Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/475

416 Virginia 40x30 miles square. Second, it is certain that it does not draw from the surrounding country, for it is higher than all its environment.

Yet, out of the Dismal Swamp run no less than nine rivers, some of them very considerable, and still the lake continues to overflow, and the whole vast extent of the swamp remains inundated.

These are the rivers that, if traced to their source, will be found to take their rise in the Dismal Swamp: the south branch of the Elizabeth, the west branch of the Elizabeth, south branch of the Nansemond, the Deep Creek, the North River, the Northwest River, the Little River, the Perquimans, and the Pasquotank.

Granting that the dense foliage of the Dismal Swamp lessens evaporation, there is still nothing like a proportion between the rainfall and the water that remains in and flows out of this district.

There is no field in America more deserving of scientific investigation than the Dismal Swamp. "The first thing" is not known about it—how it was formed. Fortunately the attention of the National Geological Survey has now been turned in this direction. A survey of the entire district has been ordered and begun. Within a year, it is hoped, a perfect map of the Dismal Swamp,