The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1900-09-20

The Clark farm was some six or seven
miles east of Norfolk, and l well renem-
Der the pretty lane tianked on each side
with the picturesque and evergreen Cc-
dars which led to the stately old farm
house, situated about $50 yards from tie
road, that passes around the border of the
swamp 90 miles away into North Caro-
lima.
Directly opposite this farmhouse was
spread the grand, weird and imposing
northern front of the Great Dismal
Swamp. While the term dismal was
applied to this great swamp, what might
be called its dismal features were only
disclosed after penetrating the swamp
from two to six miles from the great sur
rounding road. In various directions from
this road as you advanced into the forest
it presented level appearance, with the
stately oak growing in all its vigor, and
Presenting grand and attractive visions Of
crest glades, the towering black gum, the
moss oak, the moss hanging suspended and
eaching nearly to the ground, and, in
ONE places, entirely so.
During my boyhood hunting expedi-
ions into the swamp from my uncle's, in
company with my cousin, brother and
jther young friends. we frequently pene-
trated to the distance of two or three
miles, passing through and along glades
and natural avenues of the moss oak can
opted with the rich and tangled masses of
moss, in many places to the very earth,
which firmly and indsputably proved to
our youthful and vivid negotiations that
these mosS-adorned sladcs were surely the
hidden, secret home of the spriteS ban
Shee" and fairies of the weird and mys-
ferrous swamp, of which we had been ad
vised By the negroes and whites, too, who
lived near the swamp.
The great reed brakes dot the swamp in
many directions as you progress from the
big road into the swamp and present
scenes of delightful varicgated beauty in
connection with the moss oak, gum trees,
tangled foliage, creeping vines and flow
ers and shrubs of a thousand hues, many
OF which are quite unknown to botanists;
and l remember Il very cultivated gen
tleinan, whose farm adjoined that of my
uncle on the east, who was farmer
physician and botanist, who gave attcn-
ton largely to the botany and fauna Of
the Great Dismal and who became IA
nous, locally, at least, for his various
compounds manufactured from the herbs
and flowers found in the dark recesscs of
the forest. 1t was said that he discov-
cred a sovereign remedy for the lager
and fever. In my youthful days the spe-
cial favorite and universal remedy for the
'ager' was a compound of red-pcpper
tea and apple brandy.
The State of Virginia granted n char
ter for the Dismal Swamp Canal Com
fany, Il hundred years or more age, and
it is said that George Washington was
connected with it, some writers saying
that he was President of the company for
Il time. The valuable timber, embracing
the red and white slaves, oak plank, pine
plank, cypress timber of various kinds
posts, and so on, was gotten cut for very
many years, and at q later period the
Dismal Swamp Canal was butt, which ex-
tends from the little settlement of Deep
Creek on the Elizabeth River, some
seven miles above Portsmouth, Va, and
extending to the lake of the Dismal
Swamp, or Lake Drummond, a distance
of some 20 miles, as well as my memory
serves me.
There are two Dismal Swamp Canals,
and they are frequently COMPOUNDED one
with the other. One leads, as stated
above, to Lake Drummond, beyond Suf-