1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



519 



water in the Land Company's canal tlirouojh 

 which we passed, however, was then i<ept at its 

 ordinary height, by means ol" a wooden stop-gate 

 placed across tJie month of the canal. 



The fish of the lake are of species similar to 

 those of the ponds and fresh water streams of the 

 neighboring countrj' — but ol some, the sizes are 

 much ffreater. The gar is sometimes seen above 

 five feet long. Some kinds of the fish are highly 

 valued, and dining on them is not the least enjoy- 

 ment of the pleasure parties that often make ex- 

 cursions insunnner to the lake. 



Reeds, at remote intervals, bear seeds which 

 have a considerable resemblance to wheat, and 

 which will make tolerably good bread. These 

 seeds are so seldom borne and are usually so few, 

 tiiat most persons do not know of their existence. 

 Whenevera reed brings seed, it dies the same 

 autumn. A few years ago was a general and 

 great " reed mast,"' as a full bearing of seed is 

 here called — and all the reeds conse{juently died 

 at once. The present growth is in many places 

 as thick and as beautiful as ever — varying howe- 

 ver in height in different places, as if of dillerent 

 years' sowing, ti'om 18 teet to 9 or less. But it 

 seems as if nature demands a chanire of crops in 

 this as in many other cases. I intisr this li'om 

 walking into large pieces of ground covered by a 

 former growth of reeds, of which all had died in 

 the last gieat mast season, and not a sinjjle living 

 reed had followed, or was seen on such places. 

 It is a vulgar error that the reeds bring seed once 

 only in seven j-ears. There are few more beauti- 

 ful single plants than a reed of large size — and 

 their general appearance is as pleasing when in 

 smaller size they stand so thick as to form an al- 

 most impenetrable undergrowth. 



It is known to most persons that bears still in- 

 habit the Dismal SwaiTip, though lono: ago driven 

 from every other pan of lower and mid<lle V'iriiinia. 

 But probably most have thouglit, as I did before 

 this visit, that they were so rarely met with, that 

 the killing of a single one would be a matter lor 

 great exultation, and cause of some notoriety to 

 the huntsman who was so lucky. But I now 

 learned that they were so numerous, that there 

 were but iew men who resided near the margin of 

 the swamp who had not killed one or more. A 

 young gentleman of our party, had shot several 

 dozens of these beasts. He told me that the lar- 

 gest weighed, after being skinned and guUed, 

 more than 500 pounds. They do not usually 

 weigh half as much. It is difficult to raise many 

 cattle or hogs on the adjacent farms, though the 

 swamp furnishes such abundant food ihr both, ow- 

 ing to the slaughter committed on them by the 

 bears. A bear will with ease kill a full grown 

 cow, and has strength to drag away the carcass 

 to a suitable hiding place. No dogs will hunt 

 these animals to much purpose, and therefore it is 

 not often attempted. The most numerous pack 

 will seldom even bring them to bav, and will ne- 

 ver attempt to seize on them. The beais are 

 traced and found by tlie hunters, by listening for 

 the noise of their nightly depredations in corn 

 fields, or among live stock, or Avhen breaking the 

 limbs of the trees they climb in search of acorns 

 or gum berries : or they are baited and killed by 

 traps, or heavily loaded set muskets, the latter be- 

 ing a common and successfid mode of destroying 

 them. I heard related by the gentlemen of our 



party, and by the boatmen, sundry accounts of 

 such adventures — and enough coulil easilj' be had 

 to fill a second volume of Davy Crockett. Indeed, 

 the story of one remarkable adventure which has 

 been bestowed in print on Crockett, I believe, or 

 if not, on some other western bear hunter, I found 

 had been pilfen^l fi'om the honors of an old bor- 

 derer of the Dismal Swamp: lor whether the 

 story be true or f;ds(>, (and it is fully believed here,) 

 it had been told by the hero of it lor forty years 

 belore his death. 



Some more formal testimony of the great num- 

 ber of bears in the swamp was presented at the 

 recent meeting of the Land Company, in a writ- 

 ten proposal submitted to them by an individual 

 lor getting up their oak timber. This paper sta- 

 ted as a reason for their taking such measures, 

 that the oaks were sufTijring, and many dying, un- 

 der the effects of the depredations of (he bears. 

 This statement which would otherwise have been 

 to me impossible to conceive a meaning lor, was ex- 

 plained by the account received of the habits of these 

 animals. Heavy and apparently clumsy as they 

 are, they are expert climbers, and in that manner 

 seek the gum berries and acorns, which, in their 

 season, form a fiivorite part of their food. To 

 reach the acorns on the extremities, they draw to 

 them and break off the limbs, even when ol large 

 size^and into these broken places worms of a 

 particular kind enter, or eggs are laid, as in the 

 case of the pine bug, and in time the trees are 

 killed by their borings. 



A still more ferocious animal found here is the 

 larger of two species of what are called wild cats. 

 This name is certainlj- misapplied — but my ac- 

 quaintance with this branch of natural history is 

 not sufficient to enable me to fix the kind of either 

 animal, from the descriptions given. The larger 

 is brown, with a short tail, and is about as large 

 as a middle sized or rather stout dog. The smaller 

 kind is mole-colored, and has a long tail. Pole 

 cats are also sometimes found in the borders of the 

 swamp. 



The most singular recent fact with respect to 

 beasts of prey, is the appearance here of a sol- 

 itary wolf a few years ago. As no wolf has been 

 heard ofeastof the mountains for many years, the 

 kind of this destructive animal was not suspected 

 until long after he had been committing his rava- 

 ges on the sheep about Suffolk — and more than a 

 year passed before he was at last killed. His 

 howling had often been heard by the inhabitants 

 of that town, so near did he forage — but as his 

 shelter in the swamp was perfectly secure from in- 

 trusion, and he moved out only b}- night, and as 

 no dog would pursue him, it seetned long impossi- 

 ble to destroy him. He at last, like many warlike 

 or predatory heroes, from Sampson down to Alac- 

 heath,"iell a prey to female attractions. Tired of 

 celibacy, he was seeking a male though of a difier- 

 ent race — a bitch at a hum house: and her other 

 suitors made so great an outcry over the foreign 

 intruder, that his presence was discovered, and 

 he was shot. 



Upon inquiring lor some one who had witnessed 

 and was able to describe the great fire of 1806, the 

 boatmen referred me to old Toby Fisher, who 

 was then, as he still is, and has continued to be, 

 a shinsrle-getter in the swamp. Accordingly, we 

 visited Toby's camp — and his account was readily 

 obtained. The first indication of the extent of the 



