Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1900-12-07

IN dey Suhtinly do be born here dar,
IN everywhere In de dismals. Only
when dey grow up en- git old dey don't
nave de -oomytiz like / does OATS
whar dey all git de vantage OF Uncle
Bob. But he done git de vantage of
lem bears en- de udder wild beas'es
many times. l bet you; en- eff dis
,oomtiz II didn't twinge en- twange me
20 remonstrain', feel des' like ran
gin through dis Big Juniper en- gittin'
vantage Of 'em some more time, fore
jine de angels. P'tickly bear. des'
Tote on teasin' dem bear. DEFY so pep
perry"
Tho Dismal Swamp.
The great Dismal Swamp of Vir-
yinia and Lake Drummond, hidden IN
It's cypress depths, are famed in song
and story. and yet the Dismal Swamp's
area Of mysterious tangle and jungle
Is only little moro than a patch on
he land compared with the "dismals"
that cover five eastern coast counties
Of North Carolina, and Lake Drum
mond 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 to the
mouth Of Roanoke river on the west,
Is seventy miles. and from the Pamli-
90 river on the south TO Albemarle
found 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-
rell, Hyde, Washington and Beaufort
nlf oh With IN hn4v- ,o
hrst English settlements in America
were made more than 500 years ago
have an aggregate population Of only
Is, 600, nearly one-half OF which is col
ored. These swamps are vast areas of
cypress. juniper, gum and pine. much
OF Ii made almost inaccessible TO man
owing to the matted and tangled I'M
dergrowth OF gnaIled bushes, vines
and briars. And get within their
depths live hundreds of human be-
lngs. miles out OF sight or sound OF
civilization. theiI wretched habita-
tions porched on piles to keep them
from being flooded by the swamp wa
tiers after heavy Iairs. and reached by
little bridges built from stump tc
stump. These people are negroes
known locally az "swampors." they
are In the employ OF the lumber opera
tors wEo have come into proprietor
, ship Of vast tracts Of the dismals cut
ting the juniper a2d other timber fol
the mills, which are Plentiful along
. the swamp edges Wooden tramways
lead from the outer world into the
, depths OF the swamps passages beinS
= cut for them by tedious labor through
' the impeding jungles. Some of th'
u lumber camps are seven miles anC
more from the mills. Small hatcars
each drawn by a mule, are run owe
the tramways, fetching out the log
and taking In supplies TO the camps
The lnborers do not come out of tn
gwamps oftener than once a month
n and many do not come out from on
= years cad to another. Negro fugitive
a from Justice find the isolation and sol
Itude of the camps safe refuge. for, un
a less their oifense is serious, they az
a seldom followed thither.
Ie These swamps are alive with bear.
1t which fatten on the berries of tn
black gum, on wild grapes and muir
II tious swamp roots. And they ais
u play havoc among the cattle Of thos
farmers who have drained fertil
acres from the swamps edges, the ca
tie finding rich pasturage among til
8 reedy borders of the swamps and
90 the green savannahs that vary tn
ID character of the dismals here an
ID there. The bears, always fond of por
ID are favored in that respect by the IA
ID that there are herds of wild hogs
&C the dismals, although bruin does n,
ot hesitate to vary his pork diet by o
casional raids on the farmers cor,
o. fed shoats. The wild hogs are ler
but shy They are invariably of
u. brownish-red color. Their shouts a
ce one-third the length of their bodies al
ne tusks three inches long are not IL
ed usual on old boars. These wild no
" forage chiefly on what the natives C;
= blood grass, a growth of the dry
F swamp bottoms that has a beet-li
root and bears a small nut at the el
an of each stalk. 1t is this pasture
no that is supposed to give the peculi
color to the flesh of these hogs
CHI bright pumpkin yellow. The natiy
az. eat the meat and call 1t good. T
ng wild cattle that roam the savanna
to and retreat to the higher parts Of
-. AI