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diff --git a/32333-8.txt b/32333-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e641825 --- /dev/null +++ b/32333-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8890 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Voyage of the Paper Canoe, by Nathaniel H. Bishop + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Voyage of the Paper Canoe + A Geographical Journey of 2500 miles, from Quebec to the + Gulf of Mexico, during the years 1874-5. + +Author: Nathaniel H. Bishop + +Release Date: May 11, 2010 [EBook #32333] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover] + + + + +FREDERICK D. MACY + + If thou art borrowed by a friend, + Right welcome shall he be + To read, to study,--not to lend, + But to return to me. + + Not that imparted knowledge doth + Diminish learning's store, + But books, I find, when often lent, + Return to me no more. + + Would readers all this rule obey, + For good requite not ill, + These hints need not be penn'd that they + Its dictates should fulfill. + + * * * * * + + Read slowly,--pause frequently,-- + Think seriously.-- + Keep cleanly,--return duly, + With the corner of the leaves not turn'd down. + + + + +NATHANIEL H. BISHOP'S BOOKS. + +FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK BOX: A Boat Voyage of Twenty-six Hundred Miles +down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and along the Gulf of Mexico. With +numerous Maps and Illustrations. $2.50. + +VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE: A Geographical Journey of Twenty-five Hundred +Miles from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. With numerous Illustrations and +Maps, specially prepared for this work Crown 8vo. $2.50. + +A THOUSAND MILES' WALK across South America, over the Pampas and the +Andes. Illustrated. A new edition. _In press._ + +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. + + + + +[Illustration: HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR.] + + + + +VOYAGE +OF +THE PAPER CANOE: + + +A GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY OF 2500 MILES, FROM +QUEBEC TO THE GULF OF MEXICO, +DURING THE YEARS 1874-5. + +BY +NATHANIEL H. BISHOP, + +AUTHOR OF "ONE THOUSAND MILES' WALK ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA," +AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY +OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND OF THE NEW +YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. + + +BOSTON: +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. +NEW YORK: CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. +EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS. +1882. + + + + +COPYRIGHT +1878, +BY N. H. BISHOP. + + +UNIVERSITY PRESS: JOHN WILSON & SON +CAMBRIDGE. + + + + + TO THE + SUPERINTENDENT, ASSISTANTS, AIDS, AND ALL + EMPLOYÉS OF THE + UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY BUREAU, + THE + "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE" + IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, +AS A SLIGHT EVIDENCE OF THE APPRECIATION BY ITS AUTHOR FOR + THEIR INTELLIGENT EFFORTS AND SELF-DENYING LABORS + IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, SO PATIENTLY + AND SKILFULLY PERFORMED, UNDER MANY + DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The author left Quebec, Dominion of Canada, July 4, 1874, with a +single assistant, in a wooden canoe eighteen feet in length, bound for +the Gulf of Mexico. It was his intention to follow the natural and +artificial connecting watercourses of the continent in the most direct +line southward to the gulf coast of Florida, making portages as seldom +as possible, to show how few were the interruptions to a continuous +water-way for vessels of light draught, from the chilly, foggy, and +rocky regions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the north, to the +semi-tropical waters of the great Southern Sea, the waves of which +beat upon the sandy shores of the southernmost United States. Having +proceeded about four hundred miles upon his voyage, the author reached +Troy, on the Hudson River, New York state, where for several years +E. Waters & Sons had been perfecting the construction of paper boats. + +The advantages in using a boat of only fifty-eight pounds weight, the +strength and durability of which had been well and satisfactorily +tested, could not be questioned, and the author dismissed his +assistant, and "paddled his own canoe" about two thousand miles to +the end of the journey. Though frequently lost in the labyrinth of +creeks and marshes which skirt the southern coast of his country, +the author's difficulties were greatly lessened by the use of the +valuable and elaborate charts of the United States Coast Survey +Bureau, to the faithful executers of which he desires to give +unqualified and grateful praise. + +To an unknown wanderer among the creeks, rivers, and sounds of the +coast, the courteous treatment of the Southern people was most +gratifying. The author can only add to this expression an extract +from his reply to the address of the Mayor of St. Mary's, Georgia, +which city honored him with an ovation and presentation of flags +after the completion of his voyage: + + "Since my little paper canoe entered southern waters upon her + geographical errand,--from the capes of the Delaware to your + beautiful St. Mary's,--I have been deeply sensible of the value + of Southern hospitality. The oystermen and fishermen living + along the lonely beaches of the eastern shore of Maryland and + Virginia; the surfmen and light-house keepers of Albemarle, + Pamplico, and Core sounds, in North Carolina; the ground-nut + planters who inhabit the uplands that skirt the network of + creeks, marshes, ponds, and sounds from Bogue Inlet to Cape + Fear; the piny-woods people, lumbermen, and turpentine + distillers on the little bluffs that jut into the fastnesses + of the great swamps of the crooked Waccamaw River; the + representatives of the once powerful rice-planting aristocracy + of the Santee and Peedee rivers; the colored men of the + beautiful sea-islands along the coast of Georgia; the Floridians + living between the St. Mary's River and the Suwanee--the wild + river of song; the islanders on the Gulf of Mexico where I + terminated my long journey;--all have contributed to make the + 'Voyage of the Paper Canoe' a success." + +After returning from this paper-canoe voyage, the author embarked alone, +December 2, 1875, in a cedar duck-boat twelve feet in length, from the +head of the Ohio River, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and followed the +Ohio and Mississippi rivers over two thousand miles to New Orleans, +where he made a portage through that city eastwardly to Lake +Pontchartrain, and rowed along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico six or +seven hundred miles, to Cedar Keys, Florida, the terminus of his +paper-canoe voyage. + +While on these two voyages, the author rowed over five thousand miles, +meeting with but one accident, the overturning of his canoe in Delaware +Bay. He returned to his home with his boats in good condition, and his +note-books, charts, &c., in an excellent state of preservation. + +At the request of the "Board on behalf of the United States Executive +Department" of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, the paper +canoe "Maria Theresa," and the cedar duck-boat "Centennial Republic," +were deposited in the Smithsonian Department of the United States +Government building, during the summer and fall of 1876. + +The maps, which show the route followed by the paper canoe, have been +drawn and engraved by contract at the United States Coast Survey Bureau, +and are on a scale of 1/1.500,000. As the work is based on the results +of actual surveys, these maps may be considered, for their size, the +most complete of the United States coast ever presented to the public. + +Much credit is due to Messrs. Waud and Merrill for the artistic results +of their pencils, and to Messrs. John Andrew & Son for their skill in +engraving the illustrations. + +To the readers of the author's first book of travels, "The Pampas and +Andes: a Thousand Miles' Walk across South America," which journey was +undertaken when he was but seventeen years of age, the writer would say +that their many kind and appreciative letters have prompted him to send +forth this second book of travels--the "Voyage of the Paper Canoe." + + LAKE GEORGE, WARREN COUNTY, N. Y., + JANUARY 1, 1878. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE APPROACHES TO THE WATER-WAY OF THE +CONTINENT. + +ISLAND OF ST. PAUL.--THE PORTALS OF THE GULF OF +ST. LAWRENCE.--THE EXTINCT AUK.--ANTICOSTI +ISLAND.--ICEBERGS.--SAILORS' SUPERSTITIONS.--THE +ESTUARY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.--TADOUSAC.--THE +SAGUENAY RIVER.--WHITE WHALES.--QUEBEC. 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM QUEBEC TO SOREL. + +THE WATER-WAY INTO THE CONTINENT.--THE WESTERN AND +THE SOUTHERN ROUTE TO THE GULF OF MEXICO.--THE +MAYETA.--COMMENCEMENT OF THE VOYAGE.--ASCENT OF +THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE.--LAKE OF ST. PETER.--ACADIAN +TOWN OF SOREL. 12 + + +CHAPTER III. + +FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER TO TICONDEROGA, +LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + +THE RICHELIEU RIVER.--ACADIAN SCENES.--ST. OURS.--ST. +ANTOINE.--ST. MARKS.--BELOEIL.--CHAMBLY CANAL.--ST. +JOHNS.--LAKE CHAMPLAIN.--THE GREAT SHIP CANAL.--DAVID +BODFISH'S CAMP.--THE ADIRONDACK SURVEY.--A +CANVAS BOAT.--DIMENSIONS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.--PORT +KENT.--AUSABLE CHASM.--ARRIVAL AT TICONDEROGA. 22 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FROM LAKES GEORGE AND CHAMPLAIN TO THE +HUDSON RIVER. + +THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE GEORGE BY FATHER +JOGUES.--A PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY.--THE HERMIT OF THE +NARROWS.--CONVENT OF ST. MARY'S OF THE LAKE.--THE +PAULIST FATHERS.--CANAL ROUTE FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN +TO ALBANY.--BODFISH RETURNS TO THE JERSEY.--THE +LITTLE FLEET IN ITS HAVEN OF REST. 42 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE AMERICAN PAPER BOAT AND ENGLISH CANOES. + +THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE PAPER BOAT.--THE +HISTORY OF THE ADOPTION OF PAPER FOR BOATS.--A +BOY'S INGENUITY.--THE PROCESS OF BUILDING PAPER BOATS +DESCRIBED.--COLLEGE CLUBS ADOPTING THEM.--THE GREAT +VICTORIES WON BY PAPER OVER WOODEN SHELLS IN 1876. 57 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FROM TROY TO PHILADELPHIA. + +PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA.--THE START.--THE DESCENT +OF THE HUDSON RIVER.--CROSSING THE UPPER BAY OF NEW +YORK.--PASSAGE OF THE KILLS.--RARITAN RIVER.--THE +CANAL ROUTE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO THE DELAWARE +RIVER.--FROM BORDENTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA. 71 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +FROM PHILADELPHIA TO CAPE HENLOPEN. + +DESCENT OF DELAWARE RIVER.--MY FIRST CAMP.--BOMBAY +HOOK.--MURDERKILL CREEK.--A STORM IN DELAWARE +BAY.--CAPSIZING OF THE CANOE.--A SWIM FOR LIFE.--THE +PERSIMMON GROVE.--WILLOW GROVE INN.--THE +LIGHTS OF CAPES MAY AND HENLOPEN. 98 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FROM CAPE HENLOPEN TO NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. + +THE PORTAGE TO LOVE CREEK.--THE DELAWARE +WHIPPING-POST.--REHOBOTH AND INDIAN RIVER +BAYS.--A PORTAGE TO LITTLE ASSAWAMAN +BAY.--ISLE OF WIGHT BAY.--WINCHESTER +PLANTATION.--CHINCOTEAGUE.--WATCHAPREAGUE +INLET.--COBB'S ISLAND.--CHERRYSTONE.--ARRIVAL +AT NORFOLK.--THE "LANDMARK'S" ENTERPRISE. 114 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FROM NORFOLK TO CAPE HATTERAS. + +THE ELIZABETH RIVER.--THE CANAL.--NORTH LANDING +RIVER.--CURRITUCK SOUND.--ROANOKE ISLAND.--VISIT +TO BODY ISLAND LIGHT-HOUSE.--A ROMANCE OF +HISTORY.--PAMPLICO SOUND.--THE PAPER CANOE +ARRIVES AT CAPE HATTERAS. 148 + + +CHAPTER X. + +FROM CAPE HATTERAS TO CAPE FEAR, NORTH +CAROLINA. + +CAPE HATTERAS LIGHT.--HABITS OF BIRDS.--STORM +AT HATTERAS INLET.--MILES OF WRECKS.--THE YACHT +JULIA SEARCHING FOR THE PAPER CANOE.--CHASED BY +PORPOISES.--MARSH TACKIES.--OCRACOKE INLET.--A +GRAVEYARD BEING SWALLOWED UP BY THE SEA.--CORE +SOUND.--THREE WEDDINGS AT HUNTING QUARTERS.--MOREHEAD +CITY.--NEWBERN.--SWANSBORO.--A PEA-NUT +PLANTATION.--THE ROUTE TO CAPE FEAR. 180 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FROM CAPE FEAR TO CHARLESTON, SOUTH +CAROLINA. + +A PORTAGE TO LAKE WACCAMAW.--SUBMERGED SWAMPS.--NIGHT +AT A TURPENTINE DISTILLERY.--A DISMAL WILDERNESS.--OWLS +AND MISTLETOE.--CRACKERS AND NEGROES.--ACROSS THE SOUTH +CAROLINA LINE.--A CRACKER'S IDEA OF HOSPITALITY.--POT +BLUFF.--PEEDEE RIVER.--GEORGETOWN.--WINYAH BAY.--THE +RICE PLANTATIONS OF THE SANTEE RIVERS.--A NIGHT WITH +THE SANTEE NEGROES.--ARRIVAL AT CHARLESTON. 216 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +FROM CHARLESTON TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. + +THE INTERIOR WATER ROUTE TO JEHOSSEE ISLAND.--GOVERNOR +AIKEN'S MODEL RICE PLANTATION.--LOST IN THE HORNS.--ST. +HELENA SOUND.--LOST IN THE NIGHT.--THE PHANTOM SHIP.--THE +FINLANDER'S WELCOME.--A NIGHT ON THE EMPEROR'S OLD +YACHT.--THE PHOSPHATE MINES.--COOSAW AND BROAD +RIVERS--PORT ROYAL SOUND AND CALIBOGUE SOUND.--CUFFY'S +HOME.--ARRIVAL IN GEORGIA.--RECEPTIONS AT GREENWICH +SHOOTING-PARK. 261 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FROM THE SAVANNAH RIVER TO FLORIDA. + +ROUTE TO THE SEA ISLANDS OF GEORGIA.--STORM-BOUND +ON GREEN ISLAND.--OSSABAW ISLAND.--ST. CATHERINE'S +SOUND.--SAPELO ISLAND.--THE MUD OF MUD RIVER.--NIGHT +IN A NEGRO CABIN.--"DE SHOUTINGS" ON DOBOY +ISLAND.--BROUGHTON ISLAND.--ST. SIMON'S AND JEKYL +ISLANDS.--INTERVIEW WITH AN ALLIGATOR.--A NIGHT +IN JOINTER HAMMOCK.--CUMBERLAND ISLAND AND ST. +MARY'S RIVER.--FAREWELL TO THE SEA. 291 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ST. MARY'S RIVER AND THE SUWANEE WILDERNESS. + +A PORTAGE TO DUTTON.--DESCENT OF THE ST. MARY'S +RIVER.--FÊTE GIVEN BY THE CITIZENS TO THE PAPER +CANOE.--THE PROPOSED CANAL ROUTE ACROSS FLORIDA.--A +PORTAGE TO THE SUWANEE RIVER.--A NEGRO SPEAKS +ON ELECTRICITY AND THE TELEGRAPH.--A FREEDMAN'S +SERMON. 313 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DOWN UPON THE SUWANEE RIVER. + +THE RICH FOLIAGE OF THE RIVER.--COLUMBUS.--ROLINS' +BLUFF.--OLD TOWN HAMMOCK.--A HUNTER KILLED BY +A PANTHER.--DANGEROUS SERPENTS.--CLAY LANDING.--THE +MARSHES OF THE COAST.--BRADFORD'S ISLAND.--MY +LAST CAMP.--THE VOYAGE ENDED. 334 + + + + +LIST OF MAPS + +DRAWN AND ENGRAVED AT THE +UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY BUREAU +FOR THE "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE." + + PAGE + + 1. GENERAL MAP OF ROUTES FOLLOWED BY THE AUTHOR + DURING TWO VOYAGES MADE TO THE GULF OF MEXICO, Opposite 1 + + * * * * * + +GUIDE MAPS OF CANOE ROUTE. + + 2. FROM QUEBEC, CANADA, TO PLATTSBURGH, NEW YORK + STATE, 12 + + 3. FROM PLATTSBURGH TO ALBANY, 42 + + 4. FROM ALBANY TO NEW YORK CITY, 71 + + 5. FROM NEW YORK CITY TO CAPE HENLOPEN, DELAWARE, 98 + + 6. FROM CAPE HENLOPEN, DELAWARE, TO NORFOLK, + VIRGINIA, 114 + + 7. FROM NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, TO BOGUE INLET, NORTH + CAROLINA, 148 + + 8. FROM BOGUE INLET, NORTH CAROLINA, TO BULL'S + BAY, SOUTH CAROLINA, 180 + + 9. FROM BULL'S BAY, SOUTH CAROLINA, TO ST. SIMON'S + SOUND, GEORGIA, 261 + +10. FROM ST. SIMON'S SOUND, GEORGIA, TO CEDAR KEYS, + FLORIDA, 317 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + +ENGRAVED BY JOHN ANDREW & SON. + + PAGE + +HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR. (Frontispiece.) + +GREAT AUK (_Alca impennis_). Extinct. 11 + +ANCHORED AT LAST, 56 + +A FULL-RIGGED NAUTILUS CANOE, 57 + +THE ROB ROY CANOE, 68 + +THE ABORIGINAL TYPE, 74 + + * * * * * + +Photographed at Disco, Greenland. + +THE IMPROVED TYPE.--PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA, 74 + +A CAPSIZE IN DELAWARE BAY, 108 + +DELAWARE WHIPPING-POST AND PILLORY, 147 + +BODY ISLAND LIGHT HOUSE, 179 + +CROSSING HATTERAS INLET, 190 + +RECEPTION AT CHARLESTON POST-OFFICE, 259 + +THE PANTHER'S LEAP, 345 + +THE VOYAGE ENDED, 351 + + + + +[Illustration: General Map of Routes followed by the Author during two +Voyages made to the Gulf of Mexico. + +MAP OF ROUTES FOLLOWED BY N. H. BISHOP IN PAPER CANOE +"MARIA THERESA" AND DUCK BOAT "CENTENNIAL REPUBLIC" 1874-1876 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + + + + +VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE APPROACHES TO THE WATER-WAY OF THE CONTINENT. + +ISLAND OF ST. PAUL.--THE PORTALS OF THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE.--THE +EXTINCT AUK.--ANTICOSTI ISLAND.--ICEBERGS.--SAILORS' SUPERSTITIONS.--THE +ESTUARY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.--TADOUSAC.--THE SAGUENAY RIVER.--WHITE +WHALES.--QUEBEC. + + +While on his passage to the ports of the St. Lawrence River, the mariner +first sights the little island of St. Paul, situated in the waste of +waters between Cape Ray, the southwestern point of Newfoundland on the +north, and Cape North, the northeastern projection of Cape Breton Island +on the south. Across this entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence from cape +to cape is a distance of fifty-four nautical miles; and about twelve +miles east-northeast from Cape North the island of St. Paul, with its +three hills and two light-towers, rises from the sea with deep waters on +every side. + +This wide inlet into the gulf may be called the middle portal, for at +the northern end of Newfoundland, between the great island and the coast +of Labrador, another entrance exists, which is known as the Straits of +Belle Isle, and is sometimes called "the shorter passage from England." +Still to the south of the middle entrance is another and a very narrow +one, known as the Gut of Canso, which separates the island of Cape +Breton from Nova Scotia. Through this contracted thoroughfare the tides +run with great force. + +One hundred years ago, as the seaman approached the dangerous entrance +of St. Paul, now brightened at night by its light-towers, his heart was +cheered by the sight of immense flocks of a peculiar sea-fowl, now +extinct. When he saw upon the water the Great Auk (_Alca impennis_), +which he ignorantly called "a pengwin," he knew that land was near at +hand, for while he met other species far out upon the broad Atlantic, +the Great Auk, his "pengwin," kept near the coast. Not only was this now +extinct bird his indicator of proximity to the land, but so strange were +its habits, and so innocent was its nature, that it permitted itself to +be captured by boat-loads; and thus were the ships re-victualled at +little cost or trouble. Without any market-value a century ago, the +Great Auk now, as a stuffed skin, represents a value of fifteen hundred +dollars in gold. There are but seventy-two specimens of this bird in +the museums of Europe and America, besides a few skeletons, and +sixty-five of its eggs. It was called in ancient days Gare-fowl, and was +the _Geirfugl_ of the Icelander. + +Captain Whitbourne, who wrote in the reign of James the First, quaintly +said: "These Pengwins are as bigge as Geese, and flye not, for they have +but a little short wing, and they multiply so infinitely upon a certain +flat island that men drive them from thence upon a board into their +boats by hundreds at a time, as if God had made the innocency of so +poor a creature to become such an admerable instrument for the +sustenation of man." + +In a copy of the English Pilot, "fourth book," published in 1761, which +I presented to the library of the United States Coast Survey, is found +this early description of this now extinct American bird: "They never go +beyond the bank [Newfoundland] as others do, for they are always on it, +or in it, several of them together, sometimes more but never less than +two together. They are large fowls, about the size of a goose, a +coal-black head and back, with a white belly and a milk-white spot +under one of their eyes, which nature has ordered to be under their +right eye." + +Thus has the greed of the sailor and pot-hunter swept from the face +of the earth an old pilot--a trusty aid to navigation. Now the +light-house, the fog-gun, and the improved chart have taken the place +of the extinct auk as aids to navigation, and the sailor of to-day sees +the bright flashes of St. Paul's lights when nearly twenty miles at sea. +Having passed the little isle, the ship enters the great Gulf of St. +Lawrence, and passes the Magdalen Islands, shaping its course as wind +and weather permit towards the dreaded, rocky coast of Anticosti. From +the entrance of the gulf to the island of Anticosti the course to be +followed is northwesterly about one hundred and thirty-five nautical +miles. The island which divides an upper arm of the gulf into two wide +channels is one hundred and twenty-three miles long, and from ten to +thirty miles wide. Across the entrance of this great arm, or estuary, +from the high cape of Gaspé on the southern shore of the mainland to +Anticosti in the narrowest place, is a distance of about forty miles, +and is called the South Channel. From the north side of the island and +near its west end to the coast of Labrador the North Channel is fifteen +miles wide. The passage from St. Paul to Anticosti is at times +dangerous. Here is an area of strong currents, tempestuous winds, and +dense fogs. When the wind is fair for an upward run, it is _the_ wind +which usually brings misty weather. Then, from the icy regions of the +Arctic circle, from the Land of Desolation, come floating through the +Straits of Belle Isle the dangerous bergs and ice-fields. Early in the +spring these ice rafts are covered with colonies of seals which resort +to them for the purpose of giving birth to their young. On these icy +cradles, rocked by the restless waves, tens of thousands of young seals +are nursed for a few days; then, answering the loud calls of their +mothers, they accompany them into the briny deep, there to follow the +promptings of their instincts. The loud roarings of the old seals on +these ice rafts can be heard in a quiet night for several miles, and +strike terror into the heart of the superstitious sailor who is ignorant +of the origin of the tumult. + +Frequently dense fogs cover the water, and while slowly moving along, +guided only by the needle, a warning sound alarms the watchful master. +Through the heavy mists comes the roar of breaking waters. He listens. +The dull, swashy noise of waves meeting with resistance is now plainly +heard. The atmosphere becomes suddenly chilled: it is the breath of +the iceberg! + +Then the shrill cry of "All hands on deck!" startles the watch below +from the bunks. Anxiously now does the whole ship's company lean upon +the weather-rail and peer out into the thick air with an earnestness +born of terror. "Surely," says the master to his mate, "I am past the +Magdalens, and still far from Anticosti, yet we have breakers; which +way can we turn?" The riddle solves itself, for out of the gloom come +whitened walls, beautiful but terrible to behold. + +Those terror-stricken sailors watch the slowly moving berg as it drifts +past their vessel, fearing that their own ship will be drawn towards it +from the peculiar power of attraction they believe the iceberg to +possess. And as they watch, against the icy base of the mountain in the +sea the waves beat and break as if expending their forces upon a rocky +shore. Down the furrowed sides of the disintegrating berg streamlets +trickle, and miniature cascades leap, mingling their waters with the +briny sea. The intruder slowly drifts out of sight, disappearing in the +gloom, while the sailor thanks his lucky stars that he has rid himself +of another danger. The ill-omened Anticosti, the graveyard of many +seamen, is yet to be passed. The ship skirts along its southern shore, +a coast destitute of bays or harbors of any kind, rock-bound and +inhospitable. + +Wrecks of vessels strew the rocky shores, and four light-houses warn +the mariner of danger. Once past the island the ship is well within +the estuary of the gulf into which the St. Lawrence River flows, +contributing the waters of the great lakes of the continent to the +sea. As the north coast is approached the superstitious sailor is +again alarmed if, perchance, the compass-needle shows sympathy with +some disturbing element, the cause of which he believes to exist in +the mountains which rise along the shore. He repeats the stories of +ancient skippers, of vessels having been lured out of their course +by the deviation of the guiding-needle, which succumbed to the potent +influence exerted in those hills of iron ore; heeding not the fact +that the disturbing agent is the iron on board of his own ship, and +not the magnetic oxide of the distant mines. + +The ship being now within the estuary of the St. Lawrence River, must +encounter many risks before she reaches the true mouth of the river, +at the Bic Islands. + +The shores along this arm of the gulf are wild and sombre. Rocky +precipices frown upon the swift tidal current that rushes past their +bases. A few small settlements of fishermen and pilots, like Metis, +Father Point, and Rimousky, are discovered at long intervals along +the coast. + +In these St. Lawrence hamlets, and throughout Lower Canada, a patois is +spoken which is unintelligible to the Londoner or Parisian; and these +villagers, the descendants of the French colonists, may be said to be a +people destitute of a written language, and strangers to a literature. + +While holding a commission from Francis the First, king of France, +Jacques Cartier discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, during his first +voyage of exploration in the new world. He entered the gulf on St. +Lawrence's day, in the spring of 1534, and named it in honor of the +event. Cartier explored no farther to the west than about the mouth of +the estuary which is divided by the island of Anticosti. It was during +his second voyage, in the following year, that he discovered and +explored the great river. Of the desolate shores of Labrador, on the +north coast, he said, "It might as well as not be taken for the country +assigned by God to Cain." + +The distance from Quebec to Cape Gaspé, measured upon a course which a +steamer would be compelled to take, is four hundred and seven statute +miles. The ship first enters the current of the river St. Lawrence at +the two Bic Islands, where it has a width of about twenty miles. By +consulting most maps the reader will find that geographers carry the +_river_ nearly two hundred miles beyond its usual current. In fact, +they appropriate the whole estuary, which, in places, is nearly one +hundred miles in width, and call it a river--a river which lacks the +characteristics of a river, the currents of which vary with the winds +and tidal influences, and the waters of which are as salt as those of +the briny deep. + +Here, in the mouth of the river, at the Bics, secure anchorage for +vessels may be found; but below, in the estuary, for a distance of more +than two hundred and forty-five miles, to Gaspé, there is but one port +of refuge, that of Seven Islands, on the north coast. + +As the ship ascends the river from Bic Islands, a passage of about one +hundred and sixty statute miles to Quebec, she struggles against a +strong current. Picturesque islands and little villages, such as St. +André, St. Anne, St. Rogue, St. Jean, and St. Thomas, relieve the +monotony. But very different is the winter aspect of this river, when +closed to navigation by ice from November until spring. Of the many +tributaries which give strength to the current of the St. Lawrence and +contribute to its glory, the Saguenay River with its remarkable scenery +is counted one of the wonders of our continent. It joins the great river +from the north shore, about one hundred and thirty-four statute miles +below Quebec. Upon the left bank, at its mouth, nestles the little +village of Tadousac, the summer retreat of the governor-general of the +Dominion of Canada. + +American history claims for the Roman Catholic church of this settlement +an age second only to that of the old Spanish cathedral at St. +Augustine, Florida. For three hundred years the storms of winter have +beaten upon its walls, but it stands a silent yet eloquent monument of +the pious zeal of the ancient Fathers, who came to conquer Satan in the +wilderness of a new world. The Saguenay has become the "Mecca" of +northern tourists, ever attracting them with its wild and fascinating +scenery. Capes Eternity and Trinity guard the entrance to Eternity Bay. +The first towers sublimely to a height of eighteen hundred feet, the +other is only a little lower. A visit to this mysterious river, with its +deep, dark waters and picturesque views, will repay the traveller for +the discomforts of a long and expensive journey. + +Where the turbulent current of the Saguenay mingles angrily with that of +the St. Lawrence, there may be seen disporting in the waves the white +whale of aquariums, which is not a whale at all, but a true porpoise +(_Delphinopterus catodon_, as he is now called by naturalists), having +teeth in the jaws, and being destitute of the fringed bone of the +whalebone whales. This interesting creature is very abundant in the +Arctic Ocean on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides, and has its +southern limits in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, although one is +occasionally seen in the Bay of Fundy, and it is reported to +have been observed about Cape Cod, on the Massachusetts coast. + +As the ship nears the first great port of the St. Lawrence River, the +large and well cultivated island of Orleans is passed, and the bold +fortifications of Quebec, high up on the face of Point Diamond, and +flanked by the houses of the French city, break upon the vision of the +mariner. To the right, and below the city, which Champlain founded, +and in which his unknown ashes repose, are the beautiful Falls of +Montmorency, gleaming in all the whiteness of their falling waters and +mists, like the bridal veil of a giantess. The vessel has safely made +her passage, and now comes to anchor in the Basin of Quebec. The sails +are furled, and the heart of the sailor is merry, for the many dangers +which beset the ship while approaching and entering the great water-way +of the continent are now over. + +[Illustration: GREAT AUK.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM QUEBEC TO SOREL. + +THE WATER-WAY INTO THE CONTINENT.--THE WESTERN AND THE SOUTHERN ROUTE TO +THE GULF OF MEXICO.--THE MAYETA.--COMMENCEMENT OF THE VOYAGE.--ASCENT OF +THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE.--LAKE OF ST. PETER.--ACADIAN TOWN OF SOREL. + +[Illustration: From Quebec, Canada, to Plattsburgh, New York State. + +Route of CANOE MAYETA From Quebec Canada to Plattsburgh +N.Y. via St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers Followed by N. H. Bishop +in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + + +The canoe traveller can ascend the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario, +avoiding the rapids and shoals by making use of seven canals of a total +length of forty-seven miles. He may then skirt the shores of Lake +Ontario, and enter Lake Erie by the canal which passes around the +celebrated Falls of Niagara. From the last great inland sea he can visit +lakes Huron, Michigan, and, with the assistance of a short canal, the +grandest of all, Superior. When he has reached the town of Duluth, at +the southwestern end of Superior, which is the terminus of the Northern +Pacific Railroad, our traveller will have paddled (following the +contours of the land) over two thousand miles from salt water into the +American continent without having been compelled to make a portage with +his little craft. Let him now make his first portage westward, over +the railroad one hundred and fifteen miles from Duluth, to the +crossing of the Mississippi River at Brainerd, and launch his boat on +the Father of Waters, which he may descend with but few interruptions to +below the Falls of St. Anthony, at Minneapolis; or, if he will take his +boat by rail from Duluth, one hundred and fifty-five miles, to St. Paul, +he can launch his canoe, and follow the steamboat to the Gulf of Mexico. +This is the longest, and may be called the canoeist's western route to +the great Southern Sea. In St. Louis County, Minnesota, the water from +"Seven Beaver Lakes" flows south-southwest, and joins the Flood-Wood +River; there taking an easterly course towards Duluth, it empties into +Lake Superior. This is the St. Louis River, the first tributary of the +mighty St. Lawrence system. From the head waters of the St. Louis to the +mouth of the St. Lawrence at Bic Islands, where it enters the great +estuary, the length of this great water system, including the great +Lakes, is about two thousand miles. The area thus drained by the St. +Lawrence River is nearly six millions of square miles. The largest craft +can ascend it to Quebec, and smaller ones to Montreal; above which city, +navigation being impeded by rapids, the seven canals before mentioned +have been constructed that vessels may avoid this danger while voyaging +to Lake Ontario. + +The southern and shorter coast route to the gulf leaves the great river +at the Acadian town of Sorel, where the quiet Richelieu flows into the +St. Lawrence River. Of the two long routes offered me I selected the +southern, leaving the other to be traversed at some future time. To +follow the contours of rivers, bays, and sounds, a voyage of at least +twenty-five hundred miles was before me. It was my intention to explore +the connecting watercourses southward, without making a single portage, +as far as Cape Henlopen, a sandy headland at the entrance of Delaware +Bay; there, by making short portages from one watercourse to another, to +navigate along the interior of the Atlantic coast to the St. Mary's +River, which is a dividing line between Georgia and Florida. From the +Atlantic coast of southern Georgia, I proposed to cross the peninsula of +Florida by way of the St. Mary's River, to Okefenokee Swamp; thence, by +portage, to the Suwanee River, and by descending that stream (the +boundary line of a geographical division--eastern and middle Florida), +to reach the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which was to be the terminal +point of my canoe journey. Charts, maps, and sea-faring men had informed +me that about twenty-three hundred miles of the trip could be made upon +land-locked waters, but about two hundred miles of voyaging must be done +upon the open Atlantic Ocean. + +As I now write, I smilingly remember how erroneous were my advisers; +for, while prosecuting my voyage, I was but once upon the open sea, and +then through mistake and for only a few minutes. Had I then known that I +could have followed the whole route in a small boat upon strictly +interior waters, I should have paddled from the Basin of Quebec in the +light paper canoe which I afterwards adopted at Troy, and which carried +me alone in safety two thousand miles to the warm regions of the Gulf of +Mexico. The counsels of old seamen had influenced me to adopt a large +wooden clinker-built, decked canoe, eighteen feet long, forty-five +inches beam, and twenty-four inches depth of hold, which weighed, with +oars, rudder, mast and sail, above three hundred pounds. The Mayeta was +built by an excellent workman, Mr. J. S. Lamson, at Bordentown, New +Jersey. The boat was sharp at each end, and the lines from amidships to +stem, and from amidships to sternpost, were alike. She possessed that +essential characteristic of seaworthiness, abundant sheer. The deck was +pierced for a cockpit in the centre, which was six feet long and +surrounded by a high combing to keep out water. The builder had done his +best to make the Mayeta serve for rowing and sailing--a most difficult +combination, and one not usually successful. + +On the morning of July 4, 1874, I entered the Basin of Quebec with my +wooden canoe and my waterman, one David Bodfish, a "shoreman" of New +Jersey. After weeks of preparation and weary travel by rail and by +water, we had steamed up the Gulf and the River of St. Lawrence to this +our most northern point of departure. We viewed the frowning heights +upon which was perched the city of Quebec with unalloyed pleasure, and +eagerly scrambled up the high banks to see the interesting old city. The +tide, which rises at the city piers eighteen feet in the spring, during +the neaps reaches only thirteen feet. Late in the afternoon the incoming +tide promised to assist us in ascending the river, the downward current +of which runs with torrent-like velocity, and with a depth abreast the +city of from sixteen to twenty fathoms. Against this current powerful +steamers run one hundred and eighty miles up the river to Montreal in +eighteen hours, and descend in fourteen hours, including two hours' +stoppages at Sorel and Three Rivers. At six o'clock P. M. we pushed off +into the river, which is about two-thirds of a mile wide at this point, +and commenced our voyage; but fierce gusts of wind arose and drove us to +the shelter of Mr. Hamilton's lumber-yard on the opposite shore, where +we passed the night, sleeping comfortably upon cushions which we spread +on the narrow floor of the boat. Sunday was to be spent in camp; but +when dawn appeared we were not allowed to build a fire on the lumber +pier, and were forced to ascend the St. Lawrence in quest of a retired +spot above the landing of St. Croix, on the right bank of the river. The +tide had been a high one when we beached our boat at the foot of a +bluff. Two hours later the receding tide left us a quarter of a mile +from the current. The river was fully two miles wide at this point, and +so powerful was its current that steamers anchored in it were obliged to +keep their wheels slowly revolving to ease the strain on their anchors. +Early on Monday morning we beheld with consternation that the tide did +not reach our boat, and by dint of hard labor we constructed a railroad +from a neighboring fence, and moved the Mayeta on rollers upon it over +the mud and the projecting reef of rocks some five hundred feet to the +water, then embarking, rowed close along the shore to avoid the current. +A deep fog settled down upon us, and we were driven to camp again on the +left bank, where a cataract tumbled over the rocks fifty or more feet. +Tuesday was a sunny day, but the usual head wind greeted us. The water +would rise along-shore on the flood three hours before the downward +current was checked in the channel of the river. We could not place any +dependence in the regularity of the tides, as strong winds and freshets +in the tributaries influence them. Earlier in the season, as a writer +remarks, "until the upland waters have all run down, and the great +rivers have discharged the freshets caused by thawing of the snows in +the spring of the year, this current, in spite of tides, will always run +down." To the uninitiated the spectacle is a curious one, of the flood +tide rising and swelling the waters of a great river some eight to ten +feet, while the current at the surface is rapidly descending the course +of the stream. + +Finding that the wind usually rose and fell with the sun, we now made it +a rule to anchor our boat during most of the day and pull against the +current at night. The moon and the bright auroral lights made this task +an agreeable one. Then, too, we had Coggia's comet speeding through the +northern heavens, awakening many an odd conjecture in the mind of my old +salt. + +In this high latitude day dawned before three o'clock, and the twilight +lingered so long that we could read the fine print of a newspaper +without effort at a quarter to nine o'clock P. M. The lofty shores that +surrounded us at Quebec gradually decreased in elevation, and the tides +affected the river less and less as we approached Three Rivers, where +they seemed to cease altogether. We reached the great lumber station of +Three Rivers, which is located on the left bank of the St. Lawrence, on +Friday evening, and moved our canoe into quiet waters near the entrance +of Lake of St. Peter. Rain squalls kept us close under our hatch-cloth +till eleven o'clock A. M. on Saturday, when, the wind being fair, we +determined to make an attempt to reach Sorel, which would afford us a +pleasant camping-ground for Sunday. + +Lake of St. Peter is a shoal sheet of water twenty-two miles long and +nearly eight miles wide, a bad place to cross in a small boat in windy +weather. We set our sail and sped merrily on, but the tempest pressed us +sorely, compelling us to take in our sail and scud under bare poles +until one o'clock, when we double-reefed and set the sail. We now flew +over the short and swashy seas as blast after blast struck our little +craft. At three o'clock the wind slackened, permitting us to shake out +our reefs and crowd on all sail. A labyrinth of islands closed the lake +at its western end, and we looked with anxiety to find among them an +opening through which we might pass into the river St. Lawrence again. +At five o'clock the wind veered to the north, with squalls increasing in +intensity. We steered for a low, grassy island, which seemed to separate +us from the river. The wind was not free enough to permit us to weather +it, so we decided to beach the boat and escape the furious tempest. But +when we struck the marshy island we kept moving on through the rushes +that covered it, and fairly sailed over its submerged soil into the +broad water on the other side. Bodfish earnestly advised the propriety +of anchoring here for the night, saying, "It is too rough to go on;" but +the temptation held out by the proximity to Sorel determined me to take +the risk and drive on. Again we bounded out upon rough water, with the +screeching tempest upon us. David took the tiller, while I sat upon the +weather-rail to steady the boat. The Mayeta was now to be put to a +severe test; she was to cross seas that could easily trip a boat of her +size; but the wooden canoe was worthy of her builder, and flew like an +affrighted bird over the foaming waves across the broad water, to the +shelter of a wooded, half submerged island, out of which rose, on piles, +a little light-house. Under this lee we crept along in safety. The sail +was furled, never to be used in storm again. The wind went down with the +sinking sun, and a delightful calm favored us for our row up the +narrowing river, eight miles to the place of destination. + +Soon after nine o'clock we came upon the Acadian town, Sorel, with its +bright lights cheerily flashing out upon us as we rowed past its river +front. The prow of our canoe was now pointed southward toward the goal +of our ambition, the great Mexican Gulf; and we were about to ascend +that historic stream, the lovely Richelieu, upon whose gentle current, +two hundred and sixty-six years before, Champlain had ascended to the +noble lake which bears his name, and up which the missionary Jogues had +been carried an unwilling captive to bondage and to torture. + +We ascended the Richelieu, threading our way among steam-tugs, +canal-boats, and rafts, to a fringe of rushes growing out of a shallow +flat on the left bank of the river, just above the town. There, firmly +staking the Mayeta upon her soft bed of mud, secure from danger, we +enjoyed a peaceful rest through the calm night which followed; and thus +ended the rough passage of one week's duration--from Quebec to Sorel. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER TO TICONDEROGA, LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + +THE RICHELIEU RIVER.--ACADIAN SCENES.--ST. OURS.--ST. ANTOINE.--ST. +MARKS.--BELOEIL.--CHAMBLY CANAL.--ST. JOHNS.--LAKE CHAMPLAIN.--THE +GREAT SHIP-CANAL.--DAVID BODFISH'S CAMP.--THE ADIRONDACK SURVEY.--A +CANVAS BOAT.--DIMENSIONS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.--PORT KENT.--AUSABLE +CHASM.--ARRIVAL AT TICONDEROGA. + + +Quebec was founded by Champlain, July 3, 1680. During his first warlike +expedition into the land of the Iroquois the following year, escorted by +Algonquin and Montagnais Indian allies, he ascended a river to which was +afterwards given the name of Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister of Louis +XIII. of France. This stream, which is about eighty miles long, connects +the lake (which Champlain discovered and named after himself) with the +St. Lawrence River at a point one hundred and forty miles above Quebec, +and forty miles below Montreal. The waters of lakes George and Champlain +flow northward, through the Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence. The +former stream flows through a cultivated country, and upon its banks, +after leaving Sorel, are situate the little towns of St. Ours, St. +Rock, St. Denis, St. Antoine, St. Marks, Beloeil, Chambly, and St. +Johns. Small steamers, tug-boats, and rafts pass from the St. Lawrence +to Lake Champlain (which lies almost wholly within the United States), +following the Richelieu to Chambly, where it is necessary, to avoid +rapids and shoals, to take the canal that follows the river's bank +twelve miles to St. Johns, where the Canadian custom-house is located. +Sorel is called William Henry by the Anglo-Saxon Canadians. The paper +published in this town of seven thousand inhabitants is _La Gazette de +Sorel_. The river which flows past the town is called, without +authority, by some geographers, Sorel River, and by others St. Johns, +because the town nearest its source is St. Johns, and another town at +its mouth is Sorel. There are about one hundred English-speaking +families in Sorel. The American Waterhouse Machinery supplies the town +with water pumped from the river at a cost of one ton of coal per day. +At ten o'clock on Monday morning we resumed our journey up the +Richelieu, the current of which was nothing compared with that of the +great river we had left. The average width of the stream was about a +quarter of a mile, and the grassy shores were made picturesque by +groves of trees and quaintly constructed farm-houses. + +It was a rich, pastoral land, abounding in fine herds of cattle. The +country reminded me of the Acadian region of Grand Pré, which I had +visited during the earlier part of the season. Here, as there, were +delightful pastoral scenes and rich verdure; but here we still had the +Acadian peasants, while in the land of beautiful Evangeline no longer +were they to be found. The New Englander now holds the titles to those +deserted old farms of the scattered colonists. Our rowing was frequently +interrupted by heavy showers, which drove us under our hatch-cloth for +protection. The same large, two-steepled stone churches, with their +unpainted tin roofs glistening like silver in the sunlight, marked +out here, as on the high banks of the St. Lawrence River, the site +of a village. + +Twelve miles of rowing brought us to St. Ours, where we rested for the +night, after wandering through its shaded and quaint streets. The +village boys and girls came down to see us off the next morning, waving +their kerchiefs, and shouting "_Bon voyage!_" Two miles above the town +we encountered a dam three feet high, which deepened the water on a +shoal above it. We passed through a single lock in company with rafts of +pine logs which were on the way to New York, to be used for spars. A +lockage fee of twenty-five cents for our boat the lock-master told us +would be collected at Chambly Basin. It was a pull of nearly six miles +to St. Denis, where the same scene of comfort and plenty prevailed. +Women were washing clothes in large iron pots at the river's edge, and +the hum of the spinning-wheels issued from the doorways of the +farm-houses. Beehives in the well-stocked gardens were filled with +honey, and the straw-thatched barns had their doors thrown wide open, as +though waiting to receive the harvest. At intervals along the highway, +over the grassy hills, tall, white wooden crosses were erected; for this +people, like the Acadians of old, are very religious. Down the current +floated "pin-flats," a curious scow-like boat, which carries a square +sail, and makes good time only when running before the wind. St. Antoine +and St. Marks were passed, and the isolated peak of St. Hilaire loomed +up grandly twelve hundred feet on the right bank of the Richelieu, +opposite the town of Beloeil. One mile above Beloeil the Grand Trunk +Railroad crosses the stream, and here we passed the night. Strong winds +and rain squalls interrupted our progress. At Chambly Basin we tarried +until the evening of July 16, before entering the canal. Chambly is a +watering-place for Montreal people, who come here to enjoy the fishing, +which is said to be fair. + +We had ascended one water-step at St. Ours. Here we had eight steps to +ascend within the distance of one mile. By means of eight locks, each +one hundred and ten feet long by twenty-two wide, the Mayeta was lifted +seventy-five feet and one inch in height to the upper level of the +canal. The lock-masters were courteous, and wished us the usual "_bon +voyage!_" This canal was built thirty-four years prior to my visit. By +ten o'clock P. M. we had passed the last lock, and went into camp in a +depression in the bank of the canal. The journey was resumed at half +past three o'clock the following morning, and the row of twelve miles to +St. Johns was a delightful one. The last lock (the only one at St. +Johns) was passed, and we had a full clearance at the Dominion +custom-house before noon. + +We were again on the Richelieu, with about twenty-three miles between us +and the boundary line of the United States and Canada, and with very +little current to impede us. As dusk approached we passed a dismantled +old fort, situated upon an island called Ile aux Noix, and entered a +region inhabited by the large bull-frog, where we camped for the night, +amid the dolorous voices of these choristers. On Saturday, the 18th, at +an early hour, we were pulling for the United States, which was about +six miles from our camping-ground. The Richelieu widened, and we entered +Lake Champlain, passing Fort Montgomery, which is about one thousand +feet south of the boundary line. Champlain has a width of three fourths +of a mile at Fort Montgomery, and at Rouse's Point expands to two miles +and three quarters. The erection of the fort was commenced soon after +1812, but in 1818 the work was suspended, as some one discovered that +the site was in Canada, and the cognomen of Fort Blunder was applied. In +the Webster treaty of 1842, England ceded the ground to the United +States, and Fort Montgomery was finished at a cost of over half a +million of dollars. + +At Rouse's Point, which lies on the west shore of Lake Champlain about +one and one-half miles south of its confluence with the Richelieu, the +Mayeta was inspected by the United States custom-house officer, and +nothing contraband being discovered, the little craft was permitted to +continue her voyage. + +At the northern end of the harbor of Rouse's Point is the terminus of +the Ogdensburg and the Champlain and St. Lawrence railroads. The Vermont +Central Railroad connects with the above by means of a bridge twenty-two +hundred feet in length, which crosses the lake. Before proceeding +further it may interest the reader of practical mind to know that a very +important movement is on foot to facilitate the navigation of vessels +between the great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Champlain, by the +construction of a ship-canal. The Caughnawaga Ship Canal Company, +"incorporated by special act of the Dominion of Parliament of Canada, +12th May, 1870," (capital, three million dollars; shares, one hundred +dollars each,) with a board of directors composed of citizens of the +United States and Canada, has issued its prospectus, from which I +extract the following: + + "The commissioners of public works, in their report of 1859, + approved by government, finally settled the question of route, + by declaring that, 'after a patient and mature consideration of + all the surveys and reports, we are of opinion that the line + following the Chambly Canal and then crossing to Lake St. Louis + near Caughnawaga, is that which combines and affords in the + greatest degree all the advantages contemplated by this + improvement, and which has been approved by Messrs. Mills, + Swift, and Gamble.' + + "The company's Act of Incorporation is in every respect complete + and comprehensive in its details. It empowers the company to + survey, to take, appropriate, have and hold, to and for the use + of them and their successors, the line and boundaries of a canal + between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, to build and erect + the same, to select such sites as may be necessary for basins + and docks, as may be considered expedient by the directors, and + to purchase and dispose of same, with any water-power, as may be + deemed best by the directors for the use and profit of the + company. + + "It also empowers the company to cause their canal to enter into + the Chambly Canal, and to widen, deepen, and enlarge the same, + not less in size than the present St. Lawrence canals; also the + company may take, hold, and use any portion of the Chambly + Canal, and the works therewith connected, and all the tolls, + receipts, and revenues thereof, upon terms to be settled and + agreed upon between the company and the governor in council. + + "The cost of the canal, with locks of three hundred feet by + forty-five, and with ten feet six inches the mitre-sill, is now + estimated at two million five hundred thousand dollars, and the + time for its construction may not exceed two years after + breaking ground. + + "Probably no question is of more vital importance to Canada and + the western and eastern United States than the subject of + transportation. The increasing commerce of the Great West, the + rapidity with which the population has of late flowed into that + vast tract of country to the west and northwest of lakes Erie, + Michigan, Huron, and Superior, have served to convince all + well-informed commercial men that the means of transit between + that country and the seaboard are far too limited even for the + present necessities of trade; hence it becomes a question of + universal interest how the products of the field, the mine, and + the forest can be most cheaply forwarded to the consumer. Near + the geographical centre of North America is a vast plateau two + thousand feet above the level of the sea, drained by the + Mississippi to the south, by the St. Lawrence to the east, and + by the Saskatchewan and McKenzie to the north. This vast + territory would have been valueless but for the water lines + which afford cheap transport between it and the great markets of + the world. + + "Canada has improved the St. Lawrence by canals round the rapids + of the St. Lawrence, and by the Welland Canal, connecting lakes + Erie and Ontario, twenty-eight miles in length with a fall of + two hundred and sixty feet, capable of passing vessels of four + hundred tons. The St. Lawrence, from the east end of Lake + Ontario, has a fall of two hundred and twenty feet, overcome by + seven short canals of an aggregate length of forty-seven miles, + capable of passing vessels of six hundred and fifty tons. The + Richelieu River is connected with Lake Champlain by a canal of + twelve miles from Chambly. A canal of one mile in length, at the + outlet of Lake Superior, connects that lake with Lake Huron, and + has two locks, which will pass vessels of two thousand tons. New + York has built a canal from Buffalo, on Lake Erie, and from + Oswego, on Lake Ontario, to Albany, on the Hudson River, of + three hundred and sixty and of two hundred and nine miles, + capable of passing boats of two hundred and ten tons; and she + has also constructed a canal from the Hudson River into Lake + Champlain of sixty-five miles, which can pass boats of eighty + tons. + + "Such is the nature of the navigation between tide-water on the + Hudson and St. Lawrence and the upper lakes. The magnitude of + the commerce of the Northwest has compelled the enlargement of + the Erie and Oswego canals from boats of seventy-eight to two + hundred and ten tons, while the St. Lawrence and Welland canals + have also been enlarged since their first construction. A + further enlargement of the Erie and Champlain canals is now + strongly urged in consequence of the want of the necessary + facilities of transport for the ever increasing western trade. + The object of the Caughnawaga Ship-canal is to connect Lake + Champlain with the St. Lawrence by the least possible distance, + and with the smallest amount of lockage. When built, it will + enable the vessel or propeller to sail from the head of lakes + Superior or Michigan without breaking bulk, and will enable such + vessels to land and receive cargo at Burlington and Whitehall, + from whence western freights can be carried to and from Boston, + and throughout New England, by railway cheaper than by any other + route. + + "It will possess the advantage, when the Welland Canal is + enlarged and the locks of the St. Lawrence Canal lengthened, of + passing vessels of eight hundred and fifty tons' burden, and + with that size of vessel (impossible on any other route) of + improved model, with facilities for loading and discharging + cargoes at both ends of the route, in the length of the voyage + without transshipment, in having the least distance between any + of the lake ports and a seaport, and in having the shortest + length of taxed canal navigation. The construction of the + Caughnawaga Canal, when carried out, will remedy the + difficulties which now exist and stand in the way of an + uninterrupted water communication between the western states + and the Atlantic seaboard." + +From Rouse's Point we proceeded to a picturesque point which jutted into +the lake below Chazy Landing, and was sheltered by a grove of trees into +which we hauled the Mayeta. Bodfish's woodcraft enabled him to construct +a wigwam out of rails and rubber blankets, where we quietly resided +until Monday morning. The owner of the point, Mr. Trombly, invited us to +dinner on Sunday, and exhibited samples of a ton of maple sugar which he +had made from the sap of one thousand trees. + +On Monday, July 20th, we rowed southward. Our route now skirted the +western shore of Lake Champlain, which is the eastern boundary of the +great Adirondack wilderness. Several of the tributaries of the lake take +their rise in this region, which is being more and more visited by the +hunter, the fisherman, the artist, and the tourist, as its natural +attractions are becoming known to the public. The geodetical survey of +the northern wilderness of New York state, known as the Adirondack +country, under the efficient and energetic labors of Mr. Verplanck +Colvin, will cover an area of nearly five thousand square miles. In his +report of the great work he eloquently says: + + "The Adirondack wilderness may be considered the wonder and + the glory of New York. It is a vast _natural_ park, one immense + and silent forest, curiously and beautifully broken by the + gleaming waters of a myriad of lakes, between which rugged + mountain-ranges rise as a sea of granite billows. At the + northeast the mountains culminate within an area of some + hundreds of square miles; and here savage, treeless peaks, + towering above the timber line, crowd one another, and, + standing gloomily shoulder to shoulder, rear their rocky crests + amid the frosty clouds. The wild beasts may look forth from the + ledges on the mountain-sides over unbroken woodlands stretching + beyond the reach of sight--beyond the blue, hazy ridges at the + horizon. The voyager by the canoe beholds lakes in which these + mountains and wild forests are reflected like inverted reality; + now wondrous in their dark grandeur and solemnity, now glorious + in resplendent autumn color of pearly beauty. Here--thrilling + sound to huntsman--echoes the wild melody of the hound, + awakening the solitude with deep-mouthed bay as he pursues the + swift career of deer. The quavering note of the loon on the + lake, the mournful hoot of the owl at night, with rarer forest + voices, have also to the lover of nature their peculiar charm, + and form the wild language of this forest. + + "It is this region of lakes and mountains--whose mountain core + is well shown by the illustration, 'the heart of the + Adirondacks'--that our citizens desire to reserve forever as a + public forest park, not only as a resort of rest for themselves + and for posterity, but for weighty reasons of political economy. + For reservoirs of water for the canals and rivers; for the + amelioration of spring floods by the preservation of the forests + sheltering the deep winter snows; for the salvation of the + timber,--our only cheap source of lumber supply should the + Canadian and western markets be ruined by fires, or otherwise + lost to us,--its preservation as a state forest is urgently + demanded. To the number of those chilly peaks amid which our + principal rivers take their rise, I have added by measurement a + dozen or more over four thousand feet in height, which were + before either nameless, or only vaguely known by the names given + them by hunters and trappers. + + "It is well to note that the final hypsometrical computations + fully affirm my discovery that in Mount Haystack we have another + mountain of five thousand feet altitude. It may not be + uninteresting also to remark that the difference between the + altitudes of Mount Marcy and Mount Washington of the White + Mountains of New Hampshire is found to be quite eight hundred + feet. Mount Marcy, Mount MacIntyre, and Mount Haystack are to be + remembered as the three royal summits of the state. + + "The four prominent peaks are-- + + Mount Marcy {Mount _Tahawus_--"I cleave} + { the clouds," } 5,402.65 + Mount Haystack, 5,006.73 + Mount MacIntyre, 5,201.80 + Mount Skylight, 4,977.76." + +If the general reader will pardon a seeming digression to gratify the +curiosity of some of my boating friends, I will give from the report of +the Adirondack Survey Mr. Colvin's account of his singular boat,--one of +the lightest yet constructed, and weighing only as much as a hunter's +double-barrelled gun. + +Mr. Colvin says: + + "I also had constructed a canvas boat, of my own invention, for + use in the interior of the wilderness on such of the mountain + lakes as were inaccessible to boats, and which it would be + necessary to map. This boat was peculiar; no more frame being + needed than could be readily cut in thirty minutes in the first + thicket. It was twelve feet long, with thin sheet brass prows, + riveted on, and so fitted as to receive the keelson, prow + pieces, and ribs (of boughs), when required; the canoe being + made water-proof with pure rubber gum, dissolved in naphtha, + rubbed into it." + +Page 43 of Mr. Colvin's report informs the reader how well this novel +craft served the purpose for which it was built. + + "September 12 was devoted to levelling and topographical work at + Ampersand Pond, a solitary lake locked in by mountains, and + seldom visited. There was no boat upon its surface, and in order + to complete the hydrographical work we had now, of necessity, to + try my portable canvas boat, which had hitherto done service as + bed or tent. Cutting green rods for ribs, we unrolled the boat + and tied them in, lashing poles for gunwales at the sides, and + in a short time our canvas canoe, buoyant as a cork, was + floating on the water. The guides, who had been unable to + believe that the flimsy bag they carried could be used as a + boat, were in ecstasies. Rude but efficient paddles were hastily + hewn from the nearest tree, and soon we were all gliding in our + ten-pound boat over the waves of Ampersand, which glittered in + the morning sunlight. To the guides the boat was something + astonishing; they could not refrain from laughter to find that + they were really afloat in it, and pointed with surprise at the + waves, which could be seen _through_ the boat, rippling against + its sides. With the aid of the boat, with prismatic compass and + sextant, I was able to secure an excellent map of the lake; and + we almost succeeded in catching a deer, which was driven into + the lake by a strange hound. The dog lost the trail at the + water, and desiring to put him on the track, we paddled to him. + He scrambled into the boat with an air of satisfaction, as if he + had always travelled in just such a thing. Soon we had regained + the trail, and making the mountains echo to his voice, he again + pursued the deer on into the trackless forest. + + "Continuing our work, we passed down into the outlet, where, in + trying to effect a landing, we suddenly came face to face with a + large panther, which had evidently been watching us. He fled at + our approach. + + "Our baggage was quickly packed, and the temporary frame of the + canoe having been taken out and thrown away, we rolled up our + boat and put it in the bottom of a knapsack.... The same day by + noon we reached Cold Brook again, here navigable. In an hour and + a half we had re-framed the canvas, cut out two paddles from a + dry cedar-tree, had dinner, loaded the boat, and were off, + easily gliding down stream to the Saranac River. Three men, the + heaped baggage in the centre, and the solemn hound, who seemed + to consider himself part of the company, sitting upright near + the prow, forming in all a burden of about one third of a ton, + was a severe test of the green boughs of which we had made the + frame. + + "Ascending the Saranac River, we struck out into the broad + Saranac Lake, some six miles in length, and though the winds and + the waves buffeted us, the canvas sides of the boat responding + elastically to each beat of the waves, we got safely along till + near the Sister Islands, when, the wind blowing very fresh, the + white-capped rollers began to pitch into the boat. The exertions + of the guides brought us under the lee shore, and at evening we + disembarked at Martin's." + +Geographies, guide-books, and historical works frequently give the +length of Lake Champlain as one hundred and fifty, or at the least one +hundred and forty miles. These distances are not correct. The lake +proper begins at a point near Ticonderoga and ends not far from the +boundary line of the United States and Canada. Champlain is not less +than one hundred nor more than one hundred and twelve miles long. The +Champlain Canal, which connects the river that flows from Whitehall into +the lake with the Hudson River, is sixty-four miles long, ending at the +Erie Canal at Junction Lock, near Troy. From Junction Lock to Albany, +along the Erie Canal, it is six miles: or seventy miles from Whitehall +to Albany by canal route. This distance has frequently been given as +fifty-one miles. + +From the United States boundary line southward it is a distance of seven +miles to Isle la Motte, which island is five and a half miles long by +one and three quarters wide, with a light-house upon its northwest +point. From the New York shore of Monti Bay, across the end of Isle la +Motte to St. Albans, Vermont, is a distance of thirteen and a half +miles. Two miles south of the island, on the west shore, is Point au +Roche light; and two miles and three quarters south of it is Rocky +Point, the terminus of Long Point. Next comes Treadwell Bay, three miles +across; then two miles further on is Cumberland Head and its +light-house. West from Cumberland, three miles across a large bay, is +Plattsburgh, at the mouth of the Saranac River, a town of five thousand +inhabitants. In this vicinity Commodore Macdonough fought the British +fleet in 1814. These are historic waters, which have witnessed the scene +of many a bloody struggle between French, English, and Indian +adversaries. Off Cumberland Head, and dividing the lake, is Grand Isle, +twelve miles in length and from three to four in width. + +The village of Port Kent is near the mouth of the Ausable River, which +flows out of the northern Adirondack country. A few miles from the lake +is the natural wonder, the Ausable Chasm, which is nearly two miles in +length. The river has worn a channel in the Potsdam sandstone formation +to a depth, in places, of two hundred feet. Between high walls of rock +the river is compressed in one place to ten feet in breadth, and dashes +wildly over falls and rapids on its way to Lake Champlain. It is said to +rival the famous Swiss Gorge du Triant. + +Schuyler's Island, upon the shore of which we passed Tuesday night, is +nearly in the latitude of Burlington, Vermont. The distance from Port +Douglass on the west, to Burlington on the east side of Champlain, over +an open expanse of water, is nine miles and three quarters. We +breakfasted by starlight, and passed Ligonier's Point early in the day. +One mile and a half east of it is the group of little islands called +Four Brothers. The lake grew narrower as we rowed southward, until, +after passing Port Henry Iron Works, and the high promontory of Crown +Point, upon which are the ruins of the French Fort Frederic, built in +1731, it has a width of only two miles. + +At eight o'clock P. M. we dropped anchor under the banks of Ticonderoga, +not far from the outlet of Lake George. It is four miles by road between +the two lakes. The stream which connects them can be ascended from +Champlain about two miles to the Iron Works, the remainder of the river +being filled with rapids. + +A railroad now (1867) connects lakes George and Champlain, over which an +easy portage can be made. The ruined walls of Fort Ticonderoga are near +the railroad landing. A little south of this the lake grows so narrow as +to resemble a river. At its southern end, twenty-four miles from +Ticonderoga, is situated the town of Whitehall, where the Champlain and +Hudson River Canal forms a junction with Lake Champlain. This long +river-like termination of Champlain gave to the Indians the fancy of +calling it _Tisinondrosa_--"the tail of the lake;" which in mouths +inexperienced with the savage tongue became corrupted into Ticonderoga. + +Wednesday broke upon us a glorious day. Proceeding three miles to +Patterson's Landing, into the "tail of the lake," I left the Mayeta to +explore on foot the shores of Lake George, promising Bodfish to join him +at Whitehall when my work should be finished. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FROM LAKES GEORGE AND CHAMPLAIN TO THE HUDSON RIVER. + +THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE GEORGE BY FATHER JOGUES.--A PEDESTRIAN +JOURNEY.--THE HERMIT OF THE NARROWS.--CONVENT OF ST. MARY'S OF THE +LAKE.--THE PAULIST FATHERS.--CANAL-ROUTE FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN TO +ALBANY.--BODFISH RETURNS TO NEW JERSEY.--THE LITTLE FLEET IN ITS HAVEN +OF REST. + +In the last chapter I gave, from seemingly good authority, the +appellation of the narrow terminal water of the southern end of Lake +Champlain, "the tail of the lake." Another authority, in describing Lake +George, says: "The Indians named the lake, on account of the purity of +its waters, _Horican_, or 'silvery water;' they also called it +_Canderi-oit_, or 'the tail of the lake,' on account of its connecting +with Lake Champlain." Cooper, in his "Last of the Mohicans," says: "It +occurred to me that the French name of the lake was too complicated, the +American too commonplace, and the Indian too unpronounceable for either +to be used familiarly in a work of fiction." So _he_ called it +Horican. + +[Illustration: From Plattsburgh to Albany. + +Route of CANOE MAYETA From Plattsburgh to Albany Via +Lake Champlain and Champlain Canal Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + +History furnishes us with the following facts in regard to the discovery +of the lake. While journeying up the St. Lawrence in a fleet of twelve +canoes, on a mission to the friendly Huron aborigines, Father Isaac +Jogues and his two friends, _donnés_ of the mission, René Goupil and +Guillaume Couture, with another Frenchman, were captured at the western +end of Lake of St. Peter by a band of Iroquois, which was on a marauding +expedition from the Mohawk River country, near what is now the city of +Troy. In the panic caused by the sudden onslaught of the Iroquois, the +unconverted portion of the thirty-six Huron allies of the Frenchmen fled +into the woods, while the christianized portion defended the white men +for a while. A reinforcement of the enemy soon scattered these also, but +not until the Frenchmen and a few of the Hurons were made captive. This +was on the 2d of August, 1642. + +According to Francis Parkman, the author of "The Jesuits in North +America," the savages tortured Jogues and his white companions, +stripping off their clothing, tearing out their finger-nails with their +teeth, and gnawing their fingers with the fury of beasts. The seventy +Iroquois returned southward, following the River Richelieu, Lake +Champlain, and Lake George, _en route_ for the Mohawk towns. Meeting a +war party of two hundred of their own nation on one of the islands of +Champlain, the Indians formed two parallel lines between which the +captives were forced to run for their lives, while the savages struck at +them with thorny sticks and clubs. Father Jogues fell exhausted to the +ground, bathed in his own blood, when fire was applied to his body. At +night the young warriors tormented the poor captives by opening their +wounds and tearing out their hair and beards. The day following this +night of torture the Indians and their mangled captives reached the +promontory of Ticonderoga, along the base of which flowed the limpid +waters, the outlet of Lake George. Here the party made a portage through +the primeval forests, carrying their canoes and cargoes on their backs, +when suddenly there broke upon their view the dark blue waters of a +beautiful lake, which Mr. Parkman thus eloquently describes: + + "Like a fair naiad of the wilderness it slumbered between the + guardian mountains that breathe from crag and forest the stern + poetry of war. But all then was solitude; and the clang of + trumpets, the roar of cannon, and the deadly crack of the rifle + had never as yet awakened their angry echoes. Again the canoes + were launched and the wild flotilla glided on its way, now in + the shadow of the heights, now on the broad expanse, now among + the devious channels of the Narrows, beset with woody islets + where the hot air was redolent of the pine, the spruce, and the + cedar,--till they neared that tragic shore where, in the + following century, New England rustics baffled the soldiers of + Dieskau, where Montcalm planted his batteries, where the red + cross waved so long amid the smoke, and where, at length, the + summer night was hideous with carnage, and an honored name was + stained with a memory of blood. The Indians landed at or near + the future site of Fort William Henry, left their canoes, and + with their prisoners began their march for the nearest Mohawk + town." + +Father Jogues lived among his captors until the fall of 1643, when he +escaped in a vessel from the Dutch settlement of Rensselaerswyck +(Albany), to which place the Iroquois had gone to trade with the +inhabitants. He arrived at the Jesuit college of Rennes, France, in a +most destitute condition, on the 5th of January, 1644, where he was +joyfully received and kindly cared for. When he appeared before Queen +Anne of Austria, the woman who wore a diadem thought it a privilege to +kiss his mutilated hands. In the Roman Catholic church a deformed or +mutilated priest cannot say mass; he must be a perfect man in body and +mind before the Lord. Father Jogues wished to return to his old +missionary field; so, to restore to him his lost right of saying mass, +the Pope granted his prayer by a special dispensation. In the spring of +1643 he returned to the St. Lawrence country to found a new mission, to +be called the Mission of Martyrs. His Superior at Montreal ordered him +to proceed to the country of the Mohawks, and in company with Sieur +Bourdon, a government engineer, and six Indians, he followed the +Richelieu and Champlain, which the savages called "the doorway of the +country," until the little party stood on the northern end of Lake +George, on the evening of Corpus Christi; and with the catholic spirit +of the Jesuit missionary he christened it Lac St. Sacrement, and this +name it bore for a whole century. On the 18th of October, 1646, the +tomahawk of the savage ended the life of Father Jogues, who, after +suffering many tortures and indignities from his Iroquois captors, died +in their midst while working for their salvation in his field of +Christian labor. + +The right of a discoverer to name new lakes and rivers is old and +unquestioned. A missionary of the cross penetrated an unexplored +wilderness and found this noblest gem of the lower Adirondacks, unknown +to civilized man. Impressed with this sublime work of his Creator, the +martyred priest christened it St. Sacrement. One hundred years later +came troops of soldiers with mouths filled with strange oaths, cursing +their enemies. What respect had _they_ for the rights of discoverers or +martyred missionaries? So General Johnson, "an ambitious Irishman," +discarded the Christian name of the lake and replaced it with the +English one of George. He did not name it after St. George, the patron +saint of England, of whom history asserts that he "was identical with a +native of either Cappadocia or Cilicia, who raised himself by flattery +of the great from the meanest circumstances to be purveyor of bacon for +the army, and who was put to death with two of his ministers by a mob, +for peculations, A. D. 361;" but he took that of a sensual king, George +of England, in order to advance his own interests with that monarch. + +For more than a century Lake George was the highway between Canada and +the Hudson River. Its pure waters were so much esteemed as to be taken +regularly to Canada to be consecrated and used in the Roman Catholic +churches in baptismal and other sacred rites. The lake was frequently +occupied by armies, and the forts George and William Henry, at the +southern end, possess most interesting historical associations. The +novelist Cooper made Lake George a region of romance. To the young +generation of Americans who yearly visit its shores it is an El Dorado, +and the very air breathes love as they glide in their light boats over +its pellucid waters, adding to the picturesqueness of the scene, and +supplying that need ever felt, no matter what the natural beauty,--the +presence of man. I believe even the Garden of Eden itself could not +have been perfect till among its shady groves fell the shadows of our +first parents. The cool retreats, the jutting promontories, the +moss-covered rocks against which the waves softly break,--if these had +tongues, they would, like Tennyson's Brook, "go on forever," for surely +they would never have done telling the tender tales they have heard. Nor +would it be possible to find a more fitting spot for the cultivation of +love and sentiment than this charming lake affords; for Nature seems to +have created Lake George in one of her happiest moments. This lake is +about thirty-four miles long, and varies in width from one to four +miles. Its greatest depth is about the same as that of Champlain. It +possesses (like all the American lakes when used as fashionable +watering-places) the usual three hundred and sixty-five islands. + +When I left the Mayeta I followed a narrow footpath to a rough mountain +road, which in turn led me through the forests towards Lake George. In +an isolated dell I found the home of one Levi Smith, who piloted me +through the woods to the lake, and ferried me in a skiff across to +Hague, when I dined at the hotel, and resumed my journey along the +shores to Sabbath Day Point, where at four o'clock P. M. a steamer on +its trip from Ticonderoga to the south end of the lake stopped and took +me on board. We steamed southward to where high mountains shut in the +lake, and for several miles threaded the "Narrows" with its many pretty +islands, upon one of which Mr. J. Henry Hill, the hermit-artist, had +erected his modest home, and where he toiled at his studies early and +late, summer and winter. Three goats and a squirrel were his only +companions in this lonely but romantic spot. + +During one cold winter, when the lake was frozen over to a depth of two +feet, and the forests were mantled in snow, Mr. Hill's brother, a civil +engineer, made a visit to this icy region, and the two brothers surveyed +the Narrows, making a correct map of that portion of the lake, with all +its islands carefully located. Mr. Hill afterwards made an etching of +this map, surrounding it with an artistic border representing objects of +interest in the locality. + +Late in the afternoon the steamer landed me at Crosbyside, on the east +shore, about a mile from the head of the lake, resting beneath the shady +groves of which I beheld one of the most charming views of Lake George. +Early the following morning I took up my abode with a farmer, one +William Lockhart, a genial and eccentric gentleman, and a relation of +Sir Walter Scott's son-in-law. Mr. Lockhart's little cottage is half a +mile north of Crosbyside, and near the high bluff which Mr. Charles +O'Conor, the distinguished lawyer of New York city, presented to the +Paulist Fathers, whose establishment is on Fifty-ninth Street in that +metropolis. Here the members of the new Order come to pass their summer +vacations, bringing with them their theological students. The Paulists +are hard workers, visiting and holding "missions" in Minnesota, +California, and other parts of the United States. They seem to feel +forcibly the truth expressed in these lines, which are to be found in +"Aspirations of Nature," a work written by the founder of their order, +Father Hecker: "Existence is not a dream, but a solemn reality. Life was +not given to be thrown away on miserable sophisms, but to be employed in +earnest search after truth." + +Mr. Lockhart kindly offered to escort me to the convent of St. Mary's of +the Lake; and after following the mountain road for a quarter of a mile +to the north of the cottage of my companion, we entered the shady +grounds of the convent and were kindly received on the long piazza by +the Father Superior, Rev. A. F. Hewit, who introduced me to several of +his co-laborers, a party of them having just returned from an excursion +to the Harbor Islands at the northern end of the Narrows, which property +is owned by the Order. I was told that the members of this new religious +establishment numbered about thirty, and that all but four were converts +from our Protestant faith. Their property in New York city is probably +worth half a million of dollars, and the Sunday schools under their +charge contain about fifteen hundred scholars. Here, among others, I saw +Father D----, who gave up his distinguished position as instructor of +the art of war at the Military Academy of West Point, to become a +soldier of the Cross, preferring to serve his Master by preaching the +gospel of peace to mankind. Under an overhanging rock at a little +distance were conversing, most happily, two young priests, who a few +years before had fought on opposite sides during the civil strife which +resulted in the preservation of the Great Republic. + +A mathematician and astronomer from the Cambridge and also from a +government observatory, who had donned the cassock, gave me much +valuable information in regard to the mountain peaks of Lake George,[A] +which he had carefully studied and accurately measured. Through his +courtesy and generosity I am enabled to give on the preceding page the +results of his labors. + +The interesting conversation was here interrupted by the tolling of the +convent bell. A deep silence prevailed, as, with uncovered heads and +upon bended knees, the whole company most devoutly crossed themselves +while repeating a prayer. I felt much drawn towards a young priest with +delicate and refined features, who now engaged me in conversation. He +was an adept in all that related to boats. He loved the beautiful lake, +and was never happier than when upon its mirrored surface, except when +laboring at his duties among the poor of the ninth district of New York. +The son of a distinguished general, he inherited rare talents, which +were placed at his Saviour's service. His Christianity was so liberal, +his aspirations so noble, his sympathies so strong, that I became much +interested in him; and when I left the lake, shortly after, he quietly +said, "When you return next summer to build your cottage, let me help +you plan the boat-house." But when I returned to the shores of Lake +George, after the completion of my voyage to the Gulf of Mexico, no +helping hand was there, and I built my boat-house unassisted; for the +gentle spirit of the missionary Paulist had gone to God who gave it, +and Father Rosencranz was receiving his reward. + +When I joined my travelling companion, David Bodfish, he grievously +inveighed against the community of Whitehall because some dishonest +boatmen from the canal had appropriated the stock of pipes and tobacco +he had laid in for his three or four days' voyage to Albany. "Sixty +cents' worth of new pipes and tobacco," said David, in injured tones, +"is a great loss, and a Bodfish never was worth anything at work without +his tobacco. I used to pour _speerits_ down to keep my speerits up, but +of late years I have depended on tobacco, as the speerits one gets +nowadays isn't the same kind we got when I was a boy and worked in old +Hawkin Swamp." + +Canal voyaging, after one has experienced the sweet influences of lakes +George and Champlain, is indeed monotonous. But to follow connecting +watercourses it was necessary for the Mayeta to traverse the Champlain +Canal (sixty-four) and the Erie Canal (six miles) from Whitehall to +Albany on the Hudson River, a total distance of seventy miles. + +There was nothing of sufficient interest in the passage of the canal to +be worthy of record save the giving way of a lock-gate, near Troy, and +the precipitating of a canal-boat into the vortex of waters that +followed. By this accident my boat was detained one day on the banks of +the canal. On the fourth day the Mayeta ended her services by arriving +at Albany, where, after a journey of four hundred miles, experience had +taught me that I could travel more quickly in a lighter boat, and more +conveniently and economically without a companion. It was now about the +first week in August, and the delay which would attend the building of a +new boat especially adapted for the journey of two thousand miles yet to +be travelled would not be lost, as by waiting a few weeks, time would be +given for the malaria on the rivers of New Jersey, Delaware, and +Maryland, and even farther south, to be eradicated by the fall frosts. +David returned to his New Jersey home a happy man, invested with the +importance which attaches itself to a great traveller. I had +unfortunately contributed to Mr. Bodfish's thirst for the marvellous by +reading to him at night, in our lonely camp, Jules Verne's imaginative +"Journey to the Centre of the Earth." David was in ecstasies over this +wonderful contribution to fiction. He preferred fiction to truth at any +time. Once, while reading to him a chapter of the above work, his +credulity was so challenged that he became excited, and broke forth +with, "Say, boss, how do these big book-men larn to lie so well? does it +come nat'ral to them, or is it got by edication?" I have since heard +that when Mr. Bodfish arrived in the pine-wood regions of New Jersey he +related to his friends his adventures "in furrin parts," as he styled +the Dominion of Canada, and so interlaced the _facts_ of the cruise of +the Mayeta with the _fancies_ of the "Journey to the Centre of the +Earth," that to his neighbors the region of the St. Lawrence has become +a country of awful and mysterious associations, while the more knowing +members of the community which David honors with his presence are firmly +convinced that there never existed such a boat as the Mayeta save in the +wild imagination of David Bodfish. + +Mr. Bodfish's fictitious adventures, as related by him, covered many +thousand miles of canoe voyaging. He had penetrated the region of ice +beyond Labrador, and had viewed with complacency the north pole, which +he found to be a pitch-pine spar that had been erected by the Coast +Survey "to measure pints from." He roundly censured the crews of +whale-ships which had mutilated this noble government work by splitting +much of it into kindling-wood. Fortunately about two-thirds of Mr. +Bodfish's audience had no very clear conceptions of the character of the +north pole, some of them having ignored its very existence. So they +accepted this portion of his narrative, while they rejected the most +reasonable part of his story. + +The Mayeta was sent to Lake George, and afterwards became a permanent +resident. Two years later her successor, the Paper Canoe, one of the +most happy efforts of the Messrs. Waters, of Troy, was quietly moored +beside her; and soon after there was added to the little fleet a cedar +duck-boat, which had carried me on a second voyage to the great southern +sea. Here, anchored safely under the high cliffs, rocked gently by the +loving waters of Lake George, rest these faithful friends. They carried +me over five thousand miles, through peaceful rivers and surging seas. +They have shared my dangers; they now share my peace. + +[Illustration: ANCHORED AT LAST.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] Heights of mountains of Lake George, New York state, obtained by +Rev. George M. Searle, C. S. P. + + _Finch_, between Buck and Spruce, 1595 feet. + _Cat-Head_, near Bolton, 1640 feet. + _Prospect Mountain_, west of Lake George village, 1730 feet. + _Spruce_, near Buck Mountain, 1820 feet. + _Buck_, east shore, south of Narrows, 2005 feet. + _Bear_, between Buck and Black, 2200 feet. + _Black_, the monarch of Lake George, 2320 feet. + +From another authority I find that Lake Champlain is ninety-three feet +above the Atlantic tide-level, and that Lake George is two hundred and +forty feet above Lake Champlain, or three hundred and thirty-three feet +above the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE AMERICAN PAPER BOAT AND ENGLISH CANOES. + +THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE PAPER BOAT.--THE HISTORY OF THE ADOPTION +OF PAPER FOR BOATS.--A BOY'S INGENUITY.--THE PROCESS OF BUILDING PAPER +BOATS DESCRIBED.--COLLEGE CLUBS ADOPTING THEM.--THE GREAT VICTORIES WON +BY PAPER OVER WOODEN SHELLS IN 1876. + + +Inquiries regarding the history and durability of paper boats +occasionally reach me through the medium of the post-office. After all +the uses to which paper has been put during the last twenty years, the +public is yet hardly convinced that the flimsy material, paper, can +successfully take the place of wood in the construction of light +pleasure-boats, canoes, and racing shells. Yet the idea has become an +accomplished fact. The success of the victorious paper shells of the +Cornell College navy, which were enlisted in the struggles of two +seasons at Saratoga, against no mean antagonists,--the college crews of +the United States,--surely proves that in strength, stiffness, speed, +and fineness of model, the paper boat is without a rival. + +[Illustration: A FULL-RIGGED NAUTILUS CANOE.] + +When used in its own peculiar sphere, the improved paper boat will be +found to possess the following merits: less weight, greater strength, +stiffness, durability, and speed than a wooden boat of the same size and +model; and the moulded paper shell will retain the delicate lines so +essential to speed, while the brittle wooden shell yields more or less +to the warping influences of sun and moisture. A comparison of the +strength of wood and paper for boats has been made by a writer in the +Cornell Times, a journal published by the students of that celebrated +New York college: + + "Let us take a piece of wood and a piece of paper of the same + thickness, and experiment with, use, and abuse them both to the + same extent. Let the wood be of one-eighth of an inch in + thickness--the usual thickness of shell-boats, and the paper + heavy pasteboard, both one foot square. Holding them up by one + side, strike them with a hammer, and observe the result. The + wood will be cracked, to say the least; the pasteboard, whirled + out of your hand, will only be dented, at most. Take hold and + bend them: the wood bends to a certain degree, and then splits; + the pasteboard, bent to the same degree, is not affected in the + least. Take a knife and strike them: the wood is again split, + the pasteboard only pierced. Place them on the water: the wood + floats for an indefinite time; the pasteboard, after a time, + soaks, and finally sinks, as was to be expected. But suppose we + soak the pasteboard in marine glue before the experiment, then + we find the pasteboard equally as impervious to the water as + wood, and as buoyant, if of the same weight; but, to be of the + same weight, it must be thinner than the wood, yet even then it + stands the before-mentioned tests as well as when thicker; and + it will be found to stand all tests much better than wood, even + when it weighs considerably less. + + "Now, enlarging our pieces, and moulding them into boats of the + same weight, we find the following differences: Wood, being + stiff and liable to split, can only be moulded into comparative + form. Paper, since it can be rendered perfectly pliable, can be + pressed into any shape desirable; hence, any wished-for fineness + of lines can be given to the model, and the paper will assume + the identical shape, after which it can be water-proofed, + hardened, and polished. Paper neither swells, nor shrinks, nor + cracks, hence it does not leak, is always ready for use, always + serviceable. As to cost, there is very little difference between + the two; the cost being within twenty-five dollars, more or + less, the same for both. Those who use paper boats think them + very near perfection; and surely those who have the most to do + with boats ought to know, prejudice aside, which is the best." + +An injury to a paper boat is easily repaired by a patch of strong paper +and a coating of shellac put on with a hot iron. As the paper boat is a +novelty with many people, a sketch of its early history may prove +interesting to the reader. Mr. George A. Waters, the son of the senior +member of the firm of E. Waters & Sons, of Troy, New York, was invited +some years since to a masquerade party. The boy repaired to a toy shop +to purchase a counterfeit face; but, thinking the price (eight dollars) +was more than he could afford for a single evening's sport, he borrowed +the mask for a model, from which he produced a duplicate as perfect as +was the original. While engaged upon his novel work, an idea impressed +itself upon his ingenious brain. "Cannot," he queried, "a paper shell +be made upon the wooden model of a boat? And will not a shell thus +produced, after being treated to a coat of varnish, float as well, +and be lighter than a wooden boat?" + +This was in March, 1867, while the youth was engaged in the manufacture +of paper boxes. Having repaired a wooden shell-boat by covering the +cracks with sheets of stout paper cemented to the wood, the result +satisfied him; and he immediately applied his attention to the further +development of his bright idea. Assisted by his father, Mr. Elisha +Waters, the enterprise was commenced "by taking a wooden shell, thirteen +inches wide and thirty feet long, as a mould, and covering the entire +surface of its bottom and sides with small sheets of strong Manila +paper, glued together, and superposed on each other, so that the joints +of one layer were covered by the middle of the sheet immediately above, +until a sheet of paper had been formed one-sixteenth of an inch in +thickness. The fabric thus constructed, after being carefully dried, was +removed from the mould and fitted up with a suitable frame, consisting +of a lower keelson, two inwales, the bulkhead; in short, all the usual +parts of the frame of a wooden shell, except the timbers, or ribs, of +which none were used--the extreme stiffness of the skin rendering them +unnecessary. Its surface was then carefully water-proofed with suitable +varnishes, and the work was completed. Trials proved that, rude as was +this first attempt compared with the elegant craft now turned out from +paper, it had marked merits, among which were, its remarkable stiffness, +the symmetry of the hull with respect to its long axis, and the +smoothness of the water-surface." + +A gentleman, who possesses excellent judgment and long experience in all +that relates to paper boats, furnishes me with the following valuable +information, which I feel sure will interest the reader. + + "The process of building the paper shell-boat is as follows: The + dimensions of the boat having been determined upon, the first + step is to construct a wooden model, or form, an exact + fac-simile of the desired boat, on which to mould the paper + skin. For this purpose the lines of the boat are carefully drawn + out of the full size, and from the drawings thus made the model + is prepared. It is built of layers of well-seasoned pine, + securely fastened together to form one solid mass; which, after + having been laid up of the general outline required, is + carefully worked off, until its surface, which is made perfectly + smooth, exactly conforms to the selected lines, and its beam, + depth, and length are those of the given boat. During the + process of its construction, suitable rabbets are cut to receive + the lower keelson, the two inwales, and the bow and stern + deadwoods, which, being put in position, are worked off so that + their surfaces are flush with that of the model, and forming, as + it were, an integral part of it. It being important that these + parts should, in the completed boat, be firmly attached to the + skin, their surface is, at this part of the process, covered + with a suitable adhesive preparation. + + "The model is now ready to be covered with paper. Two kinds are + used: that made from the best Manila, and that prepared from + pure unbleached linen stock; the sheets being the full length of + the model, no matter what that may be. If Manila paper is used, + the first sheet is dampened, laid smoothly on the model, and + securely fastened in place by tacking it to certain rough strips + attached to its upper face. Other sheets are now superposed on + this and on each other, and suitably cemented together; the + number depending upon the size of the boat and the stiffness + required. If linen paper is used, but one sheet is employed, of + such weight and dimensions that, when dry, it will give just the + thickness of skin necessary. Should the surface of the model be + concave in parts, as in the run of boats with square sterns for + instance, the paper is made to conform to these surfaces by + suitable convex moulds, which also hold the paper in place + until, by drying, it has taken and will retain the desired form. + The model, with its enveloping coat of paper, is now removed to + the dry-room. As the paper skin dries, all wrinkles disappear, + and it gradually assumes the desired shape. Finally, when all + moisture has been evaporated, it is taken from the mould an + exact fac-simile of the model desired, exceedingly stiff, + perfectly symmetrical, and seamless. + + "The paper is now subjected to the water-proof process, and the + skin, with its keelson, inwales, and deadwoods attached, is then + placed in the carpenter's hands, where the frame is completed in + the usual manner, as described for wooden boats. The paper decks + being put on, it is then ready for the brass, iron, and varnish + work. As the skins of these boats (racing-shells) vary from + one-sixteenth of an inch in the singles, to one-twelfth of an + inch in the six-oared outriggers, the wooden frame becomes + necessary to support and keep them in shape. In applying this + invention to gigs, dingys, canoes, and skiffs, a somewhat + different method is adopted. Since these boats are subjected to + much hard service, and must be so constructed as to permit the + occupant to move about in them as is usual in such craft, a + light and strong frame of wood is prepared, composed of a + suitable number of pairs of ribs, with stem and stern pieces cut + from the natural crooks of hackmatack roots. These are firmly + framed to two gunwales and a keelson, extending the length of + the boat; the whole forming the skeleton shape of the desired + model. The forms for these boats having been prepared, as + already described for the racing-shells, and the frame being let + into this form, so that the outer surface of the ribs, stem and + stern pieces will conform with its outer surface, the paper skin + is next laid upon it. The skin, manufactured from new, + unbleached linen stock, is carefully stretched in place, and + when perfectly dry is from one-tenth to three-sixteenths of an + inch thick. Removed from the model, it is water-proofed, the + frame and fittings completed, and the boat varnished. In short, + in this class of boats, the shape, style, and finish are + precisely that of wooden ones, of corresponding dimensions and + class, except that for the usual wooden sheathing is substituted + the paper skin as described. + + "The advantages possessed by these boats over those of wood are: + + "By the use of this material for the skins of racing-shells, + where experience has demonstrated the smooth bottom to be the + best, under-water lines of any degree of fineness can be + developed, which cannot successfully be produced in those of + wood, even where the streaks are so reduced in thickness that + strength, stiffness, and durability are either wholly sacrificed + or greatly impaired. In the finer varieties of 'dug-outs' + equally fine lines can be obtained; but so delicate are such + boats, if the sides are reduced to three-sixteenths of an inch + or less in thickness, that it is found practically impossible to + preserve their original forms for any length of time. Hence, so + far as this point is concerned, it only remains for the builder + to select those models which science, guided by experience, + points out as the best. + + "The paper skin, after being water-proofed, is finished with + hard varnishes, and then presents a solid, perfectly smooth, and + horny surface to the action of the water, unbroken by _joint_, + _lap_, or _seam_. This surface admits of being polished as + smooth as a coach-panel or a mirror. Unlike wood, _it has no + grain to be cracked or split, it never shrinks_, and, paper + being one of the best of non-conductors, no ordinary degree of + heat or cold affects its shape or hardness, and hence these + boats are admirably adapted for use in all climates. As the skin + absorbs no moisture, _these boats gain no weight by use_, and, + having no moisture to give off when out of the water, they do + not, like wooden boats, show the effect of exposure to the air + by leaking. They are, therefore, in this respect always prepared + for service. + + "The strength and stiffness of the paper shells are most + remarkable. To demonstrate it, a single shell of twelve inch + beam and twenty-eight feet long, fitted complete with its + outriggers, the hull weighing twenty-two pounds, was placed on + two trestles eight feet apart, in such a manner that the + trestles were each the same distance from the centre of the + cockpit, which was thus entirely unsupported. A man weighing one + hundred and forty pounds then seated himself in it, and remained + in this position three minutes. The deflection caused by this + strain, being accurately measured, was found to be one-sixteenth + of an inch at a point midway between the supports. If this load, + applied under such abnormal conditions, produced so little + effect, we can safely assume that, when thus loaded and resting + on the water, supported throughout her whole length, and the + load far more equally distributed over the whole frame, there + would be no deflection whatever. + + "Lightness, when combined with a proper, stiffness and + strength, being a very desirable quality, it is here that the + paper boats far excel their wooden rivals. If two shells are + selected, the one of wood and the other with a paper skin and + deck, as has been described, _of the same dimensions and equally + stiff_, careful experiment proves that the wooden one will be + _thirty per cent. the heaviest_. If those of the _same + dimensions and equal weight_ are compared, the paper one will be + found to exceed the wooden one in stiffness and in capacity to + resist torsional strains in the same proportion. Frequent boasts + are made that wooden shells can be and are built much lighter + than paper ones; and if the quality of lightness _alone_ is + considered, this is true; yet when the practical test of _use_ + is applied, such extremely light wooden boats have always + proved, and will continue to prove, failures, as here this + quality is only _one_ of a number which combine to make the boat + serviceable. A wooden shell whose hull weighs twenty-two pounds, + honest weight, is a very fragile, short-lived affair. A paper + shell of the same dimensions, and of the same weight, will last + as long, and do as much work, as a wooden one whose hull turns + the beam at thirty pounds. + + "An instance of their remarkable strength is shown in the + following case. In the summer of 1870, a single shell, while + being rowed at full speed, with the current, on one of our + principal rivers, was run into the stone abutment of a bridge. + The bow struck squarely on the obstacle, and such was the + momentum of the mass that the oarsman was thrown directly + through the flaring bow of the cockpit into the river. Witnesses + of the accident who were familiar with wooden shells declared + that the boat was ruined; but, after a careful examination, only + the bow-tip was found to be twisted in a spiral form, and the + washboard broken at the point by the oarsman as he passed + between the sides. Two dollars covered the cost of repair. Had + it been a wooden shell the shock would have crushed its stem and + splintered the skin from the bow to the waist." + +[Illustration: ROB ROY CANOE.] + +Old and cautious seamen tried to dissuade me from contracting with the +Messrs. Waters for the building of a stout paper canoe for my journey. +Harvard College had not adopted this "new-fangled notion" at that time, +and Cornell had only begun to think of attempting to out-row other +colleges at Saratoga by using paper boats. The Centennial year of the +independence of the United States, 1876, settled all doubts as to the +value of the result of the years of toil of the inventors of the paper +boat. During the same year the incendiary completed his revengeful work +by burning the paper-boat manufactory at Troy. The loss was a heavy one; +but a few weeks later these unflinching men were able to record the +following victories achieved that single season by their boats. + +The races won by the paper boats were: + + The Intercollegiate Championship: + Freshmen and University. + + The International Championship at Saratoga: + Singles, Doubles, and Fours. + + The National Championship, N. A. of A. O.: + Singles, Doubles, and Fours. + + The World's Championship at Centennial Exhibition: + Singles, Doubles, and Fours. + + The Professional Championship of the United States. + +And every other important race of the season, besides receiving the +highest honors at the Centennial Exhibition. The right to make boats of +paper in Canada and in the United States is exclusively held by the +Messrs. Waters, and they are the only manufacturers of paper boats in +the world. + +It is not many years since Mr. Macgregor, of London, built the little +Rob Roy canoe, and in it made the tour of interesting European waters. +His example was followed by an army of tourists, and it is now a common +thing to meet canoe voyagers in miniature flotillas upon the +watercourses of our own and foreign lands. Mr. W. Baden-Powell, also an +Englishman, perfected the model of the Nautilus type of canoe, which +possesses a great deal of sheer with fullness of bow, and is therefore a +better boat for rough water than the Rob Roy. The New York Canoe Club, +in 1874, had the Nautilus for their model. We still need a distinctive +American type for our waters, more like the best Indian canoe than the +European models here presented. These modern yacht-like canoes are +really improved _kyaks_, and in their construction we are much indebted +to the experience of the inhabitants of the Arctic Circle. Very few of +the so-called Rob Roy canoes, built in the United States, resemble the +original perfected boat of Mr. Macgregor--the father of modern canoe +travelling. The illustrations given of English canoes are from imported +models, and are perfect of their type. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +TROY TO PHILADELPHIA. + +PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA.--THE START.--THE DESCENT OF THE HUDSON +RIVER.--CROSSING THE UPPER BAY OF NEW YORK.--PASSAGE OF THE +KILLS.--RARITAN RIVER.--THE CANAL ROUTE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO THE +DELAWARE RIVER.--FROM BORDENTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA. + +[Illustration: From Albany to New York City. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From Albany to New +York City Via Hudson River Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + + +My canoe of the English "Nautilus" type was completed by the middle of +October; and on the cold, drizzly morning of the 21st of the same month +I embarked in my little fifty-eight pound craft from the landing of the +paper-boat manufactory on the river Hudson, two miles above Troy. Mr. +George A. Waters put his own canoe into the water, and proposed to +escort me a few miles down the river. If I had any misgivings as to the +stability of my paper canoe upon entering her for the first time, they +were quickly dispelled as I passed the stately Club-house of the +Laureates, which contained nearly forty shells, _all_ of paper. + +The dimensions of the Maria Theresa were: length, fourteen feet; beam, +twenty-eight inches; depth, amidships, nine inches; height of bow from +horizontal line, twenty-three inches; height of stern, twenty inches. +The canoe was one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and weighed +fifty-eight pounds. She was fitted with a pair of steel outriggers, +which could be easily unshipped and stowed away. The oars[B] were of +spruce, seven feet eight inches long, and weighed three pounds and a +quarter each. The double paddle, which was seven feet six inches in +length, weighed two pounds and a half. The mast and sail--which are of +no service on such a miniature vessel, and were soon discarded--weighed +six pounds. When I took on board at Philadelphia the canvas deck-cover +and the rubber strap which secured it in position, and the outfit,--the +cushion, sponge, provision-basket, and a fifteen-pound case of +charts,--I found that, with my own weight included (one hundred and +thirty pounds), the boat and her cargo, all told, provisioned for a +long cruise, fell considerably short of the weight of three Saratoga +trunks containing a very modest wardrobe for a lady's four weeks' +visit at a fashionable watering-place. + +The rain ceased, the mists ascended, and the sunlight broke upon us as +we swiftly descended upon the current of the Hudson to Albany. The city +was reached in an hour and a half. Mr. Waters, pointing his canoe +northward, wished me _bon voyage_, and returned to the scene of the +triumphs of his patient labors, while I settled down to a steady row +southward. At Albany, the capital of the state, which is said to be one +hundred and fifty miles distant from New York city, there is a tidal +rise and fall of one foot. + +A feeling of buoyancy and independence came over me as I glided on the +current of this noble stream, with the consciousness that I now +possessed the right boat for my enterprise. It had been a dream of my +youth to become acquainted with the charms of this most romantic river +of the American continent. Its sources are in the clouds of the +Adirondacks, among the cold peaks of the northern wilderness; its +ending may be said to be in the briny waters of the Atlantic, for its +channel-way has been sounded outside of the sandy beaches of New York +harbor in the bosom of the restless ocean. The highest types of +civilized life are nurtured upon its banks. Noble edifices, which +contain and preserve the works of genius and of mechanical art, rear +their proud roofs from among these hills on the lofty sites of the +picturesque Hudson. The wealth of the great city at its mouth, the +metropolis of the young nation, has been lavished upon the soil of the +river's borders to make it even more beautiful and more fruitful. What +river in America, along the same length of coast-lines as from Troy to +New York (one hundred and fifty-six miles), can rival in natural beauty +and artificial applications of wealth the lovely Hudson? "The Hudson +River," says its genial historian, Mr. Lossing, "from its birth among +the mountains to its marriage with the ocean, measures a distance of +full three hundred miles." + +[Illustration: THE ABORIGINAL TYPE (KAYAK.)] + +[Illustration: THE IMPROVED TYPE (MARIA THERESA CANOE.)] + +Captain John Smith's friend, the Englishman Henry Hudson, while in the +employ of the Dutch East India Company, in his vessel of ninety tons, +the Half-Moon, being in search of a northwest passage south of Virginia, +cast anchor outside of Sandy Hook, September 3, 1609, and on the 11th +passed up through the Narrows into the present bay of New York. Under +the firm conviction that he was on his way to the long-sought Cathay, a +day later he entered the Hudson River, where now stands the proud +metropolis of America. As the Half-Moon ascended the river the water +lost its saltness, and by the time they were anchored where the city of +Albany now stands all hopes of Cathay faded from the heart of the +mariner. Englishmen called this river in honor of its discoverer, but +the Dutch gave it the name of North River, after the Delaware had been +discovered and named South River. Thus, while in 1609 Samuel Champlain +was exploring the lake which bears his name, Hudson was ascending his +river upon the southern water-shed. The historian tells us that these +bold explorers penetrated the wilderness, one from the north and the +other from the south, to within one hundred miles of each other. + +The same historian (Dr. Lossing) says: "The most remote source of the +extreme western branch of our noble river is Hendricks Spring, so named +in honor of Hendricks Hudson. We found Hendricks Spring in the edge of +a swamp, cold, shallow, about five feet in diameter,--shaded by trees, +shrubbery, and vines, and fringed with the delicate brake and fern. Its +waters, rising within half a mile of Long Lake, and upon the same +summit-level, flow southward to the Atlantic more than three hundred +miles; while those of the latter flow to the St. Lawrence, and reach +the same Atlantic a thousand miles away to the far northeast." + +Since Dr. Lossing visited the western head of the Hudson River, the +true and highest source of the stream has probably been settled by a +gentleman possessing scientific acquirements and inflexible purpose. +On the plateau south of Mount Marcy, State-Surveyor Colvin found the +little Lake Tear-of-the-Clouds to be the loftiest sheet of water in +the state,--four thousand three hundred and twenty-six feet above the +sea,--and proved it to be the lake-head of the great river Hudson. A +second little pond in a marsh on a high plateau, at the foot of Mount +Redfield, was also discovered,--"margined and embanked with luxuriant +and deep sphagnous moss,"--which was named by the party Moss Lake. It +was found to flow into the Hudson. A beautiful little bivalve shell, +three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, of an undescribed species, was +found in the pellucid water, and thus a new shell was handed over to +conchology, and a new river source to geography, in the same hour. This +pool is four thousand three hundred and twelve feet above tide-water, +and only a few feet lower than its sister, Tear-of-the-Clouds--the +highest source of the Hudson. + +Should the state of New York adopt Mr. Colvin's suggestion, to reserve +six hundred square miles of the Adirondack region for a public park, the +pool Tear-of-the-Clouds will be within the reservation. The waters of +these baby fountains are swollen by contributions from the streams, +ponds, and lakes of the Adirondack wilderness, until along the banks of +Fishing Brook, a tributary of the Hudson, the water is utilized at the +first saw-mill. A few miles lower down the forests are vexed by the axe +of the lumbermen, and logs are floated down the river one hundred miles +to Glens Falls, where the State Dam and Great Boom are located. Half a +million logs have been gathered there in a single spring. + +It was upon the Hudson that the first successful steamboat, built by +Robert Fulton, made its voyage to Albany, the engine having been built +by Watt & Bolton, in England. + +From Mr. Lossing we obtain the following. + + "The Clermont was one hundred feet long, twelve feet wide, and + seven feet deep. The following advertisement appeared in the + Albany Gazette on the 1st of September, 1807: + + "The North River steamboat will leave Paulus Hook (Jersey City) + on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning, and arrive + at Albany on Saturday at 9 in the afternoon. Provisions, good + berths, and accommodations are provided. The charge to each + passenger is as follows: + + To Newburgh, 3 Dollars Time, 14 hours. + " Poughkeepsie, 4 " " 17 " + " Esopus, 5 " " 20 " + " Hudson, 5-1/2 " " 30 " + " Albany, 7 " " 36 " ." + +The trip, which was made against a strong head wind, was entirely +successful. The large steamers can now make the trip from New York to +Albany in about twelve hours. + + * * * * * + +As I pulled easily along the banks of the river, my eyes feasted upon +the gorgeous coloring of the autumnal foliage, which formed a scene of +beauty never to be forgotten. The rapid absorption of oxygen by the +leaves in the fall months produces, in northern America, these vivid +tints which give to the country the appearance of a land covered with a +varied and brilliant garment, "a coat of many colors." A soft, hazy +light pervaded the atmosphere, while at the same time the October air +was gently exhilarating to the nervous system. At six o'clock P. M. the +canoe arrived at Hudson City, which is on the east bank of the river, +and I completed a row of thirty-eight statute miles, according to local +authority; but in reality forty-nine miles by the correct charts of the +United States Coast Survey. After storing the Maria Theresa in a shed, I +repaired to a dismal hotel for the night. + +At seven o'clock the next morning the river was mantled in a dense fog, +but I pushed off and guided myself by the sounds of the running trains +on the Hudson River Railroad. This corporation does such an immense +amount of freighting that, if their freight trains were connected, a +continuous line of eighty miles would be constructed, of which sixteen +miles are always in transit day and night. Steamboats and tugs with +canal-boats in tow were groping about the river in the misty darkness, +blowing whistles every few minutes to let people know that the pilot was +not sleeping at the wheel. There was a grand clearing up at noon; and as +the sun broke through the mist, the beautiful shores came into view like +a vivid flame of scarlet, yellow, brown, and green. It was the +death-song of summer, and her dying notes the tinted leaves, each one +giving to the wind a sad strain as it softly dropped to the earth, or +was quickly hurled into space. + +A few miles south of Hudson City, on the west bank, the Catskill stream +enters the river. From this point the traveller may penetrate the +picturesque country of the Appalachian range, where its wild elevations +were called _Onti Ora_, or "mountains of the sky," by the aborigines. + +Rondout, on the right bank of the Hudson, is the terminus of the +Delaware and Hudson Canal, which connects it with Port Jervis on the +Delaware, a distance of fifty-four miles. This town, the outlet of the +coal regions, I passed after meridian. As I left Hudson on the first of +the flood-tide, I had to combat it for several hours; but I easily +reached Hyde Park Landing (which is on the left bank of the stream and, +by local authority, thirty-five miles from Hudson City) at five o'clock +P. M. The wharf-house sheltered the canoe, and a hotel in the village, +half a mile distant on the high plains, its owner. I was upon the river +by seven o'clock the next morning. The day was varied by strong gusts of +wind succeeded by calms. Six miles south of Hyde Park is the beautiful +city of Poughkeepsie with its eighteen thousand inhabitants, and the +celebrated Vassar Female College. Eight miles down the river, and on the +same side, is a small village called New Hamburg. The rocky promontory +at the foot of which the town is built is covered with the finest arbor +vitæ forest probably in existence. Six miles below, on the west bank, is +the important city of Newburg, one of the termini of the New York and +Erie Railroad. Four miles below, the river narrows and presents a grand +view of the north entrance of the Highlands, with the Storm King +Mountain rising fully one thousand five hundred feet above the tide. +The early Dutch navigators gave to this peak the name of _Boter-burg_ +(Butter-Hill), but it was rechristened Storm King by the author +N. P. Willis, whose late residence, Idlewild, commands a fine view of +Newburg Bay. + +When past the Storm King, the Crow-Nest and the almost perpendicular +front of Kidd's Plug Cliff tower aloft, and mark the spot where Kidd (as +usual) was supposed to have buried a portion of that immense sum of +money with which popular belief invests hundreds of localities along the +watercourses of the continent. Now the Narrows above West Point were +entered, and the current against a head-wind made the passage unusually +exciting. The paper canoe danced over the boiling expanse of water, and +neared the west shore about a mile above the United States Military +Academy, when a shell, from a gun on the grounds of that institution, +burst in the water within a few feet of the boat. I now observed a +target set upon a little flat at the foot of a gravelly hill close +to the beach. As a second, and finally a third shell exploded near +me, I rowed into the rough water, much disgusted with cadet-practice +and military etiquette. After dark the canoe was landed on the deck +of a schooner which was discharging slag or cinder at Fort Montgomery +Landing. I scrambled up the hill to the only shelter that could be +found, a small country store owned by a Captain Conk who kept +entertainment for the traveller. Rough fellows and old crones came +in to talk about the spooks that had been seen in the neighboring +hills. It was veritable "Sleepy Hollow" talk. The physician of the +place, they said, had been "skert clean off a bridge the other night." + +Embarking the following morning from this weird and hilly country, that +prominent natural feature, Anthony's Nose, which was located on the +opposite shore, strongly appealed to my imagination and somewhat excited +my mirth. One needs a powerful imagination, I thought, to live in these +regions where the native element, the hill-folk, dwell so fondly and +earnestly upon the ghostly and mysterious. Three miles down the river, +Dunderberg, "the thundering mountain," on the west bank, with the town +of Peekskill on the opposite shore, was passed, and I entered Haverstraw +Bay, the widest part of the river. "Here," says the historian, "the +fresh and salt water usually contend, most equally, for the mastery; and +here the porpoise is often seen in large numbers sporting in the summer +sun. Here in the spring vast numbers of shad are caught while on their +way to spawning-beds in fresh-water coves." Haverstraw Bay was crossed, +and Tarrytown passed, when I came to the picturesque little cottage of +a great man now gone from among us. Many pleasant memories of his tales +rose in my mind as I looked upon Sunnyside, the home of Washington +Irving, nestled in the grove of living green, its white stuccoed walls +glistening in the bright sunlight, and its background of grand villas +looming up on every side. At Irvington Landing, a little further down +the river, I went ashore to pass Sunday with friends; and on the Monday +following, in a dense fog, proceeded on my route to New York. + +Below Irvington the far-famed "Palisades," bold-faced precipices of +trap-rock, offer their grandest appearance on the west side of the +Hudson. These singular bluffs, near Hoboken, present a perpendicular +front of three hundred or four hundred feet in height. Piles of broken +rock rest against their base: the contribution of the cliffs above from +the effects of frost and sun. + +While approaching the great city of New York, strong squalls of wind, +blowing against the ebb-tide, sent swashy waves into my open canoe, the +sides of which, amidships, were only five or six inches above water; but +the great buoyancy of the light craft and its very smooth exterior +created but little friction in the water and made her very seaworthy, +when carefully watched and handled, even without a deck of canvas or +wood. While the canoe forged ahead through the troubled waters, and the +breezes loaded with the saltness of the sea now near at hand struck my +back, I confess that a longing to reach Philadelphia, where I could +complete my outfit and increase the safety of my little craft, gave +renewed vigor to my stroke as I exchanged the quiet atmosphere of the +country for the smoke and noise of the city. Every instinct was now +challenged, and every muscle brought into action, as I dodged tug-boats, +steamers, yachts, and vessels, while running the thoroughfare along the +crowded wharves between New York on one side and Jersey City on the +other. I found the slips between the piers most excellent ports of +refuge at times, when the ferry-boats, following each other in quick +succession, made the river with its angry tide boil like a vortex. The +task soon ended, and I left the Hudson at Castle Garden and entered the +upper bay of New York harbor. As it was dark, I would gladly have gone +ashore for the night, but a great city offers no inducement for a +canoeist to land as a stranger at its wharves. + +A much more pleasant reception awaited me down on Staten Island, a +gentleman having notified me by mail that he would welcome the canoe and +its owner. The ebb had ceased, and the incoming tide was being already +felt close in shore; so with tide and wind against me, and the darkness +of night settling down gloomily upon the wide bay, I pulled a strong +oar for five miles to the entrance of Kill Van Kull Strait, which +separates Staten Island from New Jersey and connects the upper bay with +Raritan Bay. + +The bright beams from the light-house on Robbin's Reef, which is one +mile and a quarter off the entrance of the strait, guided me on my +course. The head-sea, in little, splashy waves, began to fill my canoe. +The water soon reached the foot-rest; but there was no time to stop to +bale out the boat, for a friendly current was near, and if once reached, +my little craft would enter smoother waters. The flood which poured into +the mouth of Kill Van Kull soon caught my boat, and the head-tide was +changed to a favorable current which carried me in its strong arms far +into the salt-water strait, and I reached West New Brighton, along the +high banks of which I found my haven of rest. Against the sky I traced +the outlines of my landmark, three poplars, standing sentinel-like +before the house of the gentleman who had so kindly offered me his +hospitality. The canoe was emptied of its shifting liquid ballast and +carefully sponged dry. My host and his son carried it into the main hall +of the mansion and placed it upon the floor, where the entire household +gathered, an admiring group. Proud, indeed, might my dainty craft have +been of the appreciation of so lovely a company. Her master fully +appreciated the generous board of his kind host, and in present comfort +soon forgot past trials and his wet pull across the upper bay of New +York harbor. + +My work for the next day, October 27th, was the navigation of the +interesting strait of the old Dutch settlers and the Raritan River, of +New Jersey, as far as New Brunswick. The average width of Kill Van Kull +is three-eighths of a mile. From its entrance, at Constable's Point, to +the mouth of Newark Bay, which enters it on the Jersey side, it is three +miles, and nearly two miles across the bay to Elizabethport. Bergen +Point is on the east and Elizabethport on the west entrance of the bay, +while on Staten Island, New Brighton, Factoryville, and North Shore, +furnish homes for many New York business men. + +At Elizabethport the strait narrows to one eighth of a mile, and as +the mouth of the Rahway is approached it widens. It now runs through +marshes for most of the way, a distance of twelve miles to Raritan Bay, +which is an arm of the lower bay of New York harbor. The strait, from +Elizabethport to its mouth, is called Arthur Kill; the whole distance +through the Kills, from Constable's Point to Raritan Bay, is about +seventeen statute miles. At the mouth of Arthur Kill the Raritan River +opens to the bay, and the city of Perth Amboy rests on the point of +high land between the river and the strait. + +Roseville and Tottenville are on the Staten Island shores of Arthur +Kill, the former six miles, the latter ten miles from Elizabethport. +The tide runs swiftly through the Kills. Leaving Mr. Campbell's +residence at nine A. M., with a tide in my favor as far as Newark Bay, +I soon had the tide against me from the other Kill until I passed the +Rahway River, when it commenced to ebb towards Raritan Bay. The marshy +shores of the Kills were submerged in places by the high tide, but +their monotony was relieved by the farms upon the hills back of the +flats. + +At one o'clock my canoe rounded the heights upon which Perth Amboy is +perched, with its snug cottages, the homes of many oystermen whose fleet +of boats was anchored in front of the town. Curious yard-like pens +constructed of poles rose out of the water, in which boats could find +shelter from the rough sea. + +The entrance to the Raritan River is wide, and above its mouth it is +crossed by a long railroad bridge. The pull up the crooked river +(sixteen miles) against a strong ebb-tide, through extensive reedy +marshes, was uninteresting. I came upon the entrance of the canal which +connects the rivers Raritan and Delaware after six o'clock P. M., which +at this season of the year was after dark. Hiding the canoe in a secure +place I went to visit an old friend, Professor George Cook, of the New +Jersey State Geological Survey, who resides at New Brunswick. In the +morning the professor kindly assisted me, and we climbed the high bank +of the canal with the canoe upon our shoulders, putting it into the +water below the first two locks. I now commenced an unexciting row of +forty-two miles to Bordentown, on the Delaware, where this artificial +watercourse ends. + +This canal is much travelled by steam tugs towing schooners of two +hundred tons, and by barges and canal-boats of all sizes drawing not +above seven feet and a half of water. The boats are drawn through the +locks by stationary steam-engines, the use of which is discontinued when +the business becomes slack; then the boatmen use their mules for the +same purpose. To tow an average-sized canal-boat, loaded, requires four +mules, while an empty one is easily drawn by two. It proved most +expeditious as well as convenient not to trouble the lock-master to open +the gates, but to secure his assistance in carrying the canoe along the +tow-path to the end of the lock, which service occupied less than five +minutes. In this way the canoe was carried around seven locks the first +day, and when dusk approached she was sheltered beside a paper shell in +the boat-house of Princeton College Club, which is located on the banks +of the canal about one mile and a half from the city of Princeton. + +In this narrow watercourse these indefatigable collegians, under great +disadvantages, drill their crews for the annual intercollegiate +struggle for championship. One Noah Reed provided entertainment for man +and beast at his country inn half a mile from the boat-house, and +thither I repaired for the night. + +This day's row of twenty-six miles and a half had been through a hilly +country, abounding in rich farm lands which were well cultivated. The +next morning an officer of the Princeton Bank awaited my coming on the +banks of the sluggish canal. He had taken an early walk from the town to +see the canoe. At Baker's Basin the bridge-tender, a one-legged man, +pressed me to tarry till he could summon the Methodist minister, who had +charged him to notify him of the approach of a paper canoe. + +Through all my boat journeys I have remarked that professional men take +more interest in canoe journeys than professional oarsmen; and nearly +all the canoeists of my acquaintance are ministers of the gospel. It is +an innocent way of obtaining relaxation; and opportunities thus offered +the weary clergyman of studying nature in her ever-changing but always +restful moods, must indeed be grateful after being for months in daily +contact with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The tendency of the +present age to liberal ideas permits clergymen in large towns and cities +to drive fast horses, and spend an hour of each day at a harmless game +of billiards, without giving rise to remarks from _his own_ +congregation, but let the overworked rector of a _country_ village seek +in his friendly canoe that relief which nature offers to the tired +brain, let him go into the wilderness and live close to his Creator by +studying his works, and a whole community vex him on his return with +"the appearance of the thing." These self-constituted critics, who are +generally ignorant of the laws which God has made to secure health and +give contentment to his creatures, would poison the sick man's body with +drugs and nostrums when he might have the delightful and generally +successful services of Dr. Camp Cure without the after dose of a bill. +These hard-worked and miserably paid country clergymen, who are rarely, +nowadays, treated as the head of the congregation or the shepherd of the +flock they are supposed to lead, but rather as victims of the whims of +influential members of the church, tell me that to own a canoe is indeed +a cross, and that if they spend a vacation in the grand old forests of +the Adirondacks, the brethren are sorely exercised over the time wasted +in such unusual and unministerial conduct. + +Everywhere along the route the peculiar character of the paper canoe +attracted many remarks from the bystanders. The first impression given +was that I had engaged in this rowing enterprise under the stimulus of a +bet; and when the curious were informed that it was a voyage of study, +the next question was, "How much are you going to make out of it?" Upon +learning that there was neither a bet nor money in it, a shade of +disappointment and incredulity rested upon the features of the +bystanders, and the canoeist was often rated as a "blockhead" for +risking his life without being paid for it. + +At Trenton the canal passes through the city, and here it was necessary +to carry the boat around two locks. At noon the canoe ended her voyage +of forty-two miles by reaching the last lock, on the Delaware River, at +Bordentown, New Jersey, where friendly arms received the Maria Theresa +and placed her on the trestles which had supported her sister craft, the +Mayeta, in the shop of the builder, Mr. J. S. Lamson, situated under the +high cliffs along the crests of which an ex-king of Spain, in times gone +by, was wont to walk and sadly ponder on his exile from _la belle +France_. + +The Rev. John H. Brakeley, proprietor as well as principal of the +Bordentown Female Seminary, took me to his ancient mansion, where Thomas +Paine, of old Revolutionary war times, had lodged. Not the least +attraction in the home of my friend was the group of fifty young ladies, +who were kind enough to gather upon a high bluff when I left the town, +and wave a graceful farewell to the paper canoe as she entered the +tidal current of the river Delaware _en route_ for the Quaker city. + +During my short stay in Bordentown Mr. Isaac Gabel kindly acted as my +guide, and we explored the Bonaparte Park, which is on the outskirts of +the town. The grounds are beautifully laid out. Some of the old houses +of the ex-king's friends and attendants still remain in a fair state of +preservation. The elegant residence of Joseph Bonaparte, or the Count de +Surveilliers, which was always open to American visitors of all classes, +was torn down by Mr. Henry Beckett, an Englishman in the diplomatic +service of the British government, who purchased this property some +years after the Count returned to Europe, and erected a more elaborate +mansion near the old site. The old citizens of Bordentown hold in +grateful remembrance the favors showered upon them by Joseph Bonaparte +and his family, who seem to have lived a democratic life in the grand +old park. The Count returned to France in 1838, and never visited the +United States again. New Jersey had welcomed the exiled monarch, and had +given him certain legal privileges in property rights which New York had +refused him; so he settled upon the lovely shores of the fair Delaware, +and lavished his wealth upon the people of the state which had so kindly +received him. The citizens of neighboring states becoming somewhat +jealous of the good luck that had befallen New Jersey in her capture of +the Spanish king, applied to the state the cognomen of "New Spain," and +called the inhabitants thereof "Spaniards." + +The Delaware River, the Makeriskitton of the savage, upon whose noble +waters my paper canoe was now to carry me southward, has its sources in +the western declivity of the Catskill Mountains, in the state of New +York. It is fed by two tributary streams, the Oquago (or Coquago) and +the Popacton, which unite their waters at the boundary line of +Pennsylvania, at the northeast end of the state, from which it flows +southward seventy miles, separating the Empire and Keystone states. When +near Port Jervis, which town is connected with Rondout, on the Hudson +River, by the Hudson and Delaware Canal, the Delaware turns sharply to +the southwest, and becomes the boundary line between the states of New +Jersey and Pennsylvania. Below Easton the river again takes a +southeasterly course, and flowing past Trenton, Bristol, Bordentown, +Burlington, Philadelphia, Camden, Newcastle, and Delaware City, empties +its waters into Delaware Bay about forty miles below Philadelphia. + +This river has about the same length as the Hudson--three hundred miles. +The tide reaches one hundred and thirty-two miles from the sea at Cape +May and Cape Henlopen. Philadelphia is the head of navigation for +vessels of the heaviest tonnage; Trenton for light-draught steamboats. +At Bordentown the river is less than half a mile wide; at Philadelphia +it is three-fourths of a mile in width; while at Delaware City it widens +to two miles and a half. Delaware Bay is twenty-six miles across in the +widest part, which is some miles within the entrance of the Capes. + +October 31st was cool and gusty. The river route to Philadelphia is +twenty-nine statute miles. The passage was made against a strong +head-wind, with swashy waves, which made me again regret that I did not +have my canoe-decking made at Troy, instead of at Philadelphia. The +highly-cultivated farms and beautiful country-seats along both the +Pennsylvania and New Jersey sides of the river spoke highly of the rich +character of the soil and the thrift of the inhabitants. These river +counties of two states may be called a land of plenty, blessed with +bountiful harvests. + +Quaker industry and wise economy in managing the agricultural affairs of +this section in the early epochs of our country's settlement have borne +good fruit. All praise to the memory of William Penn of Pennsylvania and +his worthy descendants. The old towns of Bristol on the right, and +Burlington on the left bank, embowered in vernal shades, have a most +comfortable and home-like appearance. + +At five o'clock P. M. I arrived at the city pier opposite the warehouse +of Messrs. C. P. Knight & Brother, No. 114 South Delaware Avenue, where, +after a struggle with wind and wave for eight hours, the canoe was +landed and deposited with the above firm, the gentlemen of which kindly +offered to care for it while I tarried in the "City of Brotherly Love." + +Among the many interesting spots hallowed by memories of the past in +which Philadelphia abounds, and which are rarely sought out by visitors, +two especially claim the attention of the naturalist. One is the old +home of William Bartram, on the banks of the Schuylkill at Grey's Ferry; +the other, the grave of Alexander Wilson, friends and co-laborers in +nature's extended field;--the first a botanist, the second the father of +American ornithology. + +William Bartram, son of the John Bartram who was the founder of the +Botanic Garden on the west bank of the Schuylkill, was born at that +interesting spot in 1739. All botanists are familiar with the results of +his patient labors and his pioneer travels in those early days, through +the wilderness of what now constitutes the southeastern states. One who +visited him at his home says: "Arrived at the botanist's garden, we +approached an old man who, with a rake in his hand, was breaking the +clods of earth in a tulip-bed. His hat was old, and flapped over his +face; his coarse shirt was seen near his neck, as he wore no cravat nor +kerchief; his waistcoat and breeches were both of leather, and his shoes +were tied with leather strings. We approached and accosted him. He +ceased his work, and entered into conversation with the ease and +politeness of nature's nobleman. His countenance was expressive of +benignity and happiness. This was the botanist, traveller and +philosopher we had come to see." + +William Bartram gave important assistance and encouragement to the +friendless Scotch pedagogue, Alexander Wilson, while the latter was +preparing his American Ornithology for the press. This industrious and +peaceable botanist died within the walls of his dearly-loved home a few +minutes after he had penned a description of a plant. He died in 1823, +in the eighty-fifth year of his age. The old house of John and William +Bartram remains nearly the same as when the last Bartram died, but the +grounds have been occupied and improved by the present proprietor, whose +fine mansion is near the old residence of the two botanists. + +Without ample funds to enable him to carry out his bold design, +Alexander Wilson labored and suffered in body and mind for several +years, until his patient and persistent efforts achieved the success +they so richly merited. All but the last volume of his American +Ornithology were completed when the overworked naturalist died. + +The old Swedes' Church is the most ancient religious edifice in +Philadelphia, and is located near the wharves in the vicinity of +Christian and Swanson streets, in the old district of Southwark. The +Swedes had settlements on the Delaware before Penn visited America. They +built a wooden edifice for worship in 1677, on the spot where the brick +"Swedes' Church" now stands, and which was erected in 1700. Threading +narrow streets, with the stenographic reporter of the courts, Mr. R. A. +West, for my guide, we came into a quiet locality where the ancient +landmark reared its steeple, like the finger of faith pointing +heavenward. Few indeed must be the fashionable Christians who worship +under its unpretentious roof, but there is an air of antiquity +surrounding it which interests every visitor who enters its venerable +doorway. + +The church-yard is very contracted in area, yet there is room for trees +to grow within its sacred precincts, and birds sometimes rest there +while pursuing their flight from the Schuylkill to the Delaware. Among +the crowded graves is a square brick structure, covered with an +horizontal slab of white marble, upon which I read: + + "THIS MONUMENT COVERS THE REMAINS OF + ALEXANDER WILSON, + AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. +HE WAS BORN IN RENFREWSHIRE, SCOTLAND, ON THE 6 JULY, 1766; + EMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEAR 1794; + AND DIED IN PHILADELPHIA, OF THE DYSENTERY, + ON THE 23 AUGUST, 1813, AGED 47. + _Ingenio stat sine morte decus._" + +Philadelphia has been called the "city of homes," and well does she +merit that comfortably sounding title, for it is not a misnomer. Unlike +some other large American cities, the artisan and laborer can here own a +home by becoming a member of a building association and paying the +moderate periodical dues. Miles upon miles of these cosy little houses, +of five or six rooms each, may be found, the inmates of which are a good +and useful class of citizens, adding strength to the city's discipline +and government. + +The grand park of three thousand acres, one of, if not _the_ largest in +the world, is near at hand, where the poor as well as the rich can +resort at pleasure. I took leave of the beautiful and well laid-out city +with a pang of regret not usual with canoeists, who find it best for +their comfort and peace of mind to keep with their dainty crafts away +from the heterogeneous and not over-civil population which gathers along +the water-fronts of a port. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] NOTE TO PAGE 72.--The author has been criticised by technical +canoeists for using oars on a canoe. On this cruise, experience proved +that the paddle could be used effectively only two miles out of every +three. Head winds and seas frequently drive the paddler into camp, while +the adaptive cruiser pushes on with oar and outrigger, and avoids the +loss of many hours. Many canoeists exploring our broad watercourses have +adopted the oar as an auxiliary,--the paddle properly taking the +precedence. We are progressing. The canoeist of 1882 may follow the +teachings of common-sense _vs._ unauthorized technical criticisms. Oars +on a light paddling canoe are out of place; but are a most effective +power on a heavy cruising canoe, insuring a successful voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PHILADELPHIA TO CAPE HENLOPEN. + +DESCENT OF DELAWARE RIVER.--MY FIRST CAMP.--BOMBAY HOOK.--MURDERKILL +CREEK.--A STORM IN DELAWARE BAY.--CAPSIZING OF THE CANOE.--A SWIM FOR +LIFE.--THE PERSIMMON GROVE.--WILLOW GROVE INN.--THE LIGHTS OF CAPES MAY +AND HENLOPEN. + + +Monday, November 9, was a cold, wet day. Mr. Knight and the old, +enthusiastic gunsmith-naturalist of the city, Mr. John Krider, assisted +me to embark in my now decked, provisioned, and loaded canoe. The stock +of condensed food would easily last me a month, while the blankets and +other parts of the outfit were good for the hard usage of four or five +months. My friends shouted adieu as the little craft shot out from the +pier and rapidly descended the river with the strong ebb-tide which for +two hours was in her favor. The anchorage of the iron Monitor fleet at +League Island was soon passed, and the great city sank into the gloom +of its smoke and the clouds of rainy mist which enveloped it. + +[Illustration: From New York City to Cape Henlopen, Delaware. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From New York City +to Lewes, Del. Via Arthur Kill, Del. & Raritan Canal Followed by +N. H. Bishop in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + +This pull was an exceedingly dreary one. The storms of winter were +at hand, and even along the watercourses between Philadelphia and +Norfolk, Virginia, thin ice would soon be forming in the shallow coves +and creeks. It would be necessary to exert all my energies to get south +of Hatteras, which is located on the North Carolina coast in a region of +storms and local disturbances. The canoe, though heavily laden, behaved +well. I now enjoyed the advantages resulting from the possession of the +new canvas deck-cover, which, being fastened by buttons along each +gunwale of the canoe, securely covered the boat, so that the occasional +swash sent aboard by wicked tug-boats and large schooners did not annoy +me or wet my precious cargo. + +By two o'clock P. M. the rain and wind caused me to seek shelter at +Mr. J. C. Beach's cottage, at Markus Hook, some twenty miles below +Philadelphia, and on the same side of the river. While Mr. Beach was +varnishing the little craft, crowds of people came to _feel_ of the +canoe, giving it the usual punching with their finger-nails, "to see if +it were truly paper." A young Methodist minister with his pretty wife +came also to satisfy their curiosity on the _paper_ question, but the +dominie offered me not a word of encouragement in my undertaking. He +shook his head and whispered to his wife: "A wild, wild enterprise +indeed." Markus Hook derived its name from Markee, an Indian chief, +who sold it to the civilized white man for four barrels of whiskey. + +The next morning, in a dense fog, I followed the shores of the river, +crossing the Pennsylvania and Delaware boundary line half a mile below +the "Hook," and entered Delaware, the little state of three counties. +Thirty-five miles below, the water becomes salt. Reaching New Castle, +which contained half its present number of inhabitants before +Philadelphia was founded, I pulled across to the New Jersey side of +the river and skirted the marshy shore past the little Pea Patch +Island, upon which rises in sullen dreariness Fort Delaware. West of +the island is Delaware City, where the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, +fourteen miles in length, has one of its termini, the other being on +a river which empties into Chesapeake Bay. Philadelphia and Baltimore +steamboat lines utilize this canal in the passage of their boats from +one city to the other. + +After crossing Salem Cove, and passing its southern point, Elsinborough, +five miles and a half below Fort Delaware, the inhospitable marshes +became wide and desolate, warning me to secure a timely shelter for the +night. Nearly two miles below Point Elsinborough the high reeds were +divided by a little creek, into which I ran my canoe, for upon the muddy +bank could be seen a deserted, doorless fish-cabin, into which I moved +my blankets and provisions, after cutting with my pocket-knife an ample +supply of dry reeds for a bed. Drift-wood, which a friendly tide had +deposited around the shanty, furnished the material for my fire, which +lighted up the dismal hovel most cheerfully. And thus I kept house in a +comfortable manner till morning, being well satisfied with the progress +I had made that day in traversing the shores of three states. The +booming of the guns of wild-fowl shooters out upon the water roused +me before dawn, and I had ample time before the sun arose to prepare +breakfast from the remnant of canned ox-tail soup left over from last +night's supper. + +I was now in Delaware Bay, which was assuming noble proportions. From +my camp I crossed to the west shore below Reedy Island, and, filling +my water-bottles at a farm-house, kept upon that shore all day. The +wind arose, stirring up a rough sea as I approached Bombay Hook, where +the bay is eight miles wide. I tried to land upon the salt marshes, +over the edges of which the long, low seas were breaking, but failed +in several attempts. At last roller after roller, following in quick +succession, carried the little craft on their crests to the land, and +packed her in a thicket of high reeds. + +I quickly disembarked, believing it useless to attempt to go further +that day. About an eighth of a mile from the water, rising out of the +salt grass and reeds, was a little mound, covered by trees and bushes, +into which I conveyed my cargo by the back-load, and then easily drew +the light canoe over the level marsh to the camp. A bed of reeds was +soon cut, into which the canoe was settled to prevent her from being +strained by the occupant at night, for I was determined to test the +strength of the boat as sleeping-quarters. Canoes built for one person +are generally too light for such occupancy when out of water. The tall +fringe of reeds which encircled the boat formed an excellent substitute +for chamber walls, giving me all the starry blue heavens for a ceiling, +and most effectually screening me from the strong wind which was +blowing. As it was early when the boat was driven ashore, I had time to +wander down to the brook, which was a mile distant, and replenish my +scanty stock of water. + +With the canvas deck-cover and rubber blanket to keep off the heavy +dews, the first night passed in such contracted lodgings was +endurable, if not wholly convenient and agreeable. The river mists +were not dispelled the next day until nine o'clock, when I quitted my +warm nest in the reeds and rowed down the bay, which seemed to grow +broader as I advanced. The bay was still bordered by extensive +marshes, with here and there the habitation of man located upon some +slight elevation of the surface. Having rowed twenty-six miles, and +being off the mouth of Murderkill Creek, a squall struck the canoe +and forced it on to an oyster reef, upon the sharp shells of which +she was rocked for several minutes by the shallow breakers. Fearing +that the paper shell was badly cut, though it was still early in the +afternoon, I ascended the creek of ominous name and associations to +the landing of an inn kept by Jacob Lavey, where I expected to +overhaul my injured craft. To my surprise and great relief of mind +there were found only a few superficial scratches upon the horn-like +shellacked surface of the paper shell. To apply shellac with a heated +iron to the wounds made by the oyster-shells was the work of a few +minutes, and my craft was as sound as ever. The gunner's resort, +"Bower's Beach Hotel," furnished an excellent supper of oyster +fritters, pan-fish, and fried pork-scrapple. Mine host, before a +blazing wood fire, told me of the origin of the name of Murderkill +Creek. + +"In the early settlement of the country," began the innkeeper, "the +white settlers did all they could to civilize the Indians, but the +cussed savages wouldn't take to it kindly, but worried the life out of +the new-comers. At last a great landed proprietor, who held a big grant +of land in these parts, thought he'd settle the troubles. So he planted +a brass cannon near the creek, and invited all the Indians of the +neighborhood to come and hear the white man's Great Spirit talk. The +crafty man got the savages before the mouth of the cannon, and said, +'Now look into the hole there, for it is the mouth of the white man's +Great Spirit, which will soon speak in tones of thunder.' The fellow +then touched off the gun, and knocked half the devils into splinters. +The others were so skeerd at the big voice they had heard that they were +afraid to move, and were soon all killed by one charge after another +from the cannon: so the creek has been called Murderkill ever since." + +I afterwards discovered that there were other places on the coast +which had the same legend as the one told me by the innkeeper. Holders +of small farms lived in the vicinity of this tavern, but the +post-office was at Frederica, five miles inland. Embarking the next +day, I felt sure of ending my cruise on Delaware Bay before night, as +the quiet morning exhibited no signs of rising winds. The little pilot +town of Lewes, near Cape Delaware, and behind the Breakwater, is a +port of refuge for storm-bound vessels. From this village I expected +to make a portage of six miles to Love Creek, a tributary of Rehoboth +Sound. The frosty nights were now exerting a sanitary influence over +the malarial districts which I had entered, and the unacclimated +canoeist of northern birth could safely pursue his journey, and sleep +at night in the swamps along the fresh-water streams if protected from +the dews by a rubber or canvas covering. My hopes of reaching the +open sea that night were to be drowned, and in cold water too; for +that day, which opened so calmly and with such smiling promises, was +destined to prove a season of trial, and before its evening shadows +closed around me, to witness a severe struggle for life in the cold +waters of Delaware Bay. + +An hour after leaving Murderkill Creek the wind came from the north in +strong squalls. My little boat taking the blasts on her quarter, kept +herself free of the swashy seas hour after hour. I kept as close to the +sandy beach of the great marshes as possible, so as to be near the land +in case an accident should happen. Mispillion Creek and a light-house on +the north of its mouth were passed, when the wind and seas struck my +boat on the port beam, and continually crowded her ashore. The water +breaking on the hard, sandy beach of the marshy coast made it too much +of a risk to attempt a landing, as the canoe would be smothered in the +swashy seas if her headway was checked for a moment. Amidships the canoe +was only a few inches out of water, but her great sheer, full bow, and +smoothness of hull, with watchful management, kept her from swamping. I +had struggled along for fourteen miles since morning, and was fatigued +by the strain consequent upon the continued manoeuvring of my boat +through the rough waves. I reached a point on Slaughter Beach, where +the bay has a width of nearly nineteen miles, when the tempest rose to +such a pitch that the great raging seas threatened every moment to wash +over my canoe, and to force me by their violence close into the beach. +To my alarm, as the boat rose and fell on the waves, the heads of +sharp-pointed stakes appeared and disappeared in the broken waters. They +were the stakes of fishermen to which they attach their nets in the +season of trout-fishing. The danger of being impaled on one of these +forced me off shore again. + +There was no undertow; the seas being driven over shoals were irregular +and broken. At last _my_ sea came. It rolled up without a crest, square +and formidable. I could not calculate where it would break, but I pulled +for life away from it towards the beach upon which the sea was breaking +with deafening sound. It was only for a moment that I beheld the great +brown wave, which bore with it the mud of the shoal, bearing down upon +me; for the next, it broke astern, sweeping completely over the canoe +from stern to stem, filling it through the opening of the canvas round +my body. Then for a while the watery area was almost smooth, so +completely had the great wave levelled it. The canoe being water-logged, +settled below the surface, the high points of the ends occasionally +emerging from the water. Other heavy seas followed the first, one of +which striking me as high as my head and shoulders, turned both the +canoe and canoeist upside-down. + +Kicking myself free of the canvas deck, I struck out from under the +shell, and quickly rose to the surface. It was then that the words of +an author of a European Canoe Manual came to my mind: "When you +capsize, first right the canoe and get astride it over one end, +keeping your legs in the water; when you have crawled to the well or +cockpit, bale out the boat with your hat." Comforting as these +instructions from an experienced canoe traveller seemed when reading +them in my hermitage ashore, the present application of them (so +important a principle in Captain Jack Bunsby's log of life) was in +this emergency an impossibility; for my hat had disappeared with the +seat-cushion and one iron outrigger, while the oars were floating to +leeward with the canoe. + +The boat having turned keel up, her great sheer would have righted her +had it not been for the cargo, which settled itself on the canvas +deck-cloth, and ballasted the craft in that position. So smooth were her +polished sides that it was impossible to hold on to her, for she rolled +about like a slippery porpoise in a tideway. Having tested and proved +futile the kind suggestions of writers on marine disasters, and feeling +very stiff in the icy water, I struck out in an almost exhausted +condition for the shore. Now a new experience taught me an interesting +lesson. The seas rolled over my head and shoulders in such rapid +succession, that I found I could not get my head above water to breathe, +while the sharp sand kept in suspension by the agitated water scratched +my face, and filled my eyes, nostrils, and ears. While I felt this +pressing down and burying tendency of the seas, as they broke upon my +head and shoulders, I understood the reason why so many good swimmers +are drowned in attempting to reach the shore from a wreck on a shoal, +when the wind, though blowing heavily, is in the victim's favor. The +land was not over an eighth of a mile away, and from it came the sullen +roar of the breakers, pounding their heavy weight upon the sandy +shingle. As its booming thunders or its angry, swashing sound increased, +I knew I was rapidly nearing it, but, blinded by the boiling waters, I +could see nothing. + +[Illustration: A CAPSIZE IN DELAWARE BAY.] + +At such a moment do not stop to make vows as to how you will treat your +neighbor in future if once safely landed, but strike out, fight as you +never fought before, swallowing as little water as possible, and never +relaxing an energy or yielding a hope. The water shoaled; my feet felt +the bottom, and I stood up, but a roller laid me flat on my face. Up +again and down again, swimming and crawling, I emerged from the sea, +bearing, I fear, a closer resemblance to Jonah (being at last pitched +on shore) than to Cabnel's Venus, who was borne gracefully upon the rosy +crests of the sky-reflecting waves to the soft bed of sparkling foam +awaiting her. + +Wearily dragging myself up the hard shingle, I stood and contemplated +the little streams of water pouring from my woollen clothes. A new +danger awaited me as the cold wind whistled down the barren beach and +across the desolate marshes. I danced about to keep warm, and for a +moment thought that my canoe voyage had come to an unfortunate +termination. Then a buoyant feeling succeeded the moment's depression, +and I felt that this was only the first of many trials which were +necessary to prepare me for the successful completion of my undertaking. +But where was the canoe, with its provisions that were to sustain me, +and the charts which were to point out my way through the labyrinth of +waters she was yet to traverse? She had drifted near the shore, but +would not land. There was no time to consider the propriety of again +entering the water. The struggle was a short though severe one, and I +dragged my boat ashore. + +Everything was wet excepting what was most needed,--a flannel suit, +carefully rolled in a water-proof cloth. I knew that I must change my +wet clothes for dry ones, or perish. This was no easy task to perform, +with hands benumbed and limbs paralyzed with the cold. O shade of +Benjamin Franklin, did not one of thy kinsmen, in his wide experience as +a traveller, foresee this very disaster, and did he not, when I left the +"City of Brotherly Love," force upon me an antidote, a sort of spiritual +fire, which my New England temperance principles made me refuse to +accept? "It is old, _very_ old," he whispered, as he slipped the flask +into my coat-pocket, "and it may save your life. Don't be foolish. I +have kept it well bottled. It is a pure article, and cost sixteen +dollars per gallon. _I use it only for medicine._" I found the flask; +the _water_ had not injured it. A small quantity was taken, when a most +favorable change came over my entire system, mental as well as physical, +and I was able to throw off one suit and put on another in the icy wind, +that might, without the stimulant, have ended my voyage of life. + +I had doctored myself homoeopathically under the _old practice_. +Filled with feelings of gratitude to the Great Giver of good, I +reflected, as I carried my wet cargo into the marsh, upon the wonderful +effects of my friend's medicine when taken _only as medicine_. Standing +upon the cold beach and gazing into the sea, now lashed by the wild +frenzy of the wind, I determined never again to do so mean a thing as to +say a _bad_ word against _good_ brandy. + +Having relieved my conscience by this just resolve, I transported the +whole of my wet but still precious cargo to a persimmon grove, on a spot +of firm land that rose out of the marsh, where I made a convenient +wind-break by stretching rubber blankets between trees. On this knoll I +built a fire, obtaining the matches to kindle it from a water-proof safe +presented to me by Mr. Epes Sargent, of Boston, some years before, when +I was ascending the St. Johns River, Florida. + +Before dusk, all things not spoiled by the water were dried and secreted +in the tall sedge of the marshes. The elevation which had given me +friendly shelter is known as "Hog Island." The few persimmon-trees that +grew upon it furnished an ample lunch, for the frosts had mellowed the +plum-like fruit, making it sweet and edible. The persimmon (_Diospyrus +Virginiana_) is a small tree usually found in the middle and southern +states. Coons and other animals feast upon its fruit. The deepening +gloom warned me to seek comfortable quarters for the night. + +Two miles up the strand was an old gunners' inn, to which I bent my +steps along Slaughter Beach, praying that one more day's effort would +take me out of this bleak region of ominous names. A pleasant old +gentleman, Mr. Charles Todd, kept the tavern, known as Willow Grove +Hotel, more for amusement than for profit. I said nothing to him about +the peculiar manner in which I had landed on Slaughter Beach; but to his +inquiry as to where my boat was, and what kind of a boat it was to live +in such a blow, I replied that I found it too wet and cold on the bay to +remain there, and too rough to proceed to Cape Henlopen, and there being +no alternative, I was obliged to land much against my inclination, and +in doing so was drenched to the skin, but had managed to get dry before +a fire in the marshes. So the kind old man piled small logs in the great +kitchen fireplace, and told me tale upon tale of his life as a +school-master out west; of the death of his wife there, and of his +desire to return, after long years of absence, to his native Delaware, +where he could be comfortable, and have all the clams, oysters, fish, +and bay truck generally that a man could wish for. + +"Now," he added, "I shall spend my last days here in peace." He +furnished an excellent supper of weak-fish or sea trout (_Otolithus +regalio_), fried oysters, sweet potatoes, &c. + +This locality offers a place of retirement for men of small means and +limited ambition. The broad bay is a good sailing and fishing ground, +while the great marshes are the resort of many birds. The light, warm +soil responds generously to little cultivation. After a day of hunting +and fishing, the new-comer can smoke his pipe in peace, to the music of +crackling flames in the wide old fireplace. Here he may be +_comfortable_, and spend his last days quietly vegetating, with no +criticisms on his deterioration, knowing that he is running to seed no +faster than his neighbors. + +The wind had gone to rest with the sun, and the sharp frost that +followed left its congealed breath upon the shallow pools of water +nearly half an inch in thickness by morning. From my bed I could see +through the window the bright flashes from Cape May and Cape Henlopen +lights. Had not misfortune beset me, a four-hours' pull would have +landed me at Lewes. There was much to be thankful for, however. Through +a merciful Providence it was my privilege to enjoy a soft bed at the +Willow Grove Inn, and not a cold one on the sands of Slaughter Beach. So +ended my last day on Delaware Bay. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FROM CAPE HENLOPEN TO NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. + +THE PORTAGE TO LOVE CREEK.--THE DELAWARE WHIPPING-POST.--REHOBOTH AND +INDIAN RIVER BAYS.--A PORTAGE TO LITTLE ASSAWAMAN BAY.--ISLE OF WIGHT +BAY.--WINCHESTER PLANTATION.--CHINCOTEAGUE.--WATCHAPREAGUE +INLET.--COBB'S ISLAND.--CHERRYSTONE.--ARRIVAL AT NORFOLK.--THE +"LANDMARK'S" ENTERPRISE. + +[Illustration: From Cape Henlopen, Delaware, to Norfolk, Virginia. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From Lewes, Del. to +Norfolk, Va. Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + + +My first thought the next morning was of the lost outrigger, and how I +should replace it. My host soon solved the problem for me. I was to +drive to the scene of the late disaster in his light, covered wagon, +load it with the canoe and cargo, and take the shortest route to Love +Creek, six miles from Lewes, stopping on the way at a blacksmith's for a +new outrigger. We drove over sandy roads, through forests of pine and +oak, to the village of Milton, where a curious crowd gathered round us +and facetiously asked if we had "brought the canoe all the way from Troy +in that 'ere wagon." The village smith, without removing the paper boat +from her snug quarters, made a fair outrigger in an hour's time, when we +continued our monotonous ride through dreary woods to a clearing upon +the banks of a cedar swamp, where in a cottage lived Mr. George Webb, to +whom Bob Hazzle, my driver, presented me. Having now reached Love Creek, +I deposited my canoe with Mr. Webb, and started off for Lewes to view +the town and the ocean. + +Across the entrance of Delaware Bay, from Cape Henlopen Light to Cape +May Light on the southern end of New Jersey, is a distance of twelve +statute miles. Saturday night and Sunday were passed in Lewes, which +is situated inside of Cape Henlopen, and behind the celebrated stone +breakwater which was constructed by the government. This port of refuge +is much frequented by coasters, as many as two or three hundred sails +collecting here during a severe gale. The government is building a +remarkable pier of _solid_ iron spiles, three abreast, which, when +completed, will run out seventeen hundred feet into the bay, and reach +a depth of twenty-three feet of water. Captain Brown, of the Engineers, +was in charge of the work. By the application of a jet of water, forced +by an hydraulic pump through a tube down the outside of the spile while +it is being screwed into the sand, a puddling of the same is kept +up, which relieves the strain upon the screw-flanges, and saves +fourteen-fifteenths of the time and labor usually expended by the +old method of inserting the screw spile. This invention was a happy +thought of Captain Brown. + +The government has purchased a piece of land at Lewes for the site of a +fort. Some time in the future there will be a railroad terminating on +the pier, and coal will be brought directly from the mines to supply the +fleets which will gather within the walls of the Breakwater. Here, free +from all danger of an ice blockade, this port will become a safe and +convenient harbor and coaling-station during the winter time for +government and other vessels. + +At dusk on Sunday evening the collector of the port, Captain Lyons, +and his friends, took me in their carriage back to Love Creek, where +Mr. Webb insisted upon making me the recipient of his hospitality for +the night. A little crowd of women from the vicinity of the swamp were +awaiting my arrival to see the canoe. One ancient dame, catching sight +of the alcohol-stove which I took from my vest-pocket, clapped her +thin hands and enthusiastically exclaimed, "What a nice thing for a +sick-room--the best nuss-lamp I ever seed!" Having satisfied the +curiosity of these people, and been much amused by their quaint +remarks, I was quietly smuggled into Mr. Webb's "best room," where, +if my spirit did not make feathery flights, it was not the fault of +the downy bed in whose unfathomable depths I now lost myself. + +Before leaving Delaware I feel it an imperative duty to the public to +refer to one of her time-honored institutions. + +Persons unacquainted with the fact will find it difficult to believe +that one state of the great American Republic still holds to the +practice of lashing men and women, white and black. Delaware--one of the +smallest states of the Union, the citizens of which are proverbially +generous and hospitable, a state which has produced a Bayard--is, to her +shame we regret to say, the culprit which sins against the spirit of +civilization in this nineteenth century, one hundred years after the +fathers of the Republic declared equal rights for all men. In treating +of so delicate a subject, I desire to do no one injustice; therefore I +will let a native of Delaware speak for his community. + + "DOVER, DELAWARE, August 2, 1873. + + "EDITOR CAMDEN SPY: According to promise, I now write you a + little about Delaware. Persons in your vicinity look upon the + 'Little Diamond State' as a mere bog, or marsh, and mud and + water they suppose are its chief productions; but, in my + opinion, it is one of the finest little states in the Union. + Although small, in proportion to the size it produces more grain + and fruit than any other state in the country, and they are + unexcelled as regards quality and flavor. Crime is kept in awe + by that best of institutions, the _whipping-post and pillory_! + These are the bugbear of all the northern newspapers, and they + can say nothing too harsh or severe against them. The + whipping-post in Kent County is situated in the yard of the + jail, and is about six feet in height and three feet in + circumference; the prisoner is fastened to it by means of + bracelets, or arms, on the wrist; and the sheriff executes the + sentence of the law by baring the convict to the waist, and on + the bare back lashing him twenty, forty, or sixty times, + according to the sentence. But the blood does not run in streams + from the prisoner's back, nor is he thrown into a barrel of + brine, and salt sprinkled over the lashes. On the contrary, I + have seen them laugh, and coolly remark that 'it's good + exercise, and gives us an appetite.' But there are others who + raise the devil's own row with their yells and horrible cries of + pain. The whipping is public, and is witnessed each time by + large numbers of people who come from miles around to see the + culprit disgraced. + + "A public whipping occurred not very long ago, and the day was + very stormy, yet there were fully three hundred spectators on + the ground to witness this wholesome punishment! A person who + has been lashed at the whipping-post cannot vote again in this + state; thus, most of the criminals who are whipped leave the + state in order to regain their citizenship. The newspapers can + blow until they are tired about this 'horrible, barbaric, and + unchristian punishment,' but if their own states would adopt + this form of punishment, they would find crime continually on + the decrease. What is imprisonment for a few months or years? It + is soon over with; and then they are again let out upon the + community, to beg, borrow, and steal. But to be publicly whipped + is an everlasting disgrace, and deters men from committing + wrong. Women are whipped in the same manner, and they take it + very hard; but, to my recollection, there has not been a female + prisoner for some time. I did not intend to comment so long upon + the whipping-posts in the state of Delaware. + + "The pillory next claims our attention. This is a long piece of + board that runs through the whipping-post at the top, and has + holes [as per engraving] for the neck and arms to rest in a very + constrained position. The prisoner is compelled to stand on his + toes for an hour with his neck and arms in the holes, and if he + sinks from exhaustion, as it sometimes happens, the neck is + instantly broken. Josiah Ward, the villain who escaped + punishment for the murder of the man Wady in your county, came + into Delaware, broke into a shoe-store, succeeded in stealing + one pair of shoes,--was arrested, got sixty lashes at the post, + was made to stand in the pillory one hour, is now serving out a + term of two years' imprisonment,--and _he never got the shoes_! + The pillory is certainly a terrible and cruel punishment, and, + while I heartily favor the whipping-post, I think this savage + punishment should be abolished. + + "Since writing the above, I have heard that a colored woman was + convicted of murder in the second degree last May, and on + Saturday the 17th of that month received sixty lashes on her + bare back, and stood in the pillory one hour. + + "What do you think of Delaware law, after what I have written? I + have written enough for the present, so I will close, ever + remaining, + + "Yours very truly, + P. P." + +For twenty years past, Delaware and Maryland farmers have given much +attention to peach culture, which has gradually declined in New Jersey +and states further north. There are said to be over sixty thousand acres +of land on the peninsula planted with peach-trees, which are estimated +to be worth fifty dollars per acre, or three million dollars. To harvest +this crop requires at least twenty-five thousand men, women, and +children. The planting of an acre of peach-trees, and its cultivation to +maturity, costs from thirty to forty dollars. The canners take a large +portion of the best peaches, which are shipped to foreign as well as to +domestic markets. + +The low lands and river-shores of the peninsula exhale malaria which +attacks the inhabitants in a mild form of ague. During the spring, +summer, and early fall months, a prudent man will not expose himself to +the air until after the sun has risen and dispelled the mists of +morning. The same caution should be observed all through the low regions +of the south, both as to morning and evening exercise. Chills and fever +are the bane of the southern and middle states, as this disease affects +the health and elastic vigor of the constitution, and also produces +great mental depression. Yet those who suffer, even on every alternate +day, from chills, seem to accept the malaria as nothing of much +importance; though it is a well-known fact that this form of +intermittent fever so reduces the strength, that the system is unable to +cope with other and more dangerous diseases for which it paves the way. + +Upon a little creek, tributary to St. Martin's River, and near its +confluence with the Isle of Wight Bay, a long day's pull from the swamp +of Love Creek, was the old plantation home of a friend of my boyhood, +Mr. Taylor, who about this time was looking out for the arrival of the +paper canoe. It was a question whether I could descend Love Creek three +miles, cross Rehoboth and Indian River sounds, ascend White's Creek, +make a portage to Little Assawaman Bay, thread the thoroughfare west of +Fenwick's Island Light, cross the Isle of Wight Bay, ascend and cross +St. Martin's River to Turval's Creek, and reach the home of my friend, +all in one day. But I determined to attempt the task. Mr. Webb roused +his family at an early hour, and I rowed down Love Creek and crossed the +shallow waters of Rehoboth Bay in the early part of the day. + +From Cape Henlopen, following the general contour of the coast, to Cape +Charles at the northern entrance of Chesapeake Bay, is a distance of one +hundred and thirty-six miles; from Cape Charles across the mouth of +Chesapeake Bay to Cape Henry is thirteen miles; from Henlopen south, the +state of Delaware occupies about twenty miles of the coast; the eastern +shore of Maryland holds between thirty and forty miles, while the +eastern shore of Virginia, represented by the counties of Accomac and +Northampton, covers the peninsula to Cape Charles. + +Commencing at Rehoboth Bay, a small boat may follow the interior waters +to the Chesapeake Bay. The watercourses of this coast are protected from +the rough waves of the ocean by long, narrow, sandy islands, known as +beaches, between which the tides enter. These passages from the sea to +the interior waters are called inlets, and most of them are navigable +for coasting vessels of light draught. These inlets are so influenced +by the action of storms, and their shores and locations are so changed +by them, that the cattle may graze to-day in tranquil happiness where +only a generation ago the old skipper navigated his craft. During June +of the year 1821 a fierce gale opened Sandy Point Inlet with a foot +depth of water, but it closed in 1831. Green Point Inlet was cut through +the beach during a gale in 1837, and was closed up seven years later. +Old Sinepuxent Inlet, which was forced open by the sea more than sixty +years ago, closed in 1831. These three inlets were within a space of +three miles, and were all north of Chincoteague village. Green Run +Inlet, which had a depth of about six feet of water for nearly ten +years, also closed after shifting half a mile to the south of its +original location. The tendency of inlets on this coast is to shift to +the southward, as do the inlets on the coast of New Jersey. + +Oystermen, fishermen, and farmers live along the upland, and in some +cases on the island beaches. From these bays, timber, fire-wood, grain, +and oysters are shipped to northern ports. The people are everywhere +kind and hospitable to strangers. A mild climate, cheap and easily +worked soils, wild-fowl shooting, fine oysters and fishing privileges, +offer inducements to Northerners and Europeans to settle in this +country; the mild form of ague which exists in most of its localities +being the only objection. While debating this point with a native, he +attacked my argument by saying: + + "Law sakes! don't folks die of _something_, any way? If you + don't have fever 'n' ague round Massachusetts, you've got an + awful lot of things we hain't got here--a tarnashun sight wuss + ones, too; sich as cumsempsun, brown-critters, mental + spinageetis, lung-disease, and all sorts of brown-kill + disorders. Besides, you have such awful cold winters that a + farmer has to stay holed four months out of the year, while we + folks in the south can work most of the time out of doors. I'll + be dog-goned if I hadn't ruther live here in poverty than die up + north a-rolling in riches. Now, stranger, as to what you said + about sickness, why we aren't no circumstance to you fellows up + north. Why, your hull country is chuck-full of pizenous + remedies. When I was a-coasting along Yankeedom and went ashore, + I found all the rocks along the road were jist kivered with + quack-medicine notices, and all the farmers hired out the + outsides of their barns to advertise doctor's stuff on." + +In no portion of America do the people seem to feel the burden of +earning a livelihood more lightly. They get a great deal of social +enjoyment out of life at very little cost, and place much less value on +the "mighty dollar" than do their brother farmers of the northern +section of the states. The interesting inquiry of "Who was his father?" +commences at Philadelphia, and its importance intensifies as you travel +southward. Old family associations have great weight among all classes. + +It was six miles from the mouth of Love Creek across the little sound to +Burton's marshy island at the entrance of Indian River Sound. Indian +River supplies its bay with much of its fresh water, and the small inlet +in the beach of the same name with the salt water of the ocean. Large +flocks of geese and ducks were seen upon the quiet waters of the sound. +Pursuing my southward course across Indian River Sound three miles, I +entered a small creek with a wide mouth, which flows north from the +cedar swamp, known as White's Creek, which I ascended until the stream +became so narrow that it seemed almost lost in the wilderness, when +suddenly an opening in the forest showed me a clearing with the little +buildings of a farm scattered around. It was the home of a Methodist +exhorter, Mr. Silas J. Betts. I told him how anxious I was to make a +quick portage to the nearest southern water, Little Assawaman Bay, not +much more than three miles distant by road. + +After calmly examining my boat, he said: "It is now half-past eleven +o'clock. Wife has dinner about ready. I'll hurry her up a little, and +while she is putting it on the table we will get the cart ready." The +cart was soon loaded with pine needles as a bed for the canoe. We lashed +her into a firm position with cords, and went in to dinner. + +In a short time after, we were rattling over a level, wooded country +diversified here and there by a little farm. The shallow bay, the east +side of which was separated from the ocean by sandy hills, was bounded +by marshes. We drove close to the water and put the Maria Theresa once +more into her true element. A friendly shake of the hand as I paid the +conscientious man his charge of one dollar for his services, with many +thanks for his hospitality, for which he would accept nothing--and the +canoe was off, threading the narrow and very shallow channel-way of this +grassy-bottomed bay. + +The tall tower of Fenwick's Island Light, located on the boundary line +of Delaware and Maryland, was now my landmark. It rises out of the low +land that forms a barrier against which the sea breaks. The people on +the coast pronounce Fenwick "Phoenix." Phoenix Island, they say, was +once a part of the mainland, but a woman, wishing to keep her cattle +from straying, gave a man a shirt for digging a narrow ditch between +Little and Great Assawaman bays. The tide ebbed and flowed so strongly +through this new channel-way that it was worn to more than a hundred +feet in width, and has at high tide a depth in places of from ten to +fifteen feet of water. The opening of this new thoroughfare so +diminished the flow of water through the Little Assawaman Inlet to the +sea, that it became closed. The water was almost fresh here, as the +nearest inlet which admits salt water at high tide is at Chincoteague +Island, some fifty miles distant. + +Passing to the west of the light-house through this passage, I thought +of what a woman could do, and almost expected to hear from the rippling +waters the "Song of the Shirt," which would have been in this case a +much more cheerful one than Hood's. I now entered Great Assawaman Bay, +the waters of which lay like a mirror before me; and nearly five miles +away, to the southwestern end, the tall forests of the Isle of Wight +loomed up against the setting sun. Ducks rose in flocks from the quiet +waters as my canoe glided into their close vicinity. If I could have +taken less cargo, I should have carried a light gun; but this being +impossible, a pocket revolver was my only fire-arm: so the ducks and +other wild-fowl along my route had reason to hold the paper canoe in +grateful remembrance. + +Upon reaching the shores of the Isle of Wight I entered the mouth of St. +Martin's River, which is, at its confluence with Isle of Wight Bay, more +than two miles wide. I did not then possess the fine Coast Chart No. 28, +or the General Chart of the Coast, No. 4, with the topography of the +land clearly delineated, and showing every man's farm-buildings, fields, +landings, &c., so plainly located as to make it easy for even a novice +to navigate these bays. Now, being chartless so far as these waters were +concerned, I peered about in the deepening twilight for my friend's +plantation buildings, which I knew were not far off; but the gloomy +forests of pine upon the upland opened not the desired vista I so +longed to find. + +Crossing the wide river, I came upon a long point of salt-marsh, which I +hoped might be Keyser's Point, for I knew that to the west of this point +I should find Turval's Creek. While rowing along the marsh I came upon +two duck-shooters in their punt, but so enveloped were they in the mist +that it was impossible to do more than define their forms. I, however, +ventured a question as to my locality, when, to my utter astonishment, +there came back to me in clear accents my own name. Never before had it +sounded so sweet to my ears. It was the voice of my friend, who with a +companion was occupied in removing from the water the flock of decoys +which they had been guarding since sunrise. Joyful was the unexpected +meeting. + +We rowed around Keyser's Point, and up Turval's Creek, a couple of miles +to the plantation landing. Here, upon the old estate in the little +family burial-ground, slept, "each in his narrow cell," the children of +four generations. Our conversation before the blazing wood-fire that +night related to the ground travelled over during the day, a course of +about thirty-five miles. Mr. Taylor's father mentioned that a friend, +during one week in the previous September, had taken upon his hook, +while fishing from the marshes of Rehoboth Bay, five hundred rock-fish, +some of which weighed twenty pounds. The oysters in Rehoboth and Indian +River bays had died out, probably from the decrease in the amount of +salt water now entering them. A delightful week was spent with my +friends at Winchester Plantation, when the falling of the mercury +warned me to hurry southward. + +On Wednesday, November 25, I descended the plantation creek and rowed +out of St. Martin's River into the Bay. My course southward led me past +"the Hommack," an Indian mound of oyster-shells, which rises about seven +feet above the marsh on the west side of the entrance to Sinepuxent bay, +and where the mainland approaches to within eight hundred feet of the +beach. This point, which divides the Isle of Wight Bay from Sinepuxent, +is the terminus of the Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad, which has been +extended from Berlin eastwardly seven miles. A short ferry conveys +the passengers across the water to a narrow island beach, which is +considered by Bayard Taylor, the author, the finest beach he has ever +visited. This new watering-place is called Ocean City; and my friend, +B. Jones Taylor, was treasurer of the company which was engaged in +making the much-desired improvements. The shallow bays in the vicinity +of Ocean City offer safe and pleasant sailing-grounds. The summer +fishing consists chiefly of white perch, striped bass, sheep's-head, +weak-fish, and drum. In the fall, blue-fish are caught. All of these, +with oysters, soft crabs, and diamond-backed terrapin, offer tempting +dishes to the epicure. This recently isolated shore is now within +direct railroad communication with Philadelphia and New York, and +can be reached in nine hours from the former, and in twelve hours +from the latter city. + +From the Hommack to South Point is included the length of Sinepuxent +Bay, according to Coast Survey authority. From South Point to below +the middle of Chincoteague Island the bay is put down as "Assateague," +though the oystermen do not call it by that name. The celebrated +oyster-beds of the people of Chincoteague commence about twenty miles +south of the Hommack. There are two kinds of oysters shipped from +Chincoteague Inlet to New York and other markets. One is the long +native plant; the other, that transplanted from Chesapeake Bay: this +bivalve is rounded in form, and the most prized of the two. The +average width of Sinepuxent was only a mile. When I turned westwardly +around South Point, and entered Assateague Bay, the watery expanse +widened, between the marshes on the west and the sandy-beach island +on the east, to over four miles. + +The debouchure of Newport Creek is to the west of South Point. The +marshes here are very wide. I ascended it in the afternoon to visit +Dr. F. J. Purnell, whose attempts to introduce the pinnated grouse +and California partridges on his plantation had attracted the +attention of Mr. Charles Hallock, editor of "Forest and Stream"; +and I had promised him, if possible, to investigate the matter. +This South Point of Sinepuxent Neck is a place of historical +interest, it being now asserted that it is the burial-place of +Edward Whalley, the regicide. + +Early in 1875, Mr. Robert P. Robins found in a bundle of old family +documents a paper containing interesting statements written by his +great-great-grandfather, Thomas Robins, 3d, of South Point, Worcester +County, Maryland, and dated July 8, 1769. We gather from this reliable +source that Edward Whalley left Connecticut and arrived in Virginia in +16--, and was there met by a portion of his family. From Virginia he +travelled to the "province of Maryland, and settled first at ye mouth +of ye Pokemoke River; and finding yt too publick a place he came to +Sinepuxent, a neck of land open to ye Atlantic Ocean, where Colonel +Stephen was surveying and bought a tract of land from him and called it +Genezar; it contained two thousand two hundred acres, south end of +Sinepuxent; and made a settlement on ye southern extremity, and called +it South Point; to ye which place he brought his family about 1687, in +ye name of Edward Middleton. His own name he made not publick until +after this date, after ye revolution in England, (in ye year of our +Lord 1688,) when he let his name be seen in publick papers, and had +ye lands patented in his own name." + +The writer of the above quotation was the great-grandson of Edward +Whalley (alias Edward Middleton), the celebrated regicide. + +Four miles from South Point I struck the marshes which skirted Dr. +Purnell's large plantation, and pushing the canoe up a narrow branch of +the creek, I waded through the partially submerged herbage to the firm +ground, where the doctor was awaiting me. His house was close at hand, +within the hospitable walls of which I passed the night. Dr. Purnell has +an estate of one thousand five hundred acres, lying along the banks of +Newport Creek. Since the civil war it has been worked by tenants. Much +of it is woodland and salt-marshes. Five years before my visit, a +Philadelphian sent the doctor a few pairs of prairie-chickens, and a +covey of both the valley and the mountain partridge. I am now using +popular terms. The grouse were from a western state; the partridges had +been obtained from California. The partridges were kept caged for +several weeks and were then set at liberty. They soon disappeared in the +woods, with the exception of a single pair, which returned daily to the +kitchen-door of a farm tenant to obtain food. These two birds nested in +the garden close to the house, and reared a fine brood of young; but the +whole covey wandered away, and were afterwards heard from but once. They +had crossed to the opposite side of Newport Creek, and were probably +shot by gunners. + +The prairie-chickens adapted themselves to their new home in a +satisfactory manner, and became very tame. Their nests, well filled with +eggs, were found along the rail-fences of the fields in the close +vicinity of the marshes, for which level tracts they seemed to have +strong attachment. They multiplied rapidly, and visited the cattle-pens +and barn-yards of the plantation. + +The Maryland legislature passed a law to protect all grouse introduced +into the state; but a new danger threatened these unfortunate birds. A +crew of New Jersey terrapin-hunters entered Chincoteague Inlet, and +searched the ditches and little creeks of the salt-marshes for the +"diamond-backs." While thus engaged, the gentle grouse, feeding quietly +in the vicinity, attracted their attention, and they at once bagged most +of them. A tenant on the estate informed me that he had seen eighteen +birds in a cornfield a few days before--the remnant of the stock. + +The Ruffled Grouse (_Bonasa umbellus_), so abundant in New Jersey, is +not a resident of the peninsula. Dr. Purnell's first experiment with the +Pinnated Grouse (_Cupidonia cupido_) has encouraged others to bring the +ruffled grouse to the eastern shore of Maryland. That unapproachable +songster of the south, the American Mocking-bird (_Mimus polyglottus_), +is becoming scarce in this region, from the inroads made by +bird-catchers who ship the young to northern cities. This delightful +chorister is only an accidental visitor in the New England states. +Indeed, as far south as Ocean County, New Jersey, I saw but one of these +birds, in a residence of nine years on my cranberry plantations; though +I have heard that their nests are occasionally found about Cape May, at +the extreme southern end of New Jersey. + +My time being limited, I could enjoy the doctor's hospitality for but +one night. The next morning the whole family, with tenants both black +and white, assisted me to embark. By dusk I had crossed the division +line of two states, and had entered Virginia near the head of +Chincoteague Island, a locality of peculiar interest to the student of +American character. The ebb-tide had left but little water around the +rough pier abreast of the town, and heaps of oyster-shells rose from the +mud flats and threatened the safety of my canoe. I looked up through the +darkness to the light pier-head above me, and called for assistance. Two +men leaned over to inquire, "What's the row now, stranger?" To which I +replied, "I wish to land a light boat on your pier; and as it is made of +paper, it should be carefully handled." For a moment the oystermen +observed a silence, and then, without one word of explanation, +disappeared. I heard their heavy boots tramping up the quay towards the +tavern. Soon a low murmur arose on the night air, then hoarse shouts, +and there came thundering down the wharf an army of men and boys. "Pass +her up, stranger!" they cried. "Here, give us your bow and starn +painters, and jest step overboard yourself, and we'll hist her up." Some +of the motley crew caught me by the shoulders, others "histed away," and +the canoe and its captain were laid roughly upon the ground. + +There was a rush to _feel_ of the paper shell. Many were convinced +that there was no humbug about it; so, with a great shout, some of the +men tossed it upon their shoulders, while the rest seized upon the +miscellaneous cargo, and a rush was made for the hotel, leaving me to +follow at discretion and alone. The procession burst open the doors +of the tavern, and poured through the entrance to a court-yard, where +they laid the boat upon a long table under a shed, and thought they +had earned "drinks." This was the spontaneous way in which the +Chincoteague people welcomed me. "If you don't drink, stranger, up +your way, what on airth keeps your buddies and soulds together?" +queried a tall oysterman. A lady had kindly presented me with a peck +of fine apples that very morning; so, in lieu of "drinks," I +distributed the fruit among them. They joked and questioned me, and +all were merry save one bilious-looking individual, not dressed, like +the others, in an oysterman's garb, but wearing, to use a term of the +place, "store clothes." + +After the crowd had settled in the bar-room, at cards, &c., this +doubting Thomas remained beside the boat, carefully examining her. Soon +he was scraping her hull below the gunwale, where the muddy water of the +bay had left a thin coat of sediment which was now dry. The man's +countenance lighted up as he pulled the bartender aside and said, "Look +ahere; didn't I tell you that boat looked as if she was made to carry on +a deck of a vessel, and to be a-shoved off into the water at night jest +abreast of a town to make fools of folks, and git them to believe that +that fellow had a-rowed _all_ the way ahere? Now see, here is _dust, dry +dust_, on her hull. She ahain't ben in the water mor'n ten minutes, I +sware." It required but a moment's investigation of my Chincoteague +audience to discover that the dust was mud from the tide, and the +doubter brought down the ridicule of his more discriminating neighbors +upon him, and slunk away amid their jeers. + +Of all this community of watermen but one could be found that night who +had threaded the interior watercourses as far as Cape Charles, and he +was the youngest of the lot. Taking out my note-book, I jotted down his +amusing directions. "Look out for Cat Creek below Four Mouths," he said; +"you'll catch it round there." "Yes," broke in several voices, "Cat +Creek's an awful place unless you run through on a full ebb-tide. Oyster +boats always has a time a-shoving through Cat Creek," &c. + +After the council with my Chincoteague friends had ended, the route to +be travelled the next day was in my mental vision "as clear as mud." The +inhabitants of this island are not all oystermen, for many find +occupation and profit in raising ponies upon the beach of Assateague, +where the wild, coarse grass furnishes them a livelihood. These hardy +little animals are called "Marsh Tackies," and are found at intervals +along the beaches down to the sea-islands of the Carolinas. They hold at +Chincoteague an annual fair, to which all the "pony-penners," as they +are called, bring their surplus animals to sell. The average price is +about ninety dollars for a good beast, though some have sold for two +hundred and fifty dollars. All these horses are sold in a semi-wild and +unbroken state. + +The following morning Mr. J. L. Caulk, ex-collector of the oyster port, +and about fifty persons, escorted me to the landing, and sent me away +with a hearty "Good luck to ye." + +It was three miles and three quarters to the southern end of the island, +which has an inlet from the ocean upon each side of that end--the +northern one being Assateague, the southern one Chincoteague Inlet. +Fortunately, I crossed the latter in smooth water to Ballast Narrows in +the marshes, and soon reached Four Mouths, where I found _five_ mouths +of thoroughfares, and became perplexed, for had not the pilots of +Chincoteague called this interesting display of mouths "Four Mouths"? I +clung to the authority of local knowledge, however, and was soon in a +labyrinth of creeks which ended in the marshes near the beach. + +Returning over the course, I once more faced the four, or _five_ mouths +rather, and taking a new departure by entering the next mouth to the one +I had so unsatisfactorily explored, soon entered Rogue's Bay, across +which could be seen the entrance to Cat Creek, where I was to experience +the difficulties predicted by my Chincoteague friends. Cat Creek +furnished at half tide sufficient water for my canoe, and not the +slightest difficulty was experienced in getting through it. The +oystermen had in their minds their own sloop-rigged oyster-boats when +they discoursed to me about the hard passage of Cat Creek. They had not +considered the fact that my craft drew only five inches of water. + +Cat Creek took me quite down to the beach, where, through an inlet, the +dark-blue ocean, sparkling in its white caps, came pleasantly into view. +Another inlet was to be crossed, and again I was favored with smooth +water. This was Assawaman Inlet, which divided the beach into two +islands--Wallops on the north, and Assawaman on the south. + +It seemed a singular fact that the two Assawaman bays are forty-five +miles to the north of an inlet of the same name. In following the creeks +through the marshes between Assawaman Island and the mainland, I crossed +another shoal bay, and another inlet opened in the beach, through which +the ocean was again seen. This last was Gargathy Inlet. Before reaching +it, as night was coming on, I turned up a thoroughfare and rowed some +distance to the mainland, where I found lodgings with a hospitable +farmer, Mr. Martin R. Kelly. At daybreak I crossed Gargathy Inlet. + +It was now Saturday, November 28; and being encouraged by the successful +crossing of the inlets in my tiny craft, I pushed on to try the less +inviting one at the end of Matomkin Island. Fine weather favored me, and +I pushed across the strong tide that swept through this inlet without +shipping a sea. Assawaman and Gargathy are constantly shifting their +channels. At times there will be six feet of water, and again they will +shoal to two feet. Matomkin, also, is not to be relied on. Every +northeaster will shift a buoy placed in the channels of these three +inlets, so they are not buoyed. + +Watchapreague Inlet, to the south of the three last named, is less +changeable in character, and is also a much more dangerous inlet to +cross in rough weather. From Matomkin Inlet the interior thoroughfares +were followed inside of Cedar Island, when darkness forced me to seek +shelter with Captain William F. Burton, whose comfortable home was on +the shore of the mainland, about five miles from Watchapreague Inlet. +Here I was kindly invited to spend Sunday. Captain Burton told me much +of interest, and among other things mentioned the fact that during one +August, a few years before my visit, a large lobster was taken on a +fish-hook in Watchapreague Inlet, and that a smaller one was captured in +the same manner during the summer of 1874. + +Monday was a gusty day. My canoe scraped its keel upon the shoals as I +dodged the broken oyster reefs, called here "oyster rocks," while on +the passage down to Watchapreague Inlet. The tide was very low, but the +water deepened as the beach was approached. A northeaster was blowing +freshly, and I was looking for a lee under the beach, when suddenly the +canoe shot around a sandy point, and was tugging for life in the rough +waters of the inlet. The tide was running in from the sea with the force +of a rapid, and the short, quick puffs of wind tossed the waves wildly. +It was useless to attempt to turn the canoe back to the beach in such +rough water, but, intent on keeping the boat above the caps, I gave her +all the momentum that muscular power could exert, as she was headed for +the southern point of the beach, across the dangerous inlet. + +Though it was only half a mile across, the passage of Watchapreague +taxed me severely. Waves washed over my canoe, but the gallant little +craft after each rebuff rose like a bird to the surface of the water, +answering the slightest touch of my oar better than the best-trained +steed. After entering the south-side swash, the wind struck me on the +back, and seas came tumbling over and around the boat, fairly forcing +me on to the beach. As we flew along, the tumultuous waters made my +head swim; so, to prevent mental confusion, I kept my eyes only upon +the oars, which, strange to say, never betrayed me into a false stroke. + +As a heavy blast beat down the raging sea for a moment, I looked over +my shoulder and beheld the low, sandy dunes of the southern shore of +the inlet close at hand, and with a severe jolt the canoe grounded +high on the strand. I leaped out and drew my precious craft away from +the tide, breathing a prayer of thankfulness for my escape from +danger, and mentally vowing that the canoe should cross all other +treacherous inlets in a fisherman's sloop. I went into camp in a +hollow of the beach, where the sand-hills protected me from the +piercing wind. All that afternoon I watched from my burrow in the +ground the raging of the elements, and towards evening was pleased +to note a general subsidence of wind and sea. + +The canoe was again put into the water and the thoroughfare followed +southward for a mile or two, when the short day ended, leaving me +beside a marshy island, which was fringed with an oyster-bed of +sharp-beaked bivalves. Stepping overboard in the mud and water, the +oars and paddle were laid upon the shell reef to protect the canoe, +which was dragged on to the marsh. It grew colder as the wind died +out. The marsh was wet, and no fire-wood could be found. The canvas +cover was removed, the cargo was piled up on a platform of oars and +shells to secure it from the next tide, and then I slowly and +laboriously packed myself away in the narrow shell for the night. The +canvas deck-cover was buttoned in its place, a rubber blanket covered +the cockpit, and I tried to sleep and dream that I was not a sardine, +nor securely confined in some inhospitable vault. It was impossible to +turn over without unbuttoning one side of the deck-cover and going +through contortions that would have done credit to a first-class +acrobat. For the first time in my life I found it necessary to get +_out_ of bed in order to turn over _in_ it. + +At midnight, mallards (_Anas boschas_) came close to the marsh. The soft +_whagh_ of the drake, which is not in this species blessed with the loud +quack of the female bird, sufficiently established the identity of the +duck. Then muskrats, and the oyster-eating coon, came round, no doubt +scenting my provisions. Brisk raps from my knuckles on the inside shell +of the canoe astonished these animals and aroused their curiosity, for +they annoyed me until daybreak. + +When I emerged from my narrow bed, the frosty air struck my cheeks, and +the cold, wet marsh chilled my feet. It was the delay at Watchapreague +Inlet that had lodged me on this inhospitable marsh; so, trying to +exercise my poor stock of patience, I completed my toilet, shaking in my +wet shoes. The icy water, into which I stepped ankle-deep in order to +launch my canoe, reminded me that this wintry morning was in fact the +first day of December, and that stormy Hatteras, south of which was to +be found a milder climate, was still a long way off. + +The brisk row along Paramore's Island (called Palmer's by the natives) +to the wide, bay-like entrance of Little Machipongo Inlet, restored +warmth to my benumbed limbs. This wide doorway of the ocean permitted me +to cross its west portal in peace, for the day was calm. From Little to +Great Machipongo Inlet the beach is called Hog Island. The inside +thoroughfare is bounded on the west by Rogue's Island, out of the flats +of which rose a solitary house. At the southern end of Hog Island there +is a small store on a creek, and near the beach a light-house, while a +little inland is located, within a forest of pines, a small settlement. + +At noon, Great Machipongo Inlet was crossed without danger, and Cobb's +Island was skirted several miles to Sand Shoal Inlet, near which the +hotel of the three Cobb brothers rose cheerfully out of the dreary waste +of sands and marshes. The father of the present proprietors came to this +island more than thirty years ago, and took possession of this domain, +which had been thrown up by the action of the ocean's waves. He refused +an offer of one hundred thousand dollars for the island. The locality is +one of the best on this coast for wild-fowl shooting. Sand Shoal Inlet, +at the southern end of Cobb's Island, has a depth of twelve feet of +water on its bar at low tide. + +In company with the regular row-boat ferry I crossed, the next day, the +broad bay to the mainland eight miles distant, where the canoe was put +upon a cart and taken across the peninsula five miles to Cherrystone, +the only point near Cape Charles at which a Norfolk steamer stopped for +passengers. It was fully forty miles across Chesapeake Bay from +Cherrystone Landing to Norfolk, and it was imperative to make the +portage from this place instead of from Cape Charles, which, though more +than fifteen miles further south, and nearer to my starting-point on the +other side, did not possess facilities for transportation. The slow +one-horse conveyance arrived at Cherrystone half an hour _after_ the +steamer N. P. Banks had left the landing, though I heard that the +kind-hearted captain, being told I was coming, waited and whistled for +me till his patience was exhausted. + +The only house at the head of the pier was owned by Mr. J. P. Powers, +and fortunately offered hotel accommodations. Here I remained until the +next trip of the boat, December 4. Arriving in Norfolk at dusk of the +same day, I stored my canoe in the warehouse of the Old Dominion +Steamship Company, and quietly retired to an hotel which promised an +early meal in the morning, congratulating myself the while that I had +avoided the usual show of curiosity tendered to canoeists at city piers, +and above all had escaped the inevitable reporter. Alas! my thankfulness +came too soon; for when about to retire, my name was called, and a +veritable reporter from the Norfolk Landmark cut off my retreat. + +"Only a few words," he pleadingly whispered. "I've been hunting for you +all over the city since seven o'clock, and it is near midnight now." + +He gently took my arm and politely furnished me with a chair. Then +placing his own directly before me, he insinuatingly worked upon me +until he derived a knowledge of the log of the Paper Canoe, when leaning +back in his chair he leisurely surveyed me and exclaimed: + + "Mr. Bishop, you are a man of _snap_. We like men of snap; we + admire men of snap; in fact, I may say we _cotton_ to men of + snap, and I am proud to make your acquaintance. Now if you + will stop over a day we will have the whole city out to see + your boat." + +This _kind_ offer I firmly refused, and we were about to part, when he +said in a softly rebuking manner: + + "You thought, Mr. Bishop, you would give us the slip--did you + not? I assure you that would be quite impossible. Eternal + Vigilance is our motto. No, you could not escape us. Good + evening, sir, and the 'Landmark's' welcome to you." + +Six hours later, as I entered the restaurant of the hotel with my eyes +half open, a newsboy bawled out in the darkness: "'Ere's the 'Landmark.' +Full account of the Paper Canoe," &c. And before the sun was up I had +read a column and a half of "The Arrival of the Solitary Voyager in +Norfolk." So much for the zeal of Mr. Perkins of the "Landmark," a +worthy example of American newspaper enterprise. Dreading further +attentions, I now prepared to beat a hasty retreat from the city. + +[Illustration: DELAWARE WHIPPING-POST AND PILLORY.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FROM NORFOLK TO CAPE HATTERAS. + +THE ELIZABETH RIVER.--THE CANAL.--NORTH LANDING RIVER.--CURRITUCK +SOUND.--ROANOKE ISLAND.--VISIT TO BODY ISLAND LIGHT-HOUSE.--A ROMANCE OF +HISTORY.--PAMPLICO SOUND.--THE PAPER CANOE ARRIVES AT CAPE HATTERAS. + +[Illustration: From Norfolk, Virginia, to Bogue Inlet, North Carolina. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From Norfolk, Va. to +Bogue Inlet, N.C. Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1874 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + + +On Saturday morning, December 5, I left the pier of the Old Dominion +Steamship Company, at Norfolk, Virginia, and, rowing across the water +towards Portsmouth, commenced ascending Elizabeth River, which is here +wide and affected by tidal change. The old navy yard, with its +dismantled hulks lying at anchor in the stream, occupies both banks of +the river. About six miles from Norfolk the entrance to the Dismal Swamp +Canal is reached, on the left bank of the river. This old canal runs +through the Great Dismal Swamp, and affords passage for steamers and +light-draught vessels to Elizabeth City, on the Pasquotank River, which +empties into Albemarle Sound to the southward. The great cypress and +juniper timber is penetrated by this canal, and schooners are towed into +the swamp to landings where their cargoes are delivered. + +In the interior of the Dismal Swamp is Drummond's Lake, named after its +discoverer. It is seven miles long by five miles wide, and is the feeder +of the canal. A branch canal connects it with the main canal; and small +vessels may traverse the lake in search of timber and shingles. Voyagers +tell me that during heavy gales of wind a terrible sea is set in motion +upon this shoal sheet of water, making it dangerous to navigate. Bears +are found in the fastnesses of the swamp. The Dismal Swamp Canal was dug +in the old days of the wheelbarrow and spade. + +The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, the entrance to which is sixteen +miles from Norfolk, on the right or east bank of the Elizabeth River, +and generally known as the "new canal," was commenced about the year +1856, and finished in 1859. It is eight miles and a half in length, and +connects the Elizabeth and North Landing rivers. This canal was dug by +dredging-machines. It is kept in a much better state for navigation, so +far as the depth of water is concerned, than the old canal, which from +inattention is gradually shoaling in places; consequently the regular +steam-packets which ply between Elizabeth City and Norfolk, as well as +steamers whose destinations are further north, have given up the use of +the Dismal Swamp Canal, and now go round through Albemarle Sound up the +North River, thence by a six-mile cut into Currituck Sound, up North +Landing River, and through the new canal to the Elizabeth River and into +Chesapeake Bay. The shores of the Elizabeth are low and are fringed by +sedgy marshes, while forests of second-growth pine present a green +background to the eye. A few miles above Norfolk the cultivation of land +ceases, and the canoeist traverses a wilderness. + +About noon I arrived at the locks of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. +The telegraph operator greeted me with the news that the company's agent +in Norfolk had telegraphed to the lock-master to pass the paper canoe +through with the freedom of the canal--the first honor of the kind that +had fallen to my lot. The tide rises and falls at the locks in the river +about three feet and a half. When I passed through, the difference in +the level between the ends of the locks did not reach two feet. The old +lock-master urged me to give up the journey at once, as I never could +"get through the Sounds with that little boat." When I told him I was on +my second thousand miles of canoe navigation since leaving Quebec, he +drew a long breath and gave a low groan. + +When once through the canal-gates, you are in a heavy cypress swamp. +The dredgings thrown upon the banks have raised the edge of the swamp +to seven feet above the water. Little pines grow along these shores, +and among them the small birds, now on their southern migrations, +sported and sang. Whenever a steamer or tugboat passed me, it crowded +the canoe close to the bank; but these vessels travel along the canal +at so slow a rate, that no trouble is experienced by the canoeist from +the disturbance caused by their revolving screws. Freedmen, poling +flats loaded with shingles or frame stuff, roared out their merry +songs as they passed. The canal entered the North Landing River +without any lockage; just beyond was North Landing, from which the +river takes its name. A store and evidences of a settlement meet the +eye at a little distance. The river is tortuous, and soon leaves the +swamp behind. The pine forest is succeeded by marshes on both sides of +the slow-flowing current. + +Three miles from North Landing a single miniature house is seen; then +for nearly five miles along the river not a trace of the presence of man +is to be met, until Pungo Ferry and Landing loom up out of the low +marshes on the east side of the river. This ferry, with a store +three-quarters of a mile from the landing, and a farm of nearly two +hundred acres, is the property of Mr. Charles N. Dudley, a southern +gentleman, who offers every inducement in his power to northern men to +settle in his vicinity. Many of the property-holders in the uplands are +willing to sell portions of their estates to induce northern men to come +among them. + +It was almost dark when I reached the storehouse at Pungo Ferry; and as +Sunday is a sacred day with me, I determined to camp there until Monday. +A deformed negro held a lease of the ferry, and pulled a flat back and +forth across the river by means of a chain and windlass. He was very +civil, and placed his quarters at my disposal until I should be ready to +start southward to Currituck Sound. We lifted the canoe and pushed it +through an open window into the little store-room, where it rested upon +an unoccupied counter. The negro went up to the loft above, and threw +down two large bundles of flags for a bed, upon which I spread my +blankets. An old stove in a corner was soon aglow with burning light +wood. While I was cooking my supper, the little propeller Cygnet, which +runs between Norfolk and Van Slyck's Landing, at Currituck Narrows, +touched at Pungo Ferry, and put off an old woman who had been on a two +years' visit to her relatives. She kindly accosted the dwarfed black +with, "Charles, have you got a match for my pipe?" + +"Yes, missus," civilly responded the negro, handing her a light. + +"Well, this _is good_!" soliloquized the ancient dame, as she seated +herself on a box and puffed away at the short-stemmed pipe. "Ah, good +indeed to get away from city folks, with their stuck-up manners and +queer ways, a-fault-finding when you stick your knife in your mouth in +place of your fork, and a-feeding you on _China_ tea in place of dear +old yaupon. Charles, you can't reckon how I longs to get a cup of good +yaupon." + +As the reader is about entering a country where the laboring classes +draw largely upon nature for their supply of "the cup that cheers but +not inebriates," I will describe the shrub which produces it. + +This substitute for the tea of China is a holly (_ilex_), and is called +by the natives "yaupon" (_I. cassine, Linn._). It is a handsome shrub, +growing a few feet in height, with alternate, perennial, shining leaves, +and bearing small scarlet berries. It is found in the vicinity of salt +water, in the light soils of Virginia and the Carolinas. The leaves and +twigs are dried by the women, and when ready for market are sold at one +dollar per bushel. It is not to be compared in excellence with the tea +of China, nor does it approach in taste or good qualities the well-known +_yerba-maté_, another species of holly, which is found in Paraguay, and +is the common drink of the people of South America. + +The old woman having gone on her way, and we being again alone in the +rude little shanty, the good-natured freedman told me his history, +ending with,-- + + "O that was a glorious day for me, + When Massa Lincoln set me free." + +He had too much ambition, he said, deformed as he was, to be supported +as a pauper by the public. "I can make just about twelve dollars a month +by dis here ferry," he exclaimed. "I don't want for nuffin'; I'se got no +wife--no woman will hab me. I want to support myself and live an honest +man." + +About seven o'clock he left me to waddle up the road nearly a mile to a +little house. + +"I an' another cullo'd man live in partnership," he said. He could not +account for the fact that I had no fear of sleeping alone in the shanty +on the marshes. He went home for the company of his partner, as he +"didn't like to sleep alone noways." + +Though the cold wind entered through broken window-lights and under the +rudely constructed door, I slept comfortably until morning. Before +Charles had returned, my breakfast was cooked and eaten. + +With the sunshine of the morning came a new visitor. I had made the +acquaintance of the late slave; now I received a call from the late +master. My visitor was a pleasant, gentlemanly personage, the owner of +the surrounding acres. His large white house could be seen from the +landing, a quarter of a mile up the road. + +"I learned that a stranger from the north was camped here, and was +expecting that he would come up and take breakfast with me," was his +kindly way of introducing himself. + +I told him I was comfortably established in dry quarters, and did not +feel justified in forcing myself upon his hospitality while I had so +many good things of this life in my provision-basket. + +Mr. Dudley would take no excuse, but conducted me to his house, where I +remained that day, attending the religious services in a little church +in the vicinity. My kind host introduced me to his neighbors, several of +whom returned with us to dinner. I found the people about Pungo Ferry, +like those I had met along the sounds of the eastern shore of Maryland +and Virginia, very piously inclined,--the same kind-hearted, hospitable +people. + +My host entertained me the next day, which was rainy, with his life in +the Confederate army, in which he served as a lieutenant. He was a +prisoner at Johnson's Island for twenty-two months. He bore no malice +towards northern men who came south to join with the natives in working +for the true interests of the country. The people of the south had +become weary of political sufferings inflicted by a floating population +from the north; they needed actual settlers, not politicians. This +sentiment I found everywhere expressed. On Tuesday I bade farewell to my +new friends, and rowed down the North Landing River towards Currituck +Sound. + +The North Carolina line is only a few miles south of the ferry. The +river enters the head of the sound six or eight miles below Pungo Ferry. +A stiff northerly breeze was blowing, and as the river widened, on +reaching the head of the sound, to a mile or more, and bays were to be +crossed from point to point, it required the exercise of considerable +patience and muscular exertion to keep the sea from boarding the little +craft amidship. As I was endeavoring to weather a point, the swivel of +one of the outriggers parted at its junction with the row-lock, and it +became necessary to get under the south point of the marshes for +shelter. + +The lee side offered a smooth bay. It was but a few minutes' work to +unload and haul the canoe into the tall rushes, which afforded ample +protection against the cold wind. It was three hours before the wind +went down, when the canoe was launched, and, propelled by the double +paddle, (always kept in reserve against accidents to oars and +row-locks,) I continued over the waters of Currituck Sound. + +Swans could now be seen in flocks of twenties and fifties. They were +exceedingly wary, not permitting the canoe to approach within rifle +range. Clouds of ducks, and some Canada geese, as well as brant, kept up +a continuous flutter as they rose from the surface of the water. Away to +the southeast extended the glimmering bosom of the sound, with a few +islands relieving its monotony. The three or four houses and two small +storehouses at the landing of Currituck Court House, which, with the +brick court-house, comprise the whole village, are situated on the west +bank; and opposite, eight miles to the eastward, is the narrow beach +island that serves as a barrier to the ingress of the ocean. + +At sunset I started the last flock of white swans, and grounded in the +shoal waters at the landing. There is no regular hotel here, but a kind +lady, Mrs. Simmons, accommodates the necessities of the occasional +traveller. The canoe was soon locked up in the landing-house. +Fortunately a blacksmith was found outside the village, who promised to +repair the broken row-lock early upon the following morning. Before a +pleasant wood fire giving out its heat from a grand old fireplace, with +an agreeable visitor,--the physician of the place,--the tediousness of +the three-hours' camp on the marshes was soon forgotten, while the +country and its resources were fully discussed until a late hour. + +Dr. Baxter had experimented in grape culture, and gave me many +interesting details in regard to the native wine. In 1714, Lawson +described six varieties of native grapes found in North Carolina. Our +three finest varieties of native grapes were taken from North Carolina. +They are the Scuppernong, the Catawba, and the Isabella. The Scuppernong +was found upon the banks of the stream bearing that name, the mouth of +which is near the eastern end of Albemarle Sound. The Catawba was +originally obtained on the Catawba River, near its head-waters in +Buncombe County. The Long Island stock of the Isabella grape was brought +to New York by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs: hence the derivation of the name. + +Of the six varieties of North Carolina grapes, five were found in Tyrrel +County by Amadas and Barlow. Tradition relates that these travellers +carried one small vine to Roanoke Island, which still lives and covers +an immense area of ground. There are five varieties of the grape growing +wild on the shores of Albemarle Sound, all of which are called +Scuppernong,--the legitimate Scuppernong being a white grape, sweet and +large, and producing a wine said to resemble somewhat in its luscious +flavor the Malmsey made on Mount Ida, in Candia. + +The repairing of the outrigger detained me until nearly noon of the next +day, when the canoe was got under way; but upon rowing off the mouth of +Coanjock Bay, only four miles from Currituck Court House, a strong +tempest arose from the south, and observing an old gentleman standing +upon Bell Island Point, near his cottage, beckoning me to come ashore, +I obeyed, and took refuge with my new acquaintance, Captain Peter L. +Tatum, proprietor of Bell Island. + +"The war has left us without servants," said the captain, as he +presented me to his wife, "so we make the best of it, and if you will +accept our hospitality we will make you comfortable." + +Captain Tatum drew my attention to the flocks of swans which dotted the +waters in the offing, and said: "It is hard work to get hold of a swan, +though they are a large bird, and abundant in Currituck Sound. You must +use a good rifle to bring one down. After a strong norther has been +blowing, and the birds have worked well into the bight of the bay, near +Goose Castle Point, if the wind shifts to the south suddenly, gunners +approach from the outside, and the birds becoming cramped in the cove +are shot as they rise against the wind." + +More than forty years ago old Currituck Inlet closed, and the oysters on +the natural beds, which extended up North Landing River to Green Point, +were killed by the freshening of the water. Now winds influence the +tides which enter at Oregon Inlet, about fifty-five miles south of the +Court House. The difference between the highest and lowest tide at +Currituck Court House is three feet. The sound is filled with sandy +shoals, with here and there spots of mud. The shells of the defunct +oysters are everywhere found mixed with the debris of the bottom of the +sound. This is a favorite locality with northern sportsmen. The best +"gunning points," as is the case in Chesapeake Bay, are owned by private +parties, and cannot be used by the public. + +Thursday, the 10th of December, was cold, and proved as tempestuous as +the previous day; but the wind had changed to the north, and I embarked +amid a swashy beam-sea, with the hope of reaching Van Slyck's Landing at +Currituck Narrows. The norther, however, proved too much for my safety. +My course would be easterly until I had passed the mouth of Coanjock Bay +and Goose Castle Point, then following the trend of the west shore +southerly down the sound; but the wind raised such a rough sea that I +was obliged to turn southward into Coanjock Bay, ascend it five miles, +and seek for a crossing-place overland to the sound again, which I found +near the entrance of the lockless canal that is used by steamers to pass +from North Landing River to North River and Albemarle Sound. + +A fire was soon built, upon which I placed long, light poles taken from +the drift-wood, and burning them in pieces of the required lengths, (no +axe being at hand,) I was prepared to make the portage. Laying these +pieces of wood on the ground, I drew my canoe over them to the shore of +Currituck Sound; then, by making up back-loads of the cargo, transported +everything to the point of embarkation, which was just inside the mouth +of a little creek. + +The row to Currituck Narrows was not difficult, as the north wind was a +fair one. Along the west shore of the sound there were many little +houses upon the high banks, and a wind-mill supplied the place of a +water-power for grinding corn. The improvements made by Mr. Van Slyck, +of New York, were in cheering contrast to what had been seen since +leaving Norfolk. Here a comfortable hotel welcomes the northern +sportsmen, few of whom, for lack of accommodations and travelling +conveniences, go much south of this locality, in this state, to shoot +wild-fowl. Currituck Sound has an average width of four miles. Its +length is about thirty-five miles. At the Narrows, a group of marshy +islands divides it into two sections, the northern one being the +longest. + +The keen, cold air of the next day made rowing a pleasant exercise. +After passing through the tortuous channel, I should have crossed to the +beach and followed it; but this part of the bay is very shallow, and +deeper water was found on the west side. It was an enjoyable morning, +for gunners were passed, secreted behind their "blinds," or pens, of +pine brush, which looked like little groves of conifera growing out of +the shoal water. Geese were honking and ducks were quacking, while the +deep booming of guns was heard every few minutes. Decoy-birds were +anchored in many places near the marshes. Every sportsman gave me a +cheering word as the canoe glided over the smooth water, while here and +there the violet-backed swallow darted about over the marshes as though +it were summer. + +When opposite Dew's Quarter Island, several men hailed me from a newly +constructed shanty. When the oldest man in the company, who had never +seen a shell like the paper canoe, had examined it, he shook his head +ominously; and when I told him Nag's Head must be reached that day, he +grew excited, exclaiming, "Then be off now! now! Git across the bay +under Bald Beach as soon as ye can, and hug the shore, _hug_ it well +clean down to Collington's, and git across the sound afore the wind +rises. Sich a boat as that aren't fit for these here waters." + +Taking this kindly meant advice, I pulled to the east side, where there +was now a good depth of water for the canoe. On this high beach the +hills were well covered with yellow pines, many of which were noble old +trees. On a narrow point of the shore was the comfortable house of +Hodges Gallup, the Baptist minister, a generous old gentleman, who +seemed to be loved by all the watermen along the sound. He was described +as being "full of fun and hospitality." His domain extended for several +miles along the beach, and, with deer quietly browsing in his grand old +woods, formed a pretty picture. + +The beach shore now became more thickly settled, while out in the water, +a few rods from each little house, arose the duck-blind, with the gunner +and his boat inside, anxiously watching for birds, while their decoys +floated quietly on the surface of the water. A few miles below Mr. +Gallup's estate the canoe entered upon the broad waters of Albemarle +Sound, and at dusk I approached Roanoke Island. The large buildings of +the hotels of Nag's Head on the beach rose up as boldly to the eye as a +fortification. The little sound between Roanoke Island and the beach was +traversed at dusk as far as the first long pier of Nag's Head, upon +which with great difficulty I landed, and was soon joined by the keeper +of the now deserted summer watering-place, Mr. C. D. Rutter, who helped +me to carry my property into a room of the old hotel. + +Nag's Head Beach is a most desolate locality, with its high sand-hills, +composed of fine sand, the forms of which are constantly changing with +the action of the dry, hard, varying winds. A new and very large hotel +was located south of the first one, and was inhabited by the family of +Captain Jasper Toler, who furnished me with lodgings. A few fishermen +have their homes on this dreary beach, but the village, with its one +store, is a forlorn place. + +The bright flashes of Body Island Light, ten miles distant, on the north +side of Oregon Inlet, showed me my next abiding-place. + +The beach from Nag's Head to Oregon Inlet is destitute of trees, and the +wind sweeps across it, from the ocean to the sound, with great violence, +forcing the shallow waters to retire, and leaving the bottom dry as far +out as three miles. + +The next day was very windy, and the long, finger-like, sandy shoals, +which extended one or two miles out into the sound, were covered with +only from three to eight inches of water. I could not hug the beach for +protection, but was forced to keep far out in the sound. Frequently it +became necessary to get overboard and wade, pushing my boat before me. +Then a deep channel between the shoals would be crossed; so, by _walking +and rowing_ in Roanoke Sound, with the wind blowing the water over the +canoe and drenching its captain, the roundabout twelve miles' passage to +Oregon Inlet was at last accomplished, and a most trying one it was. + +Body Island Light House was erected in 1872, on the north side of Oregon +Inlet, to take the place of the old tower on the south shore. It is in +latitude 35° 48', and longitude 75° 33'. Captain William F. Hatzel, a +loyal North Carolinian, is the principal keeper, and a most efficient +one he is. + +The temperature was falling rapidly when I crawled into the high rushes +of the wet marsh near the light-house to seek shelter from the strong +wind that was blowing. As this treeless beach was destitute of +fire-wood, or natural shelter of any kind, necessity compelled me to +have recourse to other means for procuring them. I carried in my pocket +a talisman which must open any light-keeper's door; from Maine to the +Rio Grande, from Southern California to Alaska, even to the vicinity of +the Arctic Circle, wherever the Light-house Establishment of the United +States has planted a tower or erected a light. While shivering in wet +clothes on this desolate beach, most thankfully did I remember that kind +and thoughtful friend, who through his potent influence had supplied me +with this open sesame to light-keepers. + +There resides in Washington, when not engaged elsewhere in the important +duties of the Commission of Fisheries, a genial gentleman, an ardent +naturalist, a great scientist. To him the young naturalists of America +turn for information and advice, and to the humblest applicant Professor +Spencer F. Baird never turns a deaf ear. How this distinguished author +can attend to so many and such varied duties with his laborious +investigations, and can so successfully keep up a large correspondence +with perhaps one thousand scientific associations of nearly every nation +of the universe, is a difficult thing to imagine; but the popular and +much beloved Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, +seemingly ubiquitous in his busy life, does all this and much more. +America may well feel proud of this man of noble nature, shedding light +and truth wheresoever he moves, encouraging alike old and young with his +kindly sympathy;--now taking his precious moments to answer with his own +busy hand the question in the letter of some boy naturalist about +beasts, birds, reptiles, or fishes, with which epistles his desk is +always covered; now stimulating to further effort the old man of science +as he struggles with the cares of this world, striving, sometimes +vainly, save for this ever ready aid, to work out patiently theories +which are soon to blaze forth as substantial facts. The young generation +of naturalists, which is soon to fill the place of their predecessors, +have in this man the type of all they need ever strive to attain. How +many, alas, will fall far short of it! + +Since boyhood the counsels of this friend had guided me on many a +journey of exploration. He had not deserted me even in this experiment, +which my friends called "your wildest and most foolish undertaking." He +had obtained from the Light House Board a general letter to the +light-keepers of the United States, signed by the naval secretary, Mr. +Walker, in which the keepers were authorized to grant me shelter, &c., +when necessary. I did not have occasion to use this letter more than +twice during my journey. Having secreted my canoe in the coarse grass +of the lowland, I trudged, with my letter in hand, over the sands to the +house of the light-keeper, Captain Hatzel, who received me cordially; +and after recording in his log-book the circumstances and date of my +arrival, conducted me into a comfortable room, which was warmed by a +cheerful fire, and lighted up by the smiles of his most orderly wife. +Everything showed discipline and neatness, both in the house and the +light-tower. The whitest of cloths was spread upon the table, and +covered with a well-cooked meal; then the father, mother, and two sons, +with the stranger within their gates, thanked the Giver of good gifts +for his mercies. + +Joining the night-watch of the chief light-keeper, I also joined in the +good man's enthusiasm for his wonderful "fixed white light," the bright +beams of which poured out upon the surrounding waters a flood of +brilliancy, gladdening hearts far out at sea, even though twenty miles +away, and plainly saying, "This is Body Island Beach: keep off!" How +grand it was to walk out on this gallery in the sky! Looking eastward, +a limitless expanse of ocean; gazing westward, the waters of the great +sound, the shores of which were low marshes miles away. Below me could +be heard the soft cackle of the snow-goose (_Anser hyperboreus_), which +had left its nesting-place on the barren grounds of arctic America, +and was now feeding contentedly in its winter home in the shallow +salt-ponds; while the gentle shur-r-r-of the waves softly broke on the +strand. Above, the star-lit heavens, whose tender beauty seemed almost +within my grasp. + +Perched thus upon a single shaft, on a narrow strip of sand far out in +the great water, the many thoughts born of solitude crowded my mind, +when my reverie was abruptly broken by an exclamation from Captain +Hatzel, who threw open the door, and exclaimed, with beaming eyes +peering into the darkness as he spoke, "I see it! Yes, it _is_! Hatteras +Light, thirty-five miles away. This night, December 13th, is the first +time I have caught its flash. Tell it to the Hatteras keeper when you +visit the cape." + +From Captain Hatzel I gleaned some facts of deep interest in regard to +the inhabitants of the sound. Some of them, he told me, had Indian blood +in their veins; and to prove the truth of his assertion he handed me a +well-worn copy of the "History of North Carolina," by Dr. Francis L. +Hawks, D. D. From this I obtained facts which might serve for the +intricate mazes of a romance. + +It had been a pet scheme with Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize the coast +of North Carolina, then known as Virginia, and though several +expeditions had been sent out for that object, each had failed of +successful issue. One of these expeditions sent by Sir Walter to Roanoke +Island consisted of one hundred and twenty-one persons, of whom +seventeen were women and six children. Of all these souls only two men +returned to the old country, the fate of the remainder being unknown, +and shrouded in the gloom which always attends mystery. England did not, +however, leave her children to perish on a barren shore in the new land +without at least an effort to succor them. + +On March 20, in the year 1590, there sailed from Plymouth three ships, +the Hopewell, John Evangelist, and Little John, taking in tow two +shallops which were afterwards lost at sea. In those days the largest +vessels of a fleet did not exceed one hundred to one hundred and forty +tons burden. This expedition was under the charge of Admiral John White, +governor of the colony of Sir Walter Raleigh on Roanoke Island, and who +had left the feeble band on the island in 1587. In thirty-six days and +eight hours these small vessels arrived off "Hatorask"--Hatteras Beach. +The fleet dropped anchor three leagues off the beach, and sent a +well-manned boat through an inlet to Pamplico Sound. + +There existed in those days passages from the ocean through the beaches +into the sounds, which have since been filled up by the action of the +sea. Old Roanoke Inlet, now closed, which was about four miles north of +the modern Oregon Inlet, is supposed to be the one used by Sir Walter +Raleigh's expeditions. It is only four miles from the site of this +closed inlet to Shallowbag Bay, on Roanoke Island. At the southern +entrance of the bay, near Ballast Point, some vessel evidently grounded +and threw overboard her stone ballast; hence the name of the point. +Captain Hatzel has examined this stone, and gives his opinion, as an old +pilot, that it is foreign in character. He never met with similar +stones, and believes that this ballast was deposited at Shallowbag Bay +by some of the vessels of Sir Walter's expeditions. + +As the boat's crew above mentioned rowed northward to Roanoke +Island--made famous two hundred and seventy-two years later by the +National and Confederate struggles--they sounded their trumpets and sang +familiar songs, which they hoped might be borne to their countrymen on +the shore; but the marshes and upland wilderness returned no answering +voice. + +At daybreak the explorers landed upon Roanoke Island, which is twelve +miles long by two and a half wide, and found the spot where Admiral +White had left the colony in 1587. Eagerly searching for any tokens of +the lost ones, they soon traced in the light soil of the island the +imprint of the moccasin of the savage, but looked in vain for any +footprint of civilized man. What had become of their countrymen? + +At last some one spied a conspicuous tree, far up on a sandy bank, +blazed and carved. There were but three letters cut upon it, C. R. O., +but these simple symbols possessed a world of meaning. Three years +before, when the sad farewells were being spoken, and the ships were +ready to set sail for England, this feeble band, left to struggle in the +wilds of the new land with sad forebodings of their possible fate, had +agreed upon a signal, and had promised Admiral White that if driven to +starvation upon the island, they would plant their colony fifty miles +inland, near a tribe of friendly Indians. Indeed, before the ships +sailed for England, they were making preparations for this move. Admiral +White requested them to carve upon a tree the name of the locality to +which they should remove, and if distress had overtaken them they were +to add a _cross_ over the lettering. Anxiously gathering round this +interesting relic of the lost Englishmen, the rude chirography was +eagerly scanned, but no vestige of a cross was found. + +Much relieved in mind, the little company continued their +investigations, when, farther on, almost in their very pathway, there +rose a noble tree, pointing its top heavenward, as though to remind them +in whose care their lost ones had been. Approaching this giant, who had +stood a silent sentinel through winter storms and summer skies, they +found he bore upon his body a message for them. Stripped of its bark, +five feet upward from the ground there appeared upon the bare surface in +bold lettering the word so full of hope--_Croatan_; and now also, as in +the last case, without the graven cross. Cheered by these signs, and +believing that the lost colonists had carried out their early +intentions, and were now located among the friendly tribe of Croatans, +wheresoever their country might be, the boat's company decided to go at +once to the ships, and return the next day in search of the lost colony. + +One of the ships, in moving its position from the unprotected +anchorage-ground, parted its cable and left an anchor on the bottom--the +second that had been lost. The wind drove the ships towards the beach, +when a third anchor was lowered; but it held the little fleet so close +in to the breakers, that the sailors were forced to slip their cable and +work into a channel-way, where, in deeper water, they held their ground. + +In debating the propriety of holding on and attempting to wear out the +gale, the scarcity of their provisions, and the possession of but one +cask of water, and only one anchor for the fleet to ride at, decided +them to go southward in quest of some favorable landing, where water +could be found. The council held out the hope of capturing Spanish +vessels in the vicinity of the West Indies; and it was agreed that, if +successful, they should return, richly laden with spoils, to seek their +exiled countrymen. One of these vessels returned to England, while the +Admiral laid his course for Trinidad; and this was the last attempt made +to find the colonists. + +More than a century after Admiral White had abandoned his colony, +Lawson, in writing about the Hatteras Indians, says: "They said that +several of their ancestors were white people, and could talk in a book +as we do; the truth of which is confirmed by grey eyes being frequently +found among them, and no others. They value themselves extremely for +their affinity to the English, and are ready to do them all friendly +offices. It is probable that the settlement miscarried for want of +supplies from England, or through the treachery of the natives; for we +may reasonably suppose that the English were forced to cohabit with them +for relief and conversation, and that in process of time they conformed +themselves to the manners of their Indian relations." + +Dr. Hawks thinks, "that, driven by starvation, such as survived the +famine were merged into the tribes of friendly Indians at Croatan, and, +alas! lost ere long every vestige of Christianity and civilization; and +those who came to shed light on the darkness of paganism, in the +mysterious providence of God ended by relapsing themselves into +the heathenism they came to remove. It is a sad picture of poor +human nature." + +It needed not the fierce gusts of wind that howled about the tall tower, +causing it to vibrate until water would be spilled out of a pail resting +upon the floor of the lantern, blowing one day from one quarter of the +compass, and changing the next to another, to warn me that I was near +the Cape of Storms. + +Refusing to continue longer with my new friends, the canoe was put into +the water on the 16th, and Captain Hatzel's two sons proceeded in +advance with a strong boat to break a channel-way through the thin ice +which had formed in the quiet coves. We were soon out in the sound, +where the boys left me, and I rowed out of the southern end of Roanoke +and entered upon the wide area of Pamplico Sound. To avoid shoals, it +being calm, I kept about three miles from the beach in three feet of +water, until beyond Duck Island, when the trees on Roanoke Island slowly +sank below the horizon; then gradually drawing in to the beach, the two +clumps of trees of north and south Chicamicomico came into view. A +life-saving station had recently been erected north of the first grove, +and there is another fourteen miles further south. The two Chicamicomico +settlements of scattered houses are each nearly a mile in length, and +are separated by a high, bald sand-beach of about the same length, which +was once heavily wooded; but the wind has blown the sand into the forest +and destroyed it. A wind-mill in each village raised its weird arms to +the breeze. + +Three miles further down is Kitty Midget's Hammock, where a few red +cedars and some remains of live-oaks tell of the extensive forest that +once covered the beach. Here Captain Abraham Hooper lives, and occupies +himself in fishing with nets in the ocean for blue-fish, which are +salted down and sent to the inland towns for a market. I had drawn my +boat into the sedge to secure a night's shelter, when the old captain on +his rounds captured me. The change from a bed in the damp sedge to the +inside seat of the largest fireplace I had ever beheld, was indeed a +pleasant one. Its inviting front covered almost one side of the room. +While the fire flashed up the wide chimney, I sat inside the fireplace +with the three children of my host, and enjoyed the genial glow which +arose from the fragments of the wreck of a vessel which had pounded +herself to death upon the strand near Kitty Midget's Hammock. How +curiously those white-haired children watched the man who had come so +far in a paper boat! "Why did not the paper boat soak to pieces?" they +asked. Each explanation seemed but to puzzle them the more; and I found +myself in much the same condition of mind when trying to make some +discoveries concerning Kitty Midget. She must, however, have lived +somewhere on Clark's Beach long before the present proprietor was born. +We spent the next day fishing with nets in the surf for blue-fish, it +being about the last day of their stay in that vicinity. They go south +as far as Cape Hatteras, and then disappear in deep water; while the +great flocks of gulls, that accompany them to gather the remnants of +fish they scatter in their savage meals, rise in the air and fly rapidly +away in search of other dainties. + +On Thursday I set out for Cape Hatteras. The old sailor's song, that-- + + "Hatteras has a blow in store + For those who pass her howling door," + +has far more truth than poetry in it. Before proceeding far the wind +blew a tempest, when a young fisherman in his sailboat bore down upon +me, and begged me to come on board. We attempted to tow the canoe +astern, but she filled with water, which obliged us to take her on +board. As we flew along before the wind, dashing over the shoals with +mad-cap temerity, I discovered that my new acquaintance, Burnett, was a +most daring as well as reckless sailor. He told me how he had capsized +his father's schooner by carrying sail too long. "This 'ere slow way of +doing things" he detested. His recital was characteristic of the man. + + "You see, sir, we was bound for Newbern up the Neuse River, and + as we were well into the sound with all sail set, and travelling + along lively, daddy says, 'Lorenzo, I reckon a little yaupon + wouldn't hurt me, so I'll go below and start a fire under the + kittle.' 'Do as you likes, daddy,' sez I. So down below he goes, + and I takes command of the schooner. A big black squall soon + come over Cape Hatteras from the Gulf Stream, and it did look + like a screecher. Now, I thought, old woman, I'll make your + sides ache; so I pinted her at it, and afore I could luff her up + in the wind, the squall kreened her on to her beam-ends. You'd a + laughed to have split yourself, mister, if you could have seen + daddy a-crawling out of the companion-way while the water was + a-running down stairs like a crick. Says he, ruther hurriedly, + 'Sonny, what's up?' 'It isn't what's _up_, daddy; but what's + _down_,' sez I; 'it sort o' looks as if we had capsized.' 'Sure + 'nuff,' answered dad, as the ballast shifted and the schooner + rolled over keel uppermost. We floundered about like porpoises, + but managed to get astride her backbone, when dad looked kind + of scornfully at me, and burst out with, 'Sonny, do you call + yourself a keerful sailor?' 'Keerful enough, dad,' sez I, 'for a + _smart_ one. It's more credit to a man to _drive_ his vessel + like a sailor, than to be crawling and bobbing along like a + diamond-backed terrapin.' Now, stranger, if you'll believe me, + that keerful old father of mine would never let me take the + helum again, so I sticks to my aunt at the cape." + +I found that the boat in which we were sailing was a dug-out, made from +two immense cypress logs. Larger boats than this are made of three logs, +and smaller ones are dug out of one. + +Burnett told me that frame boats were so easily pounded to pieces on the +shoals, that dug-outs were preferred--being very durable. We soon passed +the hamlet of North Kinnakeet, then Scarsborough with its low houses, +then South Kinnakeet with its two wind-mills, and after these arose a +sterile, bald beach with Hatteras light-tower piercing the sky, and west +of it Hatteras woods and marshes. We approached the low shore and +ascended a little creek, where we left our boats, and repaired to the +cottage of Burnett's aunt. + +After the barren shores I had passed, this little house, imbedded in +living green, was like a bright star in a dark night. It was hidden away +in a heavy thicket of live-oaks and cedars, and surrounded by yaupons, +the bright red berries of which glistened against the light green +leaves. An old woman stood in the doorway with a kindly greeting for her +"wild boy," rejoicing the while that he had "got back to his old aunty +once more." + +"Yes, aunty," said my friend Lorenzo, "I am back again like a bad penny, +but not empty-handed; for as soon as our season's catch of blue-fish is +sold, old aunty will have sixty or seventy dollars." + +"He has a good heart, if he is so head-strong," whispered the motherly +woman, as she wiped a tear from her eyes, and gazed with pride upon the +manly-looking young fellow, and--invited us in to tea--YAUPON. + +[Illustration: BODY ISLAND LIGHT-HOUSE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +FROM CAPE HATTERAS TO CAPE FEAR, NORTH CAROLINA. + +CAPE HATTERAS LIGHT.--HABITS OF BIRDS.--STORM AT HATTERAS INLET.--MILES +OF WRECKS.--THE YACHT JULIA SEARCHING FOR THE PAPER CANOE.--CHASED BY +PORPOISES.--MARSH TACKIES.--OCRACOKE INLET.--A GRAVEYARD BEING +SWALLOWED UP BY THE SEA.--CORE SOUND.--THREE WEDDINGS AT HUNTING +QUARTERS.--MOREHEAD CITY.--NEWBERN.--SWANSBORO.--A PEA-NUT +PLANTATION.--THE ROUTE TO CAPE FEAR. + + +Cape Hatteras is the apex of a triangle. It is the easternmost part of +the state of North Carolina, and it extends farther into the ocean than +any Atlantic cape of the United States. It presents a low, broad, sandy +point to the sea, and for several miles beyond it, in the ocean, are the +dangerous Diamond Shoals, the dread of the mariner. + +[Illustration: From Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, to Bull's Bay, +South Carolina. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From Bogue Inlet, +N.C. to Bull's Bay, S.C. Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1875 +_Copyright, 1875 by Lee & Shepard_] + +The Gulf Stream, with its river-like current of water flowing northward +from the Gulf of Mexico, in its oscillations from east to west +frequently approaches to within eighteen or twenty miles of the cape, +filling a large area of atmosphere with its warmth, and causing frequent +local disturbances. The weather never remains long in a settled state. +As most vessels try to make Hatteras Light, to ascertain their true +position, &c., and because it juts out so far into the Atlantic, the +locality has become the scene of many wrecks, and the beach, from the +cape down to Hatteras Inlet, fourteen miles, is strewn with the +fragments of vessels. + +The coast runs north and south above, and east and west south of the +cape. The old light-house had been replaced by the finest light-tower I +had ever examined, which was completed in 1870. It is one hundred and +ninety feet in height, and shows a white, revolving light. + +Body Island Light, though forty feet less in elevation, is frequently +seen by the Hatteras light-keeper, while the splendid Hatteras Light had +been seen but once by Captain Hatzel, of Body Island. One nautical mile +south of Hatteras Light is a small beacon light-tower, which is of great +service to the coasting-vessels that pass it in following the +eighteen-feet curve of the cape two miles from the land inside of +Diamond Shoals. + +While speaking of light-houses, it may be interesting to naturalists who +live far inland to know that while (as they are well aware) thousands of +birds are killed annually during their flights by striking against +telegraphic wires, many wild-fowls are also destroyed by dashing against +the lanterns of the light-towers during the night. While at Body Island +Beach, Captain Hatzel remarked to me that, during the first winter after +the new light-tower was completed, the snow-geese, which winter on the +island, would frequently at night strike the thick glass panes of the +chamber, and fall senseless upon the floor of the gallery. The second +season they did not in a single instance repeat the mistake, but had +seemingly become educated to the character of the danger. + +I have seen one lantern damaged to the amount of five hundred dollars, +by a goose breaking a pane of glass and striking heavily upon the costly +lens which surrounds the lamp. Light-keepers sometimes sit upon the +gallery, and, looking along the pathway of light which shoots into the +outer darkness over their heads, will see a few dark specks approaching +them in this beam of radiance. These specks are birds, confused by the +bright rays, and ready to fall an easy prey to the eager keeper, who, +quickly levelling his double-barrelled gun, brings it to bear upon the +opaque, moving cloud, and with the discharge of the weapon there goes +whirling through space to the earth below his next morning's breakfast +of wild-fowl. + +I found Mr. W. R. Jennett and his first assistant light-keeper, Mr. A. +W. Simpson, intelligent gentlemen. The assistant has devoted his time, +when off duty, to the study of the habits of food-fishes of the sound, +and has furnished the United States Commission of Fisheries with several +papers on that interesting subject. + +Here also was Mr. George Onslow, of the United States Signal Service, +who had completed his work of constructing a telegraph line from Norfolk +along the beach southward to this point, its present terminus. With a +fine telescope he could frequently identify vessels a few miles from the +cape, and telegraph their position to New York. He had lately saved a +vessel by telegraphing to Norfolk its dangerous location on Hatteras +beach, where it had grounded. By this timely notice a wrecking-steamer +had arrived and hauled the schooner off in good condition. + +A low range of hills commences at Cape Hatteras, in the rear of the +light-house, and extends nearly to Hatteras Inlet. This range is +heavily wooded with live-oaks, yellow pines, yaupons, cedars, and +bayonet-plants. The fishermen and wreckers live in rudely constructed +houses, sheltered by this thicket, which is dense enough to protect +them from the strong winds that blow from the ocean and the sound. + +I walked twelve miles through this pretty, green retreat, and spent +Sunday with Mr. Homer W. Styron, who keeps a small store about two miles +from the inlet. He is a self-taught astronomer, and used an ingeniously +constructed telescope of his own manufacture for studying the heavens. + +I found at the post-office in his store a letter from a yachting party +which had left Newbern, North Carolina, to capture the paper canoe and +to force upon its captain the hospitality of the people of that city, on +the Neuse River, one hundred miles from the cape. Judge I. E. West, the +owner of the yacht "Julia," and his friends, had been cruising since the +eleventh day of the month from Ocracoke Inlet to Roanoke Island in +search of me. Judge West, in his letter, expressed a strong desire to +have me take my Christmas dinner with his family. This generous +treatment from a stranger was fully appreciated, and I determined to +push on to Morehead City, from which place it would be convenient to +reach Newbern by rail without changing my established route southward, +as I would be compelled to do if the regular water route of the Neuse +River from Pamplico Sound were followed. + +On this Saturday night, spent at Hatteras Inlet, there broke upon us one +of the fiercest tempests I ever witnessed, even in the tropics. My +pedestrian tramp down the shore had scarcely ended when it commenced in +reality. For miles along the beach thousands of acres of land were soon +submerged by the sea and by the torrents of water which fell from the +clouds. While for a moment the night was dark as Erebus, again the +vivid flash of lightning exposed to view the swaying forests and the +gloomy sound. The sea pounded on the beach as if asking for admission to +old Pamplico. It seemed to say, I demand a new inlet; and, as though +trying to carry out its desire, sent great waves rolling up the shingle +and over into the hollows among the hills, washing down the low sand +dunes as if they also were in collusion with it to remove this frail +barrier, this narrow strip of low land which separated the Atlantic +from the wide interior sheet of water. + +The phosphorescent sea, covered with its tens of millions of animalcula, +each one a miniature light-house, changed in color from inky blackness +to silver sheen. Will the ocean take to itself this frail foothold?--we +queried. Will it ingulf us in its insatiable maw, as the whale did +Jonah? There was no subsidence, no pause in the storm. It howled, +bellowed, and screeched like a legion of demons, so that the crashing of +falling trees, and the twisting of the sturdy live-oak's toughest limbs, +could hardly be heard in the din. Yet during this wild night my +storm-hardened companion sat with his pretty wife by the open fireplace, +as unmoved as though we were in the shelter of a mountain side, while he +calmly discoursed of storms, shipwrecks, and terrible struggles for life +that this lonely coast had witnessed, which sent thrills of horror to +my heart. + +While traversing the beach during the afternoon, as wreck after wreck, +the gravestones of departed ships, projected their timbers from the +sands, I had made a calculation of the number of vessels which had left +their hulls to rot on Hatteras beach since the ships of Sir Walter +Raleigh had anchored above the cape, and it resulted in making _one +continuous_ line of vessels, wreck touching wreck, along the coast for +many, many miles. Hundreds of miles of the Atlantic coast beaches would +have been walled in by the wrecks could they have come on to the strand +at one time, and all the dwellers along the coast, outside of the towns, +would have been placed in independent circumstances by wrecking their +cargoes. + +During this wild night, while the paper canoe was safely stowed in the +rushes of the marsh at the cape, and its owner was enjoying the warmth +of the young astronomer's fire at the inlet, less than twenty miles +from us, on the dangerous edge of Ocracoke shoals, the searching party +of the yacht Julia were in momentary expectation of going to the +bottom of the sound. For hours the gallant craft hung to her anchors, +which were heavily backed by all the iron ballast that could be +attached to the cables. Wave after wave swept over her, and not a man +could put his head above the hatches. Then, as she rolled in the sea, +her cabin-windows went under, and streams of water were forced through +the ports into the confined space which was occupied by the little +party. For a time they were in imminent danger, for the vessel dragged +anchor to the edge of the shoal, and with a heavy thud the yacht +struck on the bottom. All hopes of ever returning to Newbern were +lost, when the changing tide swung the boat off into deeper water, +where she rode out the storm in safety. + +Before morning the wind shifted, and by nine o'clock I retraced my steps +to the cape, and on Tuesday rowed down to Hatteras Inlet, which was +reached a little past noon. Before attempting to cross this dangerous +tidal gate-way of the ocean I hugged the shore close to its edge, and +paused to make myself familiar with the sand-hills of the opposite side, +a mile away, which were to serve as the guiding-beacons in the passage. +How often had I, lying awake at night, thought of and dreaded the +crossing of this ill-omened inlet! It had given me much mental +suffering. Now it was before me. Here on my right was the great sound, +on my left the narrow beach island, and out through the portal of the +open inlet surged and moaned under a leaden sky that old ocean which now +seemed to frown at me, and to say: "Wait, my boy, until the inlet's +waves deliver you to me, and I will put you among my other victims for +your temerity." + +As I gazed across the current I remarked that it did not seem very +rough, though a strong ebb was running out to the sea, and if crossed +immediately, before the wind arose, there could be no unreasonable risk. +My canvas deck-cover was carefully pulled close about my waist, and a +rigid inspection of oars and row-locks was made; then, with a desire to +reserve my strength for any great demand that might be made upon it a +little later, I rowed with a steady stroke out into Hatteras Inlet. +There was no help nearer than Styron's, two miles away on the upper +shore, while the beach I was approaching on the other side was +uninhabited for nearly sixteen miles, to the village at its southern +end, near Ocracoke Inlet. Upon entering the swash I thought of the +sharks which the Hatteras fishermen had told me frequently seized their +oars, snapping the thin blades in pieces, assuring me, at the same time, +that mine would prove very attractive, being so white and glimmering in +the water, and offering the same glittering fascination as a +silver-spoon bait does to a blue-fish. These cheerful suggestions caused +a peculiar creeping sensation to come over me, but I tried to quiet +myself with the belief that the sharks had followed the blue-fish into +deeper water, to escape cold weather. + +The canoe crossed the upper ebb, and entered an area where the ebb from +the opposite side of the inlet struck the first one. While crossing the +union of the two currents, a wind came in at the opening through the +beach, and though not a strong one, it created a great agitation of the +water. The dangerous experience at Watchapreague Inlet had taught me +that when in such a sea one must pull with all his strength, and that +the increased momentum would give greater buoyancy to the shell; for +while under this treatment she bounced from one irregular wave to +another with a climbing action which greatly relieved my anxiety. The +danger seemed to be decreasing, and I stole a furtive glance over my +shoulder at the low dunes of the beach shore which I was approaching, to +see how far into the inlet the tide had dragged me. The white water to +leeward warned me of a shoal, and forced me to pull hard for the sound +to escape being drawn into the breakers. This danger was hardly passed, +when suddenly the waters around me seethed and foamed, and the short +waves parted and closed, as great creatures rose from the deep into the +air several feet, and then fell heavily into the sea. My tiny shell +rocked and pitched about wildly as these animals appeared and +disappeared, leaping from the waves all around me, diving under the boat +and reappearing on the opposite side. They lashed the current with +their strong tails, and snorted or blowed most dismally. For an instant +surprise and alarm took such possession of me that not a muscle of my +arms obeyed my will, and the canoe commenced to drift in the driving +stream towards the open sea. This confusion was only momentary, for as +soon as I discovered that my companions were porpoises and only old +acquaintances, I determined to avoid them as soon as possible. + +With a quick glance at my stern range, a sand-hill on the shore of the +inlet, and another look over my shoulder for the sand dunes of the other +side, I exerted every muscle to reach the beach; but my frisky friends +were in no mood to leave me, but continued their fun with increased +energy as reinforcements came up from all directions. The faster I rowed +the more they multiplied, ploughing the sea in erratic courses. They +were from five to seven feet in length, and must have weighed from two +hundred to four hundred pounds each. Though their attentions were kindly +meant, their brusqueness on such an unsteady footing was unpardonable. I +most feared the strong, shooting movements of their tails in the sudden +dives under my canoe, for one sportive touch of such a _caudality_ would +have rolled me over, and furnished material for a tale the very +anticipation of which was unpleasant. + +[Illustration: CROSSING HATTERAS INLET.] + +The aquatic gambols of the porpoises lasted but a few minutes after +they had called in all their neighbors, and had chased me into +three feet depth of water. They then spouted a nasal farewell, which +sounded more catarrhal than guitaral, and left me for the more +profitable occupation of fishing in the tideway of the inlet, while I +rowed into a shallow cove, out of the ebb, to rest, and to recover +from the effects of my fright. + +As I pulled along the beach the tide receded so rapidly that the canoe +was constantly grounding, and wading became necessary, for I could not +get within several feet of the shore. When five miles from Hatteras +Inlet I espied an empty grass cabin, which the fishermen used in +February while catching shad; and, as a southerly wind was now blowing +from the sea, and rain was falling, it offered a night's shelter for the +traveller. This Robinson Crusoe looking structure was located upon the +low land near the sound, while bleak, sharp-pointed, treeless and +grassless sand-hills, blown into shape by the winds, arose in the +background, and cut off a view of the ocean, which, judging from the +low, melancholy moaning coming over the dunes, was in a sad mood. + +The canoe was hauled into the bushes and tied securely for fear a +deceptive tide might bear it away. The provisions, blankets, &c., were +moved into the grass hut, which needed repairing. The holes in the south +wall were soon thatched, and a bed easily prepared from the rushes of +the marsh. It mattered not that they were wet, for a piece of painted +canvas was spread over them, and the inviting couch finished. + +As fresh water can usually be obtained on all these low beaches by +digging two or three feet into the sand, I looked for a large +clam-shell, and my search being rewarded, I was soon engaged in digging +a well near the cabin. + +Upon looking up from my work a curious sight met my gaze. In some +mysterious way every sharp-pointed sand-hill had been covered by a black +object, which swayed about and nodded up and down in a strange manner. +As I watched the development of this startling phenomenon, the nodding, +black objects grew in size until the head, body, and four legs of a +horse were clearly cut against the sky. A little later every crest was +surmounted by the comical figure of a marsh-tacky. Then a few sheep came +out of the hollows among the hills and browsed on the coarse grass near +the cabin, as though they felt the loneliness of their situation so far +removed from mankind. With the marsh-ponies, the sheep, the wild-fowls +of the sound, and the sighing sea for companions, the night passed away. + +The bright moonlight roused me at five o'clock in the morning, and I +pushed off again in shoal water on an ebb-tide, experiencing much +difficulty in dragging the canoe over shallow places until deep water +was entered, when the row to Ocracoke became an agreeable one. The +landing-place at Ocracoke, not far from the light-house, was reached at +noon, and the people gathered to see the paper boat, having been +notified of my proximity by fishermen. + +The women here can pull a pretty good stroke, and frequently assist +their husbands in the fisheries. These old dames ridiculed the idea of +having a boat so small and light as the canoe. One old lady laid aside +her pipe and snuff-paddle (snuff-rubbing is a time-honored institution +in the south), and roughly grasping the bow of the craft, lifted it high +in the air, then, glancing at the fine model, she lowered it slowly to +the ground, exclaiming, "I reckon I wouldn't risk my life acrossing a +creek in her." + +These people told me that the yacht Julia had stopped there to make +inquiries for me, and had departed for Newbern. + +It was more than a mile from the landing to Ocracoke Inlet, and a mile +and three quarters across it to the beach. A straight course from the +landing to the village of Portsmouth, on the lower side of the inlet, +was a distance of five miles, and not one of the hardy watermen, who +thumped the sides of my boat with their hard fists to ascertain its +strength, believed that I could cross the sound to the other village +without rolling over. One kind-hearted oysterman offered to carry +myself and boat to Portsmouth; but as the day was calm, I rowed away +on the five-mile stretch amid doleful prognostications, such as: "That +feller will make a coffin for hisself out of that yere gimcrack of an +egg-shell. It's all a man's life is wurth to go in her," &c. + +While approaching the low Portsmouth shore of the sound, flocks of +Canada geese flew within pistol-shot of my head. A man in a dug-out +canoe told me that the gunners of the village had reared from the egg +a flock of wild geese which now aggregated some seven or eight hundred +birds, and that these now flying about were used to decoy their wild +relatives. + +Near the beach a sandy hill had been the place of sepulture for the +inhabitants of other generations, but for years past the tidal current +had been cutting the shore away until coffin after coffin with its +contents had been washed into the sound. Captain Isaac S. Jennings, of +Ocean County, New Jersey, had described this spot to me as follows: + + "I landed at Portsmouth and examined this curious burial-ground. + Here by the water were the remains of the fathers, mothers, + brothers, and sisters of the people of the village so near at + hand; yet these dismal relics of their ancestors were allowed to + be stolen away piecemeal by the encroaching ocean. While I gazed + sadly upon the strata of coffins protruding from the banks, + shining objects like jewels seemed to be sparkling from between + the cracks of their fractured sides; and as I tore away the + rotten wood, rows of toads were discovered sitting in solemn + council, their bright eyes peering from among the debris of + bones and decomposed substances." + +Portsmouth Island is nearly eight miles long. Whalebone Inlet is at its +lower end, but is too shallow to be of any service to commerce. Hatteras +and Ocracoke inlets admit sea-going vessels. It is thirty-eight miles +from Whalebone Inlet to Cape Lookout, which projects like a wedge into +the sea nearly three miles from the mainland, and there is not another +passage through the narrow beach in all that distance that is of any use +to the mariner. Following the trend of the coast for eleven miles from +the point of Cape Lookout, there is an inlet, but, from the character of +its channel and its shallowness, it is not of much value. + +Leaving Portsmouth, the canoe entered Core Sound, which grew narrower as +the shoals inside of Whalebone Inlet were crossed, partly by rowing and +partly by wading on the sand-flats. As night came on, a barren stretch +of beach on my left hand was followed until I espied the only house +within a distance of sixteen miles along the sea. It was occupied by a +coasting skipper, whose fine little schooner was anchored a long +distance from the land on account of the shoalness of the water. Dreary +sand-hills protected the cottage from the bleak winds of the ocean. + +While yet a long distance from the skipper's home, a black object could +be seen crawling up the sides of a mound of white sand, and after it +reached the apex it remained in one position, while I rowed, and waded, +and pulled my canoe towards the shore. When the goal was reached, and +the boat was landed high up among the scrub growth, I shouldered my +blankets and charts, and plodded through the soft soil towards the dark +object, which I now recognized to be a man on a lookout post. He did not +move from his position until I reached the hillock, when he suddenly +slid down the bank and landed at my feet, with a cheery-- + + "Well, now, I thought it was you. Sez I to myself, That's him, + sure, when I seed you four miles away. Fust thinks I, It's only + a log, or a piece of wrak-stuff afloating. Pretty soon up comes + your head and shoulders into sight; then sez I, It's a man, + sure, but where is his boat? for you see, I couldn't see your + boat, it was so low down in the water. Then I reckoned it was a + man afloating on a log, but arter a while the boat loomed up + too, and I says, I'll be dog-goned if that isn't him. I went up + to Newbern, some time ago, in the schooner, and the people + there said there was a man coming down the coast a-rowing a + paper boat on a _bet_. The _boat_ weighed only fifty-eight + pounds, and the _man_ had a heft of only eighty pounds. When pa + and me went up to the city agin, the folks said the man was + close on to us, and this time they said the man and his boat + together weighed only eighty pounds. Now I should think you + weighed more than that yourself, letting alone the boat." + +Having assured the young man that I was indeed myself, and that the +Newbern people had played upon his credulity, we walked on to the house, +where the family of Captain James Mason kindly welcomed me to a glowing +wood-fire and hearty supper. Though I had never heard of their existence +till I entered Core Sound, the kindness of these people was like that of +old friends. + +Half a mile below Captain Mason's home, a short time before my visit, a +new breach had been made by the ocean through the beach. About twenty +years before a similar breach had occurred in the same locality, and was +known during its short life as "Pillintary Inlet." The next day I +crossed the sound, which is here four miles in width, and coasted along +to the oystermen's village of Hunting Quarters, on the mainland. The +houses were very small, but the hearts of the poor folks were very +large. They came to the water's edge and carried the canoe into the +only store in the neighborhood. Its proprietor, Mr. William H. Stewart, +insisted upon my sharing his bachelor's quarters in an unfinished room +of the storehouse. My young host was hardly out of his teens. In his +boyish way he kindly remarked: + + "I am here all alone. Father told me, before he died, never to + let a stranger pass my door but to make him share my lodgings, + humble though they are; and now, any way, you're just in time + for the fun, for we are to have three weddings to-night, and all + the boys and girls of the neighborhood will be at Hunting + Quarters." + +I entered a mild protest against joining in the festivities, on the plea +of not having received an invitation; at which the handsome youth +laughed heartily. + +"Invitation!" he exclaimed; "why, no one ever gives out invitations in +Hunting Quarters. When there is to be a 'jollification' of any sort, +everybody goes to the house without being asked. You see we are all +neighbors here. Up at Newbern and at Beaufort, and other _great_ cities, +people have their ways, but here all are friends." + +So we went to the little house in the piny forest, where two hearts were +to be made one. The only room on the first floor was crowded with +people. The minister had not arrived, and the crowd was gazing at the +young groom and his pretty bride-elect as they sat in two chairs in the +middle of the company, with their arms around each other, never speaking +a word to any one. The heavy weight of people began to settle the floor, +and as two joists gave way I struggled to escape through an open window, +thinking we would be precipitated into the cellar below. But the +good-natured company took no notice of the snapping timbers, only +ejaculating, "She'll soon touch bottom;" and to my inquiries about the +inconvenience of being pitched through to the cellar, a rustic youth, +with great merriment depicted upon his countenance, replied: + + "Sullers, captain, why, there ain't a suller to a buildin' + within thirty miles of the Quarters. We never uses sullers + hereabouts." + +By my side was a young fisherman, who had got home from a cruise, and +was overflowing with affection towards every girl present. "O, gals," he +would cry, "you don't know how nice I feels to get back to you once +more!" Throwing his arms around a bright-eyed girl, who vainly tried to +escape him, he said, "O, weary mariner, here is thy rest! No more shall +he wander from thee." + +This sentimental strain was interrupted by an old lady, who reached her +arm over my shoulder to administer a rebuke. "Sam, ye're a fool!" she +cried; "ye're beside yourself to-night, and afore this paper-canoe +captain, too. Ef I was a gal I'd drap yere society, wid yere familiar +ways right in company." + +The blow and the admonition fell harmlessly upon the head and the heart +of the sailor, who replied, "Aunty, I knows my advantages in Hunting +Quarters--_wimen is plenty, and men is few_." + +The crowd roared with laughter at this truism, but were quieted by the +shout of a boy that the preacher was a-coming; whereupon the reverend +gentleman elbowed his way through the guests to the quiet couple, and +requested them to stand up. A few hurried words by the clergyman, a few +bashful replies from the young people, and the two were made one. The +crowd rushed outside of the house, where a general scramble took place +among the boys for their girls. Then a procession was formed, headed by +the clergyman, which marched along the sandy road to another house in +the woods, where the second marriage was to be celebrated. + +It was amusing to see the young men dash away from the procession, to +run to the village store for candy at twenty-five cents per pound, +containing as much _terra alba_ (white clay) as sugar. With well-filled +pockets they would run back to the procession and fill the girls' aprons +with the sweets, soon repeating the process, and showering upon the fair +ones cakes, raisins, nuts, and oranges. The only young man who seemed +to find no favor in any woman's eyes invested more capital in sweetmeats +than the others; and though every girl in the procession gave him a +sharp word or a kick as he passed, yet none refused his candies as he +tossed them at the maidens, or stuffed them into the pockets of their +dresses. + +The second ceremony was performed in about three minutes, and the +preacher feeling faint from his long ride through the woods, declared he +must have some supper. So, while he was being served, the girls chatted +together, the old ladies helped each other to snuff with little wooden +paddles, which were left protruding from one corner of their mouths +after they had taken "a dip," as they called it. The boys, after +learning that the preacher had postponed the third marriage for an hour, +with a wild shout scampered off to Stewart's store for more candies. I +took advantage of the interim to inquire how it was that the young +ladies and gentlemen were upon such terms of pleasant intimacy. + +"Well, captain," replied the person interrogated, "you sees we is all +growed up together, and brotherly love and sisterly affection is our +teaching. The brethren love the sisteren; and they say that love begets +love, so the sisteren loves the brethren. It's parfecly nateral. That's +the hull story, captain. How is it up your way?" + +At last the preacher declared himself satisfied with all he had eaten, +and that enough was as good as a feast; so the young people fell into +line, and we trudged to the third house, where, with the same dispatch, +the third couple were united. Then the fiddler scraped the strings of +his instrument, and a double-shuffle dance commenced. The girls stamped +and moved their feet about in the same manner as the men. Soon four or +five of the young ladies left the dancing-party, and seated themselves +in a corner, pouting discontentedly. My companion explained to me that +the deserters were a little stuck-up, having made two or three visits on +a schooner to the city (Newbern), where they had other ways of dancing, +and where the folks didn't think it pretty for a girl to strike her +heels upon the floor, &c. + +How long they danced I know not, for the prospect of a long row on the +morrow sent me to rest in the storehouse, from which I was called by a +kind old couple sending for me to take tea with them at half an hour +after midnight. Unwilling to wound the sensitive feelings of these +hospitable people, I answered the summons _in propria persona_, and +found it was the mother of bride No. 1, to whom I was indebted for the +invitation. A well-filled table took up the space in the centre of the +room, where a few hours before the timbers creaked beneath the weight +of the curious crowd; and there, sitting on one side in the same +affectionate manner I have described, were the bride and groom, +apparently unmoved by the change of scene, while the bride's mother +rocked in her chair, moaning, "O John, if you'd taken the other gal, I +might have stood it, but this yere one has been my comfort." + +At dawn the canoe was put into Core Sound, and I followed the western +shore, cheered by the bright sun of our Saviour's natal day. At noon the +mouth of the thoroughfare between Harker's Island and the mainland was +unintentionally passed, and I rowed along by the side of the island next +Fort Macon, which is inside of the angle made by Cape Lookout. + +Finding it impossible to reach Newbern via Morehead City that day, the +canoe was beached upon the end of Harker's Island, where I breakfasted +at the fashionable hour of two P. M., with men, women, and children +around me. My mode of cooking the condensed food and liquid beef, so +quickly prepared for the palate, and the remarkable boat of _paper_, all +filled the islanders with wonder. They were at first a little shy, +looking upon the apparition--which seemed in some wonderful way to have +dropped upon their beach--with the light of curiosity in their eyes. + +Then, as I explained the many uses to which paper was put, even to the +paying off of great national debts, my audience became very friendly, +and offered to get me up a Christmas dinner in their cabins among the +groves of trees near the strand, if I would tarry with them until night. +But time was precious; so, with thanks on my part for their kind offers, +we parted, they helping me launch my little boat, and waving a cheerful +adieu as I headed the canoe for Beaufort, which was quietly passed in +the middle of the afternoon. + +Three miles further on, the railroad pier of Morehead City, in Bogue +Sound, was reached, and a crowd of people carried the canoe into the +hotel. A telegram was soon received from the superintendent of the +railroad at Newbern, inviting me to a free ride to the city in the first +train of the following morning. + +The reader who has followed me since I left the chilly regions of the +St. Lawrence must not have his patience taxed by too much detail, lest +he should weary of my story and desert my company. Were it not for this +fear, it would give me pleasure to tell how a week was passed in +Newbern; how the people came even from interior towns to see the paper +canoe; how some, doubting my veracity, slyly stuck the blades of their +pocket-knives through the thin sides of the canoe, forgetting that it +had yet to traverse many dangerous inlets, and that its owner preferred +a tight, dry boat to one punctured by knives. Even old men became +enthusiastic, and when I was absent from my little craft, an +uncontrollable ambition seized them, and they got into the frail shell +as it rested upon the floor of a hall, and threatened its destruction. +It seemed impossible to make one gentleman of Newbern understand that +when the boat was in the water she was resting upon all her bearings, +but when out of water only upon a thin strip of wood. + +"By George," said this stout gentleman in a whisper to a friend, "I told +my wife I would get into that boat if I smashed it." + +"And what did the lady say, old fellow?" asked the friend. + +"O," he replied, "she said, 'Now don't make a fool of yourself, Fatness, +or your ambition may get you into the papers,'" and the speaker fairly +shook with laughter. + + * * * * * + +While at Newbern, Judge West and his brother organized a grand hunt, and +the railroad company sent us down the road eighteen miles to a wild +district, where deer, coons, and wild-fowl were plentiful, and where we +hunted all night for coons and ducks, and all day for deer. Under these +genial influences the practical study of geography for the first time +seemed dull, and I became aware that, under the efforts of the citizens +of Newbern to remind me of the charms of civilized society, I was, as a +travelling geographer, fast becoming demoralized. + +Could I, after the many pleasures I was daily enjoying, settle down to a +steady pull and one meal a day with a lunch of dry crackers; or sleep on +the floor of fishermen's cabins, with fleas and other little annoyances +attendant thereon? Having realized my position, I tore myself away from +my many new friends and retraced my steps to Morehead City, leaving it +on Tuesday, January 5th, and rowing down the little sound called Bogue +towards Cape Fear. + +As night came on I discovered on the shore a grass cabin, which was on +the plantation of Dr. Emmett, and had been left tenantless by some +fisherman. This served for shelter during the night, though the +struggles and squealings of a drove of hogs attempting to enter through +the rickety door did not contribute much to my repose. + +The watercourses now became more intricate, growing narrower as I rowed +southward. The open waters of the sound were left behind, and I entered +a labyrinth of creeks and small sheets of water, which form a network in +the marshes between the sandy beach-islands and the mainland all the way +to Cape Fear River. The Core Sound sheet of the United States Coast +Survey ended at Cape Lookout, there being no charts of the route to +Masonboro. I was therefore now travelling upon _local_ knowledge, which +proves usually a very uncertain guide. + +In a cold rain the canoe reached the little village of Swansboro, where +the chief personage of the place of two hundred inhabitants, Mr. McLain, +removed me from my temporary camping-place in an old house near the +turpentine distilleries into his own comfortable quarters. + +There are twenty mullet fisheries within ten miles of Swansboro, which +employ from fifteen to eighteen men each. The pickled and dried roe of +this fish is shipped to Wilmington and to Cincinnati. Wild-fowls abound, +and the shooting is excellent. The fishermen say flocks of ducks seven +miles in length have been seen on the waters of Bogue Sound. +Canvas-backs are called "raft-ducks" here, and they sell from twelve to +twenty cents each. Wild geese bring forty cents, and brant thirty. + +The marsh-ponies feed upon the beaches, in a half wild state, with the +deer and cattle, cross the marshes and swim the streams from the +mainland to the beaches in the spring, and graze there until winter, +when they collect in little herds, and instinctively return to the piny +woods of the uplands. Messrs. Weeks and Taylor had shot, while on a +four-days' hunt up the White Oak River, twenty deer. Captain H. D. +Heady, of Swansboro, informed me that the ducks and geese he killed in +one winter supplied him with one hundred pounds of selected feathers. +Captain Heady's description of Bogue Inlet was not encouraging for the +future prosperity of this coast, and the same may be said of all the +inlets between it and Cape Fear. + +Rainy weather kept me within doors until Friday, the 7th of January, +when I rowed down White Oak River to Bogue Inlet, and turned into the +beach thoroughfare, which led me three miles and a half to Bear Inlet. +My course now lay through creeks among the marshes to the Stand-Back, +near the mainland, where the tides between the two inlets head. Across +this shoal spot I traversed tortuous watercourses with mud flats, from +which beds of sharp raccoon oysters projected and scraped the keel of my +boat. + +The sea was now approached from the mainland to Brown's Inlet, where the +tide ran like a mill-race, swinging my canoe in great circles as I +crossed it to the lower side. Here I took the widest thoroughfare, and +left the beach only to retrace my steps to follow one nearer the strand, +which conducted me to the end of the natural system of watercourses, +where I found a ditch, dug seventy years before, which connected the +last system of waters with another series of creeks that emptied their +waters into New River Inlet. + +Emerging from the marshes, my course led me away from New River Inlet, +across open sheets of water to the mainland, where Dr. Ward's cotton +plantation occupied a large and cultivated area in the wilderness. It +was nearly two miles from his estate down to the inlet. The intervening +flats among the island marshes of New River were covered with natural +beds of oysters, upon which the canoe scraped as I crossed to the narrow +entrance of Stump Sound. Upon rounding a point of land I found, snugly +ensconced in a grove, the cot of an oysterman, Captain Risley Lewis, +who, after informing me that his was the last habitation to be found in +that vicinity, pressed me to be his guest. + +The next day proved one of trial to patience and muscle. The narrow +watercourses, which like a spider's web penetrate the marshes with +numerous small sheets of water, made travelling a most difficult task. +At times I was lost, again my canoe was lodged upon oyster-beds in the +shallow ponds of water, the mud bottoms of which would not bear my +weight if I attempted to get overboard to lighten the little craft. + +Alligator Lake, two miles in width, was crossed without seeing an +alligator. Saurians are first met with, as the traveller proceeds south, +in the vicinity of Alligator Creek and the Neuse River, in the latitude +of Pamplico Sound. During the cold weather they hide themselves in the +soft, muddy bottoms of creeks and lagoons. All the negroes, and many of +the white people of the south, assert, that when captured in his winter +bed, this huge reptile's stomach contains the hard knot of a pine-tree; +but for what purpose he swallows it they are at a loss to explain. + +In twelve miles of tortuous windings there appeared but one sign of +human life--a little cabin on a ridge of upland among the fringe of +marshes that bordered on Alligator Lake. It was cheering to a lonely +canoeist to see this house, and the clearing around it with the season's +crop of corn in stacks dotting the field. All this region is called +Stump Sound; but that sheet of water is a well-defined, narrow, +lake-like watercourse, which was entered not long after I debouched from +Alligator Lake. Stump Inlet having closed up eighteen months before my +visit, the sound and its tributaries received tidal water from New +Topsail Inlet. + +It was a cold and rainy evening when I sought shelter in an old +boat-house, at a landing on Topsail Sound, soon after leaving Stump +Sound. While preparing for the night's camp, the son of the proprietor +of the plantation discovered the, to him, unheard-of spectacle of a +paper boat upon the gravelly strand. Filled with curiosity and +delight, he dragged me, paddle in hand, through an avenue of trees to +a hill upon which a large house was located. This was the boy's home. +Leaving me on the broad steps of the veranda, he rushed into the hall, +shouting to the family, "Here's a sailor who has come from the north +in a PAPER boat." + +This piece of intelligence roused the good people to merriment. +"Impossible!" "A boat made of paper!" "Nonsense!" + +The boy, however, would not be put down. "But it _is_ made of paper, I +tell you; for I pinched it and stuck my nails into it," he replied +earnestly. + +"You are crazy, my boy," some one responded; "a paper boat never could +go through these sounds, the coon oysters would cut it in pieces. Now +tell us, is the sailor made of paper, like his boat?" + +"Indeed, mother, what I tell you is true; and, O, I forgot! here's the +sailor on the steps, where I left him." In an instant the whole family +were out upon the veranda. Seeing my embarrassment, they tried, like +well-bred people, to check their merriment, while I explained to them +the way in which the boy had captured me, and proposed at once returning +to my camp. To this, however, they would not listen; and the charming +wife of the planter extended her hand to me, as she said, "No, sir, you +will not go back to the wet landing to camp. This is our home, and +though marauding armies during the late war have taken from us our +wealth, you must share with us the little we have left." This lady with +her two daughters, who inherited her beauty and grace of manner, did +all in their power to make me comfortable. + +Sunday was the coldest day of the season; but the family, whose +hospitality I enjoyed, rode seven miles through the woods, some on +horseback, some in the carriage, to the little church in a heavy pine +forest. The next day proved stormy, and the driving sleet froze upon the +trees and bound their limbs and boughs together with an icy veneer. My +host, Mr. McMillan, kindly urged me to tarry. During my stay with him I +ascertained that he devoted his attention to raising ground-peas, or +peanuts. Along the coast of this part of North Carolina this nut is the +chief product, and is raised in immense quantities. The latter state +alone raises annually over one hundred thousand bushels; while Virginia +and Tennessee produce, some years, a crop of seven hundred thousand +bushels. + +Wednesday opened with partially clearing weather, and the icy covering +of the trees yielded to the softening influences of a southern wind. The +family went to the landing to see me off, and the kind ladies stowed +many delicacies, made with their own hands, in the bow of the boat. +After rowing a half-mile, I took a lingering look at the shore, where +those who four days ago were strangers, now waved an adieu as friends. +They had been stript of their wealth, though the kind old planter had +never raised his hand against the government of his fathers. This +family, like thousands of people in the south, had suffered for the rash +deeds of others. While the political views of this gentleman differed +from those of the stranger from Massachusetts, it formed no barrier to +their social intercourse, and did not make him forget to exhibit the +warm feelings of hospitality which so largely influence the Southerner. +I went to him, as a traveller in search of truth, upon an honest errand. +Under such circumstances a Northerner does not require a letter of +introduction to nine out of ten of the citizens of the fifteen ex-slave +states, which cover an area of eight hundred and eighty thousand square +miles, and where fourteen millions of people desire to be permitted to +enjoy the same privileges as the Constitution of the United States +guarantees to all the states north of Mason and Dixon's line. + +From Sloop Landing, on my new friends' plantation, to New Topsail Inlet +I had a brisk row of five miles. Vessels drawing eight feet of water can +reach this landing from the open sea upon a full tide. The sea was +rolling in at this ocean door as my canoe crossed it to the next marsh +thoroughfare, which connected it with Old Topsail Inlet, where the same +monotonous surroundings of sand-hills and marshes are to be found. + +The next tidal opening was Rich Inlet, which had a strong ebb running +through it to the sea. From it I threaded the thoroughfares up to the +mainland, reaching at dusk the "Emma Nickson Plantation." The creeks +were growing more shallow, and near the bulkhead, or middle-ground, +where tides from two inlets met, there was so little water and so many +oyster reefs, that, without a chart, the route grew more and more +perplexing in character. It was a distance of thirty miles to Cape Fear, +and twenty miles to New Inlet, which was one of the mouths of Cape Fear +River. From the plantation to New Inlet, the shallow interior sheets of +water with their marshes were called Middle, Masonboro, and Myrtle +sounds. The canoe could have traversed these waters to the end of Myrtle +Sound, which is separated from Cape Fear River by a strip of land only +one mile and a half wide, across which a portage can be made to the +river. Barren and Masonboro are the only inlets which supply the three +little sounds above mentioned with water, after Rich Inlet is passed. + +The coast from Cape Fear southward eighty miles, to Georgetown, South +Carolina, has several small inlets through the beach, but there are no +interior waters parallel with the coast in all that distance, which can +be of any service to the canoeist for a coast route. It therefore became +necessary for me to follow the next watercourse that could be utilized +for reaching Winyah Bay, which is the first entrance to the system of +continuous watercourses south of Cape Fear. + +The trees of the Nickson Plantation hid the house of the proprietor from +view; but upon beaching my canoe, a drove of hogs greeted me with +friendly grunts, as if the hospitality of their master infected the +drove; and, as it grew dark, they trotted across the field, conducting +me up to the very doors of the planter's home, where Captain Mosely, +late of the Confederate army, gave me a soldier's hearty welcome. + +"The war is over," he said, "and any northern _gentleman_ is welcome to +what we have left." Until midnight, this keen-eyed, intelligent officer +entertained me with a flow of anecdotes of the war times, his +hair-breadth escapes, &c.; the conversation being only interrupted when +he paused to pile wood upon the fire, the chimney-place meantime glowing +like a furnace. He told me that Captain Maffitt, of the late Confederate +navy, lived at Masonboro, on the sound; and that had I called upon him, +he could have furnished, as an old officer of the Coast Survey, much +valuable geographical information. This pleasant conversation was at +last interrupted by the wife of my host, who warned us in her courteous +way of the lateness of the hour. With a good-night to my host, and a sad +farewell to the sea, I prepared myself for the morrow's journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FROM CAPE FEAR TO CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. + +A PORTAGE TO LAKE WACCAMAW.--THE SUBMERGED SWAMPS.--NIGHT AT A +TURPENTINE DISTILLERY.--A DISMAL WILDERNESS.--OWLS AND +MISTLETOE.--CRACKERS AND NEGROES.--ACROSS THE SOUTH CAROLINA LINE.--A +CRACKER'S IDEA OF HOSPITALITY.--POT BLUFF.--PEEDEE +RIVER.--GEORGETOWN.--WINYAH BAY.--THE RICE PLANTATIONS OF THE SANTEE +RIVERS.--A NIGHT WITH THE SANTEE NEGROES.--ARRIVAL AT CHARLESTON. + + +To reach my next point of embarkation a portage was necessary. +Wilmington was twelve miles distant, and I reached the railroad station +of that city with my canoe packed in a bed of corn-husks, on a one-horse +dray, in time to take the evening train to Flemington, on Lake Waccamaw. +The polite general freight-agent, Mr. A. Pope, allowed my canoe to be +transported in the passenger baggage-car, where, as it had no covering, +I was obliged to steady it during the ride of thirty-two miles, to +protect it from the friction caused by the motion of the train. + +Mr. Pope quietly telegraphed to the few families at the lake, "Take care +of the paper canoe;" so when my destination was reached, kind voices +greeted me through the darkness and offered me the hospitalities of Mrs. +Brothers' home-like inn at the Flemington Station. After Mr. Carroll had +conveyed the boat to his storehouse, we all sat down to tea as sociably +as though we were old friends. + +On the morrow we carried the Maria Theresa on our shoulders to the +little lake, out of which the long and crooked river with its dark +cypress waters flowed to the sea. A son of Mr. Short, a landed +proprietor who holds some sixty thousand acres of the swamp lands of the +Waccamaw, escorted me in his yacht, with a party of ladies and +gentlemen, five miles across the lake to my point of departure. It was +now noon, and our little party picnicked under the lofty trees which +rise from the low shores of Lake Waccamaw. + +A little later we said our adieu, and the paper canoe shot into the +whirling current which rushes out of the lake through a narrow aperture +into a great and dismal swamp. Before leaving the party, Mr. Carroll had +handed me a letter addressed to Mr. Hall, who was in charge of a +turpentine distillery on my route. "It is _twenty_ miles by the river to +my friend Hall's," he said, "but in a straight line the place is just +_four_ miles from here." Such is the character of the Waccamaw, this +most crooked of rivers. + +I had never been on so rapid and continuous a current. As it whirled me +along the narrow watercourse I was compelled to abandon my oars and use +the paddle in order to have my face to the bow, as the abrupt turns of +the stream seemed to wall me in on every side. Down the tortuous, black, +rolling current went the paper canoe, with a giant forest covering the +great swamp and screening me from the light of day. The swamps were +submerged, and as the water poured out of the thickets into the river it +would shoot across the land from one bend to another, presenting in +places the mystifying spectacle of water running up stream, but not up +an inclined plain. Festoons of gray Spanish moss hung from the weird +limbs of monster trees, giving a funeral aspect to the gloomy forest, +while the owls hooted as though it were night. The creamy, wax-like +berries of the mistletoe gave a Druidical aspect to the woods, for this +parasite grew upon the branches of many trees. + +One spot only of firm land rose from the water in sixteen miles of +paddling from the lake, and passing it, I went flying on with the +turbulent stream four miles further, to where rafts of logs blocked the +river, and the sandy banks, covered with the upland forest of pines, +encroached upon the lowlands. This was Old Dock, with its turpentine +distillery smoking and sending out resinous vapors. + +Young Mr. Hall read my letter and invited me to his temporary home, +which, though roughly built of unplaned boards, possessed two +comfortable rooms, and a large fireplace, in which light-wood, the +terebinthine heart of the pine-tree, was cheerfully blazing. + +I had made the twenty miles in three hours, but the credit of this quick +time must be given to the rapid current. My host did not seem well +pleased with the solitude imposed upon him. His employers had sent him +from Wilmington, to hold and protect "their turpentine farm," which was +a wilderness of trees covering four thousand acres, and was valued, with +its distillery, at five thousand dollars. An old negro, who attended the +still and cooked the meals, was his only companion. + +We had finished our frugal repast, when a man, shouting in the darkness, +approached the house on horseback. This individual, though very tipsy, +represented Law and Order in that district, as I was informed when "Jim +Gore," a justice of the peace, saluted me in a boisterous manner. +Seating himself by the fire, he earnestly inquired for the bottle. His +stomach, he said, was as dry as a lime-kiln, and, though water answers +to slake lime, he demanded something stronger to slake the fire that +burned within him. He was very suspicious of me when Hall told him of my +canoe journey. After eying me from head to toe in as steady a manner as +he was capable of, he broke forth with: "Now, stranger, this won't do. +What are ye a-travelling in this sort of way for, in a paper dug-out?" + +I pleaded a strong desire to study geography, but the wise fellow +replied: + +"Geography! geography! Why, the fellers who rite geography never travel; +they stay at home and spin their yarns 'bout things they never sees." +Then, glancing at his poor butternut coat and pantaloons, he felt my +blue woollen suit, and continued, in a slow, husky voice: "Stranger, +them clothes cost _something_; they be _store_-clothes. That paper +dug-out _cost money_, I tell ye; and it _costs_ something to travel +the hull length of the land. No, stranger; if ye be not on a bet, then +somebody's a-paying ye _well_ for it." + +For an hour I entertained this roughest of law dignitaries with an +account of my long row, its trials and its pleasures. He became +interested in the story, and finally related to me his own aspirations, +and the difficulties attending his efforts to make the piny-woods people +respect the laws and good government. He then described the river route +through the swamps to the sea, and, putting his arm around me in the +most affectionate manner, he mournfully said: + + "O stranger, my heart is with ye; but O, how ye will have to + take it when ye go past those awful wretches to-morrow; how they + will give it to ye! They most knocked me off my raft, last time + I went to Georgetown. Beware of them; I warn ye in time. Dern + the hussies." + +Squire Jim so emphasized the danger that I became somewhat alarmed, for, +more than anything else, I dreaded an outbreak with rough women. And +then, too, my new acquaintance informed me that there were four or five +of these wretches, of the worst kind, located several miles down the +stream. As I was about to inquire into the habits of these ugly old +crones, Mr. Hall, wishing to give Squire James a hint, remarked that Mr. +B---- might at any time retire to the next room, where half the bed was +at his disposal. + +"_Half the bed!_" roared the squire; "here are _three_ of us, and +where's _my half_?" + +"Why, squire," hesitatingly responded my host, "Mr. B---- is _my guest_, +and having but _one_ bed, he must have _half_ of it--no less." + +"Then what's to become of me?" thundered his Majesty of the law. + +Having been informed that a shake-down would have been ready had he +given notice of his visit, and that at some future time, when not so +crowded, he could be entertained like a gentleman, he drew himself up, +wrapped in the mantle of dignity, and replied: + + "None of that soft talk, my friend. This man is a traveller; let + him take travellers' luck--three in a bed to-night. I'm bound + to sleep with him to-night. Hall, where's the bottle?" + +I now retired to the back room, and, without undressing, planted myself +on the side of the bed next the wall. Sleep was, however, an +unattainable luxury, with the squire's voice in the next room, as he +told how the country was going to the dogs, because "niggers and white +folks wouldn't respect the laws. It took half a man's time to _larn_ it +to 'em, and much thanks he ever got by setting everybody to rights." He +wound up by lecturing Hall for being so temperate, his diligent search +in all directions for bottles or jugs being rewarded by finding them +filled with unsatisfactory emptiness. + +He then tumbled into the centre of the bed, crowding me close against +the wall. Poor Hall, having the outside left to him, spent the night in +exercising his brain and muscles in vain attempts to keep in his bed; +for when his Majesty of the law put his arms akimbo, the traveller went +to the wall, and the host to the floor. Thus passed my first night in +the great swamps of the Waccamaw River. + +The negro cook gave us an early breakfast of bacon, sweet potatoes, and +corn bread. The squire again looked round for the bottle, and again +found nothing but emptiness. He helped me to carry my canoe along the +unsteady footing of the dark swamp to the lower side of the raft of +logs, and warmly pressed my hand as he whispered: "My dear B----, I +shall think of you until you get past those dreadful 'wretches.' Keep an +eye on your little boat, or they'll devil you." + +Propelled by my double paddle, the canoe seemed to fly through the great +forest that rose with its tall trunks and weird, moss-draped arms, out +of the water. The owls were still hooting. Indeed, the dolorous voice of +this bird of darkness sounded through the heavy woods at intervals +throughout the day. I seemed to have left the real world behind me, and +to have entered upon a landless region of sky, trees, and water. + +"Beware of the cut-offs," said Hall, before I left. "Only the Crackers +and shingle-makers know them. If followed, they would save you many a +mile, but every opening through the swamp is not a cut-off. Keep to the +main stream, though it be more crooked and longer. If you take to the +cut-offs, you may get into passages that will lead you off into the +swamps and into interior bayous, from which you will never emerge. Men +have starved to death in such places." + +So I followed the winding stream, which turned back upon itself, running +north and south, and east and west, as if trying to box the compass by +following the sun in its revolution. After paddling down one bend, I +could toss a stick through the trees into the stream where the canoe had +cleaved its waters a quarter of a mile behind me. + +The thought of what I should do in this landless region if my frail +shell, in its rapid flight to the sea, happened to be pierced by a snag, +was, to say the least, not a comforting one. On what could I stand to +repair it? To climb a tree seemed, in such a case, the only resource; +and then what anxious waiting there would be for some cypress-shingle +maker, in his dug-out canoe, to come to the rescue, and take the +traveller from his dangerous lodgings between heaven and earth; or it +might be that no one would pass that way, and the weary waiting would be +even unto death. + +But sounds now reached my ears that made me feel that I was not quite +alone in this desolate swamp. The gray squirrels scolded among the +tree-tops; robins, the brown thrush, and a large black woodpecker with +his bright red head, each reminded me of Him without whose notice not a +sparrow falleth to the ground. + +Ten miles of this black current were passed over, when the first signs +of civilization appeared, in the shape of a sombre-looking, two-storied +house, located upon a point of the mainland which entered the swamp on +the left shore of the river. At this point the river widened to five or +six rods, and at intervals land appeared a few inches above the water. +Wherever the pine land touched the river a pig-pen of rails offered +shelter and a gathering-place for the hogs, which are turned loose by +the white Cracker to feed upon the roots and mast of the wilderness. + +Reeve's Ferry, on the right bank, with a little store and +turpentine-still, twenty miles from Old Dock, was the next sign of the +presence of man in this swamp. The river now became broad as I +approached Piraway Ferry, which is two miles below Piraway Farm. +Remembering the warnings of the squire as to the "awful wretches in the +big pine woods," I kept a sharp lookout for the old women who were to +give me so much trouble, but the raftsmen on the river explained that +though Jim Gore had told me the truth, I had misunderstood his +pronunciation of the word _reaches_, or river bends, which are called in +this vicinity _wretches_. The reaches referred to by Mr. Gore were so +long and straight as to afford open passages for wind to blow up them, +and these fierce gusts of head winds give the raftsmen much trouble +while poling their rafts against them. + +My fears of ill treatment were now at rest, for my tiny craft, with her +sharp-pointed bow, was well adapted for such work. Landing at the ferry +where a small scow or flat-boat was resting upon the firm land, the +ferryman, Mr. Daniel Dunkin, would not permit me to camp out of doors +while his log-cabin was only one mile away on the pine-covered uplands. +He told me that the boundary-line between North and South Carolina +crossed this swamp three and a half miles below Piraway Ferry, and that +the first town on the river Waccamaw, in South Carolina, Conwayborough, +was a distance of ninety miles by river and only thirty miles by land. +There was but one bridge over the river, from its head to Conwayborough, +and it was built by Mr. James Wortham, twenty years before, for his +plantation. This bridge was twenty miles below Piraway, and from it by +land to a settlement on Little River, which empties into the Atlantic, +was a distance of only five miles. A short canal would connect this +river and its lumber regions with Little River and the sea. + +For the first time in my experience as a traveller I had entered a +country where the miles were _short_. When fifteen years old I made my +first journey alone and on foot from the vicinity of Boston to the White +Mountains of New Hampshire. This boyish pedestrian trip occupied about +twenty-one days, and covered some three hundred miles of hard tramping. +New England gives honest measure on the finger-posts along her highways. +The traveller learns by well-earned experience the length of _her_ +miles; but in the wilderness of the south there is no standard of five +thousand two hundred and eighty feet to a statute mile, and the watermen +along the sea-coast are ignorant of the fact that one-sixtieth of a +degree of latitude (about six thousand and eighty feet) is the +geographical and nautical mile of the cartographer, as well as the +"knot" of the sailor. + +At Piraway Ferry no two of the raftsmen and lumbermen, ignorant or +educated, would give the same distance, either upon the lengths of +surveyed roads or unmeasured rivers. "It is one hundred and sixty-five +miles by river from Piraway Ferry to Conwayborough," said one who had +travelled the route for years. The most moderate estimate made was that +of ninety miles by river. The reader, therefore, must not accuse me of +over-stating distances while absent from the seaboard, as my friends +of the Coast Survey Bureau have not yet penetrated into these interior +regions with their theodolites, plane-tables, and telametre-rods. To the +canoeist, who is ambitious to score up _miles_ instead of collecting +geographical notes, these wild rivers afford an excellent opportunity +to satisfy his aims. + +From sixty to eighty miles can be rowed in ten hours as easily as forty +miles can be gone over upon a river of slow current in the northern +states. There is, I am sorry to say, a class of American travellers who +"_do_" all the capitals of Europe in the same business-like way, and if +they have anything to say in regard to every-day life in the countries +through which they pass, they forget to thank the compiler of the +guide-book for the information they possess. + +There was but one room in the cabin of my new acquaintance, who +represented that class of piny-woods people called in the south--because +they subsist largely upon corn,--Corn Crackers, or Crackers. These +Crackers are the "poor white folks" of the planter, and "de white trash" +of the old slave, who now as a freedman is beginning to feel the +responsibility of his position. + +These Crackers are a very kind-hearted people, but few of them can read +or write. The children of the negro, filled with curiosity and a +new-born pride, whenever opportunity permits, attend the schools in +large numbers; but the very indolent white man seems to be destitute of +all ambition, and his children, in many places in the south, following +close in the father's footsteps, grow up in an almost unimaginable +ignorance. + +The news of the arrival of the little Maria Theresa at Piraway Ferry +spread with astonishing rapidity through the woods, and on Sunday, after +"de shoutings," as the negroes call their meetings, were over, the +blacks came in numbers to see "dat Yankee-man's paper canno." + +These simple people eyed me from head to foot with a grave sort of +curiosity, their great mouths open, displaying pearly teeth of which a +white man might well be proud. "You is a good man, capt'n--we knows +dat," they said; and when I asked why, the answer showed their +child-like faith. "'Cause you couldn't hab come all dis way in a _paper_ +boat if de Lord hadn't helped you. _He_ dono help only good folks." + +The Cracker also came with his children to view the wonder, while the +raftsmen were so struck with the advantages of my double paddle, which +originated with the inhabitants of the Arctic regions, that they laid it +upon a board and drew its outlines with chalk. They vowed they would +introduce it upon the river. + +These Crackers declared it would take more than "de shoutings," or any +other religious service, to improve the moral condition of the blacks. +They openly accused the colored preachers of disturbing the nocturnal +rest of their hens and turkeys; and as to hog-stealing and cow-killing, +"Why, we won't have any critters left ef this carpet-bag government +lasts much longer!" they feelingly exclaimed. + + "We does nothing to nobody. We lets the niggers alone; but + niggers will steal--they can't help it, the poor devils; it's in + 'em. Now, ef they eats us out of house and home, what can a poor + man do? They puts 'em up for justices of peace, and sends 'em to + the legislature, when they can't read more'n us; and they do say + it's 'cause we fit in the Confederate sarvice that they razes + the nigger over our heads. Now, does the folkes up north like to + see white people tyrannized over by niggers? Jes tell 'em when + you go back, stranger, that we's got soulds like yours up north, + and we's got feelings too, by thunder! jes like other white men. + This was a white man's country once--now it's all niggers and + dogs. Why, them niggers in the legislature has spit-boxes lined + with gold to spit in! What's this country a-coming to? We wish + the niggers no harm if they lets our hogs and chickens alone." + +After this tirade it was amusing to see how friendly the whites and +blacks were. The Crackers conversed with these children of Ham, who had +been stealing their hams for so long a time, in the most kindly way, +realizing, perhaps, that they had various peculiar traits of their own, +and must, after all, endure their neighbors. + +A traveller should place facts before his readers, and leave to them the +drawing of the moral. Northern men and women who go to the southern +states and reside for even the short space of a year or two, invariably +change their life-long views and principles regarding the negro as a +moral and social creature. When these people return to their homes in +Maine or Massachusetts (as did the representatives of the Granges of the +northern states after they had visited South Carolina in 1875) a new +light, derived from contact with _facts_, dawns upon them, while their +surprised and untravelled neighbors say: "_So you have become Southern +in your views._ I never would have thought that of _you_." + +The railroad has become one of the great mediums of enlightenment to +mankind, and joins in a social fraternity the disunited elements of a +country. God grant that the resources of the great South may soon be +developed by the capital and free labor of the North. Our sister states +of the South, exhausted by the struggles of the late war which resulted +in consolidating more firmly than ever the great Union, are now ready to +receive every honest effort to develop their wealth or cultivate their +territory. Let every national patriot give up narrowness of views and +sectional selfishness and become acquainted with (not the politicians) +the people of the New South, and a harmony of feeling will soon possess +the hearts of all true lovers of a government of the people. + +The swamp tributaries were swelling the river into a very rapid torrent +as I paddled away from the ferry on Monday, January 18. A warmer +latitude having been reached, I could dispense with one blanket, and +this I had presented to my kind host, who had refused to accept payment +for his hospitality. He was very proud of his present, and said, +feelingly, "No one shall touch this but me." His good wife had baked +some of a rich and very nice variety of sweet-potatoes, unlike those we +get in New Jersey or the other Middle States--which potatoes she kindly +added to my stores. They are not dry or mealy when cooked, but seem +saturated with honey. The poor woman's gift now occupied the space +formerly taken up by the blanket I had given her husband. + +From this day, as latitude after latitude was crossed on my way +southward, I distributed every article I could spare, among these poor, +kind-hearted people. Mr. Macgregor went in his Rob Roy canoe over the +rivers of Europe, "diffusing cheerfulness and distributing Evangelical +tracts." I had no room for tracts, and if I had followed the example of +my well-intentioned predecessor in canoeing, it would have served the +cause of truth or creed but little. The Crackers could not read, and but +few of the grown negroes had been taught letters. They did not want +books, but tobacco. Men and women hailed me from the banks as I glided +along in my canoe, with, "Say, captain, hab you eny 'bacca or snuff for +dis chile?" Poor humanity! The Cracker and the freedman fill alike their +places according to the light they possess. Do we, who have been taught +from our youth sacred things, do more than this? Do we love our neighbor +as ourself? + +For twenty miles (local authority) I journeyed down the stream, without +seeing a human being or a dwelling-place, to Stanley's house and the +bridge; from which I urged the canoe thirty-five miles further, passing +an old field on a bluff, when darkness settled on the swamps, and a +heavy mist rose from the waters and enveloped the forests in its folds. +With not a trace of land above water I groped about, running into what +appeared to be openings in the submerged land, only to find my canoe +tangled in thickets. It was useless to go further, and I prepared to +ascend to the forks of a giant tree, with a light rope, to be used for +lashing my body into a safe position, when a long, low cry engaged my +attention. + +"Waugh! ho! ho! ho! peig--peig--pe-ig--pe-ig," came through the still, +thick air. It was not an owl, nor a catamount that cried thus; nor was +it the bark of a fox. It was the voice of a Cracker calling in his hogs +from the forest. This sound was indeed pleasant to my ears, for I knew +the upland was near, and that a warm fire awaited my benumbed limbs in +the cabin of this unknown man. Pushing the canoe towards the sound, and +feeling the submerged border of the swamp with my paddle, I struck the +upland where it touched the water, and disembarking, felt my way along +a well-trodden path to a little clearing. Here a drove of hogs were +crowding around their owner, who was scattering kernels of corn about +him as he vociferated, "pe-ig--pe-ig--pe-ig--pig--pig--pig." We stood +face to face, yet neither could see the face of the other in the +darkness. I told my tale, and asked where I could find a sheltered +spot to camp. + +"Stranger," slowly replied the Cracker, "my cabin's close at hand. Come +home with me. It's a bad night for a man to lay out in; and the niggers +would steal your traps if they knew you had anything worth taking. Come +with me." + +In the tall pines near at hand was a cabin of peeled rails, the chinks +between them being stuffed with moss. A roof of cypress shingles kept +the rain out. The log chimney, which was plastered with mud, was built +outside of the walls and against an end of the rustic-looking structure. +The wide-mouthed fireplace sent forth a blaze of light as we entered the +poor man's home. I saw in the nicely swept floor, the clean bed-spreads, +and the general neatness of the place, the character of Wilson Edge's +wife. + +"Hog and hominy's our food here in the piny woods," said Mr. Edge, as +his wife invited us to the little table; "and we've a few eggs now and +then to eat with sweet potatoes, but it's up-hill work to keep the +niggers from killing every fowl and animal we have. The carpet-bag +politicians promised them every one, for his vote, forty acres of land +and a mule. They sed as how the northern government was a-going to give +it to um; but the poor devils never got any thanks even for their votes. +They had been stuffed with all sorts of notions by the carpet-baggers, +and I don't blame um for putting on airs and trying to rule us. It's +human natur, that's all. We don't blame the niggers half so much as +those who puts it in their heads to do so; but it's hard times we've +had, we poor woods folks. They took our children for the cussed war, +to fight fur niggers and rich people as owned um. + +"We never could find out what all the fuss was about; but when Jeff +Davis made a law to exempt every man from the army who owned fifteen +niggers, then our blood riz right up, and we sez to our neighbors, 'This +ere thing's a-getting to be a rich man's quarrel and a poor man's +fight.' After all they dragged off my boy to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, +and killed him a fighting for what? Why, for rich nigger owners. Our +young men hid in the swamps, but they were hunted up and forced into the +army. Niggers has been our ruin. Ef a white man takes a case before a +nigger justice, he gives the nigger everything, and the white man has to +stand one side. Now, would you folks up north like to have a nigger +justice who can't read nor count ten figgurs?" + +I tried to comfort the poor man, by assuring him that outside of the +political enemies of our peace, the masses in the north were honestly +inclined towards the south now that slavery was at an end; and that +wrong could not long prevail, with the cheerful prospect of a new +administration, and the removal of all unconstitutional forces that +preyed upon the south. + +The two beds in the single room of the cabin were occupied by the +family; while I slept upon the floor by the fire, with my blankets for +a couch and a roll of homespun for a pillow, which the women called +"_heading_." They often said, "Let me give you some heading for your +bed." We waited until eight o'clock the next day for the mists to +rise from the swamps. My daily trouble was now upon me. How could I +remunerate a southerner for his cost of keeping me, when not, in the +true sense of the word, an invited guest to his hospitality? + +Wilson Edge sat by the fire, while his wife and little ones were +preparing to accompany me to see the paper boat. "Mr. Edge," I +stammered, "you have treated me with great kindness, your wife has been +put to some inconvenience, as I came in so unexpected a manner, and you +will really oblige me if you will accept a little money for all this; +though money cannot pay for your hospitality. Grant my wish, and you +will send me away with a light heart." The poor Cracker lowered his head +and slowly ran his fingers through his coal black hair. For a moment he +seemed studying a reply, and then he spoke as though HE represented the +whole generous heart of the south. + +"_Stranger_," he slowly articulated, "_Stranger, I have known white men +to be niggers enough to take a stranger's money for lodgings and +vittles, but I am not that man_." + +We found the canoe as it had been left the night before, and I was soon +pulling down the river. The great wilderness was traversed thirty miles +to the county town of Conwayborough, where the negroes roared with +laughter at the working of the double paddle, as I shot past the +landing-place where cotton and naval stores were piled, waiting to be +lightered nine miles to Pot Bluff,--so called from the fact of a pot +being lost from a vessel near it,--which place is reached by vessels +from New York drawing twelve feet of water. Though still a long distance +from the ocean, I was beginning to feel its tidal influences. At Pot +Bluff, the landing and comfortable home of its owner, Mr. Z. W. +Dusenberry, presented a pleasant relief after the monotony of the great +pine forests. This enterprising business man made my short stay a very +pleasant one. + +Wednesday, January 20th, was cold for this latitude, and ice formed in +thin sheets in the water-pails. Twenty-two miles below Pot Bluff, Bull +Creek enters the Waccamaw from the Peedee River. At the mouth of this +connecting watercourse is Tip Top, the first rice plantation of the +Waccamaw. The Peedee and its sister stream run an almost parallel course +from Bull Creek to Winyah Bay, making their debouchure close to the city +of Georgetown. Steam saw-mills and rice plantations take the place of +the forests from a few miles below Tip Top to the vicinity of +Georgetown. + +Mr. M. L. Blakely, of New York, one of the largest shingle manufacturers +of the south, occupied as his headquarters the Bates Hill Plantation, on +the Peedee. This gentleman had invited me, through the medium of the +post-office, to visit him in the rice-growing regions of South Carolina. +To reach his home I took the short "cut-off" which Bull Creek offered, +and entered upon the strongest of head-currents. The thick, yellow, +muddy torrent of the Peedee rushed through Bull Creek with such volume, +that I wondered if it left much water on the other side, to give +character to the river, as it followed its own channel to Winyah Bay. + +One and a half miles of vigorous paddling brought me to a branch of the +watercourse, which is much narrower than the main one, and is +consequently called Little Bull Creek. This also comes from the Peedee +River, and its source is nearer to the Bates Hill plantation than the +main Bull Creek. To urge the canoe up this narrow stream three miles and +a half to the parent river Peedee, was a most trying ordeal. At times +the boat would not move a hundred feet in five minutes, and often, as my +strength seemed failing me, I caught the friendly branches of trees, and +held on to keep the canoe from being whirled down the current towards +the Waccamaw. After long and persistent efforts had exhausted my +strength, I was about to seek for a resting-place in the swamp, when a +view of the broad Peedee opened before me, and with vigorous strokes of +the paddle the canoe slowly approached the mighty current. A moment more +and it was within its grasp, and went flying down the turbulent stream +at the rate of ten miles an hour. + +A loud halloo greeted me from the swamp, where a party of negro +shingle-makers were at work. They manned their boat, a long cypress +dug-out, and followed me. Their employer, who proved to be the gentleman +whose abiding-place I was now rapidly approaching, sat in the stern. We +landed together before the old plantation-house, which had been occupied +a few years before by members of the wealthy and powerful rice-planting +aristocracy of the Peedee, but was now the temporary home of a northern +man, who was busily employed in guiding the labors of his four hundred +freedmen in the swamps of North and South Carolina. + +The paper canoe had now entered the regions of the rice-planter. Along +the low banks of the Peedee were diked marshes where, before the civil +war, each estate produced from five thousand to forty thousand bushels +of rice annually, and the lords of rice were more powerful than those of +cotton, though cotton was king. The rich lands here produced as high as +fifty-five bushels of rice to the acre, under forced slave labor; now +the free blacks cannot wrest from nature more than twenty-five or thirty +bushels. + +Fine old mansions lined the river's banks, but the families had been so +reduced by the ravages of war, that I saw refined ladies, who had been +educated in the schools of Edinburgh, Scotland, overseeing the negroes +as they worked in the yards of the rice-mills. The undaunted spirit of +these southern ladies, as they worked in their homes now so desolate, +roused my admiration. + +A light, graceful figure, enveloped in an old shawl, and mounted on an +old horse, flitted about one plantation like a restless spirit. + +"That lady's father," said a gentleman to me, "owned three plantations, +worth three millions of dollars, before the war. There is a rice-mill on +one of the plantations which cost thirty thousand dollars. She now +fights against misfortune, and will not give up. The Confederate war +would not have lasted six months if it had not been for our women. They +drove thousands of us young men into the fight; and now, having lost +all, they go bravely to work, even taking the places of their old +servants in their grand old homes. It's hard for them, though, I assure +you." + +On Tuesday, January 25th, I paddled down the Peedee, stopping at the +plantations of Dr. Weston and Colonel Benjamin Allston. The latter +gentleman was a son of one of the governors of South Carolina. He kindly +gave me a letter of introduction to Commodore Richard Lowndes, who lived +near the coast. From the Peedee I passed through a cut in the marshes +into the broad Waccamaw, and descended it to Winyah Bay. + +Georgetown is located between the mouths of the Peedee and Sampit +rivers. Cautiously approaching the city, I landed at Mr. David Risley's +steam saw-mills, and that gentleman kindly secreted my boat in a back +counting-room, while I went up town to visit the post-office. By some, +to me, unaccountable means, the people had heard of the arrival of the +paper boat, and three elaborately dressed negro women accosted me with, +"Please show wees tree ladies de little paper boat." + +Before I had reached my destination, the post-office, a body of men met +me, on their way to the steam-mill. The crowd forced me back to the +canoe, and asked so many questions that I was sorely taxed to find +answers for these gentlemen. There were three editors in the crowd: two +were white men, one a negro. The young men, who claimed the position of +representatives of the spirit of the place and of the times, published +"The Comet," while the negro, as though influenced by a spirit of +sarcasm, conducted "The Planet." The third newspaper represented at the +canoe reception was the "Georgetown Times," which courteously noticed +the little boat that had come so far. The "Planet" prudently kept in the +dark, and said nothing, but "The Comet," representing the culture of the +young men of the city, published the following notice of my arrival: + + "Tom Collins has at last arrived in his wonderful paper boat. He + has it hitched to Mr. Risley's new saw-mill, where every one can + have a view. He intends shooting off his six-pounder before + weighing anchor in the morning. Hurrah for Collins." + +I left Mr. Risley's comfortable home before noon the next day, and +followed the shores of Winyah Bay towards the sea. Near Battery White, +on the right shore, in the pine forests, was the birth-place of Marion, +the brave patriot of the American revolution, whose bugle's call +summoned the youth of those days to arms. + +When near the inlet, the rice-plantation marshes skirted the shore for +some distance. Out of these wet lands flowed a little stream, called +Mosquito Creek, which once connected the North Santee River with Winyah +Bay, and served as a boundary to South Island. The creek was very +crooked, and the ebb-tide strong. When more than halfway to Santee River +I was forced to leave the stream, as it had become closed by tidal +deposits and rank vegetation. + +The ditches of rice plantations emptied their drainage of the lowlands +into Mosquito Creek. Following a wide ditch to the right, through fields +of rich alluvial soil, which had been wrested by severe toil from +nature, the boat soon reached the rice-mill of Commodore Richard +Lowndes. A little further on, and situated in a noble grove of +live-oaks, which were draped in the weird festoons of Spanish moss, on +the upland arose the stately home of the planter, who still kept his +plantation in cultivation, though on a scale of less magnitude than +formerly. It was, indeed, a pleasant evening that I passed in the +company of the refined members of the old commodore's household, and +with a pang of regret the next day I paddled along the main canal of the +lowlands, casting backward glances at the old house, with its grand old +trees. The canal ended at North Santee Bay. + +While I was preparing to ascend the river a tempest arose, which kept +me a weary prisoner among the reeds of the rice marsh. The hollow +reeds made poor fuel for cooking, and when the dark, stormy night shut +down upon me, the damp soil grew damper as the tide arose, until it +threatened to overflow the land. For hours I lay in my narrow canoe +waiting for the tidal flood to do its worst, but it receded, and left +me without any means of building a fire, as the reeds were wet by the +storm. The next afternoon, being tired of this sort of prison-life, +and cramped for lack of exercise, I launched the canoe into the rough +water, and crossing to Crow Island found a lee under its shores, which +permitted me to ascend the river to the mouth of Atchison Creek, +through which I passed, two miles, to the South Santee River. + +All these rivers are bordered by rice plantations, many of them having +been abandoned to the care of the freedmen. I saw no white men upon +them. Buildings and dikes are falling into ruins, and the river +freshets frequently inundate the land. Many of the owners of these +once valuable estates are too much reduced in wealth to attempt their +proper cultivation. It is in any case difficult to get the freedmen to +work through an entire season, even when well paid for their services, +and they flock to the towns whenever opportunity permits. + +The North and South Santee rivers empty into the Atlantic, but their +entrances are so shallow that Georgetown Entrance is the inlet through +which most of the produce of the country--pitch, tar, turpentine, rice, +and lumber--finds exit to the sea. As I left the canal, which, with the +creek, makes a complete thoroughfare for lighters and small coasters +from one Santee River to the other, a renewal of the tempest made me +seek shelter in an old cabin in a negro settlement, each house of which +was built upon piles driven into the marshes. The old negro overseer of +the plantation hinted to me that his "hands were berry spicious of ebbry +stranger," and advised me to row to some other locality. I told him I +was from the north, and would not hurt even one of the fleas which in +multitudes infested his negroes' quarters; but the old fellow shook his +head, and would not be responsible for me if I staid there all night. A +tall darkey, who had listened to the conversation, broke in with, "Now, +uncle, ye knows dat if dis gemmum is from de norf he is one of wees, and +ye must _du_ fur him jis _dis_ time." But "Uncle Overseer" kept +repeating, "Some niggers here is mity spicious. Du not no who white man +is anyhow." "Well, uncle," replied the tall black, "ef dis man is a +Yankee-mans, Ise will see him _froo_." + +Then he questioned me, while the fleas, having telegraphed to each other +that a stranger had arrived, made sad havoc of me and my patience. + +"My name's Jacob Gilleu; what's yourn?" I gave it. "Whar's your home?" +came next. "I am a citizen of the United States," I replied. "De 'Nited +States--whar's dat? neber hurd him afore," said Jacob Gilleu. Having +informed him it was the land which General Grant governed, he exclaimed: +"O, you's a _Grant_ man; all rite den; you is one of wees--all de same +as wees. Den look a-here, boss. I send you to one good place on +Alligator Creek, whar Seba Gillings libs. He black man, but he treat you +jes like white man." + +Jacob helped me launch my boat through the soft mud, which nearly +stalled us; and following his directions I paddled across the South +Santee and coasted down to Alligator Creek, where extensive marshes, +covered by tall reeds, hid the landscape from my view. About half a mile +from the mouth of the creek, which watercourse was on my direct route to +Bull's Bay, a large tide-gate was found at the mouth of a canal. This +being wide open, I pushed up the canal to a low point of land which rose +like an island out of the rushes. Here was a negro hamlet of a dozen +houses, or shanties, and the ruins of a rice-mill. The majority of the +negroes were absent working within the diked enclosures of this large +estate, which before the war had produced forty thousand bushels of rice +annually. Now the place was leased by a former slave, and but little +work was accomplished under the present management. + +Seba Gillings, a powerfully built negro, came to the dike upon which I +had landed the canoe. I quickly told him my story, and how I had been +forced to leave the last negro quarters. I used Jacob Gilleu's name as +authority for seeking shelter with him from the damps of the +half-submerged lands. The dignified black man bade me "fear nuffing, +stay here all de night, long's you please; treat you like white man. +I'se mity poor, but gib you de berry best I hab." He locked my boat in a +rickety old storehouse, and gave me to understand "dat niggers will +steal de berry breff from a man's mouff." + +He took me to his home, and soon showed me how he managed "de niggers." +His wife sat silently by the fire. He ordered her to "pound de rice;" +and she threw a quantity of unhulled rice into a wooden mortar three +feet high planted in the ground in front of the shanty. Then, with an +enormous pestle, the black woman pounded the grains until the hulls were +removed, when, seating herself upon the floor of the dark, smoky cabin, +she winnowed the rice with her breath, while her long, slim fingers +caught and removed all the specks of dirt from the mass. It was cooked +as the Chinese cook it--not to a glutinous mass, as we of the north +prepare it--but each grain was dry and entire. Then eggs and bacon were +prepared; not by the woman, but by the son, a lad of fourteen years. + +All these movements were superintended by old Seba, who sat looking as +dark and as solemn and as learned as an associate judge on the bench of +a New Jersey county court. On the blackest of tables, minus a cloth, the +well-cooked food was placed for the stranger. As soon as my meal was +finished, every member of the family made a dash for the fragments, and +the board was cleared in a wonderfully short space of time. + +Then we gathered round the great, black-mouthed fireplace, and while the +bright coals of live-oak spread a streak of light through the darkness, +black men and black women stole into the room until everything from +floor to ceiling, from door to chimney-place, seemed to be growing +blacker and blacker, and I felt as black as my surroundings. The scant +clothing of the men only half covered their shiny, ebony skins. The +whole company preserved a dignified silence, which was occasionally +broken by deep sighs coming from the women in reply to a half-whispered +"All de way from de norf in a _paper_ canno--bless de Lord! bless de +Lord!" + +This dull monotony was broken by the entrance of a young negro who, +having made a passage in a sloop to Charleston through Bull's Bay, was +looked upon as a great traveller, and to him were referred disputes upon +nautical matters. He had not yet seen the boat, but he proceeded to +tell the negroes present all about it. He first bowed to me with a +"How'dy, how'dy, cap'n," and then struck an attitude in the middle of +the floor. Upon this natural orator Seba Gillings' dignity had no +effect--was he not a travelled man? + +His exordium was: "How fur you cum, sar?" I replied, about fourteen +hundred miles. "Fourteen hundred miles!" he roared; "duz you knows how +much dat is, honnies? it's jes _one tousand_ four hundred miles." All +the women groaned out, "Bless de Lord! bless de Lord!" and clapped their +shrivelled hands in ecstasy. + +The little black tried to run his fingers through his short, woolly hair +as he continued: "What is dis yere world a-coming to? Now, yous ere +folks, did ye's eber hear de likes o' dis--a _paper_ boat?" To which the +crones replied, clapping their hands, "Bless de Lord! bless de Lord! +Only the Yankee-mens up norf can make de _paper_ boats. Bless de Lord!" + +"And what," continued the orator, "and what will the Yankee-mens do +next? Dey duz ebery ting. Can dey bring a man back agen? Can dey bring a +man back to bref?" "No! no!" howled the women; "only de Lord can bring a +man back agen--no Yankee-mens can do dat. Bless de Lord! bless de Lord!" +"And what sent dis Yankee-man _one tousand_ four hundred miles in his +_paper_ boat?" "De Lord! de Lord! bless de Lord!" shouted the now highly +excited women, violently striking the palms of their hands together. + +"And why," went on this categorical negro, "did de _Lord_ send him down +souf in de _paper_ boat?" "Kase he couldn't hab cum in de _paper_ boat +ef de Lord hadn't a-sent him. O, bless de Lord! bless de Lord!" "And +what duz he call his paper boat?" "Maria Theresa," I replied. "Maria +Truss Her," cried the orator. "He calls her Maria Truss Her. Berry good, +berry good name; kase he truss his life in her ebry day, and dat's why +he calls his little boat Truss Her. Yes, de Yankee-mans makes de +gunboats and de paper boats. Has de gemmin from de norf any bacca for +dis yere chile?" + +As the women had become very piously inclined, and were in just the +state of nervous excitement to commence "de shoutings," old Uncle Seba +rudely informed them that "de Yankee-mans wants sleep," and cleared the +room of the crowd, to my great relief, for the state of the atmosphere +was beyond description. Seba had a closet where he kept onions, muskrat +skins, and other pieces of personal property. He now set his wife to +sweeping it out, and I spread my clean blankets with a sigh upon the +black floor, knowing I should carry away in the morning more than I had +brought into Seba's dwelling. + +I will not now expatiate upon the small annoyances of travel; but to the +canoeist who may follow the southern watercourses traversed by the paper +canoe, I would quietly say, "Keep away from cabins of all kinds, and you +will by so doing travel with a light heart and even temper." + +When I cast up my account with old Seba the next morning, he said that +by trading the rice he raised he could obtain "bout ebbry ting he +wanted, 'cept rum." Rum was his medicine. So long as he kept a little +stowed away, he admitted he was often sick. Having been destitute of +cash, and consequently of rum for some time, he acknowledged his state +of health remarkable; and he was a model of strength and manly +development. All the other negroes were dwarfish-looking specimens, +while their hair was so very short that it gave them the appearance of +being bald. + +When the canoe was taken out of the storehouse to be put into the canal, +these half-naked, ebony-skinned creatures swarmed about it like bees. +Not a trace of white blood could be detected in them. Each tried to put +a finger upon the boat. They seemed to regard it as a Fetich; and, I +believe, had it been placed upon an end they would have bowed down and +paid their African devotions to it. Only the oldest ones could speak +English well enough to be understood. The youths chattered in African +tongue, and wore talismans about their necks. They were, to say the +least, verging on barbarism. The experience gathered among the blacks of +other lands impressed me with the well-founded belief, that in more than +one place in the south would the African Fetich be set up and worshipped +before long, unless the church bestirs herself to look well to her +_home_ missions. + +In all my travels, outside of the cities, in the south it has not been +my good fortune to find an educated white man preaching to negroes, yet +everywhere the poor blacks gather in the log-cabin, or rudely +constructed church, to listen to ignorant preachers of their own color. +The blind leading the blind. + +A few men of negro extraction, with white blood in their veins, not any +more negro than white man, consequently _not_ negroes in the true sense +of the word, are sent from the negro colleges of the south to lecture +northern congregations upon the needs of _their_ race; and these +one-quarter, or perhaps three-quarters, white men are, with their +intelligence, and sometimes brilliant oratory, held up as true types of +the negro race by northerners; while there is, in fact, as much +difference between the pure-blooded negro of the rice-field and this +false representative of "his needs," as can well be imagined. + +An Irishman, just from the old country, listened one evening to the +fascinating eloquence of a mulatto freedman. The good Irishman had never +seen a pure-blooded black man. The orator said, "I am only half a black +man. My mother was a slave, my father a white planter." "Be jabbers," +shouted the excited Irishman, who was charmed with the lecturer, "if you +are only half a nigger, what must a _whole one_ be like!" + +The blacks were kind and civil, as they usually are when fairly treated. +They stood upon the dike and shouted unintelligible farewells as I +descended the canal to Alligator Creek. This thoroughfare soon carried +me on its salt-water current to the sea; for I missed a narrow entrance +to the marshes, called the Eye of the Needle (a steamboat thoroughfare), +and found myself upon the calm sea, which pulsated in long swells. To +the south was the low island of Cape Roman, which, like a protecting +arm, guarded the quiet bay behind it. The marshes extended from the main +almost to the cape, while upon the edge of the rushy meadows, upon an +island just inside of the cape, rose the tower of Roman Light. + +This was the first time my tiny shell had floated upon the ocean. I +coasted the sandy beach of the muddy lowlands, towards the light-house, +until I found a creek debouching from the marsh, which I entered, and +from one watercourse to another, without a chart, found my way at dusk +into Bull's Bay. The sea was rolling in and breaking upon the shore, +which I was forced to hug closely, as the old disturbers of my peace, +the porpoises, were visible, fishing in numbers. To escape the dangerous +raccoon oyster reefs of the shoal water the canoe was forced into a +deeper channel, when the lively porpoises chased the boat and drove me +back again on to the sharp-lipped shells. It was fast growing dark, and +no place of refuge nearer than the upland, a long distance across the +soft marsh, which was even now wet with the sea. + +The rough water of the sound, the oyster reefs which threatened to +pierce my boat, and a coast which would be submerged by the next +flood-tide, all seemed to conspire against me. Suddenly my anxiety was +relieved, and gratitude filled my heart, as the tall masts of a schooner +rose out of the marshes not far from the upland, telling me that a +friendly creek was near at hand. Its wide mouth soon opened invitingly +before me, and I rowed towards the beautiful craft anchored in its +current, the trim rig of which plainly said--the property of the United +States. An officer stood on the quarterdeck watching my approach through +his glass; and, as I was passing the vessel, a sailor remarked to his +mates, "That is the paper canoe. I was in Norfolk, last December, when +it reached the Elizabeth River." + +The officer kindly hailed me, and offered me the hospitality of the +Coast-Survey schooner "Caswell." In the cosiest of cabins, Mr. W. H. +Dennis, with his co-laborers Messrs. Ogden and Bond, with their +interesting conversation soon made me forget the discomforts of the last +three days spent in the muddy flats among the lowland negroes. From +poor, kind Seba Gillings' black cabin-floor, to the neat state-room, +with its snowy sheets and clean towels, where fresh, pure water could be +used without stint, was indeed a transition. The party expected to +complete their work as far as Charleston harbor before the season +closed. + +The Sunday spent on the "Caswell" greatly refreshed me. On Saturday +evening Mr. Dennis traced upon a sheet of paper my route through the +interior coast watercourses to Charleston harbor; and I left the pretty +schooner on Monday, fully posted for my voyage. The tide commenced +flooding at eleven A. M., and the flats soon afforded me water for their +passage in the vicinity of the shore. Heavy forests covered the uplands, +where a few houses were visible. Bull's Island, with pines and a few +cabbage palms, was on my left as I reached the entrance of the southern +thoroughfare at the end of the bay. Here, in the intricacies of creeks +and passages through the islands, and made careless by the possession +of Mr. Dennis' chart, I several times blundered into the wrong course; +and got no further that afternoon than Price's Inlet, though I rowed +more than twenty miles. Some eight miles of the distance rowed was lost +by ascending and descending creeks by mistake. + +After a weary day's work shelter was found in a house close by the sea, +on the shores of Price's Inlet; where, in company with a young +fisherman, who was in the employ of Mr. Magwood, of Charleston, I slept +upon the floor in my blankets. Charles Hucks, the fisherman, asserted +that three albino deer were killed on Caper's Island the previous +winter. Two were shot by a negro, while he killed the third. Messrs. +Magwood, Terry, and Noland, of Charleston, one summer penned beside the +water one thousand old terrapin, to hold them over for the winter +season. These "diamond-backs" would consume five bushels of shrimps in +one hour when fed. A tide of unusual height washed out the terrapins +from their "crawl," and with them disappeared all anticipated results of +the experiment. + +The next day, Caper's Island and Inlet, Dewees' Inlet, Long Island, and +Breach Inlet were successively passed, on strong tidal currents. +Sullivan's Island is separated from Long Island by Breach Inlet. While +following the creeks in the marshes back of Sullivan's Island, the +compact mass of buildings of Moultrieville, at its western end, at the +entrance of Charleston harbor, rose imposingly to view. + +The gloomy mantle of darkness was settling over the harbor as the paper +canoe stole quietly into its historic waters. Before me lay the quiet +bay, with old Fort Sumter rising from the watery plain like a spectral +giant, as though to remind one that this had been the scene of mighty +struggles. The tranquil waters softly rippled a response to the touch of +my oars; all was peace and quiet here, where, only a few short years +before, the thunder of cannon woke a thousand echoes, and the waves were +stained with the lifeblood of America,--where war, with her iron throat, +poured out destruction, and God's creatures, men, made after his own +image, destroyed each other ruthlessly, having never, in all that +civilization had done for them, discovered any other way of settling +their difficulties than by this wholesale murder. + +The actors in this scene were scattered now; they had returned to the +farm, the workshop, the desk, and the pulpit. The old flag again floated +upon the ramparts of Sumter, and a government was trying to reconstruct +itself, so that the Great Republic should become more thoroughly a +government of the people, founded upon equal rights to all men. + +A sharp, scraping sound under my boat roused me from my revery, for I +had leaned upon my oars while the tide had carried me slowly but surely +upon the oyster-reefs, from which I escaped with some slight damage to +my paper shell. Newspaper reading had impressed upon me a belief that +the citizens of the city which played so important a part in the late +civil war might not treat kindly a Massachusetts man. I therefore +decided to go up to the city upon the ferry-boat for the large mail +which awaited my arrival at the Charleston post-office, after receiving +which I intended to return to Mount Pleasant, and cross the bay to the +entrance of the southern watercourses, leaving the city as quietly as I +entered it. + +My curiosity was, however, aroused to see how, under the new +reconstruction rule, things were conducted in the once proud city of +Charleston. As I stood at the window of the post-office delivery, and +inquired through the narrow window for my letters, a heavy shadow seemed +to fall upon me as the head of a negro appeared. The black post-office +official's features underwent a sudden change as I pronounced my name, +and, while a warm glow of affection lighted up his dark face, he thrust +his whole arm through the window, and grasped my hand with a vigorous +shake in the most friendly manner, as though upon his shoulders rested +the good name of the people. + +[Illustration: RECEPTION AT CHARLESTON POST-OFFICE.] + +"_Welcome_ to Charleston, Mr. B----, _welcome_ to our beautiful city," +he exclaimed. So _this_ was Charleston under reconstruction. + +After handing me my mail, the postmaster graciously remarked, "Our rule +is to close the office at five o'clock P. M., but if you are belated any +day, tap at the door, and I will attend you." + +This was my first welcome to Charleston; but before I could return to my +quarters at Mount Pleasant, members of the Chamber of Commerce, the +Carolina Club, and others, pressed upon me kind attentions and +hospitalities, while Mr. James L. Frazer, of the South Carolina Regatta +Association, sent for the Maria Theresa, and placed it in charge of the +wharfinger of the Southern Wharf, where many ladies and gentlemen +visited it. + +When I left the old city, a few days later, I blushed to think how I had +doubted these people, whose reputation for hospitality to strangers had +been world-wide for more than half a century. + +While here I was the guest of Rev. G. R. Brackett, the well-loved pastor +of one of Charleston's churches. It was with feelings of regret I turned +my tiny craft towards untried waters, leaving behind me the beautiful +city of Charleston, and the friends who had so kindly cared for the +lonely canoeist. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +FROM CHARLESTON TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. + +THE INTERIOR WATER ROUTE TO JEHOSSEE ISLAND.--GOVERNOR AIKEN'S MODEL +RICE PLANTATION.--LOST IN THE HORNS.--ST. HELENA SOUND.--LOST IN THE +NIGHT.--THE PHANTOM SHIP.--A FINLANDER'S WELCOME.--A NIGHT ON THE +EMPEROR'S OLD YACHT.--THE PHOSPHATE MINES.--COOSAW AND BROAD +RIVERS.--PORT ROYAL SOUND AND CALIBOGUE SOUND.--CUFFY'S HOME.--ARRIVAL +IN GEORGIA.--RECEPTIONS AT GREENWICH SHOOTING-PARK. + + +Captain N. L. Coste, and several other Charleston pilots, drew and +presented to me charts of the route to be followed by the paper canoe +through the Sea Island passages, from the Ashley to the Savannah River, +as some of the smaller watercourses near the upland were not, in 1875, +upon any engraved chart of the Coast Survey. + +[Illustration: From Bull's Bay, South Carolina, to St. Simon's Sound, +Georgia. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From Bull's Bay, N.C. +to St. Simon's Sound, Ga. Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1875 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + +Ex-Governor William Aiken, whose rice plantation on Jehossee Island was +considered, before the late war, the model one of the south, invited me +to pass the following Sunday with him upon his estate, which was about +sixty-five miles from Charleston, and along one of the interior water +routes to Savannah. He proposed to leave his city residence and travel +by land, while I paddled my canoe southward to meet him. The genial +editor of the "News and Courier" promised to notify the people of my +departure, and have the citizens assembled to give me a South Carolina +adieu. To avoid this publicity,--so kindly meant,--I quietly left the +city from the south side on Friday, February 12th, and ascended the +Ashley to Wappoo Creek, on the opposite bank of the river. + +A steamboat sent me a screaming salute as the mouth of the Wappoo was +reached, which made me feel that, though in strange waters, friends were +all around me. I was now following one of the salt-water, steamboat +passages through the great marshes of South Carolina. From Wappoo Creek +I took the "Elliot Cut" into the broad Stono River, from behind the +marshes of which forests rose upon the low bluffs of the upland, and +rowed steadily on to Church Flats, where Wide Awake, with its landing +and store, nestled on the bank. + +A little further on the tides divided, one ebbing through the Stono to +the sea, the other towards the North Edisto. "New Cut" connects Church +Flats with Wadmelaw Sound, a sheet of water not over two miles in width +and the same distance in length. From the sound the Wadmelaw River runs +to the mouth of the Dahoo. Vessels drawing eight and a half feet of +water can pass on full tides from Charleston over the course I was +following to the North Edisto River. + +Leaving Wadmelaw Sound, a deep bend of the river was entered, when the +bluffs of Enterprise Landing, with its store and the ruins of a burnt +saw-mill, came into view on the left. Having rowed more than thirty +miles from the Ashley, and finding that the proprietor of Enterprise, a +Connecticut gentleman, had made preparations to entertain me, this day +of pleasant journeying ended. + +The Cardinal-bird was carolling his matin song when the members of this +little New England colony watched my departure down the Wadmelaw the +next morning. The course was for the most part over the submerged +phosphate beds of South Carolina, where the remains of extinct species +were now excavated, furnishing food for the worn-out soils of America +and Europe, and interesting studies and speculations for men of science. +The Dahoo River was reached soon after leaving Enterprise. Here the +North Edisto, a broad river, passes the mouth of the Dahoo, in its +descent to the sea, which is about ten miles distant. + +For two miles along the Dahoo the porpoises gave me strong proof of +their knowledge of the presence of the paper canoe by their rough +gambols, but being now in quiet inland waters, I could laugh at these +strange creatures as they broke from the water around the boat. At four +o'clock P. M. the extensive marshes of Jehossee Island were reached, and +I approached the village of the plantation through a short canal. + +Out of the rice-fields of rich, black alluvium rose an area of higher +land, upon which were situated the mansion and village of Governor +Aiken, where he, in 1830, commenced his duties as rice-planter. A hedge +of bright green casino surrounded the well-kept garden, within which +magnolias and live-oaks enveloped the solid old house, screening it with +their heavy foliage from the strong winds of the ocean, while flowering +shrubs of all descriptions added their bright and vivid coloring to the +picturesque beauty of the scene. + +The governor had arrived at Jehossee before me, and Saturday being +pay-day, the faces of the negroes were wreathed in smiles. Here, in +his quiet island home, I remained until Monday with this most +excellent man and patriot, whose soul had been tried as by fire +during the disturbances caused by the war. + +As we sat together in that room where, in years gone by, Governor +Aiken had entertained his northern guests, with Englishmen of noble +blood,--a room full of reminiscences both pleasant and painful,--my +kind host freely told me the story of his busy life, which sounded +like a tale of romance. He had tried to stay the wild storm of +secession when the war-cloud hung gloomily over his state. It broke, +and his unheeded warnings were drowned in the thunders of the +political tempest that swept over the fair south. Before the war he +owned one thousand slaves. He organized schools to teach his negroes +to read and write. The improvement of their moral condition was his +great study. + +The life he had entered upon, though at first distasteful, had been +forced upon him, and he met his peculiar responsibilities with a true +Christian desire to benefit all within his reach. When a young man, +having returned from the tour of Europe, his father presented him with +Jehossee Island, an estate of five thousand acres, around which it +required four stout negro oarsmen to row him in a day. "Here," said +the father to the future governor of South Carolina, as he presented +the domain to his son,--"here are the means; now go to work and +develop them." + +William Aiken applied himself industriously to the task of improving the +talents given him. His well-directed efforts bore good fruit, as year +after year Jehossee Island, from a half submerged, sedgy, boggy waste, +grew into one of the finest rice-plantations in the south. The new lord +of the manor ditched the marshes, and walled in his new rice-fields with +dikes, to keep out the freshets from the upland and the tides from the +ocean, perfecting a complete system of drainage and irrigation. He built +comfortable quarters for his slaves, and erected a church and +schoolhouse for their use. From the original two hundred and eighty +acres of cultivated rice land, the new proprietor developed the wild +morass into sixteen hundred acres of rice-fields, and six hundred acres +of vegetable, corn, and provender producing land. + +For several seasons prior to the war, Jehossee yielded a rice crop which +sold for seventy thousand dollars, and netted annually fifty thousand +dollars income to the owner. At that time Governor Aiken had eight +hundred and seventy-three slaves on the island, and about one hundred +working as mechanics, &c., in Charleston. The eight hundred and +seventy-three Jehossee slaves, men, women, and children, furnished a +working force of three hundred for the rice-fields. + +Mr. Aiken would not tolerate the loose matrimonial ways of negro life, +but compelled his slaves to accept the marriage ceremony; and herein lay +one of his chief difficulties, for, to whatever cause we attribute it, +the fact remains the same, namely, that the ordinary negro has no sense +of morality. After all the attempts made on this plantation to improve +the moral nature of these men and women, Governor Aiken, during a +yellow-fever season in Savannah after the war, while visiting the poor +sufferers, intent upon charitable works, found in the lowest quarter of +the city, sunk in the most abject depths of vice, men and women who had +once been good servants on his plantations. + +In old times Jehossee was a happy place for master and for slave. The +governor rarely locked the door of his mansion. The family plate, valued +at fifteen thousand dollars, was stored in a chest in a room on the +ground-floor of the house, which had for its occupants, during four +months of the year, two or three negro servants. Though all the negroes +at the quarters, which were only a quarter of a mile from the mansion, +knew the valuable contents of the chest, it was never disturbed. They +stole small things, but seemed incapable of committing a burglary. + +When the Union army marched through another part of South Carolina, +where Governor Aiken had buried these old family heirlooms and had added +to the original plate thirty thousand dollars' worth of his own +purchasing, the soldiers dug up this treasure-trove, and forty-five +thousand dollars' worth of fine silver went to enrich the spoils of the +Union army. Soon after, three thousand eight hundred bottles of fine old +wines, worth from eight to nine dollars a bottle, were dug up and +destroyed by a Confederate officer's order, to prevent the Union army +from capturing them. Thus was plundered an old and revered governor of +South Carolina--one who was a kind neighbor, a true patriot, and a +Christian gentleman. + +The persecutions of the owner of Jehossee did not, however, terminate +with the war; for when the struggle was virtually ended, and the fair +mansion of the rice-plantation retained its heirlooms and its furniture, +Beaufort, of South Carolina, was still under the influence of the +Freedman's Bureau; and when it was whispered that Aiken's house was full +of nice old furniture, and that a few faithful servants of the good old +master were its only guards, covetous thoughts at once stirred the evil +minds of those who were the representatives of law and order. This house +was left almost without protection. The war was over. South Carolina had +bent her proud head in agony over her burned plantations and desolate +homes. The victorious army was now proclaiming peace, and generous +treatment to a fallen foe. Then to what an almost unimaginable state of +demoralization must some of the freedmen's protectors have fallen, when +they sent a gunboat to Jehossee Island, and rifled the old house of all +its treasures! + +To-day, the governor's favorite sideboard stands in the house of a +citizen of Boston, as a relic of the war. O, people of the north, hold +no longer to your relics of the war, stolen from the firesides of the +south! Restore them to their owners, or else bury them out of the sight +of your children, that they may not be led to believe that the war for +the preservation of the Great Republic was a war for _plunder_;--else +did brave men fight, and good women pray in vain. Away with stolen +pianos, "captured" sideboards, and purloined silver! What but this petty +plundering could be expected of men who robbed by wholesale the poor +negro, to protect whose rights they were sent south? + +The great political party of the north became the pledged conservator of +the black man's rights, and established a Freedman's Bureau, and +Freedman's banks to guard his humble earnings. All know something of the +workings of those banks; and to everlasting infamy must be consigned the +names of many of those conducting them,--men who robbed every one of +these depositories of negro savings, and left the poor, child-like +freedman in a physical state of destitution, and in a perfect +bewilderment of mind as to who his true friend really was. + +A faithful negro of Jehossee Island was but one among thousands of such +cases. While the tumult of war vexed the land, the faithful negro +overseer remained at his post to guard his late master's property, +supporting himself by the manufacture of salt, and living in the most +frugal manner to be able to "lay by" a sum for his old age. Having saved +five hundred dollars, he deposited them in the nearest Freedman's bank, +which, though _fathered_ by the United States government, failed; and +the now destitute negro found himself stripped in the same moment of his +hard-earned savings, and his confidence in his new protectors. + +As the war of the rebellion was slowly drawing to its close, Mr. +Lincoln's kind heart was drawn towards his erring countrymen, and he +made a list of the names of the wisest and best men of the south, who, +not having taken an active part in the strife, might be intrusted with +the task of bringing back the unruly states to their constitutional +relations with the national government. Governor Aiken was informed that +his name was upon that list; and he would gladly have accepted the +onerous position, and labored in the true interests of the whole people, +but the pistol of an assassin closed the life of the President, whose +generous plans of reconstruction were never realized. + +In the birth of our new Centennial let us eschew the political +charlatan, and bring forward our statesmen to serve and govern a people, +who, to become a unit of strength, must ever bear in mind the words of +the great southern statesman, who said he knew "no north, no south, no +east, no west; but one undivided country." + +On Monday, at ten A. M., two negroes assisted me to launch my craft +from the river's bank at the mouth of the canal, for the tide was very +low. As I settled myself for a long pull at the oars, the face of one of +the blacks was seemingly rent in twain, as a huge mouth opened, and a +pair of strong lungs sent forth these parting words: "_Bully for +Massachusetts!_" + +"How did you know I came from Massachusetts?" I called out from the +river. + +"I knows de cuts ob dem. I suffered at Fort Wagner. Dis chile knows +Massachusetts." + +Two miles further on, Bull Creek served me as a "cut-off," and half an +hour after entering it the tide was flooding against me. When Goat +Island Creek was passed on the left hand, knots of pine forests rose +picturesquely in places out of the bottom-lands, and an hour later, at +Bennett's Point, on the right, I found the watercourse a quarter of a +mile in width. + +The surroundings were of a lovely nature during this day's journey. Here +marshes, diversified by occasional hammocks of timber dotting their +uninteresting wastes; there humble habitations of whites and blacks +appearing at intervals in the forest growth. As I was destitute of a +finished chart of the Coast Survey, after rowing along one side of +Hutchinson's Island I became bewildered in the maze of creeks which +penetrate the marshes that lie between Bennett's Point and the coast. + +Making a rough topographical sketch of the country as I descended +Hutchinson's Creek, or Big River,--the latter appellation being the most +appropriate, as it is a very wide watercourse,--I came upon a group of +low islands, and found upon one of them a plantation which had been +abandoned to the negroes, and the little bluff upon which two or three +rickety buildings were situated was the last land which remained +unsubmerged during a high tide between the plantation and the sea. + +I was now in a quandary. I had left the hospitable residence of Governor +Aiken at ten o'clock A. M., when I should have departed at sunrise in +order to have had time to enter and pass through St. Helena Sound before +night came on. The prospect of obtaining shelter was indeed dismal. Just +at this time a loud shout from the negroes on shore attracted my +attention, and I rested upon my oars, while a boat-load of women and +children paddled out to me. + +"Is _dat_ de _little_ boat?" they asked, viewing my craft with curious +eyes. "And is dat boat made of paper?" they continued, showing that +negro runners had posted the people, even in these solitary regions, of +the approach of the paper canoe. I questioned these negro women about +the route, but each gave a different answer as to the passage through +the Horns to St. Helena Sound. Hurrying on through tortuous creeks, the +deserted tract called "the Horns" was entered, and until sunset I +followed one short stream after another, to its source in the reedy +plain, constantly retracing the route, with the tide not yet ebbing +strong enough to show me a course to the sound. Presently it ebbed more +rapidly, and I followed the tide from one intricacy to another, but +never found the principal thoroughfare. + +While I was enveloped in reeds, and at a loss which way to go, the soft +ripple of breaking waves struck my ear like sweet music. The sea was +telling me of its proximity. Carefully balancing myself, I stood up in +the cranky canoe, and peering over the grassy thickets, saw before me +the broad waters of Helena Sound. The fresh salt breeze from the ocean +struck upon my forehead, and nerved me to a renewal of my efforts to get +within a region of higher land, and to a place of shelter. + +The ebbing tide was yet high, and through the forest of vegetation, and +over the submerged coast, I pushed the canoe into the sound. Now I rowed +as though for my life, closely skirting the marshes, and soon entered +waters covered by a chart in my possession. My course was to skirt the +coast of the sound from where I had entered it, and cross the mouths of +the Combahee and Bull rivers to the entrance of the broad Coosaw. This +last river I would ascend seven miles to the first upland, and camp +thereon until morning. The tide was now against me, and the night was +growing darker, as the faithful craft was forced along the marshes four +miles to the mouth of the Combahee River, which I had to ascend half a +mile to get rid of a shoal of frisky porpoises, who were fishing in the +current. + +Then descending it on the opposite shore, I rowed two miles further in +the dark, but for half an hour previous to my reaching the wide +debouchure of Bull River, some enormous blackfish surged about me in the +tideway and sounded their nasal calls, while their more demonstrative +porpoise neighbors leaped from the water in the misty atmosphere, and so +alarmed me and occupied my attention, that instead of crossing to the +Coosaw River, I unwittingly ascended the Bull, and was soon lost in the +contours of the river. + +As I hugged the marshy borders of the stream to escape the strong +current of its channel, and rowed on and on in the gloom, eagerly +scanning the high, sedge-fringed flats to find one little spot of firm +upland upon which I might land my canoe and obtain a resting-spot for +myself for the night, the feeling that I was lost was not the most +cheerful to be imagined. In the thin fog which arose from the warm water +into the cool night air, objects on the marshes assumed fantastical +shapes. A few reeds, taller than the rest, had the appearance of trees +twenty feet high. So real did these unreal images seem, that I drove my +canoe against the soft, muddy bank, repeatedly prompted to land in what +seemed a copse of low trees, but in every instance I was deceived. Still +I pulled up that mysterious river, ignorant at the time of even its +name, praying only for one little spot of upland where I might camp. + +While thus employed, I peered over my shoulder, into the gloom, and +beheld what seemed to be a vision; for, out of a cloud of mist rose the +skeleton lines of a large ship, with all its sails furled to the yards. +"A ship at anchor, and in this out-of-the-way place!" I ejaculated, +scarcely believing my eyes; but when I pointed the canoe towards it, and +again looked over my shoulder, the vision of hope was gone. + +Again I saw tall masts cutting through the mists, but the ship's hull +could not be distinguished, and as I rowed towards the objects, first +the lower masts disappeared, then the topmasts dissolved, and later, +the topgallant and royal masts faded away. For half an hour I rowed +and rowed for that mysterious vessel, which was veiled and unveiled to +my sight. Never did so spectral an object haunt or thwart me. It seemed +to change its position on the water, as well as in the atmosphere, and +I was too busily employed in trying to reach it to discover in the +darkness that the current, which I could not distinguish from smooth +water, was whirling me down stream as fast as I would approach the +weird vessel. + +Drawing once more from the current, I followed the marsh until the canoe +was opposite the anchorage of a real ship; then, with hearty pulls, I +shot around its stern, and shouted: "Ship ahoy!" + +No one answered the hail. The vessel looked like a man-of-war, but not +of American build. Not a light gleamed from her ports, not a footfall +came from her decks. She seemed to be deserted in the middle of the +river, surrounded by a desolate waste of marshes. The current gurgled +and sucked about her run, as the ebb-tide washed her black hull on its +way to the sea. The spectacle seemed now even more mysterious than when, +mirage-like, it peered forth from a cloud of mist. But it was real, and +not fantastic. Another hail, louder than the first, went forth into the +night air, and penetrated to the ship's forecastle, for a sailor +answered my call, and reported to the captain in the cabin the presence +of a boat at the ship's side. + +A quick, firm tread sounded upon the deck; then, with a light bound, a +powerfully-built young man landed upon the high rail of the vessel. He +peered down from his stately ship upon the little speck which floated +upon the gurgling current; then, with a voice "filled with the fogs of +the ocean," he thundered forth, as though he were hailing a man-of-war: +"What boat's that?" + +"Paper canoe Maria Theresa," I replied, in as foggy a voice as I could +assume. + +"Where from, and where bound?" again roared the captain. + +"_From_ Quebec, Canada, and _bound_ to sleep on board your vessel, if I +can ever get up there," I politely responded, in a more subdued voice, +for I soon discovered that nature had never intended me for a +fog-trumpet. + +"Ah, is it you?" cheerily responded the captain, suddenly dispensing +with all his fogginess; "I've been looking for you this long time. Got a +Charleston paper on board; your trip all in it. Come up, and break a +bottle of wine with me." + +"All hands" came from the forecastle, and Finland mates and Finland +sailors, speaking both English and Russian, crowded to the rail to +receive the paper canoe, which had first been described to them by +English newspapers when the vessel lay in a British port, awaiting the +charter-party which afterwards sent them to Bull River, South Carolina, +for a load of phosphates. + +The jolly crew lowered buntlines and clewlines, to which I attached my +boat's stores. These were hoisted up the high sides of the ship, and, +after bending on a line to the bow and stern rings of the canoe, I +ascended by the ladder, while Captain Johs. Bergelund and his mates +claimed the pleasure of landing the paper canoe on the deck of the +Rurik. The tiny shell looked very small as she rested on the broad, +white decks of the emperor of Russia's old steam yacht, which bore the +name of the founder of the Russian empire. Though now a bark and not a +steamer, though a freighter and not a royal yacht, the Rurik looked +every inch a government vessel, for her young captain, with a sailor's +pride, kept her in a thorough state of cleanliness and order. We went to +supper. The captain, his mates, and the stranger gathered around the +board, while the generous sailor brought out his curious bottles and put +them by the side of the still more curious dishes of food. + +All my surroundings were those of the country of the midnight sun, and I +should have felt more bewildered than when in the fog I viewed and +chased this spectral-looking ship, had not Captain Bergelund, in most +excellent English, entertained me with a flow of conversation which put +me at my ease. He discoursed of Finland, where lakes covered the country +from near Abo, its chief city, to the far north, where the summer days +are "nearly all night long." + +Painting in high colors the delights of his native land, he begged me to +visit it. Finally, as midnight drew near, this genial sailor insisted +upon putting me in his own comfortable state-room, while he slept upon a +lounge in the cabin. + +One mile above the Rurik's anchorage was the phosphate-mill of the +Pacific Company, which was supplying Captain Bergelund, by lighters, +with his freight of unground fertilizer. + +The next morning I took leave of the Rurik, but, instead of descending +the Bull River to the Coosaw, I determined to save time by crossing the +peninsula between the two rivers by means of two short creeks which were +connected at their sources by a very short canal near "the mines" of the +Phosphate Company. When I entered Horse Island Creek, at eleven o'clock, +the tide was on the last of the ebb, and I sat in the canoe a long time +awaiting the flood to float me up the wide ditch, which would conduct me +to the creek that emptied into the Coosaw. Upon the banks of the canal +three hours were lost waiting for the tide to give me one foot of water, +when I rowed into the second watercourse, and late in the afternoon +entered the wide Coosaw. The two creeks and the connecting canal are +called the Haulover Creek. + +As I turned up the Coosaw, and skirted the now submerged marshes of its +left bank, two dredging-machines were at work up the river raising the +remains of the marine monsters of antiquity. The strong wind and +swashing seas being in my favor, the canoe soon arrived opposite the +spot of upland I had so longed to reach the previous night. + +This was Chisolm's Landing, back of which were the phosphate works of +the Coosaw Mine Company. The inspector of phosphates, Mr. John Hunn, +offered me the hospitality of Alligator Hall, where he and some of the +gentlemen employed by the company resided in bachelor retirement. My +host described a mammal's tooth that weighed nearly fourteen pounds, +which had been taken from a phosphate mine; it had been sent to a public +room at Beaufort, South Carolina. A fossil shark's tooth, weighing four +and a half pounds, was also found, and a learned ichthyologist has +asserted that the owner of this remarkable relic of the past must have +been one hundred feet in length. + +Beaufort was near at hand, and could be easily reached by entering +Brickyard Creek, the entrance of which was on the right bank of the +Coosaw, nearly opposite Chisolm's Landing. It was nearly six miles by +this creek to Beaufort, and from that town to Port Royal Sound, by +following Beaufort River, was a distance of eleven miles. The mouth of +Beaufort River is only two miles from the sea. Preferring to follow a +more interior water route than the Beaufort one, the canoe was rowed up +the Coosaw five miles to Whale Branch, which is crossed by the Port +Royal railroad bridge. Whale Branch, five miles in length, empties into +Broad River, which I descended thirteen miles, to the lower end of Daw +Island, on its right bank. Here, in this region of marshy shores, the +Chechessee River and the Broad River mingle their strong currents in +Port Royal Sound. It was dusk when the sound was entered from the +extreme end of Daw Island, where it became necessary to cross +immediately to Skull Creek, at Hilton Head Island, or go into camp for +the night. + +I looked down the sound six miles to the broad Atlantic, which was +sending in clouds of mist on a fresh breeze. I gazed across the mouth of +the Chechessee, and the sound at the entrance of the port of refuge. I +desired to traverse nearly three miles of this rough water. I would +gladly have camped, but the shore I was about to leave offered to +submerge me with the next high water. No friendly hammock of trees could +be seen as I glided from the shadow of the high rushes of Daw Island. +Circumstances decided the point in debate, and I rowed rapidly into the +sound. The canoe had not gone half a mile when the Chechessee River +opened fully to view, and a pretty little hammock, with two or three +shanties beneath its trees, could be plainly seen on Daw's Island. + +It was now too late to return and ascend the river to the hammock, for +the sound was disturbed by the freshening breeze from the sea blowing +against the ebb-tide, which was increased in power by the outflowing +volume of water from the wide Chechessee. It required all the energy I +possessed to keep the canoe from being overrun by the swashy, +sharp-pointed seas. Once or twice I thought my last struggle for life +had come, but a merciful Power gave me the strength and coolness that +this trying ordeal required, and I somehow weathered the dangerous +oyster reefs above Skull Creek, and landed at "Seabrook Plantation," +upon Hilton Head Island, near two or three old houses, one of which was +being fitted up as a store by Mr. Kleim, of the First New York +Volunteers, who had lived on the island since 1861. Mr. Kleim took me to +his bachelor quarters, where the wet cargo of the Maria Theresa was +dried by the kitchen fireplace. + +The next day, February 18, I left Seabrook and followed Skull Creek to +Mackay's Creek, and, passing the mouth of May River, entered Calibogue +Sound, where a sudden tempest arose and drove me into a creek which +flowed out of the marshes of Bull Island. A few negro huts were +discovered on a low mound of earth. The blacks told me their hammock was +called Bird Island. + +The tempest lasted all day, and as no shelter could be found on the +creek, a darky hauled my canoe on a cart a couple of miles to Bull +Creek, which enters into Cooper River, one of the watercourses I was to +enter from Calibogue Sound. Upon reaching the wooded shores of Bull +Creek, my carter introduced me to the head man of the settlement, a +weazened-looking little old creature called Cuffy, who, though +respectful in his demeanor to "de Yankee-mans," was cross and +overbearing to the few families occupying the shanties in the +magnificent grove of live-oaks which shaded them. + +Cuffy's cook-house, or kitchen, which was a log structure measuring nine +by ten feet, with posts only three feet high, was the only building +which could be emptied of its contents for my accommodation. Our +contract or lease was a verbal one, Cuffy's terms being "whateber de +white man likes to gib an ole nigger." Cuffy cut a big switch, and sent +in his "darter," a girl of about fourteen years, to clean out the +shanty. When she did not move fast enough to suit the old man's wishes, +he switched her over the shoulders till it excited my pity; but the girl +seemed to take the beating as an every-day amusement, for it made no +impression on her hard skull and thick skin. + +After commencing to "keep house," the old women came to sell me eggs and +beg for "bacca." They requested me never to throw away my +coffee-grounds, as it made coffee "good 'nuf for black folks." I +distributed some of my stores among them, and, after cutting rushes and +boughs for my bed, turned in for the night. + +These negroes had been raising Sea-Island cotton, but the price having +declined to five cents a pound, they could not get twenty-five cents a +day for their labor by cultivating it. + +The fierce wind subsided before dawn, but a heavy fog covered the +marshes and the creek. Cuffy's "settlement" turned out before sunrise to +see me off; and the canoe soon reached the broad Cooper River, which I +ascended in the misty darkness by following close to the left bank. Four +miles up the Cooper River from Calibogue Sound there is a passage +through the marshes from the Cooper to New River, which is called Ram's +Horn Creek. On the right of its entrance a well-wooded hammock rises +from the marsh, and is called Page Island. About midway between the two +rivers and along this crooked thoroughfare is another piece of upland +called Pine Island, inhabited by the families of two boat-builders. + +While navigating Cooper River, as the heavy mists rolled in clouds over +the quiet waters, a sailboat, rowed by negroes, emerged from the gloom +and as suddenly disappeared. I shouted after them: "Please tell me the +name of the next creek." A hoarse voice came back to me from the cloud: +"Pull and be d----d." Then all was still as night again. To solve this +seemingly uncourteous reply, so unusual in the south, I consulted the +manuscript charts which the Charleston pilots had kindly drawn for my +use, and found that the negroes had spoken geographically as well as +truthfully, for Pine Island Creek is known to the watermen as "Pull and +be d----d Creek," on account of its tortuous character, and chiefly +because, as the tides head in it, if a boat enters it from one river +with a favorable tide, it has a strong head current on the other side of +the middle ground to oppose it. Thus pulling at the oars at some parts +of the creek becomes hard work for the boatmen; hence this name, which, +though profane, may be considered geographical. + +After leaving the Cooper River, the watercourses to Savannah were +discolored by red or yellow mud. From Pine Island I descended New River +two miles and a half to Wall's Cut, which is only a quarter of a mile in +length, and through which I entered Wright's River, following it a +couple of miles to the broad, yellow, turbulent current of the Savannah. + +My thoughts now naturally turned to the early days of steamboat +enterprise, when this river, as well as the Hudson, was conspicuous; for +though the steamer Savannah was not the first steam-propelled vessel +which cut the waves of the Atlantic, she was the first steamer that ever +crossed it. Let us examine historical data. Colonel John Stevens, of New +York, built the steamboat Phoenix about the year 1808, and was +prevented from using it upon the Hudson River by the Fulton and +Livingston monopoly charter. + +The Phoenix made an ocean voyage to the Delaware River. The first +English venture was that of the steamer Caledonia, which made a passage +to Holland in 1817. The London Times of May 11, 1819, printed in its +issue of that date the following item: + + "GREAT EXPERIMENT.--A new vessel of three hundred tons has been + built at New York for the express purpose of carrying passengers + across the Atlantic. She is to come to Liverpool direct." + +This ship-rigged steamer was the "Savannah," and the bold projector of +this experiment of sending a steamboat across the Atlantic was Daniel +Dodd. The Savannah was built in New York, by Francis Ficket, for Mr. +Dodd. Stephen Vail, of Morristown, New Jersey, built her engines, and on +the 22d of August, 1818, she was launched, gliding gracefully into the +element which was to bear her to foreign lands, there to be crowned with +the laurels of success. On May 25th this purely American-built vessel +left Savannah, and glided out from this waste of marshes, under the +command of Captain Moses Rogers, with Stephen Rogers as navigator. The +port of New London, Conn., had furnished these able seamen. + +The steamer reached Liverpool June 20th, the passage having occupied +twenty-six days, upon eighteen of which she had used her paddles. A son +of Mr. Dodd once told me of the sensation produced by the arrival of a +smoking vessel on the coast of Ireland, and how Lieutenant John Bowie, +of the king's cutter Kite, sent a boat-load of sailors to board the +Savannah to assist her crew to extinguish the fires of what his +Majesty's officers supposed to be a burning ship. + +The Savannah, after visiting Liverpool, continued her voyage on July +23d, and reached St. Petersburg in safety. Leaving the latter port on +October 10th, this adventurous craft completed the round voyage upon her +arrival at Savannah, November 30th. + +I pulled up the Savannah until within five miles of the city, and then +left the river on its south side, where old rice-plantations are first +met, and entered St. Augustine Creek, which is the steamboat +thoroughfare of the inland route to Florida. Just outside the city of +Savannah, near its beautiful cemetery, where tall trees with their +graceful drapery of Spanish moss screen from wind and sun the quiet +resting-places of the dead, my canoe was landed, and stored in a +building of the German Greenwich Shooting Park, where Mr. John Hellwig, +in a most hospitable manner, cared for it and its owner. + +While awaiting the arrival of letters at the Savannah post-office, many +of the ladies of that beautiful city came out to see the paper canoe. +They seemed to have the mistaken idea that my little craft had come from +the distant Dominion of Canada over the Atlantic Ocean. They also +looked upon the voyage of the paper canoe as a very sentimental thing, +while the canoeist had found it an intensely practical affair, though +occasionally relieved by incidents of romantic or amusing character. As +the ladies clustered round the boat while it rested upon the +centre-table of Mr. Hellwig's parlor, they questioned me freely. + +"Tell us," they said, "what were your thoughts while you rowed upon the +broad ocean in the lonely hours of night?" + +Though unwilling to break their pleasing illusions, I was obliged to +inform them that a sensible canoeist is usually enjoying his needed rest +in some camp, or sleeping in some sheltered place,--under a roof if +possible,--after it is too dark to travel in safety; and as to ocean +travelling, the canoe had only once entered upon the Atlantic Ocean, and +then through a mistake. + +"But what subjects occupy your thoughts as you row, and row, and row all +day by yourself, in this little ship?" a motherly lady inquired. + + "To tell you honestly, ladies, I must say that when I am in + shallow watercourses, with the tides usually ebbing at the wrong + time for my convenience, I am so full of anxiety about getting + wrecked on the reefs of sharp coon-oysters, that I am wishing + myself in deep water; and when my route forces me into the deep + water of sounds, and the surface becomes tossed into wild + disorder by strong currents and stronger winds, and the + porpoises pay me their little attentions, chasing the canoe, + flapping their tails, and showing their sportive dispositions, I + think longingly of those same shoal creeks, and wish I was once + more in their shallow waters." + +"We ladies have prayed for your safety," said a kind-looking German +lady, "and we will pray that your voyage may have a happy and +successful end." + +When the ladies left, two Irish laborers, dressed in sombre black, with +high hats worn with the air of dignity, examined the boat. There was an +absence of the sparkle of fun usually seen in the Irish face, for this +was a serious occasion. They did not see any romance or sentiment in the +voyage, but took a broad, geographical view of the matter. They stood +silently gazing at the canoe with the same air of solemnity they would +have given a corpse. Then one addressed the other, as though the owner +of the craft was entirely out of the hearing of their conversation. + +Said No. 1, "And what did I tell ye, Pater?" "And so ye did," replied +No. 2. "And didn't I say so?" continued No. 1. "Of course ye did; and +wasn't me of the same mind, to be sure?" responded No. 2. "Yes, I told +ye as how it is the men of _these_ times is greater than the men of ould +times. There was the great Coolumbus, who came over in three ships to +see Americky. What did he know about _paper_ boats? Nothing at all, at +all. He cum over in big ships, while this young feller has cum all the +way from Canada. I tell ye the men of ould times was not up to the men +of these times. Thin there's Captain Boyton, who don't use any boat or +ship at all, at all, but goes a-_swimming_ in rubber clothes to keep him +dry all over the Atlantic Oshin. Jis' look, man, how he landed on the +shores of ould Ireland not long since. Now what's Coolumbus, or any +other man of the past ages, to him? Coolumbus could not hold a candle to +Boyton! No, I tell ye agen that the men of this age is greater than the +men of the past ages." "And," broke in No. 2, "there's a Britisher who's +gone to the River Niles in a canoe." "The _River Niles_!" hotly +exclaimed No. 1; "don't waste your breath on that thing. It's no _new_ +thing at all, at all. It was diskivered a long time ago, and nobody +cares a fig for it now." "Yet," responded No. 2, "some of those +old-times people were very enterprising. There was that great traveller +Robinson Crusoe: ye must confess he was a great man for _his_ time." +"The same who wint to the South Sea Islands and settled there?" asked +the first biographer. "The _very same man_," replied No. 2, with +animation. + +This instructive conversation was here interrupted by a party of ladies +and gentlemen, who in turn gave their views of canoe and canoeist. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FROM THE SAVANNAH RIVER TO FLORIDA. + +ROUTE TO THE SEA ISLANDS OF GEORGIA.--STORM-BOUND ON GREEN +ISLAND.--OSSABAW ISLAND.--ST. CATHERINE'S SOUND.--SAPELO ISLAND.--THE +MUD OF MUD RIVER.--NIGHT IN A NEGRO CABIN.--"DE SHOUTINGS" ON DOBOY +ISLAND.--BROUGHTON ISLAND.--ST. SIMON'S AND JEKYL ISLANDS.--INTERVIEW +WITH AN ALLIGATOR.--A NIGHT IN JOINTER HAMMOCK.--CUMBERLAND ISLAND AND +ST. MARY'S RIVER.--FAREWELL TO THE SEA. + + +On February 24th, the voyage was again resumed. My route lay through the +coast islands of Georgia, as far south as the state boundary, Cumberland +Sound, and the St. Mary's River. This part of the coast is very +interesting, and is beautifully delineated on the Coast Charts No. 56-57 +of the United States Coast Survey, which were published the year after +my voyage ended. + +Steamers run from Savannah through these interesting interior water-ways +to the ports of the St. John's River, Florida, and by taking this route +the traveller can escape a most uninteresting railroad journey from +Savannah to Jacksonville, where sandy soils and pine forests present an +uninviting prospect to the eye. A little dredging, in a few places along +the steamboat route, should be done at national cost, to make this a +more convenient and expeditious tidal route for vessels. + +Leaving Greenwich, Bonaventure, and Thunderbolt behind me on the upland, +the canoe entered the great marshy district of the coast along the +Wilmington and Skiddaway rivers to Skiddaway Narrows, which is a +contracted, crooked watercourse connecting the Skiddaway with the +Burnside River. The low lands were made picturesque by hammocks, some of +which were cultivated. + +In leaving the Burnside for the broad Vernon River, as the canoe +approached the sea, one of the sudden tempests which frequently vex +these coast-waters arose, and drove me to a hammock in the marshes of +Green Island, on the left bank and opposite the mouth of the Little +Ogeechee River. Green Island has been well cultivated in the past, but +is now only the summer home of Mr. Styles, its owner. Two or three +families of negroes inhabited the cabins and looked after the property +of the absent proprietor. + +I waded to my knees in the mud before the canoe could be landed, and, as +it stormed all night, I slept on the floor of the humble cot of the +negro Echard Holmes, having first treated the household to crackers and +coffee. The negroes gathered from other points to examine the canoe, +and, hearing that I was from the north, one grizzly old darky begged me +to "carry" his complaints to Washington. + +"De goberment," he said, "has been berry good to wees black folks. It +gib us our freedom,--all berry well; but dar is an noder ting wees +wants; dat is, wees wants General Grant to make tings _stashionary_. De +storekeeper gibs a poor nigger only one dollar fur bushel corn, +sometimes not so much. Den he makes poor nigger gib him tree dollars fur +bag hominy, sometimes more'n dat. Wees wants de goberment to make tings +_stashionary_. Make de storekeeper gib black man one dollar and quarter +fur de bushel of corn, and make him sell de poor nigger de bag hominy +fur much less dan tree dollars. Make all tings _stashionary_. Den dar's +one ting more. Tell de goberment to do fur poor darky 'nodder +ting,--make de ole massa say to me, 'You's been good slave in ole +times,--_berry_ good slave; now I gib you one, two, tree, _five_ acres +of land for yoursef.' Den ole nigger be happy, and massa be happy too; +den bof of um bees happy. Hab you a leetle bacca fur dis ole man?" + +From the Styles mansion it was but three miles to Ossabaw Sound. Little +Don Island and Raccoon Key are in the mouth of the Vernon. Between the +two flat islands is a deep passage through which the tides rush with +great force; it is called Hell Gate. On the south side of Raccoon Key +the Great Ogeechee River pours its strong volume of water into Ossabaw +Sound. + +I entered the Great Ogeechee through the Don Island passage, and saw +sturgeon-fishermen at work with their nets along the shores of Ossabaw, +one of the sea islands. Ossabaw Island lies between Ossabaw and St. +Catherine's sounds, and is eight miles long and six miles wide. The side +towards the sea is firm upland, diversified with glades, while the +western portion is principally marshes cut up by numerous creeks. All +the sea islands produce the long staple cotton known as sea-island +cotton, and before the war a very valuable variety. A few negroes occupy +the places abandoned by the proprietor, and eke out a scanty livelihood. + +There are many deer in the forests of Ossabaw Island. One of its late +proprietors informed me that there must be at least ten thousand wild +hogs there, as they have been multiplying for many years, and but few +were shot by the negroes. The domestic hog becomes a very shy animal if +left to himself for two or three years. The hunter may search for him +without a dog almost in vain, though the woods may contain large numbers +of these creatures. + +The weather was now delightful, and had I possessed a light tent I +would not have sought shelter at night in a human habitation anywhere +along the route. The malaria which arises from fresh-water sinks in many +of the sea islands during the summer months, did not now make +camping-out dangerous to the health. Crossing the Great Ogeechee above +Middle Marsh Island, I followed the river to the creek called Florida +Passage, through which I reached Bear River, with its wide and long +reaches, and descended it to St. Catherine's Sound. + +Now the sea opened to full view as the canoe crossed the tidal ocean +gate-way two miles to North Newport River. When four miles up the +Newport I entered Johnson's Creek, which flows from North to South +Newport rivers. By means of the creek and the South Newport River, my +little craft was navigated down to the southern end of St. Catherine's +Island to the sound of the same name, and here another inlet was crossed +at sunset, and High Point of Sapelo Island was reached. + +From among the green trees of the high bluff a mansion, which exhibited +the taste of its builder, rose imposingly. This was, however, but one of +the many edifices that are tombs of buried hopes. The proprietor, a +northern gentleman, after the war purchased one-third of Sapelo Island +for fifty-five thousand dollars in gold. He attempted, as many other +enterprising northerners had done, to give the late slave a chance to +prove his worth as a freedman to the world. + +"Pay the negro wages; treat him as you would treat a white man, and he +will reward your confidence with industry and gratitude." So thought and +so acted the large-hearted northern colonel. He built a large mansion, +engaged his freedmen, paid them for their work, and treated them like +_men_. The result was ruin, and simply because he had not paused to +consider that the negro had not been _born_ a freedman, and that the +demoralization of slavery was still upon him. Beside which facts we must +also place certain ethnological and moral principles which exist in the +pure negro type, and which are entirely overlooked by those +philanthropic persons who have rarely, if ever, seen a full-blooded +negro, but affect to understand him through his _half_-white brother, +the mulatto. + +Mud River opened its wide mouth before me as I left the inlet, but the +tide was very low, and Mud River is a sticking-point in the passage of +the Florida steamers. It became so dark that I was obliged to get near +the shore to make a landing. My attempt was made opposite a negro's +house which was on a bluff, but the water had receded into the very +narrow channel of Mud River, and I was soon stuck fast on a flat. +Getting overboard, I sank to my knees in the soft mud. I called for +help, and was answered by a tall darky, who, with a double-barrelled +gun, left his house and stood in a threatening manner on the shore. I +appealed for help, and said I wished to go ashore. "Den cum de best way +you can," he answered in a surly manner. "What duz you want 'bout here, +any way? What duz you want on Choc'late Plantation, anyhow?" + +I explained to this ugly black that I was a northern man, travelling to +see the country, and wished to camp near his house for protection, and +promised, if he would aid me to land, that I would convince him of my +honest purpose by showing him the contents of my canoe, and would prove +to him that I was no enemy to the colored man. I told him of the maps, +the letters, and the blankets which were in the little canoe now so fast +in the mud, and what a loss it would be if some marauder, passing on the +next high tide, should steal my boat. + +The fellow slowly lowered his gun, which had been held in a threatening +position, and said: + + "Nobody knows his friends in dese times. I'se had a boat stealed + by some white man, and spose you was cumin to steal sumting + else. Dese folks on de riber can't be trussed. Dey steals + ebryting. Heaps o' bad white men 'bout nowadays sens de war. + Steals a nigger's chickens, boats, and ebryting dey lays hands + on. Up at de big house on High Pint (norfen gemmin built him, + and den got gusted wid cotton-planting and went home) de white + folks goes and steals all de cheers and beds, and ebryting out + ob de house. Sens de war all rascals." + +It was a wearisome and dangerous job for me to navigate the canoe over +the soft, slippery mud to the firm shore, as there were unfathomed +places in the flats which might ingulf or entomb me at any step; but the +task was completed, and I stood face to face with the now half +tranquillized negro. Before removing the mud that hung upon me to the +waist in heavy clods, I showed the darky my chart-case, and explained +the object of my mission. He was very intelligent, and, after asking a +few questions, said to his son: + +"Take dis gun to de house;" and then turning to me, continued: "Dis is +de sort ob man I'se am. I'se knows how to treat a friend like a white +man, and I'se can fight wid my knife or my fist or my gun anybody who +'poses on me. Now I'se knows you is a gemmin I'se won't treat you like a +nigger. Gib you best I'se got. Cum to de house." + +When inside of the house of this resolute black, every attention was +paid to my comfort. The cargo of the paper canoe was piled up in one +corner of the room. The wife and children sat before the bright fire and +listened to the story of my cruise. I doctored the sick pickaninny of my +host, and made the family a pot of strong coffee. This negro could read, +but he asked me to address a label he wished to attach to a bag of +Sea-Island cotton of one hundred and sixty pounds' weight, which he had +raised, and was to ship by the steamboat Lizzie Baker to a mercantile +house in Savannah. + +As I rested upon my blankets, which were spread upon the floor of the +only comfortable room in the house, at intervals during the night the +large form of the black stole softly in and bent over me to see if I +were well covered up, and he as noiselessly piled live-oak sticks upon +the dying embers to dry up the dampness which rose from the river. + +He brought me a basin of cold water in the morning, and not possessing a +towel clean enough for a white man, he insisted that I should use his +wife's newly starched calico apron to wipe my face and hands upon. When +I offered him money for the night's accommodation and the excellent +oyster breakfast that his wife prepared for me, he said: "You may gib my +wife whateber pleases you for _her cooking_, but nuffin for de food or +de lodgings. I'se no nigger, ef I is a cullud man." + +It was now Saturday, and as I rowed through the marsh thoroughfare +called New Tea Kettle Creek, which connects Mud River with Doboy Sound +near the southern end of Sapelo Island, I calculated the chances of +finding a resting-place for Sunday. If I went up to the mainland +through North and Darien rivers to the town of Darien, my past +experience taught me that instead of enjoying rest I would become a +forced exhibiter of the paper canoe to crowds of people. To avoid this, +I determined to pass the day in the first hammock that would afford +shelter and fire-wood; but as the canoe entered Doboy Sound, which, with +its inlet, separates Sapelo from the almost treeless Wolf Island, the +wind rose with such violence that I was driven to take refuge upon Doboy +Island, a small marshy territory, the few firm acres of which were +occupied by the settlement and steam saw-mill of Messrs. Hiltons, Foster +& Gibson, a northern lumber firm. + +Foreign and American vessels were anchored under the lee of protecting +marshes, awaiting their cargoes of sawed deals and hewn timber; while +rafts of logs, which had been borne upon the currents of the Altamaha +and other streams from the far interior regions of pine forests, were +collected here and manufactured into lumber. + +One of the proprietors, a northern gentleman, occupied with his family a +very comfortable cottage near the store and steam saw-mill. As the Doboy +people had learned of the approach of the paper canoe from southern +newspapers, the little craft was identified as soon as it touched the +low shores of the island. + +I could not find any kind of hotel or lodging-place in this settlement +of Yankees, Canadians, and negroes, and was about to leave it in search +of some lone hammock, when a mechanic kindly offered me the floor of an +unfinished room in an unfinished house, in which I passed my Sunday +trying to rest, and obtaining my meals at a restaurant kept by a negro. + +A member of the Spaulding family, the owners of a part of Sapelo Island, +called upon me, and seeing me in such inhospitable quarters, with fleas +in hundreds invading my blankets, urged me to return with him to his +island domain, where he might have an opportunity to make me +comfortable. The kind gentleman little knew how hardened I had become to +such annoyances as hard floors and the active flea. Such inconveniences +had been robbed of their discomforts by the kind voices of welcome +which, with few exceptions, came from every southern gentleman whose +territory had been invaded by the paper canoe. + +There was but one place of worship on the island, and that was under the +charge of the negroes. Accepting the invitation of a nephew of the +resident New England proprietor of Doboy Island to attend "de +shoutings," we set out on Sunday evening for the temporary place of +negro worship. A negro girl, decked with ribbons, called across the +street to a young colored delinquent: "You no goes to de shoutings, Sam! +Why fur? You neber hears me shout, honey, and dey _do_ say I shouts so +pretty. Cum 'long wid me now." + +A few blacks had collected in the small shanty, and the preacher, an old +freed man, was about to read a hymn as we entered. At first the singing +was low and monotonous, but it gradually swelled to a high pitch as the +negroes became excited. Praying followed the singing. Then the black +preacher set aside "de shouting" part of the service for what he +considered more important interests, and discoursed upon things +spiritual and temporal in this wise: + +"Now I'se got someting to tell all of yese berry 'portant." Here two +young blacks got up to leave the room, but were rudely stopped by a +negro putting his back against the door. "No, no," chuckled the +preacher, "yese don't git off dat a-way. I'se prepared fur de ockasun. +Nobody gits out ob dis room till I'se had my say. Jes you set down dar. +Now I'se goin' to do one ting, and it's dis: I'se goin' to spread de +Gospel all ober dis yere island of Doboy. Now's de time; talked long +'nuf, too long, 'bout buildin' de church. Whar's yere pride? whar is it? +Got none! Look at dis room for a church! Look at dis pulpit--one +flour-barrel wid one candle stickin' out ob a bottle! Dat's yere pulpit. +Got no pride! Shamed o' yeresefs! Here white men comes way from New York +to hear de Gospel in dis yere room wid flour-barrel fur pulpit, and +empty bottle fur candlestick. No more talk now. All go to work. De mill +people will gib us lumber fur de new church; odders mus' gib _money_. +Tell ebbry cullud pusson on de island to cum on Tuesday and carry +lumber, and gib ebbry one what he can,--one dollar apiece, or ten +cents if got no more. De white gemmins we knows whar to find when we +wants dar money, but de cullud ones is berry slippery when de hat am +passed round." + +At the termination of the preacher's exhortation, I proposed to my +companion that I should present the minister with a dollar for his new +church, but with a look of dismay, he replied: "Oh, don't give it to the +_preacher_. Hand it to that other negro sitting near him. We never trust +the _preacher_ with money; he always spends the church-money. We only +trust him for _preaching_." + +Monday, March 1st, opened fair, but the wind arose when the canoe +reached Three Mile Cut, which connects the Darien with Altamaha River. I +went through this narrow steamboat passage, and being prevented by the +wind from entering the wide Altamaha, returned to the Darien River and +ascended it to General's Cut, which, with Butler River, affords a +passage to the Altamaha River. Before entering General's Cut, mistaking +a large, half submerged alligator for a log on a mud bank, the canoe +nearly touched the saurian before he was roused from his nap to retire +into the water. General's Cut penetrates a rice plantation opposite the +town of Darien, to Butler's Island, the estate of the late Pierce +Butler, at its southern end. Rice-planting, since the war, had not +proved a very profitable business to the present proprietors, who +deserve much praise for the efforts they have made to educate their +freedmen. A profitable crop of oranges is gathered some seasons from +the groves upon Butler's Island. + +From the mouth of General's Cut down Butler River to the Altamaha was +but a short row. The latter stream would have taken me to Altamaha +Sound, to avoid which I passed through Wood's Cut into the South +Altamaha River, and proceeded through the lowland rice-plantations +towards St. Simon's Island, which is by the sea. About the middle of the +afternoon, when close to Broughton Island, where the South Altamaha +presented a wide area to the strong head-wind which was sending little +waves over my canoe, a white plantation-house, under the veranda of +which an elderly gentleman was sitting, attracted my attention. Here was +what seemed to be the last camping-ground on a route of several miles to +St. Simon's Island. + +If the wind continued to blow from the same quarter, the canoe could not +cross Buttermilk Sound that night; so I went ashore to inquire if there +were any hammocks in the marshes by the river-banks between the +plantation and the sound. + +The bachelor proprietor of Broughton Island, Captain Richard A. Akin, +posted me as to the route to St. Simon's Island, but insisted that the +canoe traveller should share his comfortable quarters until the next +day; and when the next day came round, and the warm sun and smooth +current of the wide Altamaha invited me to continue the voyage, the +hospitable rice-planter thought the weather not settled enough for me to +venture down to the sound. In fact, he held me a rather willing captive +for several days, and then let me off on the condition that I should +return at some future time, and spend a month with him in examining the +sea islands and game resources of the vicinity. + +Captain Akin was a successful rice-planter on the new system of +employing freedmen on wages, but while he protected the ignorant blacks +in all their newly-found rights, he was a thorough disciplinarian. The +negroes seemed to like their employer, and stuck to him with greater +tenacity than they did to those planters who allowed them to do as they +pleased. The result of lax treatment with these people is always a +failure of crops. The rivers and swamps near Broughton Island abound in +fine fishes and terrapin, while the marshes and flats of the sea islands +afford excellent opportunities for the sportsman to try his skill upon +the feathered tribe. + +On Monday, March 9th, the Maria Theresa left Broughton Island well +provisioned with the stores the generous captain had pressed upon my +acceptance. The atmosphere was softened by balmy breezes, and the bright +sunlight played with the shadows of the clouds upon the wide marshes, +which were now growing green with the warmth of returning spring. The +fish sprang from the water as I touched it with my light oars. + +St. Simon's Island,--where Mr. Pierce Butler once cultivated sea-island +cotton, and to which he took his English bride, Miss Kemble,--with its +almost abandoned plantation, was reached before ten o'clock. Frederica +River carried me along the whole length of the island to St. Simon's +Sound. When midway the island, I paused to survey what remains of the +old town of Frederica, of which but few vestiges can be discovered. +History informs us that Frederica was the first town built by the +English in Georgia, and was founded by General Oglethorpe, who began +and established the colony. + +The fortress was regular and beautiful, and was the largest, most +regular, and perhaps most costly of any in North America of British +construction. Pursuing my journey southward, the canoe entered the +exposed area of St. Simon's Sound, which, with its ocean inlet, was +easily crossed to the wild and picturesque Jekyl Island, upon which the +two bachelor brothers Dubignon live and hunt the deer, enjoying the free +life of lords of the forest. Their old family mansion, once a haven of +hospitality, where the northern tourist and shipwrecked sailor shared +alike the good things of this life with the kind host, was used for a +target by a gunboat during the late war, and is now in ruins. + +Here, twenty years ago, at midnight, the slave-yacht "Wanderer" landed +her cargo of African negroes, the capital for the enterprise being +supplied by three southern gentlemen, and the execution of the work +being intrusted, under carefully drawn contracts, to Boston parties. + +The calm weather greatly facilitated my progress, and had I not missed +Jekyl Creek, which is the steamboat thoroughfare through the marshes to +Jekyl and St. Andrew's Sound, that whole day's experience would have +been a most happy one. The mouth of Jekyl Creek was a narrow entrance, +and being off in the sound, I passed it as I approached the lowlands, +which were skirted until a passage at Cedar Hammock through the marsh +was found, some distance from the one I was seeking. Into this I +entered, and winding about for some time over its tortuous course, at a +late hour in the afternoon the canoe emerged into a broad watercourse, +down which I could look across Jekyl Sound to the sea. + +This broad stream was Jointer Creek, and I ascended it to find a spot of +high ground upon which to camp. It was now low water, and the surface of +the marshes was three or four feet above my head. After much anxious +searching, and a great deal of rowing against the last of the ebb, a +forest of pines and palmetto-trees was reached on Colonel's Island, at a +point about four miles--across the marshes and Brunswick River--from the +interesting old town of Brunswick, Georgia. + +The soft, muddy shores of the hammock were in one place enveloped in a +thicket of reeds, and here I rested upon my oars to select a convenient +landing-place. The rustling of the reeds suddenly attracted my +attention. Some animal was crawling through the thicket in the direction +of the boat. My eyes became fixed upon the mysterious shaking and waving +of the tops of the reeds, and my hearing was strained to detect the +cause of the crackling of the dry rushes over which this unseen creature +was moving. A moment later my curiosity was satisfied, for there emerged +slowly from the covert an alligator nearly as large as my canoe. The +brute's head was as long as a barrel; his rough coat of mail was +besmeared with mud, and his dull eyes were fixed steadily upon me. I was +so surprised and fascinated by the appearance of this huge reptile that +I remained immovable in my boat, while he in a deliberate manner entered +the water within a few feet of me. The hammock suddenly lost all its +inviting aspect, and I pulled away from it faster than I had approached. +In the gloom I observed two little hammocks, between Colonel's Island +and the Brunswick River, which seemed to be near Jointer's Creek, so I +followed the tortuous thoroughfares until I was within a quarter of a +mile of one of them. + +Pulling my canoe up a narrow creek towards the largest hammock, until +the creek ended in the lowland, I was cheered by the sight of a small +house in a grove of live-oaks, to reach which I was obliged to abandon +my canoe and attempt to cross the soft marsh. The tide was now rising +rapidly, and it might be necessary for me to swim some inland creek +before I could arrive at the upland. + +An oar was driven into the soft mud of the marsh and the canoe tied to +it, for I knew that the whole country, with the exception of the hammock +near by, would be under water at flood-tide. Floundering through mud and +pressing aside the tall, wire-like grass of the lowland, which entangled +my feet, frequently leaping natural ditches, and going down with a thud +in the mud on the other side, I finally struck the firm ground of the +largest Jointer Hammock, when the voice of its owner, Mr. R. F. +Williams, sounded most cheerfully in my ears as he exclaimed: "Where +_did_ you come from? How did you get across the marsh?" + +The unfortunate position of my boat was explained while the family +gathered round me, after which we sat down to supper. Mr. Williams felt +anxious about the cargo of my boat. "The coons," he said, "will scent +your provisions, and tear everything to pieces in the boat. We must go +look after it immediately." To go to the canoe we were obliged to follow +a creek which swept past the side of the hammock, opposite to my +landing-place, and row two or three miles on Jointer Creek. At nine +o'clock we reached the locality where I had abandoned the paper canoe. +Everything had changed in appearance; the land was under water; not a +landmark remained except the top of the oar, which rose out of the +lake-like expanse of water, while near it gracefully floated my little +companion. We towed her to the hammock; and after the tedious labor of +divesting myself of the marsh mud, which clung to my clothes, had been +crowned with success, the comfortable bed furnished by my host gave rest +to limbs and nerves which had been severely overtaxed since sunset. + +The following day opened cloudy and windy. The ocean inlet of Jekyl and +St. Andrew's sounds is three miles wide. From the mouth of Jointer +Creek, across these unprotected sounds, to High Point of Cumberland +Island, is eight miles. The route from the creek to Cumberland Island +was a risky one for so small a boat as the paper canoe while the weather +continued unpropitious. After entering the sounds there was but one spot +of upland, near the mouth of the Satilla River, that could be used for +camping purposes on the vast area of marshes. + +During the month of March rainy and windy weather prevail on this coast. +I could ill afford to lose any time shut up in Jointer's Hammock by bad +weather, as the low regions of Okefenokee Swamp were to be penetrated +before the warm season could make the task a disagreeable one. After +holding a consultation with Mr. Williams, he contracted to take the +canoe and its captain across St. Andrew's Sound to High Point of +Cumberland Island that day. His little sloop was soon under way, and +though the short, breaking waves of the sound, and the furious blasts of +wind, made the navigation of the shoals disagreeable, we landed quietly +at Mr. Chubbs' Oriental Hotel, at High Point, soon after noon. + +Mr. Martin, the surveyor of the island, welcomed me to Cumberland, and +gave me much information pertaining to local matters. The next morning +the canoe left the high bluffs of this beautiful sea island so filled +with historic associations, and threaded the marshy thoroughfare of +Cumberland and Brickhill River to Cumberland Sound. As I approached the +mouth of the St. Mary's River, the picturesque ruins of Dungeness +towered above the live-oak forest of the southern end of Cumberland +Island. It was with regret I turned my back upon that sea, the sounds of +which had so long struck upon my ear with their sweet melody. It seemed +almost a moan that was borne to me now as the soft waves laved the sides +of my graceful craft, as though to give her a last, loving farewell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ST. MARY'S RIVER AND THE SUWANEE WILDERNESS. + +A PORTAGE TO DUTTON.--DESCENT OF THE ST. MARY'S RIVER.--FÊTE GIVEN BY +THE CITIZENS TO THE PAPER CANOE.--THE PROPOSED CANAL ROUTE ACROSS +FLORIDA.--A PORTAGE TO THE SUWANEE RIVER.--A NEGRO SPEAKS ON ELECTRICITY +AND THE TELEGRAPH.--A FREEDMAN'S SERMON. + + +I now ascended the beautiful St. Mary's River, which flows from the +great Okefenokee Swamp. The state of Georgia was on my right hand, and +Florida on my left. Pretty hammocks dotted the marshes, while the +country presented peculiar and interesting characteristics. When four +miles from Cumberland Sound, the little city of St. Mary's, situated on +the Georgia side of the river, was before me; and I went ashore to make +inquiries concerning the route to Okefenokee Swamp. + +My object was to get information about the upper St. Mary's River, from +which I proposed to make a portage of thirty-five or forty miles in a +westerly direction to the Suwanee River, upon arriving at which I would +descend to the Gulf of Mexico. My efforts, both at St. Mary's and +Fernandina, on the Florida side of Cumberland Sound, to obtain any +reliable information upon this matter, were unsuccessful. A settlement +at Trader's Hill, about seventy-five miles up the St. Mary's River, was +the geographical limit of local knowledge, while I wished to ascend the +river at least one hundred miles beyond that point. + +Believing that if I explored the uninhabited sources of the St. Mary's, +I should be compelled to return without finding any settler upon its +banks at the proper point of departure for a portage to the Suwanee, it +became necessary to abandon all idea of ascending this river. I could +not, however, give up the exploration of the route. In this dilemma, a +kindly written letter seemed to solve the difficulties. Messrs. Dutton & +Rixford, northern gentlemen, who possessed large facilities for the +manufacture of resin and turpentine at their new settlements of Dutton, +six miles from the St. Mary's River, and at Rixford, near the Suwanee, +kindly proposed that I should take my canoe by railroad from Cumberland +Sound to Dutton. From that station Mr. Dutton offered to transport the +boat through the wilderness to the St. Mary's River, which could be from +that point easily descended to the sea. The Suwanee River, at Rixford, +could be reached by rail, and the voyage would end at its debouchure on +the marshy coast of the Gulf of Mexico. + +Hon. David Yulee, president and one-third owner of the A. G. & W. I. T. +C. Railroad, which connects the Atlantic coast at Fernandina with the +Gulf coast at Cedar Keys, offered me the free use of his long railroad, +for any purpose of exploration, &c., while his son, Mr. C. Wickliffe +Yulee, exerted himself to remove all impediments to delay. + +These gentlemen, being native Floridians, have done much towards +encouraging all legitimate exploration of the peninsula, and have also +done something towards putting a check on the outrageous impositions +practised on northern agricultural emigrants to Florida, by encouraging +the organization of a railroad land-company, which offers a forty-acre +homestead for fifty dollars, to be selected out of nearly six hundred +thousand acres of land along their highway across the state. A man of +comparatively small means can now try the experiment of making a home +in the mild climate of Florida, and if he afterwards abandons the +enterprise there will have been but a small investment of capital, +and consequently little loss. + +The turpentine distillery of Dutton was situated in a heavy forest of +lofty pines. Major C. K. Dutton furnished a team of mules to haul the +Maria Theresa to the St. Mary's River, the morning after my arrival by +rail at Dutton Station. The warm sunshine shot aslant the tall pines as +the teamster followed a faintly developed trail towards the swamps. +Before noon the flashing waters of the stream were discernible, and a +little later, with paddle in hand, I was urging the canoe towards the +Atlantic coast. A luxurious growth of trees and shrubs fringed the low, +and in some places submerged, river shores. Back, on the higher, sandy +soils, the yellow pine forests, in almost primeval grandeur, arose, +shutting out all view of the horizon. Low bluffs, with white, sandy +beaches of a few rods in extent, offered excellent camping-grounds. + +When the Cracker of Okefenokee Swamp is asked why he lives in so +desolate a region, with only a few cattle and hogs for companions, with +mosquitoes, fleas, and vermin about him, with alligators, catamounts, +and owls on all sides, making night hideous, he usually replies, "Wal, +stranger, wood and water is so _powerful_ handy. Sich privileges ain't +met with everywhar." + +As I glided swiftly down the dark current I peered into the dense woods, +hoping to be cheered by the sight of a settler's cabin; but in all that +day's search not a clearing could be found, nor could I discern rising +from the tree-tops of the solitary forest a little cloud of smoke +issuing from the chimney of civilized man. I was alone in the vast wilds +through which the beautiful river flowed noiselessly but swiftly to +the sea. Thoreau loved a swamp, and so do all lovers of nature, for +nowhere else does she so bountifully show her vigorous powers of growth, +her varied wealth of botanical wonders. Here the birds resort in flocks +when weary of the hot, sandy uplands, for here they find pure water, +cool shade, and many a curious glossy berry for their dainty appetites. + +[Illustration: From St. Simon's Sound, Georgia, to Cedar Keys, Florida. + +Route of Paper Canoe MARIA THERESA From St. Simon's Sd. +Ga. to Cedar Keys, Fla. Followed by N. H. Bishop in 1875 +_Copyright, 1878 by Lee & Shepard_] + +As the little Maria Theresa sped onward through the open forest and +tangled wild-wood, through wet morass and piny upland, my thoughts dwelt +upon the humble life of the Concord naturalist and philosopher. How he +would have enjoyed the descent of this wild river from the swamp to the +sea! He had left us for purer delights; but I could enjoy his "Walden" +as though he still lived, and read of his studies of nature with +ever-increasing interest. + +Swamps have their peculiar features. Those of the Waccamaw were indeed +desolate, while the swamps of the St. Mary's were full of sunshine for +the traveller. Soon after the canoe had commenced her river journey, a +sharp sound, like that produced by a man striking the water with a +broad, flat stick, reached my ears. As this sound was frequently +repeated, and always in advance of my boat, it roused my curiosity. It +proved to come from alligators. One after another slipped off the banks, +striking the water with their tails as they took refuge in the river +from the disturber of their peace. To observe the movements of these +reptiles I ran the canoe within two rods of the left shore, and by rapid +paddling was enabled to arrive opposite a creature as he entered the +water. When thus confronted, the alligator would depress his ugly head, +lash the water once with his tail, and dive under the canoe, a most +thoroughly alarmed animal. All these alligators were mere babies, very +few being over four feet long. Had they been as large as the one which +greeted me at Colonel's Island, I should not have investigated their +dispositions, but would have considered discretion the better part of +valor, and left them undisturbed in their sun-baths on the banks. + +In all my experience with the hundreds of alligators I have seen in the +southern rivers and swamps of North America, every one, both large and +small, fled at the approach of man. The experience of some of my friends +in their acquaintance with American alligators has been of a more +serious nature. It is well to exercise care about camping at night close +to the water infested with large saurians, as one of these strong +fellows could easily seize a sleeping man by the leg and draw him into +the river. They do not seem to fear a recumbent or bowed figure, but, +like most wild animals, flee before the _upright_ form of man. + +Late in the afternoon I passed an island, made by a "cut-off" through +a bend of the river, and, according to previous directions, counted +fourteen bends or reaches in the river which was to guide me to +Stewart's Ferry, the owner of which lived back in the woods, his cabin +not being discernible from the river. Near this spot, which is +occasionally visited by lumbermen and piny-woods settlers, I drew my +canoe on to a sandy beach one rod in length. A little bluff, five or +six feet above the water, furnished me with the broad leaves of the +saw-palmetto, a dwarfish sort of palm, which I arranged for a bed. The +provision-basket was placed at my head. A little fire of light-wood +cheered me for a while, but its bright flame soon attracted winged +insects in large numbers. Having made a cup of chocolate, and eaten +some of Captain Akin's chipped beef and crackers, I continued my +preparations for the night. Feeling somewhat nervous about large +alligators, I covered myself with a piece of painted canvas, which +was stiff and strong, and placed the little revolver, my only weapon, +under my blanket. + +As I fully realized the novelty of my strange position in this desolate +region, it was some time before I could compose myself and sleep. It was +a night of dreams. Sounds indistinct but numerous troubled my brain, +until I was fully roused to wakefulness by horrible visions and doleful +cries. The chuck-will's-widow, which in the south supplies the place of +our whippoorwill, repeated his oft-told tale of "chuck-will's-widow, +chuck-will's-widow," with untiring earnestness. The owls hooted wildly, +with a chorus of cries from animals and reptiles not recognizable by me, +excepting the snarling voices of the coons fighting in the forest. These +last were old acquaintances, however, as they frequently gathered round +my camp at night to pick up the remains of supper. + +While I listened, there rose a cry so hideous in its character and so +belligerent in its tone, that I trembled with fear upon my palm-leaf +mattress. It resembled the bellowing of an infuriated bull, but was +louder and more penetrating in its effect. The proximity of this animal +was indeed unpleasant, for he had planted himself on the river's edge, +near the little bluff upon which my camp had been constructed. The loud +roar was answered by a similar bellow from the other side of the river, +and for a long time did these two male alligators keep up their +challenging cries, without coming to combat. Numerous wood-mice attacked +my provision-basket, and even worked their way through the leaves of my +palmetto mattress. + +Thus with an endless variety of annoyances the night wore wearily away, +but the light of the rising sun did not penetrate the thick fog which +enveloped the river until after eight o'clock, when I embarked for a +second day's journey upon the stream, which had now attained a width of +five or six rods. Rafts of logs blocked the river as I approached the +settlement of Trader's Hill, and upon a most insecure footing the canoe +was dragged over a quarter of a mile of logs, and put into the water on +the lower side of the "jam." Crossing several of these log "jams," which +covered the entire width of the St. Mary's, I became weary of the task, +and, after the last was reached, determined to go into camp until the +next day, when suddenly the voices of men in the woods were heard. + +Soon a gentleman, with two raftsmen, appeared and kindly greeted me. +They had been notified of my approach at Trader's Hill by a courier sent +from Dutton across the woods, and these men, whose knowledge of +woodcraft is wonderful, had timed my movements so correctly that they +had arrived just in time to meet me at this point. The two raftsmen +rubbed the canoe all over with their hands, and expressed delight at its +beautiful finish in their own peculiar vernacular. + +"She's the dog-gonedest thing I ever seed, and jist as putty as a new +coffin!" exclaimed one. + +"Indeed, she's the handsomest trick I ever did blink on," said the +second. + +The two stalwart lumbermen lifted the boat as though she were but a +feather, and carried her, jumping from log to log, the whole length of +the raft. They then put her gently in the water, and added to their +farewell the cheering intelligence that "there's no more jams nor +rafts 'twixt here and the sea, and you can go clar on to New York if +you like." + +Trader's Hill, on a very high bluff on the left bank, was soon passed, +when the current seemed suddenly to cease, and I felt the first tidal +effect of the sea, though many miles from the coast. The tide was +flooding. I now laid aside the paddle, and putting the light steel +outriggers in their sockets, rapidly rowed down the now broad river +until the shadows of night fell upon forest and stream, when the +comfortable residence of Mr. Lewis Davis, with his steam saw-mill, came +into sight upon Orange Bluff, on the Florida side of the river. Here a +kind welcome greeted me from host and hostess, who had dwelt twenty +years in this romantic but secluded spot. There were orange-trees forty +years old on this property, and all in fine bearing order. There was +also a fine sulphur spring near the house. + +Mr. Davis stated that, during a residence of twenty years in this +charming locality, he had experienced but one attack of chills. He +considered the St. Mary's River, on account of the purity of its +waters, one of the healthiest of southern streams. The descent of this +beautiful river now became a holiday pastime. Though there were but +few signs of the existence of man, the scenery was of a cheering +character. A brick-kiln, a few saw-mills, and an abandoned +rice-plantation were passed, while the low salt-marshes, extending +into the river from the forest-covered upland, gave evidence of the +proximity to the sea. Large alligators were frequently seen sunning +themselves upon the edges of the banks. + +At dusk the town of St. Mary's, in its wealth of foliage, opened to +my view from across the lowlands, and soon after the paper canoe was +carefully stored in a building belonging to one of its hospitable +citizens, while local authority asserted that I had traversed one +hundred and seventy-five miles of the river. + +One evening, while enjoying the hospitality of Mr. Silas Fordam, at his +beautiful winter home, "Orange Hall," situated in the heart of St. +Mary's, a note, signed by the Hon. J. M. Arnow, mayor of the city, was +handed me. Mr. Arnow, in the name of the city government, invited my +presence at the Spencer House. Upon arriving at the hotel, a surprise +awaited me. The citizens of the place had gathered to welcome the paper +canoe and its owner, and to express the kindly feelings they, as +southern citizens, held towards their northern friends. The hotel was +decorated with flags and floral emblems, one of which expressed, in its +ingeniously constructed words, wrought in flowers, "_One hundred +thousand Welcomes_." + +The mayor and his friends received me upon the veranda of the hotel with +kind words of welcome. Bright lights glimmered at this moment through +the long avenue of trees, and music arose upon the night air. It was a +torchlight procession coming from the river, bearing upon a framework +structure, from which hung Chinese lanterns and wreaths of laurel, the +little paper canoe. The Base-ball Club of the city, dressed in their +handsome uniform, carried the "Maria Theresa," while the sailors from +the lumber fleet in the river, with the flags of several nationalities, +brought up the rear. + +When the procession arrived in front of the hotel, three hearty cheers +were given by the people, and the mayor read the city's address of +welcome to me; to which I made reply, not only in behalf of myself, but +of all those of my countrymen who desired the establishment of a pure +and good government in every portion of our dear land. + +Mayor Arnow presented me with an engrossed copy of his speech of +welcome, in which he invited all industrious northerners to come to his +native city, promising that city ordinances should be passed to +encourage the erection of manufactories, &c., by northern capital and +northern labor. After the address, the wife of the mayor presented me +with two memorial banners, in the name of the ladies of the city. These +were made for the occasion, and being the handiwork of the ladies +themselves, were highly appreciated by the recipient. When these +graceful tributes had been received, each lady and child present +deposited a bouquet of flowers, grown in the gardens of St. Mary's, in +my little craft, till it contained about four hundred of these refined +expressions of the good-will of these kind people. Not only did the +native population of the town vie with each other to accord the lonely +voyager a true southern welcome, but Mr. A. Curtis, an English +gentleman, who, becoming fascinated with the fine climate of this part +of Georgia, had settled here, did all he could to show his appreciation +of canoe-travelling, and superintended the marine display and flag corps +of the procession. + +I left St. Mary's with a strange longing to return to its interesting +environs, and to study here the climatology of southern Georgia, for, +strange to say, cases of local "fever and chills" have never +originated in the city. It is reached from Savannah by the inside +steamboat route, or by rail, to Fernandina, with which it is connected +by a steamboat ferry eight miles in length. Speculation not having yet +affected the low valuation placed upon property around St. Mary's, +northern men can obtain winter homes in this attractive town at a very +low cost. This city is a port of entry. Mr. Joseph Shepard, a most +faithful government officer, has filled the position of collector of +customs for several years. + +As vessels of considerable tonnage can ascend the St. Mary's River from +the sea on a full tide to the wharves of the city, its citizens prophesy +a future growth and development for the place when a river and canal +route across the peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of +Mexico shall have been completed. For many years Colonel Raiford has +been elaborating his plan "for elongating the western and southern +inland system of navigation to harbors of the Atlantic Ocean." He +proposes to unite the natural watercourses of the coast of the Gulf of +Mexico by short canals, so that barges drawing seven feet of water, and +freighted with the produce of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, +may pass from New Orleans eastward to the southern ports of the Atlantic +States. The great peninsula of Florida would be crossed by these vessels +from the Suwanee to the St. Mary's River by means of a canal cut through +the Okefenokee Swamp, and this route would save several hundred miles of +navigation upon open ocean waters. The dangerous coral reefs of the +Florida and Bahama shores would be avoided, and a land-locked channel +of thirty thousand miles of navigable watercourses would be united in +one system. + +Lieutenant-Colonel Q. A. Gilmore's report on "Water Line for +Transportation from the Mouth of the St. Mary's River, on the Atlantic +Coast, through Okefenokee Swamp and the State of Florida to the Gulf +of Mexico," in which the able inquirer discusses this water route, has +recently been published. I traversed a portion of this route in +1875-6, from the head of the Ohio River to New Orleans, and along the +shores of the Gulf of Mexico to Cedar Keys, in a cedar duck-boat; and +as the results of my observations may some day be made public, I will +at this time refer the reader, if he be interested in the important +enterprise, to the Congressional reports which describe the +feasibility of the plan. + +Another portage by rail was made in order to complete my journey to the +Gulf of Mexico, and Rixford, near the Suwanee River, was reached via the +A. G. & W. I. T. C. Railroad to Baldwin, thence over the J. P. & M. +Railroad to Live Oak, where another railroad from the north connects, +and along which, a few miles from Live Oak, Messrs. Dutton & Rixford had +recently established their turpentine and resin works. + +At Rixford I found myself near the summit, or backbone of Florida, from +which the tributaries of the water-shed flow on one side to the Atlantic +Ocean, and on the other to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a high region of +rolling country, heavily wooded with magnificent pine forests, rich in +terebinthine resources. The residence of the proprietor, the store and +the distillery, with a few log cabins inhabited by negroes and white +employés, made up the establishment of Rixford. + +The Crackers and negroes came from long distances to see the paper boat. +One afternoon, when a number of people had gathered at Rixford to behold +the little craft, I placed it on one of those curious sheets of water of +crystal purity called in that region a _sink_; and though this nameless, +mirror-like lakelet did not cover over an acre in extent, the movements +of the little craft, when propelled by the double paddle, excited an +enthusiasm which is seldom exhibited by the piny-woods people. + +As the boat was carefully lifted from the silvery tarn, one woman called +out in a loud voice, "Lake Theresa!" and thus, by mutual consent of +every one present, did this lakelet of crystal waters receive its name. + +The blacks crowded around the canoe, and while feeling its firm texture, +and wondering at the long distance it had traversed, expressed +themselves in their peculiar and original way. One of their number, +known as a "tonguey nigger," volunteered to explain the wonder to the +somewhat confused intellects of his companions. To a question from one +negro as to "How did dis yere Yankee-man cum all dis fur way in de +_paper_ canoe, all hissef lone?" the "_educated_" negro replied: "It's +all de Lord. No man ken cum so fur in a _paper_ boat ef de Lord didn't +help him. De Lord does eberyting. He puts de tings in de Yankee-man's +heads to du um, an' dey duz um. Dar was de big Franklin up norf, dat +made de telegraf. Did ye eber har tell ob him?" + +"Neber, neber!" responded all the negroes. + +Then, with a look of supreme contempt for the ignorance of his audience, +the orator proceeded: "Dis great Franklin, _Cap'n_ Franklin, he tort +he'd kotch de litening and make de telegraf; so he flies a big kite way +up to de heabens, an' he puts de string in de bottle dat hab nufing in +it. Den he holds de bottle in one hand, an' he holds de cork in de udder +hand. Down cums de litening and fills de bottle _full up_, and Cap'n +Franklin he dun cork him up mighty quick, and kotched de litening an' +made de telegraf. But it was de Lord--de Lord, not Cap'n Franklin--dat +did all dis." + +It was amusing to watch the varied expression of the negroes, as they +listened to this description of the discovery of electricity, and the +origin of the telegraph. Their eyes dilated with wonder, and their thick +lips parted till the mouth, growing wider and wider, seemed to cover +more than its share of the face. The momentary silence was soon broken +by a deep gurgle proceeding from a stolid-looking negro, as he +exclaimed: "Did he kotch de bottle _full_ ob litening, and _cork_ him +up. Golly! I tort he wud hab _busted_ hissef!" + +"So he wud! so he wud!" roared the orator, "but ye see 'twas all de +Lord--de Lord's a-doing it." + +While in Florida I paid some attention to the negro method of conducting +praise meetings, which they very appropriately call "de shoutings." If I +give some verbatim reports of the negro's curious and undignified +clerical efforts, it is not done for the purpose of caricaturing him, +nor with a desire to make him appear destitute of mental calibre; but +rather with the hope that the picture given may draw some sympathy from +the liberal churches of the north, which do not forget the African in +his native jungle, nor the barbarous islanders of the South Seas. A +well-informed Roman Catholic priest told me that he had been +disappointed with the progress his powerfully organized church had made +in converting the freedmen. Before going among them I had supposed that +the simple-minded black, now no longer a slave, would be easily +attracted to the impressive ceremonies of the Church of Rome; but after +witnessing the activity of their devotions, and observing how anxious +they are to take a conspicuous and a leading part in all religious +services, it seemed to me that the free black of the south would take +more naturally to Methodism than to any other form of Christianity. + +The appointment of _local preachers_ would be especially acceptable to +the negro, as he would then be permitted to have ministers of his own +color, and of his own neighborhood, to lead the meetings; while the +Roman Catholic priest would probably treat him more like a child, and +would therefore exercise a strong discipline over him. + +In one of their places of worship, at my request, a New York lady, well +skilled in rapid writing and familiar with the negro vernacular, +reported verbatim the negro preacher's sermon. The text was the parable +of the ten virgins; and as the preacher went on, he said: "Five ob dem +war wise an' five of dem war foolish. De wise jes gone an' dun git dar +lamps _full up ob oil_, and git rite in and see de bridegoom; an' de +foolish dey sot dem rite down on de stool ob do-noting, an' dar dey sot +till de call cum; den dey run, pick up der ole lamps and try to push +door in, but de Lord say to dem, 'Git out dar! you jes git out dar!' an' +shut door rite in dar face. + +"My brudders and my sisters, yer must fill de lamps wid de gospel an' de +edication ob Moses, fur Moses war a larned man, an' edication is de _mos +estaminable blessin'_ a pusson kin hab in dis world. + +"Hole-on to de gospel! Ef you see dat de flag am tore, get hole +somewhar, keep a grabblin until ye git hole ob de stick, an' nebah gib +up de stick, but grabble, grabble till ye die; for dough yer sins be as +black as scarlet, dey shall be white as snow." + +The sermon over, the assembled negroes then sung in slow measure: + + "Lit-tell chil-ern, you'd bet-tar be-a-lieve-- + Lit-tell chil-ern, you'd bet-tar be-a-lieve-- + Lit-tell chil-ern, you'd bet-tar be-a-lieve-- + I'll git home to heav-en when I die. + + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + I'll git home to _heav-en_ when I die. + + Lord wish-ed I was in heav-en, + Fur to see my mudder when she enter, + Fur to see her tri-als an' long white robes: + She'll shine like cristul in de sun. + + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + Sweet heav-en ain-a-my-ain, + I'll git home to heav-en when I die." + +While visiting a town in Georgia, where the negroes had made some +effort to improve their condition, I made a few notes relating to the +freedman's debating society of the place. Affecting high-sounding +words, they called their organization, "De Lycenum," and its doings +were directed by a committee of two persons, called respectively, "de +disputaceous visitor," and "de lachrymal visitor." What particular +duties devolved upon the "lachrymal visitor," I could never clearly +ascertain. One evening these negroes debated upon the following theme, +"Which is de best--when ye are out ob a ting, or when ye hab got it?" +which was another form of expressing the old question, "Is there more +pleasure in possession than in anticipation?" Another night the +colored orators became intensely excited over the query, "Which is de +best, _Spring-Water_ or Matches?" + +The freedmen, for so unfortunate a class, seem to be remarkably well +behaved. During several journeys through the southern states I found +them usually temperate, and very civil in their intercourse with the +whites, though it must be confessed that but few of them can apply +themselves steadily and persistently to manual labor, either for +themselves or their employers. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DOWN UPON THE SUWANEE RIVER. + +THE RICH FOLIAGE OF THE RIVER.--COLUMBUS.--ROLINS' BLUFF.--OLD TOWN +HAMMOCK.--A HUNTER KILLED BY A PANTHER.--DANGEROUS SERPENTS.--CLAY +LANDING.--THE MARSHES OF THE COAST.--BRADFORD'S ISLAND.--MY LAST +CAMP.--THE VOYAGE ENDED. + + +Some friends, among whom were Colonel George W. Nason, Jr., of +Massachusetts, and Major John Purviance, Commissioner of Suwanee County, +offered to escort the paper canoe down "the river of song" to the Gulf +of Mexico, a distance, according to local authority, of two hundred and +thirty-five miles. While the members of the party were preparing for the +journey, Colonel Nason accompanied me to the river, which was less than +three miles from Rixford, the proprietors of which sent the canoe after +us on a wagon drawn by mules. The point of embarkation was the Lower +Mineral Springs, the property of Judge Bryson. + +The Suwanee, which was swollen by some recent rains in Okefenokee Swamp, +was a wild, dark, turbulent current, which went coursing through the +woods on its tortuous route with great rapidity. The luxuriant foliage +of the river-banks was remarkable. Maples were in blossom, beech-trees +in bloom, while the buckeye was covered with its heavy festoons of red +flowers. Pines, willows, cotton-wood, two kinds of hickory, water-oak, +live-oak, sweet-gum, magnolia, the red and white bay-tree, a few +red-cedars, and haw-bushes, with many species not known to me, made up a +rich wall of verdure on either side, as I sped along with a light heart +to Columbus, where my _compagnons de voyage_ were to meet me. Wood-ducks +and egrets, in small flocks, inhabited the forest. The limestone banks +of the river were not visible, as the water was eighteen feet above its +low summer level. + +I now passed under the railroad bridge which connects Live Oak with +Savannah. After a steady row of some hours, my progress was checked by a +great boom, stretched across the river to catch the logs which floated +down from the upper country. I was obliged to disembark and haul the +canoe around this obstacle, when, after passing a few clearings, the +long bridge of the J. P. & M. Railroad came into view, stretching across +the now wide river from one wilderness to the other. On the left bank +was all that remained of the once flourishing town of Columbus, +consisting now of a store, kept by Mr. Allen, and a few buildings. +Before the railroad was built, Columbus possessed a population of five +hundred souls, and it was reached, during favorable stages of water, by +light-draught steamboats from Cedar Keys, on the Gulf of Mexico. The +building of railroads in the south has diverted trade from one locality +to another, and many towns, once prosperous, have gone to decay. + +The steam saw-mills and village of Ellaville were located on the +river-bank opposite Columbus, and this lumber establishment is the only +place of importance between it and Cedar Keys. This far-famed river, to +which the heart of the minstrel's darky "is turning eber," is, in fact, +almost without the "one little hut among de bushes," for it is a wild +and lonely stream. Even in the most prosperous times there were but few +plantations upon its shores. Wild animals roam its great forests, and +vile reptiles infest the dense swamps. It is a country well fitted for +the hunter and lumberman, for the naturalist or canoeist; but the +majority of people would, I am sure, rather hear of it poured forth in +song from the sweet lips of Christina Nilsson, than to be themselves +"way down upon the Suwanee Ribber." + +On Monday, March 22d, Messrs. Nason, Purviance, and Henderson joined me. +The party had obtained a northern-built shad-boat, which had been +brought by rail from Savannah. It was sloop-rigged, and was decked +forward, so that the enthusiastic tourists possessed a weatherproof +covering for their provisions and blankets. With the strong current of +the river, a pair of long oars, and a sail to be used when favorable +winds blew, the party in the shad-boat could make easy and rapid +progress towards the Gulf, while my lightly dancing craft needed +scarcely a touch of the oar to send her forward. + +On Tuesday, the 23d, we left Columbus, while a crowd of people assembled +to see us off, many of them seeming to consider this simple and +delightful way of travelling too dangerous to be attempted. The smooth +but swift current rolled on its course like a sea of molten glass, as +the soft sunlight trembled through the foliage and shimmered over its +broad surface. + +Our boats glided safely over the rapids, which for a mile and a half +impede the navigation of the river during the summer months, but which +were now made safe by the great depth of water caused by the freshet. +The weather was charming, and our little party, fully alive to all the +beautiful surroundings, woke many an echo with sounds meant to be sweet. +Of course the good old song was not forgotten. Our best voice sang: + + "Way down up-on de Suwanee Rib-ber, + Far, far away, + Dere's whar my heart is turn-ing eb-ber, + Dere's whar de old folks stay. + All up and down de whole creation + Sadly I roam, + Still longing for de old plantation, + And for de old folks at home. + + "All round de little farm I wander'd + When I was young; + Den many happy days I squan-der'd-- + Many de songs I sung. + When I was playing wid my brud-der, + Hap-py was I. + O! take me to my kind old mud-der, + Dere let me live and die! + + "One little hut among de bushes,-- + One dat I love,-- + Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes, + No matter where I rove. + When will I see de bees a-hum-ming + All round de comb? + When will I hear de ban-jo tum-ming + Down in my good old home?" + +We all joined in the chorus at the end of each verse: + + "All de world am sad and dreary + Eb-ry-whar I roam. + O, darkies, how my heart grows weary, + Far from de old folks at home." + +We soon entered forests primeval which were quiet, save for the sound of +the axe of the log-thief, for timber-stealing is a profession which +reaches its greatest perfection on the Florida state lands and United +States naval reserves. Uncle Sam's territory is being constantly +plundered to supply the steam saw-mills of private individuals in +Florida. Several of the party told interesting stories of the way in +which log-thieves managed to steal from the government _legally_. + +"There," said one, "is X, who runs his mill on the largest tract of pine +timber Uncle Sam has got. He once bought a few acres' claim adjacent to +a fine naval reserve. He was not, of course, able to discover the +boundary line which separated his little tract from the rich government +reserve, so he kept a large force of men cutting down Uncle Sam's +immense pines, and, hauling them to the Suwanee, floated them to his +mill. This thing went on for some time, till the government agent made +his appearance and demanded a settlement. + +"The wholesale timber-thief now showed a fair face, and very frankly +explained that he supposed he had been cutting logs from his own +territory, but quite recently he had discovered that he had really been +trespassing on the property of his much-loved country, and as he was +truly a loyal citizen, he desired to make restitution, and was now ready +to settle. + +"The government agent was astonished at the seeming candor of the man, +who so worked upon his sympathy that he promised to be as easy upon him +as the law allowed. The agent settled upon a valuation of fifty cents an +acre for all the territory that had been cut over. 'And now,' said he, +'how many acres of land have you "logged" since you put your lumbermen +into the forest?' + +"Mr. X declared himself unable to answer this question, but generously +offered to permit the agent to put down any number of acres he thought +would represent a fair thing between a kind government and one of its +unfortunate citizens. Intending to do his duty faithfully, the officer +settled upon two thousand acres as having been trespassed upon; but to +his astonishment the incomprehensible offender stoutly affirmed that he +had logged fully five thousand acres, and at once settled the matter in +full by paying twenty-five hundred dollars, taking a receipt for the +same. + +"When this enterprising business-man visited Jacksonville, his friends +rallied him upon confessing judgment to government for three thousand +acres of timber more than had been claimed by the agent. This true +_patriot_ winked as he replied: + +"'It is true I hold a receipt from the government for the timber on +five thousand acres at the very low rate of fifty cents an acre. As I +have not yet cut logs from more than one-fifth of the tract, _I intend +to work off the timber on the other four thousand acres at my leisure_, +and no power can stop me now I have the government receipt to show it's +paid for.'" + +The sloop and the canoe had left Columbus a little before noon, and at +six P. M. we passed Charles' Ferry, where the old St. Augustine and +Tallahassee forest road crosses the river. At this lonely place an old +man, now dead, owned a subterranean spring, which he called +"Mediterranean passage." This spring is powerful enough to run a +rickety, "up-and-down" saw-mill. The great height of the water allowed +me to paddle into the mill with my canoe. + +At half past seven o'clock a deserted log cabin at Barrington's Ferry +offered us shelter for the night. The whole of the next day we rowed +through the same immense forests, finding no more cultivated land than +during our first day's voyage. We landed at a log cabin in a small +clearing to purchase eggs of a poor woman, whose husband had shot her +brother a few days before. As the wife's brother had visited the cabin +with the intention of killing the husband, the woman seemed to think the +murdered man had "got his desarts," and, as a coroner's jury had +returned a verdict of "justifiable homicide," the affair was considered +settled. + +Below this cabin we came to Island No. 1, where rapids trouble boatmen +in the summer months. Now we glided gently but swiftly over the deep +current. The few inhabitants we met along the banks of the Suwanee +seemed to carry with them an air of repose while awake. To rouse them +from mid-day slumbers we would call loudly as we passed a cabin in the +woods, and after considerable delay a man would appear at the door, +rubbing his eyes as though the genial sunlight was oppressive to his +vision. It was indeed a quiet, restful region, this great wilderness of +the Suwanee. + +We passed Mrs. Goodman's farm and log buildings on the left bank, just +below Island No. 8, before noon, and about this time Major Purviance +shot at a large wild turkey (_Meleagris gallopavo_), knocking it off a +bank into the water. The gobbler got back to land, and led us a +fruitless chase into the thicket of saw-palmetto. He knew his ground +better than we, for, though wounded, he made good his escape. We stopped +a few moments at Troy, which, though dignified in name, consists only of +a store and some half dozen buildings. + +A few miles below this place, on the left bank of the river, is an +uninhabited elevation called Rolins' Bluff, from which a line running +north 22° east, twenty-three miles and a half in length, will strike +Live Oak. A charter to connect Live Oak with this region of the Suwanee +by means of a railroad had just passed the Florida legislature, but had +been killed by the veto of the governor. After sunset the boats were +secured in safe positions in front of a deserted cabin, round which a +luxuriant growth of bitter-orange trees showed what nature could do for +this neglected grove. The night air was balmy, and tremulous with +insect life, while the alligators in the swamps kept up their bellowings +till morning. + +After breakfast we descended to the mouth of the Santa Fé River, which +was on the left bank of the Suwanee. The piny-woods people called it the +Santaffy. The wilderness below the Santa Fé is rich in associations of +the Seminole Indian war. Many relics have been found, and, among others, +on the site of an old Indian town, entombed in a hollow tree, the +skeletons of an Indian adult and child, decked with beads, were +discovered. Fort Fanning is on the left bank, and Old Town Hammock on +the right bank of the Suwanee. + +During the Seminole war, the hammock and the neighboring fastnesses +became the hiding-places of the persecuted Indians, and so wild and +undisturbed is this region, even at this time, that the bear, lynx, +and panther take refuge from man in its jungles. + +Colonel J. L. F. Cottrell left his native Virginia in 1854, and +commenced the cultivation of the virgin soil of Old Town Hammock. Each +state has its peculiar mode of dividing its land, and here in Florida +this old plantation was in township 10, section 24, range 13. The estate +included about two thousand acres of land, of which nearly eleven +hundred were under cultivation. The slaves whom the colonel brought +from Virginia were now his tenants, and he leased them portions of his +arable acres. He considered this locality as healthy as any in the +Suwanee country. The old planter's home, with its hospitable doors ever +open to the stranger, was embowered in live-oaks and other trees, from +the branches of which the graceful festoons of Spanish moss waved in the +soft air, telling of a warm, moist atmosphere. + +A large screw cotton-press and corn-cribs, with smoke-house and other +plantation buildings, were conveniently grouped under the spreading +branches of the protecting oaks. The estate produced cotton, corn, sweet +potatoes, cattle, hogs, and poultry. Deer sometimes approached the +enclosed fields, while the early morning call of the wild turkey came +from the thickets of the hammock. In this retired part of Florida, +cheered by the society of a devoted wife and four lovely daughters, +lived the kind-hearted gentleman who not only pressed upon us the +comforts of his well-ordered house, but also insisted upon accompanying +the paper canoe from his forest home to the sea. + +When gathered around the firesides of the backwoods people, the +conversation generally runs into hunting stories, Indian reminiscences, +and wild tales of what the pioneers suffered while establishing +themselves in their forest homes. One event of startling interest had +occurred in the Suwanee country a few weeks before the paper canoe +entered its confines. Two hunters went by night to the woods to shoot +deer by firelight. As they stalked about, with light-wood torches held +above their heads, they came upon a herd of deer, which, being +bewildered by the glare of the lights, made no attempt to escape. +Sticking their torches in the ground, the hunters stretched themselves +flat upon the grass, to hide their forms from the animals they hoped to +kill at their leisure. One of the men was stationed beneath the branches +of a large tree; the other was a few yards distant. + +[Illustration: THE PANTHER'S LEAP.] + +Before the preconcerted signal for discharging their rifles could be +given, the sound of a heavy body falling to the ground, and an +accompanying smothered shriek, startled the hunter who was farthest from +the tree. Starting up in alarm, he flew to the assistance of his friend, +whose prostrate form was covered by a large panther, which had pounced +upon him from the overhanging limb of the great oak. It had been but the +work of an instant for the powerful cougar to break with his strong jaws +the neck of the poor backwoodsman. + +In this rare case of a panther (_Felis concolor_) voluntarily +attacking man, it will be noted by the student of natural history that +the victim was lying upon the ground. Probably the animal would not +have left his perch among the branches of the oak, where he was +evidently waiting for the approach of the deer, if the _upright_ form +of the man had been seen. Go to a southern bayou, which is rarely, if +ever, visited by man, and where its saurian inhabitants have never +been annoyed by him,--place your body in a recumbent position on the +margin of the lagoon, and wait until some large alligator slowly rises +to the surface of the water. He will eye you for a moment with evident +curiosity, and will in some cases steadily approach you. When the +monster reptile is within two or three rods of your position, rise +slowly upon your feet to your full height, and the alligator of the +southern states--the _A. Mississippiensis_--will, in nine cases out +of ten, retire with precipitation. + +There are but few wild animals that will attack man willingly when face +to face with him; they quail before his erect form. In every case of the +animals of North America showing fight to man, which has been +investigated by me, the beasts have had no opportunity to escape, or +have had their young to defend, or have been wounded by the hunter. + +It was nearly ten o'clock A. M. on Friday, March 26th, when our merry +party left Old Town Hammock. This day was to see the end of the voyage +of the paper canoe, for my tiny craft was to arrive at the waters of the +great southern sea before midnight. The wife and daughters of our host, +like true women of the forest, offered no forebodings at the departure +of the head of their household, but wished him, with cheerful looks, a +pleasant voyage to the Gulf. The gulf port of Cedar Keys is but a few +miles from the mouth of the Suwanee River. The railroad which terminates +at Cedar Keys would, with its connection with other routes, carry the +members of our party to their several homes. + +The bright day animated our spirits, as we swept swiftly down the river. +The party in the shad-boat, now called "Adventurer," rowed merrily on +with song and laughter, while I made an attempt to examine more closely +the character of the water-moccasin--the _Trigono cephalus-piscivorus_ +of Lacepede,--which I had more cause to fear than the alligators of the +river. The water-moccasin is about two feet in length, and has a +circumference of five or six inches. The tail possesses a horny point +about half an inch in length, which is harmless, though the Crackers and +negroes stoutly affirm that when it strikes a tree the tree withers and +dies, and when it enters the flesh of a man he is poisoned unto death. +The color of the reptile is a dirty brown. Never found far from water, +it is common in the swamps, and is the terror of the rice-field negroes. +The bite of the water-moccasin is exceedingly venomous, and it is +considered more poisonous than that of the rattlesnake, which warns man +of his approach by sounding his rattle. + +The moccasin does not, like the rattlesnake, wait to be attacked, but +assumes the offensive whenever opportunity offers, striking with its +fangs at every animated object in its vicinity. All other species of +snakes flee from its presence. It is found as far north as the Peedee +River of South Carolina, and is abundant in all low districts of the +southern states. As the Suwanee had overflowed its banks below Old Town +Hammock, the snakes had taken to the low limbs of the trees and to the +tops of bushes, where they seemed to be sleeping in the warmth of the +bright sunlight; but as I glided along the shore a few feet from their +aerial beds, they discovered my presence, and dropped sluggishly into +the water. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we passed +thousands of these dangerous reptiles while descending the Suwanee. +Raftsmen told me that when traversing lagoons in their log canoes, if a +moccasin is met some distance from land he will frequently enter the +canoe for refuge or for rest, and instances have been known where the +occupant has been so alarmed as to jump overboard and swim ashore in +order to escape from this malignant reptile. + +The only place worthy of notice between Old Town Hammock and the gulf +marshes is Clay Landing, on the left bank of the river, where Mrs. +Tresper formerly lived in a very comfortable house. Clay Landing was +used during the Confederate war as a place of deposit for blockade +goods. Archer, a railroad station, is but twenty miles distant, and to +it over rough roads the contraband imports were hauled by mule teams, +after having been landed from the fleet blockade-runner. + +As the sun was sinking to rest, and the tree-shadows grew long on the +wide river's bosom, we tasted the saltness in the air as the briny +breezes were wafted to us over the forests from the Gulf of Mexico. +After darkness had cast its sombre mantle upon us, we left the "East +Pass" entrance to the left, and our boats hurried on the rapidly ebbing +tide down the broad "West Pass" into the great marshes of the coast. An +hour later we emerged from the dark forest into the smooth savannas. The +freshness of the sea-air was exhilarating. The stars were shining +softly, and the ripple of the tide, the call of the heron, or the whirr +of the frightened duck, and the leaping of fishes from the water, were +the only sounds nature offered us. It was like entering another world. +In these lowlands, near the mouth of the river, there seemed to be but +one place above the high-tide level. It was a little hammock, covered by +a few trees, called Bradford's Island, and rose like an oasis in the +desert. The swift tide hurried along its shores, and a little farther +on mingled the waters of the great wilderness with that of the sea. + +Our tired party landed on a shelly beach, and burned a grassy area to +destroy sand-fleas. This done, some built a large camp-fire, while +others spread blankets upon the ground. I drew the faithful sharer of +my long voyage near a thicket of prickly-pears, and slept beside it +for the last time, never thinking or dreaming that one year later I +should approach the mouth of the Suwanee from the west, after a long +voyage of twenty-five hundred miles from the head of the Ohio River, +and would again seek shelter on its banks. It was a night of sweet +repose. The camp-fire dissipated the damps, and the long row made +rest welcome. + +A glorious morning broke upon our party as we breakfasted under the +shady palms of the island. Behind us rose the compact wall of dark +green of the heavy forests, and along the coast, from east to west, +as far as the eye could reach, were the brownish-green savanna-like +lowlands, against which beat, in soft murmurs, the waves of that sea I +had so longed to reach. From out the broad marshes arose low hammocks, +green with pines and feathery with palmetto-trees. Clouds of mist were +rising, and while I watched them melt away in the warm beams of the +morning sun, I thought they were like the dark doubts which curled +themselves about me so long ago in the cold St. Lawrence, now all +melted by the joy of success. The snow-clad north was now behind +me. The Maria Theresa danced in the shimmering waters of the great +southern sea, and my heart was light, for my voyage was over. + +[Illustration: NO. 14. THE VOYAGE ENDED.] + + ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| | +|Transcriber's Note: | +| | +|Roundout in Chapter VI page 79 has been changed | +|to Rondout. | +| | +|GRAVE-YARD in the introduction to Chapter X page 180| +|has been changed to GRAVEYARD. | +| | +|CALIBOQUE SOUND in the introduction to Chapter XII | +|page 261 has been changed to CALIBOGUE SOUND. | +| | +|The use of quotation marks in the original when | +|block quoting verse has been retained. | +| | ++----------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Voyage of the Paper Canoe, by Nathaniel H. 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