Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-06-17
TideWRter VirginiamS.

| Lot US take passage 10 the little steamer ply
| ing between Baltimore and that portion OF tho
| old colony which seems to have been overlook.
ed by the chroniclers, and may, therefore.
present fair field for our modest research.
The run down has boon made during the night,
and by carly dawn we aro heading into the VII
comico river. The broad briDy water around
and the low shore ahead seem as tenantless al.
most as in tho days when the old fbuster John
Smith went cruising hercabouts. An OCCASION
oil canoe of some matutlnal oystcrmen bears
sufficient resemblance to the aboriginal craft
which, indeed, gave the suggestion OF it's
Wo near the shore and the light strengthens,
houses begin to detach here and there from the
sombre background Of pines, and patches of
cultivated land separate themselves from tho
low marshes. which alternate with long strips
of sand beach. But it is obvious that the wat.
or rather than the land yields to tho dwelIers
hereaway. Oa the shore close to each habis-
ton little pier Of the width of single plank
extends out into the water; one or moro long
narrow canoes are moored alongside, or ii ie
at anchor still further oul; here and there,
too, a seioo reel of primitive conslruc.
ton rears its skeleton form, or row OF
gill net stakes stretches across q little bay
formed by curve Of the winding shor".
All suggestions are Of fish, Gshy. Anon
large blue crane with ungainly dangling shai h
flaps heavily up from bis morning watch in IT,
shadows, now deopened by tho swell from o".'
paddles; or the bald eagle sails away from his
perch in the top Of some lofty dead pine, whence
he has been observing critically, but with
strict eyc to breakfast, the airy circlings Of the
moro industrious fish hawk quartering the field
azure outside. From noting thcso imprcssioas
our attention is first called aboard, and then
projected 10 q new direction by the hoarsc tones
Of our steam whistle signaling landing.
A characteristic spectacle is afforded By one
of those low country landings on boat day.
Tho wharvcs are uniformly rude structures
supported by piles. Frequently they arc re-
mote from any human abode, though in most
cases a small store springs into existence close
by, its custom being drawn from tho gathering
occasioDed by the steamboat arrivals. Suoh 40
assemblage represents with passable fairness the
country personnel. While the types are strong
ly individualized, it is perhaps even moro i'll
terestiDg to study this population 10 its cthno-
logical aspects Despite certain aogulary
Of outline ind depth Of tint, With somo tendency
to salloWnoss withal-duc to Influences Of
climate and mode Of life, steadily at work Tor
moro than two centuries-the parent stock of
"Eoglish undefled' is still manifest. Hero and
there, indeed, may be detected cropping out
of tho Gaelic strain, which tended naturally TO
this stsuch Tory colony after the troubles Of
"the l5' aud "thc 49," This last clement has
left its impress more perccptibIy still upon the
nomenclature of the country; but especially Go
VIC find its traces in certain old Jacobite melo.
dies, which have outlived even the memory Of
tho words to which they were originally ser:-
These last have been handed down with tho
unwrittan music scrspcd out OF ancient fiddles
at the country festive gatherings or shrlekcd
by tho ffcrs of successive generations at the
old militia musers. More tragic have been
somc of their later associations. Many hardy
fellow who marched away 10 1861 ttom these
lowlands, 10 find grave beneath the shadow
Of the towering Blue Ridge or in tho tangled
thickes Of tho Wilderness has been reused to
his last morning on earth by the familiar strains
Of dundee" or "KiIliccrankic,' lraught to
him with memories not of loch aud heather
bills, but of fertile fields and fragrant pine
woods lying broad beside tho Chcscapcakc.~-
Uurner's Mr0nztnc