20 'IHC HISTORY OF 



In the mean time the three commissioners returned out of the Dismal the 

 same way they M'ent in, and, having joined their brethren, proceeded that 

 night as far as Mr. Wilson's. This worthy person lives within sight of the 

 Dismal, in the skirts whereof his stocks range and maintain themselves all 

 the winter, and yet he knew as little of it as he did of Teri-a Australis Incog- 

 nita. He told us a Canterbury tale of a North Briton, whose curiosity spm^- 

 red him a long way into this great desert, as he called it, near tv/enty years 

 ago, but he having no compass, nor seeing the sun for several days together, 

 wandered about till he was almost famished ; btit at last he bethought himself 

 of a secret his countrymen make use of to pilot themselves in a dark day. 

 He took a fat louse out of his collar, and exposed it to the open day on a 

 piece of white paper, which lie brought along with him for his journal. The 

 poor insect, having no eye-lids, turned himself about till he found the darkest 

 part of the heavens, and so made the best of his way towards the north. 

 By this direction he steered himself safe out, and gave such a frightful ac- 

 count of the monsters he saw, and the distresses he underwent, that no mor- 

 tal since has been hardy enough to go upon the like dangerous discovery. 



1.5th. The surveyors pursued their work with all diligence, but still found 

 the soil of the Dismal so spongy that the water oozed up into every footstep 

 they took. To their sorrow, too, they found the reeds and briers more firmly 

 interwoven than they did the day before. But the greatest grievance was 

 from large cypresses, which the wind had blown down and heaped upon one 

 another. On the limbs of most of them grew sharp snags, pointing every 

 way like so many pikes, that required much pains and caution to avoid. 

 These trees being evergreens, and shooting their large tops very high, are 

 easily overset by every gust of wind, because there is no firm earth to steady 

 their roots. Thus many of them were laid prostrate, to the great encum- 

 brance of the way. Such variety of difficulties made the business go on 

 lieavily, insomuch that, from morning till night, the line could advance no far- 

 ther than one mile and thirty-one poles. Never was rum, that cordial of life, 

 found more necessary than it was in this dirty place. It did not only recruit 

 the people's spirits, now almost jaded with fatigue, but served to correct the 

 badness of the water, and at the same time to resist the malignity of the air. 

 Whenever the men wanted to drink, which was very often, they had nothing 

 more to do but to make a hole, and the water bubbled up in a moment. But 

 it was far from being either clear or well tasted, and had besides a physical 

 effect, from the tincture it received from the roots of the shrubs and trees 

 that grew in the neighbourhood. 



While the surveyors were thus painfully employed, the commissioners dis- 

 charged the long score they had with Mr. Wilson, for the men and horses 

 which had been quartered upon him during our expedition to Coratuck. 

 From thence we marched in good order along the east side of the Dismal, 

 and passed the long bridge that lies over the south branch of Elizabeth river. 

 At the end of 18 miles we reached Timothy Ivy's plantation, where we pitch- 

 ed our tent for the first time, and were furnished with every thing the place 

 afforded. We perceived the happy effects of industry in this family, in which 

 every one looked tidy and clean, and carried in their countenances the cheer- 

 ful marks of plenty. We saw no drones there, which are but too common, 

 alas, in that part of the world. Though, in truth, the distemper of laziness 

 seizes the men oftener much than the women. These last spin, weave and 

 knit, all with their own hands, while their husbands, depending on the bounty of 

 the climate, are slothful in every thing but getting of children, and in 

 that only instance make thpmselves useful members of an infant colony. 



There is but little wool in that province, though cotton grows very kindly, 

 and. so far south, is seldom nipped by the frost. The good women mix this 



