The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-09-20
a New View Of the Great Dismal Swamp

| know of no trip more full Of excite
ment and varied pleasure than a visit to
the Great Dismal Swamp. The strange,
the beautiful, the weird and solemn in
nature are all blended together, forming
a Scenic panorama attractive and inter
estlng to the highest degree. There is
nobody who has not actually been through
the "Great Dismal" that has the slightest
conception Of what kind of place it is.
Judging from its name the popular mag
lnation makes it Il vast swamp, quagmire
and unwholcsome fen, dark, silent and
damp, where the light Of the blessed sun
never enters, IA spot that seems cursed,
and from whose black, murky surface moi
some vapors arise that breed disease and
death This is the popular belief, and it
is a popular talacy. No notion can be
more erroneous
The Dismal Swamp is not a vast bog
sunk low in the ground into which all
the draining of the surrounding country
flows; on the contrary, it is above the
level ground some fifteen or twenty feet,
as was demonstrated by actual surveys.
Instead OF being receptacle into which
rivers and streams enter and flow, it is in
reality an immense reservoir that in its
vast sponge-like bulk gathers the waters
which fall from the heavens, and pours
them into five different rivers, which flow
onward to the sea. Any one would i'm
agine that the "Dismal" was a veritable
chanel house that spreads its miasma
throughout the country; on the contrary,
it is the healthiest place on the American
continent. The swamp is formed entirely
OF green timber; there is absolutely no
decOmpOSed wood one sees trees lying
all around in the forests and sWamps.
The two principal woods that grow in the
place are the juniper and cypress which
never rot. They fall prone on the ground
like other trees, but instead of the wood
decomposng, it turns into peat, and lies
indissoluble by air and water for ages
perfectly sound.
There is nothing in the swamp to create
miasma; no rising of the tides and de
composition Of rank vegetables: no marsh
| es exposed to the burning rays of the sun.
All is fresh and sweet, and the air is Ia
den with as sweet odors as the fragrant
month of May, when the sweet perfume
OF flowers mingles with the pungent scent
OF the pine and dogWood In the alfte-
beiiuM days all planters were anxious to
hire their slaves to single makers in the
swamp on account OF its health. Mr..
| Reddick, a Well-kn0Wn contractor, says
he worked a gang Of fifty hands for fifteen
years in the Dismal, getting shingles, and
III all that time there was not Il single
case OF ague and fever. | have seen mum
erOus atfidayits of ovcrScers and agents
who have lived in the swamp their whole
lifetime, and they never knew 4 death
caused 10y miasma, or q solitary instance
ague and fever. The air is pure and
sweet, and the water tinged to faint
wine hue by the juniper is as potent a
medicinal drink as is the famous watering
| place OF the Virginia SAlountain Spas"
1t is often used by naval vessels going on
a long foreign cruise, on account of the
! healthtul properties, and also because it
keeps fresh and clear for wears. It is Il
| strong and nvigorating tonic, " 18th a very
| pleasant taste.
The soil of the Great Dismal is com
| posed entirely of clay and vegetable peat.
1t is spongy and loose \ pole thirty feet
| long was showed steadily down by the
| guide, and did not begin to touch bottom
! The swamp is alive with game, and tie
lake with fish. The animals are bear.
deer, raccoons and squirrels. The fish
are the black bass, or club, as they call
them here, which rise readily to the fly,
| specllled fish. beach fish, CARS, catfish and
perch. They all bite freely at bait, and
make game fight if hooked. Fishing is
entirely done with rod and reel Though
the bears abound in the swamp, it is very
| hard to get a shot at them. You can
often hear them crashing through the
cane brakes, but rarely see them. 4 few
months ago one big black bear deliber-
ately passed through the village in a dog
trot. 1t raised the village. Old men
took their single barrels that hadn't gone
off for hundred years, and that were
| for all the world like Rip Van Wrinkles
fowlng piece, and instantly snapped them
Oft, Everybody got their arms, but Mon
| sleur lie Bruln kept on regardless Of the
blrdshot that ratified against his hide,
and at last, after trayersing the entire
town, disappeared in the woods beyond
where, no doubt, in bear language he
| told his companions of his wonderful ad
| venture.
| There is no highway or road through
the swamp; only a canal runs some dis
lance up it To bring out the shingles
which, being made Of juniper and cypress,
are the most durable in the world There
is nothing else in the Dismal Swamp that
can be turned to use. The lumber bust
ness has fallen off lamentably since the
war, and but few shingles are made now.
| Letter to the Alexandria Na.) Gazette.