THE SEABOARD REGION. 



29 



Blount and the other streams of the county, but the supply is 

 rapidly being exhausted. The loblolly pine, which had an original 

 area of over 100,000 acres, has been largely removed except in the 

 north-eastern section. Much of the best oak in the county has been 

 converted into staves for the West Indies trade. 



The Pamlico peninsula, consisting of the counties of Hyde, 

 Dare, Tyrrell and Washington, is largely swamp, having over 

 1,000,000 acres of swamp in it. The uplands consist of narrow 

 strips surrounding the swamp and land which has been drained 

 around lakes Phelps, Pungo and Mattamuskeet. Around the east- 

 ern edge of the swamp and enclosing the sound is a narrow strip 

 of treeless sand dunes. Much of the soil of the swamp, especially 

 in Dare, Hyde and Tyrrell, is peaty and covered with a growth of 

 white cedar and bays. There is estimated to be about 40,000 acres 

 of white cedar now in the swamp. The cypress acreage is not near 

 so large as formerly, but there is still a^large amount standing. 

 The largest bodies lie in Tyrrell and Washington counties. The 

 cypress lands, too, are the most fertile, and have to a large extent 

 been drained and put under cultivation. Along the outer edges 

 of the swamps are oak fiats, which in Hyde are very extensive. 



The northern portions of Dare, Tyrrell and Washington, border- 

 ing on the sound, have a growth largeh^ of loblolly pine w4th some 

 oak lowlands. The standing pine has been removed from over 

 half of this area, which is about 100,000 acres. In western Dare 

 there are also extensive tracts of pine lands which extend into 

 Beaufort count}'. Much of the swamp in Washington and Tyrrell 

 counties is thinly timbered with the savanna pine. There is a 

 great deal of soft maple and yellow poplar scattered through the 

 swamp, and in places on the most fertile soils are considerable 

 quantities of hickory, both the shag-bark and white-heart hickory. 

 Lumbering has been one of the leading industries of these coun- 

 ties for a great many years, the numerous canals and streams which 

 penetrate the region affording great facilities for removing timber. 



The counties north of Albemarle sound are so similar in the 

 character of their forests and soil, and are so closely connected with 

 each other, that they can best be described as one body. Five 

 counties occupy this territory, Choivcm, Perquimans, Pasquotank, 



