 

 Oneol' these islands. Guard Island, in the interior 

 is a jumper svvamp, and has bears and rattlesnakes 

 among its inhabitants. 



No. 11. 



Margin qflhe great swamp. State of agriculture. 



Plymouth, N'. C. Nov. 20tk. 



Yesterday was spent in viewing some of the 

 farms of this neighborhood, embracing some of 

 the richest land in the world, and some, of the 

 poorest and ilie worst managed. For my guidance, 

 and for the facilities and information without whicli 

 the observttiions of a stranger would have been 

 very illy directed, [ was indebted to the kind at- 

 tention of Dr. Armistead, whose farm, two miles 

 from Plymouth, was the most closely examined, 

 though a slighter view was taken of various other 

 properties, within a Cew ndles distance. 



Four-fifihs of this county, Washington, and 

 perhaps as much of the adjacent counties of Tyr- 

 rel, Hyde, and Beaufort — all the exteijsive penin- 

 sula, indeed, formed by Altiemarle and Pandico 

 sounds — is one immense swamp. This whole 

 peninsula, is about 60 miles long, by 40 wide. 

 The part which is not swamp (estimated as one- 

 filih of the whole,) is composed of the narrow 

 knolls of firm soil which are scattered tluoughout 

 — islands of sand,, or of day, in a sea of black 

 mire. 



I was prepared by my former view of the Dis- 

 mal Swamp in Virginia, to find this land similar in 

 character, and fully as much of purelj' vegetable 

 formation as the fbimer. But such is not the fact. 

 I saw one juniper swamp oidy ; and tiiough its 

 under-growih was so thick that I could not pene- 

 trate it far enough for exaniination, no doubt its 

 soil is of the same purely vegetable formation as 

 the juniper lands in Virginia. But with this ex- 

 ception, all the swamp land seen, has been of what 

 is called " cypress and gum swamp ;" and which, 



