20 
THE HISTORY OF 
In the mean time the three commissioners returned out of the Dismal tli© 
■same way they w^eiit in, and, having joined their brethren, proceeded that 
night as far as Mr. Wilson’s. This worthy person lives within sight of the 
Dismal, in the skirts whereof his stocks range and maintain themselves all 
the winter, and yet he knew as little of it as he did of Terra Australis Incog- 
nita. He told us a Canterbury tale of a North Briton, whose curiosity spur- 
red him a long way into this great desert, as he called it, near twenty years 
ago, but he having no compass, nor seeing the sun for several days together, 
wmndered about till he Vv^as almost famished ; but at last he bethought himself 
of a secret his countrymen make use of to pilot themselves in a dark day. 
He took a fat louse out of his collar, and (?xposed it to the open day on a 
piece of white paper, which he brought along with him for his journal. The 
poor insect, having-no eye-lids, turned himself about till he found the darkest 
part of the heavens, and so made the best of his way towards the north. 
By this direction he steered himself safe out, and gave such a frightful ac- 
count of the monsters he saw, and the distres^s he underwent, that no mor- 
tal since has been hardy enough to go upon the like dangerous discovery. 
15th. The surveyors pursued their work with all diligence, but still found 
'the soil of the Dismal so spongy that the water oozed up into every footstep 
they took. To their sorrow, too, they found the reeds and briers more firmly 
interwoven than they did the day before. But the greatest grievance was 
from large cypresses, which the wind had blown down and heaped upon one 
another. On the limbs of most of them grew sharp snags, pointing every 
way like so many pikes, that required much pains and. caution to avoid. 
These trees being evergreens, and shooting their large tops very high, are 
easily overset by every gust of wind, because there is no firm earth to steady 
their roots. Thus many of them were laid prostrate, to the great encum- 
brance of the way. Such variety of difficulties made the business go on 
heavily, insomuch that, from morning till night, the line could advance no far- 
ther than one mile and thirty-one poles. Never was rum, that cordial of life, 
'found more necessary than it wms in this dirty place. It did not only recruit 
the people’s spirits, now almost jaded with fatigue, but served to correct the 
badness of the water, and at the same time to resist the malignity of the air. 
Whenever the men wanted to drink, which was very often, they had nothing 
more to do but to make a hole, and the water bubbled up in a moment. But 
it was far from being either clear or well tasted, and had besides a physical 
‘effect, from the tincture it received from the roots of the shrubs and trees 
that grew in the neighbourhood. 
While the surveyors were thus painfully employed, the commissioners dis- 
'charged the long score they had with Mr. Wilson, for the men and horses 
which had been quartered upon him during our expedition to Coratuck. 
From thence we marched in good order along the east side of the Dismal, 
:and passed the long bridge that lies over the south branch of Elizabeth river. 
At the end of 18 miles we reached Timothy Ivy’s plantation, where we pitch- 
^ed our tent for the first time, and were furnished with every thing the ^lace 
afforded. We perceived the happy effects of industry in this family, in which 
'every one looked tidy and clean, and carried in their countenances the cheer- 
ful marks of plenty. We saw no drones there, which are but too common, 
alas, hi that part of the world. Though, in truth, the distemper of laziness 
seizes the men oftener much than the women. These last spin, weave and 
knit, all with their own hands, while their husbands, depending on the bounty of 
the climate, are slothful in every thing but getting of children, and in 
that only instance make themselves useful members of an infant colony. 
There is but little wool in that province, though cotton grows very kindly, 
and, so far south, is seldom nipped by the frost. The good women mix this 
