The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-16

A Trip to Roanoke Island Through the
Sounds Of Eastern North Caroiina-The
Wonderful Sand Dunes-The Fresh Wat
err View From the Island.a
Raleigh, y. c., April 10.
Especial Correspondence.)

Raleigh, n. c., April 10.
Especial Correspondence.)
This is to be a story Of a trip through
the North Carolina sounds and TO the
utmost verge of the state, a trip very
seldom taken, Astounding in interest
and replete with information. If an egg
is placed on end there will be an air
space at the upper end. The water in
the immence sounds corresponds to
the empty space in the egg shell. Look
at the map, conceive that the state is
on end. and the comparison will be
striking.
Leaving Raleigh March 9th via Nor
folk and after a glimpse at that bust
ling, prosperous and growing city, the
18th found your correspondent in EliZ-
abeth City, sitting in the office of the
Nestor of the North Carolina press,
father Creecy of The Economist.
Eighty-four years of age, rosy checked
and brighteyed, ne is a living monu-
ment to the virtues of the juniper
water, the praises of which he SO dear
ly loves to sing. To him it is indeed the
elixir of life. the water of the true
fountain of youth which Ponce de Leon
sought so long and SO vainly.
Elizabeth City seems to be a place
with a future. The great canal through
the Dismal swamp means much for it.
The cutting of the canal, or rather
widening and deepening of the old ca
nal, goes on at the rate Of fifty feet
a day. Quite large vessels and gum
boats can pass through it within a
year. 1t puts the vast system of North
Carolina sounds in touch with the
Chesapeake bay.
There is nothing quite so good as
luck and so it befell that at Elizabeth
City, lying in Tiber creek. was the
sharpe "Bracebridge Hail." 1t is for
ty-seven feet long and eight and a half
freet beam and was built at Ex-GOv-
| ernOr Carr's farm OIL Tar river. With
spacious cabin. stove. beds and other
c~onveniences, it is a home like little
craft. With one big sail and a little
one, a jib, a head of it. it is a capital
sailer and drawing only fifteen inches
Of water, is the ideal craft for a tour
/ through the shallow sounds. Arrange
| ments were made with Captain Au-
gustine Piner of the Bracebridge for
the trip, which was to begin at Roam
Oke island and her the steamer New
| Bern was taken for Roanoke island.
1t was dark when the steamer reach
ed SkycO, the chief port of the historic
Roanoke island. On landing the first
sound which broke The stiffness of the
| night was the exhaust of an ice fac
tOrv-a truly beginning OF
q visit to the most place in all
North Carolina. The chief town is
| Manteo, which is on the eastern sid of
the island, three miles away, and while
the driver of the vehicle which takes
one there cried out in CHEEKY tones,
"~Tranquility house, gentlemen!' tho
passengers got in the blackboard n
moved off. A turn in the road was
la and then the fragrance of the
yellow jasmine and a burst of song
from a mOcking bird made a moro
graceful welcome to the island. The
first part of the road runs across the
confederate entertainments, at which
the battle of Roanoke was Fought and
at which many North Carolinians were
captured. The next arrival is at the
Tranquil house, in view of Mays Head,
where mine host Asa Evans and his
wife preside.
Early the following morning a pill
grimage is made to the centre of at
traction, Fort Raleigh" Along VEN
cradle roads, eneath pines, with which
the bright grow of the holly is min
gled, the way lies to the fort. To the
right after going q little distance, rise
in long lines the sand dunes, vast hills
the creation and the sport of the winds.
The landward slope of these is as steep
as A. degrees, and the climb in the
yielding sand is a hard one. At the
crest the prospect is a grand one TO
the eastward is the sea-, visible here
and there in the gaps between the vast
sand dunes which mark the banks
as they do also the eastern part Of this
island. There is the sea, green and
heaVing, and there the curl of the
breakers, and borne by the soft wind
comes the hunder of the surf, almost
like an echo. At ones feet lies the
sound, yellow as gold, three miles in
u-;I+I o,I co cho11oyy that nearly the
entire distance can be waded. 1t is
fresh water and tideless SO far as the
sea is concerned, the Only tides belne
due to the winds. UnveXed by a sail
there is an idle waste Of water as fal
as the eye can reach. Yonder is Cur.
rituck sound, almost equally shallow
and the northern limit of the wonder
full system of sounds. There are the
Kill Devil hills, the highest on thu
coast, rising 100 feet. YOnder is thu
place where the i'll fated man-of-wa1
Huron sank, and caused the loss of IL
lives. There is Mays Head, with tn
big hotel, between waves of sand.
Looking westward the island is a
the feet. The sand dunes crest is on {
level with the highest pines. The Stop
is long and far from steep on the waite
side. The dune advances, steadily
remorselessly. ceaselessly, into the in
terror of the island. Its ouch is death
The green tops of pines project from
its inner slope. On the sound side ar
the skeletons of those overwhelmed
Not long since the skeleton of a MAI
was found in a sitting posture at tn
foot of the skeleton of a tree owe
which the wave of sand had rolled
Poor fellow. When he took that sea
he was on the landWard side, Xha
; ed perhaps in the effort TO save hi
life. When found he was on the sea
ward side. No man can say how lon:
the sand had pQtOmbp0 him.
The Spill of the SAN down til
landward side of the dunes is incessant
! . Looking into the sombre hollow of tn
! pines it seems quite like an abyss. &.
! Descending, from the height, tn
: ride is resumed. Past new houses
some quite large and modern, an
> others gray with age, the road goes
The pines are in blossom and the al