Dismal Swamp

one of a series of swamps on the Atlantic coast. The great Dismal Swamp proper is about ten miles wide and thirty long. It crosses the border line between Virginia and North Carolina. Drummond's Lake, a body of water about seven miles long, lies in its midst. A large part of the swamp was covered formerly with cypress forests, through which refugees waded knee-deep in water, running a chance of being bitten by venomous moccasin snakes at every step. Before the Civil War it was a place of refuge for escaped slaves. They made small clearings on dry bits of land surrounded by impassable jungles. They lived on provisions obtained from the neighboring plantations, and on half wild hogs, game, berries, garden truck, and fish. A picture of a settlement of this sort is given by Mrs. Stowe in her Dred. The surface of the Dismal Swamp is raised above the adjacent country by an accumulation of moss and decaying timber. Of late extensive ditches have been dug and a large part of the swamp converted into fertile, agricultural land. A north and south canal has been constructed by the national government at the expense of $1,000,000 to enable ships to make a short cut and avoid the storms met in rounding Cape Hatteras.