518 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



fined to the juniper trees, and these being of com- 

 paratively smidl size, the original grandeur oC the 

 forest is but little impaired by the labors of man. 

 The cypress is here the king of the Ibrest — and 

 lliis, with the gums, and all oilier trees except ju- 

 niper, are leit untouclied. The cypress grows on 

 the same kind ofland with tlie black gum — which, 

 as belbre stated, is much firmer than the juniper 

 lands. The farmers here, who have given any 

 consideration to the subject, suppose that though 

 the jumper land, if drained, would sink and soon 

 fail, thai the gum and cypress lands would be per- 

 manent. No doubt they would be more durable — 

 but the vegetable matter that will burn, will also 

 rot, if placed in circumstances fivorable to lermen- 

 tation : and soon or late, all the excess of veijela- 

 ble matter in the soil, not combined with and fixed 

 by the earths, and especially by calcareous earth, 

 must rot away, and disappear. 



We passed through sundry such changes of 

 land, and ol its vegetable cover, as ha\-e been de- 

 scribed — but still a general uniformity of appear- 

 ance prevailed, owing to the deep gloom and miry 

 surface of the surrounding swamp, the sluggish 

 and dark water of the canal, and its scarcely vary- 

 ing course. The only sign of life was seen at in- 

 tervals in a " camp" of a pair of shinijle-getters. 

 Tiieir houses, or shanties, are barely wide enough 

 for five or six men to lie in, closely packed side by 

 side — iheir heads to the back wail, and their feet 

 stretched to the o[)en front, close by a fire kept up 

 through the night. The roof is sloping, to shed 

 the rain, and where highest, not above four feet 

 from the floor. Of the shavings made in smooth- 

 ing the shingles, the thinnest make a bed for the 

 laborers, and the balance form the only dry and 

 solid foundation for their house, and their home- 

 stead, or working yard. Yet they live plentifully, 

 and are pleased with their employment — and the 

 main objection to it with their masters, (they be- 

 ing generally slaves,) and the comnmnity, is that 

 the laborers have too much leisure time, and of 

 course spend it improperly. Their heavy labors 

 for the week are generally finished in five, and 

 often in four days — and then the remainder of the 

 week is spent out of the swamp, and given to idle- 

 ness, and by many to drunkenness. All the work 

 is done by tasks : and the employers have nothing 

 to do except to pay tbv the labor executed. About 

 500 men are thus employed in the whole swamp, 

 by the Land Company, and by numerous indivi- 

 dual land owners. With all their exposure, the 

 laborers are remarkably healthy, and almost en- 

 tirely free from the autumnal fevers that so severe- 

 ly scourge all the surrounding country. It is said 

 that no case has yet occurred of a shingle-getter 

 dying of disease in the swamp — nor did my in- 

 formants know that any one had been so sick as 

 to require to be brought out. A younir while wo- 

 man lately died, whose father and his family have 

 lived fen years in the swamp — but she had just 

 returned fi'om a» visit of some length to the open 

 country outside. It is well known that the bor- 

 ders of extensive peats in Britain are healthy, and 

 in that respect are very difierent from the marshes 

 of the same regions. 



At length we came to another straight canal, 

 (the old " Wasliington Ditch,") by entering 

 which a sliixht deviation was made from our pre- 

 vious straight course. This turn obstructs tlie 

 view, and thereby adds to the pleasure of the sur- 



prise that immediately follows. But a few yards 

 more are traversed, when the boat passes, almost 

 without warning of a change, fi'om its narrow and 

 shaded channel upon the wide-spread surface of 

 the lake. The boatmen, havins exchan<xed their 

 poles for oars, rowed nearly two miles toward the 

 centre of the lake. It is encompassed to its mar- 

 gin e/ery where by a thick growth of tall trees, 

 in which the cypresses, by their greater height 

 and singularly formed summits, show most con- 

 spicuously. The general level horizon presented to 

 the eye by the surroun :ing forest, is made lower 

 and irregular in two large places on opposite 

 sides of the lake, plainly indicating the wide and 

 desolating passage of the last great fire, which 

 left nothing alive in its track, nor any thing stand- 

 ing, except some of the largest trunks of trees, 

 many of which still remain, thouijh naked and 

 scathed by fire to their summits. But so rapid is 

 the growth on this swamp, that the burnt land is 

 generally and closely covered by a young forest of 

 considerable height, and among which are junipers 

 of twelve inches through, which are already used 

 for shingle timber- 

 It was a bright and clear daj', and not a breath 

 of wind was felt before emerging fi'oni the canal. 

 But though there imperceptible, tliere was enough 

 wind to ruffle the surface of the lake. The ob- 

 server would at first suppose that the lake was in 

 a great measure secured from the eficct of wind, 

 by its inland situation, and its close surrounding 

 forest barrier. But high as is this barrier, it is low 

 in comparison to the elevation of high lands in 

 general — and the low level of all the adjacent 

 country, and the vicinity of the Atlantic, permit 

 to the winds such a sweep, that Lake Drummond 

 is remarkably subject to their efl'ects ; and the vi- 

 olence of storms, is here about as commonly exhi- 

 bited as on the sea. 



The water, though clear and transparent, is so 

 deeply colored by the extract of vegetable matter, 

 as to seem black when seen in the lake and ca- 

 nals. When taken up in a glass, it is found that 

 this deepness of color is delusive — and that it is 

 about the color of pale rum or wine. It is every 

 where through the swamp the same in quality, 

 though not always as deeply tinged. It is, by 

 some, considered medicinal, and is preferred for 

 drinking by all the laborers and others most ac- 

 customed to its peculiar, and at first, disagreeable 

 flavor, to any other water whatever. Some 

 twenty-five years ago, invalids, and especially 

 those suflerinjji; under pulmonary aftections, were 

 in the habit of visiting the swamp in the summer, 

 to drink the swamp water for improvement of 

 health ; and they often remained for weeks together 

 at a tavern on the Dismal Swamp Canal, beyond 

 the opposite side of the lake. 



The water in the lake, is now about 18 inches 

 below the usual level, and of course we found the 

 swamp so much the drier, and more accessible, 

 near the borders of the lake. But notwithstanding 

 this cause fir the unusual dryness of the surface 

 and notwithstanding also, the thick carpet of re- 

 cently liillen leaves and other vegetable matter on 

 the surface, sustaining the footsteps, I was contin- 

 ually reminded, by the yielding of the miry earth 

 below, of the unsoundness of the support. 

 Through the greater part of the year, the basin of 

 the lake is full to the brim, and overfiowing at 

 many places into the surrounding swamp. The 



