Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/470

Rh commercial canal, with power over all the water in the swamp, and devoid of intelligence and public spirit, and the land of the Dismal Swamp was doomed.

Washington himself surveyed the swamp for the route of his canals. His first cutting, running from the northwest corner of the lake in a westerly direction, ended at what is called the Reed Farm, on the Edenton road, seven miles from Suffolk. It is still called "Washington's Ditch." It has for many years been abandoned as a means of travel, a more direct route—the Jericho Canal—having been made at a later date. The Jericho Canal leaves the lake at the same lock as "Washington's Ditch," and ends within two miles of Suffolk, running into the Nansemond river.

I paddled up both these canals from the lake, and more oppressive surroundings it is hard to conceive. The Jericho Canal is ten miles long and eighteen feet wide, but the encroaching bamboo jungle reduces this width by over two feet on each side. The dense canes rise at least fifteen feet high on both banks, so that it is like canoeing in an unroofed sewer. To enliven the passage, the moccasins, on sunny days, climb to the tops of the bamboo canes, and are seen constantly dropping into the water. It is a common thing to have them