Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-11-20

looked in the direction it was going
l. and there appeared beautiful avenu
y, - for miles ahead. Away off we coul,
IL see something like live oaks oyerhaD g
~ ing it. and like white sheets hung GU
&c to the sun. The telescope did not ak
: us in dispelling this illusion. What W,
= took to be sheets afterwards wer,
= found to be fields of the cotton straw
% its humorous white heads, ON nearly
> the same plane with our eyes, pre-
sented the appearance above described
Il But OF this avenue we can hardly free
Z ourselves OF the belief that in older
L times way was cleared out here for 9
road leading from the direction OF
> Jacksonville towards Wilmington.
> Animals have ke pit up the path refer
red to, no doubt attracted, as we were,
by the appearances ahead. Another
beauty presented itself to our vision
/, here, u line Of white bays (naagnoIia
giaucus) sweeping in beautiful and
regular curves from the south and
bending slowly towards the northwest
1t looked like some vast serpent at re-
pose in the wilderness. We pursued
our avenue to this line of bays and
found creek, ten feet wide and from
three to FIVE feet deep, flowing along
in their midst. This stream was open
and free from logs, and might easily
be navigated with a small boat.
Although now bare of large growth,
this creek was once sheltered by a
juniper swamp, as the remains of
stumps and logs showed. We crossed
over and found that the pocoson had
been burnt last spring to this creek,
from the east side, and also found
the bay much more open in conse-
Quence, and the ground more solid
near the creek, but very uneven, as
in times of fires it burns in holes .and
''scow looking places.
We concluded to take a more south
erly course, but soon found ourselves
off tie burnt woods, and getting into
an impossible bog. We then retiLrn-
ed 10 our lines due east, and about this
time experienced another thunder
! storm, luckily, however, most of it
| passing to the south of us. We were
now about mile from the creek and
it was nearly sunset. The water rose
| III chr tracks on the spungy surface,
and We concluded not to go further
to camp, for fear it might get worse.
| M. Williams shook a small spruce
near by,and the beg appeared to fairly |
"Wabbje;'' it was nearer this than any |
otter motion we can describe. This |
We could not raise our camp entirely |
ont of tho water It then Numbered |
and lig.ltened all around in every
direction most Of the night, and the
idea CT Il flood OF water in those boys
was not pleasant. Fortunately it did
not rain, alter all the threatening, and
when the morning broke, although
cloudy, we were greatly rejoined that
it was no worse. During the past
night We had heard frequent screams
and barkings Of animals not familiar
to us.
We concluded to pursue our coarse
although our provisions were now get
ting scarce and our bread had been
damaged by the rain. We thought
that when we got to the swamp IN
front, appearing then about three
miles Off, that we could see the out
side. We took due east course and
passed over a mile and a half Of l00gi-
fu3gl, tLickly set with small shrubs, in
which the foot SAN, half way 10 the
knee; then entirely firm ground, with
taller under brush. Here we found
growing in plenty, easily distinguish
otter flied with scarlet berries.
: mile further on we began TO reach
the Jungle which we had seen miles
ahead. We found tie ground trmer,
and dryer, and burnt into holes and
trenches, the brush gradually i0creas-
ing in rankness and thickness. At
quarter of a mile from the swamp II
was horrible. Here about one-third
of the surface was burnt into Irregular
shaped trenches and holes, some
places large eaough for an elephant to
lie ID, and some OF all sizes, smaller,
about two and a-half feet deep. On
the high places, the land being very
rich, rank growth springs up. This
growth had been killed by fire about
three years ago, and the dead saplings
au1 brush were piled across these
ho!es in every direction. Through
high grounds, another rank growth
feet, making altogether the most diff
cuit ground to travel over that any OF
n5 had ever seen. Mr Williams and
Mr.. I'mme man, il will be remember
"a too, are no strangers to TIE forests
Alter two hours hard work We
reached the swamp, a distance Of
about two hundred yards. This we
found comparatively open, with a
growth o. cypress, maple, g'.m and /
Juniper. he latter thickening 70 the
south. Where was evidently Il rich
swamp. Nh Zimmerman climbed to
the TOP OF tree and took observations
and found the Jungle and swamp to be /
about two miles wide, and four or five
miles long. We saw beyond the inev
ituble pocoson. There was no border
in the next four miles, and il would
take two days at least to cut
through The iGnglo ahead Of us, and
reach The outline of our present vision,
and still how far the pocoson might
extend, We could not Tell. Our proyi-
si0ns were scarce, only two biscuits
each, a quart OF meal, and some bacon.
could not tell how the mud might be
ahead. The party halted with reluct-
anca, and especially was this the case
". lii GIr Williams, who appeared
WILING risk continuing the journey.
M ". still proposes to complete this
journey, and for this purpose to bring
IN extra men, with a full supply OF
provisions, 10 this point, for small
party, for several days.
We saw an animals track. resem-
bling that Of large dog, only mar
rover and with larger nails. Some
large strong animal rushed off in the
Jungle just ahead OF US, pursued at n
B5 ii tie daaingHeSo We sy ne 9Hf tie cry
of Wild cat, evidently a call of wei
come to us, his IDEA no doubt was
that we were herd of some sort Of
cattle that had strayed in during the
dry weather, and from appearances Of
rain the bays would soon be impassa-
H. a'2l he wcnld get mess of us.
We cvHlcss to I've surveyed tnis
strange territory with some am axe
ment It seems to be a reservation
granted by the Great Proprietor Of all
the earth to contain wild animals that
were likely to become extinct. For
here, in limited number, they are
likely to enjoy their savage indepen-
dence forever. The tread Of human
foot never disturbed them before, and