The national Republican., 1861-11-13
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN.
More about Port Royal and Bsaufor..

More about Port Royal and Beaufor..
Port Royal entrance is an inlet from the A.
lautic, in latitude 32 deg 8 miu. N. fifty miles
southwest of Charleston, and fifteen miles north.
east of Tybee Inlet, the entrance Of Savannah
river The opening from the Atlantic Is he
tween Eiding Island and Hilton Head Isla' Il.
and at that point Is about three miles wild .
The prolC neation inward OF Port Royal en.
trance = called Broad River and Port Royal
River. Running up this for about twenty Eve
miles, being off eastward through the Coosa "
River aud coming out to the Atlantic aga n
through st. Helena Sound, you have an irreg,
lar area of aboat twenty-five miles hy fifteen.
This amrhihi'us region is cut up by numerous
rivers, creeks aud ines, into great many
islands, (Sea Islands,) Of various sizes, T. Z
chief Of which are "Port Royal "St. Hell
nj" Paris" "" Ladies, "Coosaw," ," Morgan
Datbaw," Edding," Chaplin" ;" Prentis' .
aud Hunting"
Along the coast of South Carolina, as In Nora
Carolina and Georgia, stretches low and mar.
row sand bsr-a kind Of defensive outwork O
the land, seldom inhabited except by lost IL"
diins and runaway negroes, who subsist hy
hunting and fishing. At distant intervals thAt-
are shallow breaches through which the qu u
tide steals in twice day, swelling the naiur a
lagoons and damming the outlet Of the fras )
water stream till the current is destroyed a. /
turned back, and their food dispersed far rr I
wide over the debatabie land of the Cypr'' :
Swamp. Then, when the heavy rains in 1 =
interior have swollen the rivers, their eddyin :
currents deposit along the edges Of the saJdy '
islands and capes the rich freight they bnv .
brought from the calcareous or granite mou =
tains in which they rise, with the orgaa,:
waste of the great forests through which the :;
flow. This Is the soil OF the rice and cot, !
plantations, which are always found iu cue
parts of tho tidal swamns adjoining the ms :
land or the sandy islands as are lett nearly d. ,
a. ebb of the water.
The entrance to Port Royal is the best chan.
nel Tor ships through the bars In the whu Il
range of ports below Norfolk
From Beaufort. vessels of eight or nine f.!
water may go through land to Charlestrn
From Charleston, vessels drawing seven =
eight feet water may go through land TO III ,
river Midway, in Georgia. which lies thirty mi,
souh ofSavaDnab. On this coast 1t is observ {,
that northeast, easterly, and southeast winG.
cause higher tides than other winds, and ais
somewhat alter their course. At Port Roy o.
entrance the tide flows. on the change and ia
days OF the moon. at u O'Clock About >rx
leagues from the land, in twelve fathoms wat-r.
the flood sets strongly to the southwark and
the ebb to the northward farther off from ~ .
shore there is no tide at all. Near to the e;.
trance Of the harbor there is a strong Ia
draught during the food tide and an out, =
with an ebb tide.
Within Port Royal entrance. even over t:,'
bars, there are three and .a-half fathoms water.
or twenty-one feet, and probably twenty -sev, =
feet at high tide.
Port Royal Island is surrounded by T.,
Broad, Port Royal, Coosaw, aud Beaufort river
and Is about twelve miles long aud six wild.
On the east side of the island and about uid
way, stands the town OF Beaufort, on Beaufu.
river, the approach of which does not adm
vessels OF over eleven feet draft. Beaufort J.,
about ten miles from the sea, and sixteen mil .
from the Charleston and Savannah railrou
and this important line is itself directly az
proachabe by water through Broad river ID
st. Helena Sound and Comb bahee river. A foi C p.
moving no the river from Beaufort, cia Beau.
tort and Coosaw and Port Royal rivers. would
strike the Charleston and Savannah railroad t
about midway bAtween Charleston and Savan-
nah, and about fifty miles from either city.
iact which renders obvious the imm ms" sri
tcgetic Importance of that line Beaufort is
the Newport of Soul Carolina, and has whls
population of about one thoussnd.-Ne,o YOtk,
Times