THE DIVIDING LINE. 
23 
food his cattle find there all winter, and for the rooting that supports his hogs. 
This, I own, is some convenience to his purse, for which his whole family pay 
dear in their persons, for they are devoured by mosquitoes all the summer, 
and have agues every spring and fall, which corrupt all the juices of their 
bodies, give them a cadaverous complexion, and besides a lazy, creeping habit, 
which they never get rid of. 
We ordered several men to patrol on the edge of the Dismal, both towards 
the north and towards the south, and to fire guns at proper distances. This 
they performed very punctually, but could hear nothing in return, nor gain 
any sort of intelligence. In the mean time whole flocks of women and child- 
ren flew hither to stare at us, with as much curiosity as if we had lately 
landed from Bantam or Morocco. Some borderers, too, had a great mind 
to know where the line would come out, being for the most part apprehensive 
lest their lands should be taken into Virginia. In that case they must have 
submitted to some sort of order and government ; whereas, in North Carolina, 
every one does what seems best in his own eyes. There were some good 
women that brought their children to be baptized, but brought no capons 
along with them to make the solemnity cheerful. In the mean time it was 
strange that none came to be married in such a multitude, if it had only been 
for the novelty of having their hands joined by one in holy orders. Yet so 
it was, that though our chaplain christened above a hundred, he did not 
marry so much as one couple during the whole expedition. But marriage is 
reckoned a lay contract in Carolina, as I said before, and a country justice 
can tie the fatal knot there, as fast'as an archbishop. None of our visiters 
could, however, tell us any news of the surveyors, nor indeed was it possible 
any of them should at that time, they being still laboring in the midst of the 
Dismal. It ^eems they were able to carry the link this day no further than 
one mile and sixty-one poles, and that whole distance was through a miry 
cedar bog, where the, ground trembled under their feet most frightfully. In 
many places too their passage was retarded by a great number of fallen trees, 
that lay horsing upon one another. Though many circumstances concurred 
to make this an unwholesome situation, yet the poor men had no time to be 
sick, nor can one conceive a more calamitous case than it would have been 
to be laid up in that uncomfortable quagmire. Never Were patients more 
tractable, or willing to take physic, than these honest fellows ; but it was from 
a dread of laying their bones in a bog that would soon spew them up again. 
That consideration also put them upon more caution about their lodging. 
They first covered the ground with square pieces of cypress bark, which 
now, in the spring, they could easily slip off the tree for that purpose. On 
this they spread their bedding ; but unhappily the weight and warmth of their 
bodies made the water rise up betwixt the joints of the bark, to their great 
inconvenience. Thus they lay not only moist, but also exceedingly cold, be- 
cause their fires were continually going out. For no sooner was the trash 
upon the surface burnt away, but immediately the fire was extinguished by 
the moisture of the soil, insomuch that it was great part , of the sentinel’s busi- 
ness to rekindle it again in a fresh place, every quarter of an hour. Nor 
could they indeed do their duty better, because cold was the only enemy they 
had to guard against in a miserable morass, where nothing can inhabit. 
20th. We could get no tidings yet of our brave adventurers, notwithstand- 
ing we despatched men to the likeliest stations to inquire after them. They 
were still scuffling in the mire, and could not possibly forward the lihe this 
whole day more than one mile and sixty-four chains. Every step of this day’s 
work was through a cedar bog, where the trees were somewhat smaller and 
grew more into a thicket. It was now a great misfortune to the men to find 
their provisions grow less as their labour grew greater ; they were all forced 
