Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1890 — LIFE IN THE BIG SWAMP. [ARTICLE]

LIFE IN THE BIG SWAMP.

Weird Okefenokee Scene—Savage Saurians-Shooting Fish With Arrows: f> : . f Atlanta Journal. The prairie land, which covers a considerable portion of the Okefenokee swamp, is a very remarkable formation, and is, I am told, peculiar to this swamp. It is open land, entirely free from timber, and stretching away as far as the eye can reach in every direction. It has most of the characteristics of a huge inland sea, except the waves. Interspersed here and jthere in this huge prairie are small patches of high dry ground, of variable size and heavily timbered called cowhouses. lam unable to ascertain the propriety of this name, unless, it be that the cattle, 'deer, and other animals iseek these places for shelter and to get out of the water. The surtaee of prairies is covered with a deposit of decayed vegetation that has been accumulating for centuries, and is called jmuck. This varies in thickness from four to ten feet with water beneath, and below the water is sand. This singular formation gives to the swamp lits name of Trembling Eai th. It will [support the weight of the average man if he keeps moving onward; but if he pauses an instant he commences to sink, and may go through to his waist 6r over his hpad. At every step the .water oozes up around the feet, while the muck will tremble and quiver for yards around. There is something grand and even sublime to the visitor in the silent vastness of this prairie formation. It stretches away before the eye in every direction until only limited by the horizon, its perfect stillness only broken by the occasional bellow of some huge alligator, or the far distant scream of some unknown bird. Here and there can be seen the track left behind by some hunter, where possibly years ago he had laboriously poled his canoe along in pursuit of game, the path as distinct and fresh now as if made only yesterday. All around fish of endless species and sizes can be seen swimming and darting about, while not Infrequently the eye may fall upon some immense alligator or snake sunning himself upon the surface of the muck and water or slowly sinking out of sight as soon as he is discovered. This description conveys a slight but at best a very imperfect idea of the prairie land of this swamp. -Upon the island where we are at present encamped are living two families, with the aged father, named Cheshire. The old gentleman is nearly 80 years of age, and has spent thirty odd years of his life here in tins spot. At the time of the expedition sent through the swamp by the Constitution he acted as guide, and is full of reminiscence of that trip. He is a wonderful fisherman, and calls himself the King of the Swamp, to which position he says he was duly appointed and commissioned by Dr. Little, the State Geologist. The two sons of Mr. Cheshire have their families here. The men attempt to cultivate small crops, but spend most of their time in hunting. Their revenue is almost entirely derived from the sale of the hides of alligators, deer and bears. The quantity of these that they destroy and many of their stories of hunting adventures are almost incredible. Think of a hunter shooting down four deer with a rifle, one after another, and without moving from one spot. In several of the lakes that are thickly interspersed throughout this prairie the alligators are so numerous and fierce that they will attack a man in a boat as soon as he appears among them, and shooting them by night’ which is the way they are commonly killed, is sometimes attended with no little danger. The entire armament of the Cheshire family consists of one ten gauge, ten pound double-barrelled Remington shotgun and two Winchester rifles, one thirty-eight calibre and_one thirty-two. Also a small yellow pine bow and a few cane arrows. These latter are used in shooting fish, and I feel safe in asserting that the dexterity with which these men vise their rude bow and arrows will put to shame the average Atlanta marksman with his rifle. In passing over the prairie, one of the Cheshires will suddenly stop, poise his little bow and send his little arrow flying into the water, ordinarily into a spot where you or. I would see nothing, but the way in which that arrow will dance about for the next minute or two will convince you not only that there i 9 an object on the other end of , it, but that it is an object of some size, too. When your hunter pulls up his arrow, behold a four or six pound trout or black ba9s, centrally trans fixed, a shot that very few of our marksmen could make with a gun.