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452 best water in the country at its very door. If the color of the water be objectionable it could be passed through a filter and made crystal, though it is possible that in the change it might lose its antimalarial quality.

A narrow-gauge railroad ought to be run from Portsmouth to South Mills. (Since writing this the programme of the Portsmouth & South Mills railroad has been sent to me, and the promoters have paid me the compliment of inserting as a preface part of my report of the Dismal Swamp. This railroad will complete the ruin of the canal as a commercial way, and will leave it valueless except as a drain.)

And now I have told the story of the Dismal Swamp as two men saw it who had no other interest than that of chance voyagers through the wilderness. I have tried to convey to others exactly the impressions left on my mind, often using restraint in order not to overstate the good or evil qualities of the Dismal Swamp.