Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — THE DISMAL SWAMP. [ARTICLE]

THE DISMAL SWAMP.

Queer Things Found in That Dismal Region. “I have just returned from a visit to the Dismal Swamp,” said Dr. A. K. Fisher, ornithologist of the Department of Agriculture, to a Washington Star writer. “It is a strange region, full of oddities that are not to be found elsewhere. The purpose of my expedition was to investigate the fauna of the locality, and of rare mammals and birds I secured quite anundber. Snakes are abundant and are alleged by the natives to be venomous, but all that I saw were harmless. When I picked up a goodsized one from a log and held him by the neck, the negro who was paddling for me shuddered sp that he nearly upset the boat. “I found about fifty species of birds breeding in the swamp. One of them was Swainson’s warbler, which is very rare. I trapped several species of small mice, rice mice, field mice, golden mice, and lemming mice. The lemming mouse is hard to catch, because it will not take any sort of bait; the only way to capture it is to set a trap in its runway. I set my traps in dry places out of water. Among other things I got two rare shrews. “There are plenty of cattle in the swamp—small, dark, and very wild. They are the progeny of animals that have strayed from domesticated herds. Hunters stalk and shoot them like deer. Bears are numerous. In the autumn they feed greedily on the fruit of the sour gum. Wildcats, opossums, and raccoons are not scarce, while squirrels are remarkably abundant. The squirrels have discovered an easy way to get a living, by going along the shores of Lake Drummond and picking up the nuts and berries which have fallen into the water and drifted in windrows. They trot along the logs and fish them out with their paws. Deer are commom, but hard to get. In the fall hunters run them into the lake and catch them with dogs. “There is fine fishing in Lake Drummond, which contains plenty of perch, black bass, two kinds of pickerel, three species of sunfish, and other panfish. There is no dry ground in the swamp, and one sinks at every step to his knees in mud. The cane which forms brakes all through the South is abundant. Together with a varied undergrowth, it is tangled with vines that run up into the trees, so that half a mile an hour is a good rate of progress. One must carry a knife to cut the vines, walking being further impeded by the cat-briar, whose thorns catch in the clothing and hold on like hooks.

“The boats used in the Dismal Swamp are all dug-outs, made from cypress logs, twelve feet long and very narrow, To shape such a craft properly is a nice piece of work. The novice who steps into one of these boats is apt to go out on the other side, but the native stands up and paddles with security. The water is darker than amber and excellent to drink; it is said to be a sure cure for malaria. There is no malarial disease in the swamp. The swamp is full of magnolias, from the size of bushes to trees sixty feet high, When I was there they were full of flowers. The cypress trees are cut for shingles. The best trees for the purpose are those which fell from twenty-five to fifty years ago, and are now covered with moss. The negroes wade in and cut off the moss and rotten bark. Then they cut up the log into shingles on the spot. The next best tree is one that is newly fallen, and the third quality is the tree that has to be felled. “The Dismal Swamp is the most northern of the great morass swamps. Lake Drummond, in the center of it, is four miles long and of an oval shape. There is a very odd fact about the Jericho Ditch, which extends for a distance of eleven miles from the Nansemond River to the lake. From the middle point of the ditch the water runs both ways; there is a current toward Lake Drummond and another current in the opposite direction toward the Nansemond River.”