Star of the Kanawha Valley. [volume] (Buffalo, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1856, 1856-02-06

infer from what have said.
am, one of the Committee.
q Your obed lent servant, Il
JOHN 8. SWAMI. II
/ From the Richomnd Enquirer. II
The Wonders 81 the East and Of the West.
Familiarity breeds contempt, or at
least Indifference. quite as much with
theenlightened Virginian, as with the
American Indian, the rustic Italian,
or the wandering Arab, The sensir
bilities Of the traveller are shocked at
the nonchalant Indifference Of his
Arab guide, who conduct him to the
Pyramids, or leads him through the
ruins Of Thebet, or threads for him
the labyrintlls Of Egypt. He feels
contempt for this same impassive, un-
.admiring Arab, as he grazes his herds
amidst the architectural relics Of Mn
even, caring as little for, them and
thinking as. little for them as Of the
sands of the desert. Coming nearer
home, he finds the Greek and Italian
peasantry az little curious Of the
thousand relics of a superior art that
surround them, as the Arab of the
East. They have never learned to
admire, what to them has eyer been
familiar. But, perhaps this traveller
is Virginian, who has1eft unexplor-
ed and unobserved at home, greater
wonders than he has met with abroad.
As far as Nature surpasses Art, as far
as the works ct God excel the works
Of man. SO far does the New. World
transcend the Old. The undeyelopel
Usefulness of the wonders of the for
>meri addresses itself to the heart Of
the philanthropist, quite as much as
their grandeur, sublimity and variety,
excite The imagination Of the poet. 4
III alatc visit to Norfolk. we (iaded
with the drpdgery of editorial life.)
found our torpid imagination unex-
.pectelly and agreeably excited by the
wonders of the oyster banks and the
fish mafket-things which, at first
view, seem least4o all calculated to
inspire poetic reflection, But there
is poetry and philosophy in every
thing, or at least in the associations
which they conjure mp. I'VE saw be-
tween Old Point and Norfolk and be-
tween Norfolk and Gosport, hundreds
of little boats fishing for OYSTERS
And there they have fished forNhunz
dreds of years, anil there they will
reontinueIto fish so long as the oceans
brine shall lave the shores of the
Chesapeake and its tributaries; sup
plying the pbor with food, the rich
with luxliry--for oysters are the poor
mans food, the rich mans luxury. -
The fish market Of Norfolk reminds
us Of the various and bountifnl re-
sources Of Eastern Virginia, mex
haustible as the waters that contain
them, An accomplished gentleman
ofthat city told US that Lynn Haven,
so famed for its oysters, was the
youngest river in, the world; that
some years ago, the farmers Of Lynn
Haven Parish dubbed together and
dugtlirough a long sand bank near
the sea shore, around which their
boats hal to- pass in going to fish,
hoping thereby to obtain "a more dill
rect outlet I'd their fishing grounds.
Thedeeper waters Of the ocean rushed
in, refused to stop at their old and
accustomed limits, invaded Lynn Ha-
ven Parish, captured the glebe and
the burying ground, and formed a
new river. Now, the best oysters
cling to the submerged COMMISSIONERS
just as the fishes lodgedinthe branches
of the elms during the Dencalion's
delrige: affording a beautiful emblem
Of Immortality. for the oyster bed il
understandable, if not immortal, Mrs.
Walter Scott thought that lambs were
only good to make patty pies; but
lambs and oysters, when properly
dressed up, are quite - pleasant ii
poetry as in pies. I iafZstrI d. ii..i-s
The wonders of the West far sur,
pass those of the East. The Missis.
sippi basin alone. in lite adaptionife
the wants Of man, exceeds IN its 81.
gantic capacities all others Of natures
works. II the starving populations
Of Europe and a sia were transformed
to this basin, q very little labor would
support them in comfort and abnn-
dance. Our reflections have beci
turned in this direction by descriptions
we havetreeently heard Of the natural
butI nndevelepedo resources Of thu
country, about the Sandy river and
theItwo Kanawhas, in this State. I,
| is, along the Ohio and in many othel
parts, q fine agricultural and grazing
oountry-bnt it's mineral resources
are what excite surprise and admira.
ltion. Iron abounds, and coal crop
i - u ~ q n !.