The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

268 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [1784.
From an attentive examination of the Great Dismal Swamp, I
have been long satisfied of the practicability of opening a communication through Drummond's Pond * between the rivers, which
empty into Albemarle Sound, and the waters of Elizabeth or Nansemond River. Once, for the purpose of forming a plan for reclaiming the lands, more than with a view to the benefit of navigation, I traversed Drummond's Pond through its whole circuit;
and at a time when it was brimful of water. I lay one night on
the east border of it, on ground something above the common level
of the swamp; and in the morning, I had the curiosity to ramble
as far into the swamp as I could get with convenience, to the distance perhaps of five hundred yards; and found that the water,
which, at the margin of the lake (after it had exceeded its natural
bounds) was stagnant, began perceptibly to move eastward; and at
the extent of my walk it had deepened, got more into a channel,
and increased obviously in its motion. This discovery left not a
doubt in my mind that the current was descending into one of the
rivers of Albemarle Sound. To ascertain it, I directed our manager to hire persons to explore it fully. To the best of my recollection, he some time afterwards informed me, that he had done so,
that it was found to be the head of the northwest river, that to the
place where the water had formed a regular channel of considerable width and depth did not exceed four miles, and that from thence
downwards to the present navigation of the river there was no
other obstruction to small craft than fallen trees. What I have
given as coming under my own knowledge, you may rely upon.
The other I sufficiently believe, and have no doubt but that the
waters of Perquemins and Pasquotank Rivers have a similar, and
perhaps as close a communication with Drummond's Pond, as those
of the northwest.
My researches at different times into and round the swamp (for
I have encompassed the whole) have enabled me to make the
following observations; that the principal rivulets, which run into
the Great Dismal, if not all of them, are to the westward of it, from
Suffolk southwardly; that Drummond's Pond is the receptacle for
all the water, which can force its way into it through the reeds,
roots, trash, and fallen timber, with which the swamp abounds;
that to these obstructions, and the almost perfect level of the swamp,
are to be ascribed the wetness of it; that, in wet seasons, when the
banks of the pond are overflowed by the assemblage of waters from
* A small lake or pond, near the centre of the Great Dismal Swamp.