The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-11-02
- THE OLD DOMINION.


Having spent the last two months in the noun
tains of the old State, it occurred to me that a
few facts in regard to life there would not be
without interest. The stately old dame is en-
dowed with rare physical gifts-and when the
time for summer removals comes she enclOses
upon her motherly bosom about half the citizens
Of Washington who leave the city. The war has
so impoverished her farmers that nearly every
commodious old mansion in The Valley" as
that rich region between the Allegheny and the
Blue Ridge Mountains is called, is willing to re-
ceive summer boarders. We 60 from Washing
ton not for gaiety but for rest and comfort. No
where can that last term be more fully realized
than at the white hands of the old Virginia
house-keeper. At first one cannot get away from
feeling like a = guest - in the true sense of the
word, so far removed does all the usual boarding
house atmosphere seem-so courteous the gen
tIeman of the house, so m%otherly the wife, so
gallant the sons and so gentle the daughters-and
then the old pictures on the walls (about the
only remembrance of former days that the war
Ieft) look silent reproof upon any privilege save
that which becomes a visitor.
The first month was spent at Orkney Springs,
Shenandoah, Co., Va, a popular resort at the
base of old North Mountain, the extreme of the
Alleghanies. The number and variety of min
eraI springs grouped within an area of one hun
bred and fifty miles is one of the charms of the
old State, and a great delight TO scientists and
artists. Among native authors, the works of
John Easton Cooke, . Surveys of Eagle Cliff "
and > Fairfax of Greenway Court . have famil-
iarized the reading world with these landscapes,
and the varied pencil of Porte Crayon has spread
wide many Of the most wonderful freaks O%fnature.
The Shenandoah Valley is one of the most
famous parts of the United States for its richness
and beauty, we'll deserving its Indian name,
F." Daughter Of the Stars" Commensurate with
its rare gifts seems the history which has gar
landed its very memory with such unusual
interest. On the Orkney grounds one branch of
the river by this name rises. The head waters
are about a mile and a half from the hotel build
ings, and so picturesque are they that daily
visitors take the walk to enjoy the beauty of the
quiet dell. 1t seems to come from the deep
mouth Of a cave, not 'dashing and flashing as
the water comes down to Lodore, but p%urling
over a messy bed in the most leisurely trout
suggestive way, and the spotted sky beauties are
there, as was triumphantly shown by some fer
vent disciples of Izaak Walton.
The visitors at g Orkney were frequently
not less than five hundred, as the virtues of the
waters are becoming well established for dis
peptic troubles or cutaneous affections. One
spring is quite famous, and r%ejoiccs in the original
name Of Bear-W allow from the fact that the
Indians and pioneer hunters used TO lie IN watch
for old and young members of the Bruin family
who delighted to wallow in the mineral marsh
made from the overflow of this immense spring.
The hunters took counsel of the bears, and used
not to camp until they had crossed a certain
mountain hard by-to which mountain they
gave the significant name Of Sup and Lick
There is a spring in this group called the /" Heal
ing Spring, which was much resorted to by
Indians, who in their simple faith said, 1.-TWO
drinks cure good Indian, because the Great
Spirit lives in it," There is another interesting
spring called The Poison Spring" from the
fact that fish, frog or bugs of any kind cannot
i've in it. 1t is said to be strongly arsenical.
If this be established, it will be one of the most
7aluable waters in the world. Arsenic is known
to exist in but few waters. One but very re-
emily recognized is at Pozziola, near Naples,
md by reason of that rare quality has become a
resort of consumptives.
TOURNAMENT, BALLS. ETC.
But l fancy a glimpse of how the visitors at
Springs pass the time would be of
tor ;,toroSf tIr,D n rbotorro milo sLofcb Of tHa {