Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1900-11-30

an everywhere In de dismals. ONLY
~hen dey grow UP en- git old dey don't
nave de roomytiz like | does. OATS
Hnar dey all git de vantage of Uncle
Bob. But he done git de vantage of
uem bears en- de udder wild beas'es
many times. l bet you: en- Of dis
roomtiE II didn't twinge en- twanse me
70 remonstratin', feel des' like ram
sin' through dis Big Juniper en- aittin'
vantage OF EN- some more time. fore
! line de angels. P'tickiy bear. I des'
tote on teasin' dem bear. Dey SO pep
perry"
The Dismal Swamp.
The great Dismal Swamp of Viz
yinia and Lake Drummond. hidden In
us cypress depths, are famed In song
ana story, and yet the Dismal Swamps
area OF mysterious tangle and Jungle
IS only little more than a patch on
he land compared with the "dIsmals"
mat cover five eastern coast counties
ei North Carolina, and Lake Drum
nond is only a millpond in COMPARE
son with the curious Mattamuskeet
LAKE lying In the far solitudes Of ALI
gator Swamp. IN Hyde county. The
swamp area OF this part OF the North
Carolina peninsula, extending from
Pamlico Sound on the east 20 the
mouth of Roanoke river on the west.
Is seventy miles, and from the Pamli-
co river on the south to Albemarle
sound on the north is sixty miles. So
much OF the surface OF that immense
peninsula is uninhabitable dismal
swamp and area OF water that the
ave counties comprising it-Dare, Ty-
ren. Hyde, Washington and Beaufort
although within their confines the
hrst English settlements in America
were made. more than 800 years ago
have an aggregate population OF only
$4,000, nearly one-half of which Is col
ored. These swamps are vast areas Of
cypress. juniper, gum and pine, much
or II made almost inaccessible to man
owing TO the matted and tangled I'M
dergrowth OF gnaIled bushes, vines
and oriars. And yet within their
depths live hundreds OF human be-
lngs. miles out OF sight or sound of
civilization. their wretched habita-
lions perched on piles to keep them
from being flooded by the swamp wa
ters after heavy rains. and reached by
little bridges built from stump to
stump. These people are negroes.
known locally a. "swampers. they
tors who have come into proprietor
ship OF vast tracts Of the dismals. cut
ting he Juniper a2d other timber for
the mills. which are plentiful along
the swamp edges Wooden tramways
lead from the outer world into the
depths of the swamps, passages being
cut for them by TEDIOUS labor through
the impeding jungles. Some of the
lumber camps ale seven miles and
more from the mills Small flatcars,
each drawn by a mule, are run over
the tramways, fetching out the logs
and taking IN supplies to the camps.
The laborers do not come out of the
swamps oftener than once a month.
and many do not come out from one
years cad to another. Negro fugltivos'
from Justice find the isolation and SOL
ltude of the camps safe refuge, for, I'M
less their offense is serious. they are
seldom followed thlther
These swamps are alive with bears
which fatten On the berries of the
black gum. on wild grapes and nutri-
tious swamp roots. And they also
play havoc among the cattle of those
farmers who have drained fertile
acres from the swamps edges. the cat
tie finding rich pasturage among the
reedy borders OF the swamps and In
the green savannahs that vary the
character of the dismals here and
there The bears. always fond of pork.
are favored In that respect by the fact
that there are herds of wild hogs I'm
the dismals, although bruin does not
hesitate to vary his pork diet by oc.
casional raids on the farmers corn
fed shoats. The wild hogs are fierce
but shy. They are invariably of
brownish-red color. Their shouts ara
one-third the length OF their bodies and
tusks three inches long are not nm.
usual on old boars. These wild hogs
forage chiefly on what the natives call
blood grass, a growth Of the driver
swamp bottoms that has q beet-lite
root and bears small nut at the end
OF each stalk. 1t Is this pasture 90
that is supposed to give the pecnlisr
color to the flesh of these hoyswa
bright pumpkin yellow. The natives
eat the meat and call 1t good. Tbs
wild cattle that roam the sayannahs
and retreat to the higher no~4. "a -