DELAWARE VALLEY OBNITHOLCKJICAL CLXTB. 31 



found in South Jersey, nor one in which the feeling of geparate- 

 ness from the ways of man can be so complete. Five miles long 

 and from one to two miles wide, this great area is a borderland, 

 half wet and half dry, between the maritime meadows and the 

 pine barrens of the mainland. It has a uniform appearance, 

 except where slightly different floras and faunas are produced 

 by abundance or scarcity of water. Waist-high it rises in the 

 depths of the swamp, while on the edges, or on the so-called 

 islands, it supplies only enough to saturate the earth to a spongy 

 condition. Innumerable streams twist and bisect each other, 

 forming a network of waterways and flowing so sluggishly as to 

 make it hardly correct to s^y they drain the swamp. In fact, 

 water actually "backs-up" from the meadows during storms 

 and unusual periods of high tide. 



As we took the main swamp road eastward we passed for a 

 half mile over a more or less dry portion. Here the character- 

 istic and most abundant trees are pines, scrub-oaks and holly. 

 These mass or cluster, and among them are scattered beeches, 

 pin oaks, small birches, and maples. The most characteristic 

 feature here, as well as throughout the whole swamp, is the 

 impenetrable quality of its undergrowth. A prickly and close- 

 set foundation of holly, sassafras, sweet gum, huckleberry, 

 hardback, and swamp maple is bound and knotted inextricably 

 by briers and the vines of smilax. The slightest detour from 

 the road means a plunge into thorns, and no one gets through 

 without blood-letting. The strongest gunning trousers will not 

 escape notice, and buckskin gloves are repeatedly pierced. 

 However tempting the prize, no one enters without counting the 

 chances. And of one, alone and lost without a compass, it may 

 be truly said, " who enters here, leaves hope behind." 



Keeping carefully to the road therefore, our guide led us on, 

 hoping that along the opposite side of the swamp on the points 

 that jut into the meadows we might find something rare. Our 

 first thrill was as unexpected and surprising as one could wish, 

 for we were proceeding rapidly, and what with clinking cHmb- 

 ers and irrepressible voices making more noise than we should. 

 A sluggish wind served but to intensify the heat and permitted 

 the mosquitoes to plan their attack with care. Each of the 



