been received in Virginia, and the Dismal Swamp remains undrained and abandoned. Surely this is one of the most remarkable facts of modern times.
Colonel Byrd, in his journal, describes the dreadful dangers of his exploring expedition into the Dismal Swamp. "We hoped to gain immortal reputation," he says, "by being the first of mankind that ventured through the Dismal Swamp." He started on his exploring expedition in March. He could not have selected a more unfavorable month, for the swamp was then drowned with the winter rain almost as completely as it is in the same month in our own times. The lake is five feet lower in September than in March. No wonder that after a week's attempt he had only succeeded in entering to a distance of three miles. His party could find no solid ground to rest on at night, and their fires went out on the soggy earth.
Colonel Byrd says he succeeded at length in reaching the North Carolina side of the swamp, and of course he is to be believed. But he must have skirted the eastern border all the way, for he missed the lake, which was not discovered until another quarter of a century had passed.
Colonel Byrd based his favorable report to the governor, no doubt, on the fact, apparent then as now, that the swamp lay between three tidal
