Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-03-04
HAUNT OF BLACK BEAR
Thickcts of Cane Aznlca Spanish Moss
Lake Drummond- yellow Flies, Nos
quitocs and snakes-Thc Swamp as u
Health Resort ~ Hunters Eden over
it Also nroods Many Wild and Ghostly
Legends.
(The New York SUM-

woodman in quest of it's treasures of
cypress and juniper. To facilitate his
enterprise small canals, locally known
as bitches. have been cut through to
Lake Drummond at its center. OF these
one was named for General Washing
ton, who visited the swamp when
young man of 81. "encompassing the
whole" to use his own words. Another
bears the quantity irrelevant name OF
Jericho Ditch. At the end OF the last
century larger waterway. the Dismal
Swamp canal, which has been recently
widened and deepened, was eXcayated
near the eastern border. AS u result
much of the land lying TO the eastward
was drained and is now in cultivation.
a Wilderness the Dismal Swamp re-
mains. Even to-day its deepest recess
es are hardly known save to such I'M
tanned denizenS as deer and bear and
Il peculiar race of cattle that has run
wild and lives upon the reeds. Not a
lew people In quest of game, or curious
to know what IL place so weirdly named
may be like, penetrate the swamp from
Suffolk by way of the Jericho canal, Or
on the eastern side, through the Dismal
swamp canal. But away from these
recognized arteries of commerce stretch
thousands upon thousands of acres of
dense, tangled forest. usually covered
with water to u depth of l to feet
untrnVersed by waterways and untra-
versatile afoot In such fastness the
black bear is at home, and he does not
let himself be seen If he can help 1t.
But In hard winters he is sometimes
driven from his haunts and has been
seen by startled wayfarers even in the
outskirts of Portsmouth.
IL was on n hnnntiful Nav d,x, 49,,
| first saw the swamp. Our route that
day WAS the Jericho canal, which one
reaches, riding or driving, about two
miles from the sleepy old town of
SUFFOLK. Our craft was q skiff built of
Juniper wood and propelled by pole and
paddle. at first the way lay through
IL comparatively open tract, which has
been burned over from time to time,
and which, despite the burgeoning
green of such vegetation as had sur
vived the frev; has n look unutterably
desolate and forlorn. The trees here
are small water oaks and cow oaks,
sweet bay, holly. cotton gums. short
leaf pine and some juniper (white ce-
dar). Big cane, which the inhabitants
know as reeds, grows over the water
or with stems standing stlfly erect, in
great clumps. To this bamboo. more
than TO any other plant, the vegetation
of the Dismal and other Southern
IL.
The cane was in bloom when we came
into the swamp, and made one think of
the marvels travellers tell concerning
the rare Towering of bamboo in India.
The young stalks, which are used for
making pipe stems, are cut and tied in
SheaveS by negroes. who can thus earn
81 day. Many Towering shrubs were
there, mostly heathworst, but heath
worst with large leaves, hardly to bs
recognized by their humble cousins of
the Northern moOrS and peat boys.
Most delightful of all to eye and nose
was n pale pink aZaiea. much sought
by country people for the curious green
swelling produced on it's leaves by n
certain fungus. These they eat, know
ing them as honeysuckle apples.
AS we pursued our lazy way along
the canal the trees became always
higher and the frnging canes more
dense. The woodland voices that had
been lifted high in the early morning
.s;trtie---to- t-whisper.-The chorused
away. Now and then the sweet note
of warbler reached the ear. Once a
great gray crane rose into the air with
discordant cry. Ever and anon we
would beat up blue heron, to see him
disappear in fright down the long ar
cade before lis. Then we glided into
what is known as the Black Gum
~
the tree trunks lowered IL hundred feet
or more above us. and the light was
soft as in n cathedral. Two miles or
so we went between the solemn, vine
hung black gums. and then emerged
upon the margin of Lake Drummond
having Travelled ten miles In some
thing less than four hours Naturally.
everyone who has read hIoores poem,
The Lake of the Dismal Swamp" re-
calls it to mind when he sights Lake
Drummond for the first time And
even when seen in the full tide of noon
day there is something of wcirdness in
the look of this forest-bordered sheet
of water. Involuntary ones eyes go
searching Cor that mysterious maid
who has
Gone to the lake of the Dismal Swamp,
Where ali night long by II FREELY lamp,
She paddles her white canoe
That the Irish poet wrote Of the
Dismal Swamp with all the authority
of actual experience, witness the lines:
His path was rugged and sore.
Through tangled juniper beds OF
reeds,
Through many fen where the SER
pent feeds,
Mans foot never trod before
But TO descend from the poets flight
of imagination to the details of pro-
sale description. Lake Drummond is
a small body of water. only three miles
long and two and a half wide The !
banks are everywhere fiat. so that the
lake impresses one as being much
larger than 1t is. I would be a thor
oushly monotonous Landscape. this.
were it not for the picturesque belt of
old cypress stumDs that margin the
lake. almost disappearing at very high
water, but usually in plain view.
Gnarled and gray are these relics Of
ancient forests. worn py years of
weather and torm-lashed water into