tunately had not proceeded many miles when a snake fell in off an
overhanging limb of a tree, and so near one of the young men that it
caused him to jump over into the canal. The mate ordered one of the
deck hands to throw the snake out, whilst others were fishing out the
young man who had jumped overboard. Captain Busby, fearing that some
other accident might happen before reaching the hotel, thought it best
that passengers should occupy their state-rooms until a landing was
made at the hotel. He said with so much confusion it would be
impossible for him to land his gondola safely. Captain Jack, of the
hotel, was watching the movements of Captain Busby, and complimented
him for his dexterity. He walked down from the hotel and escorted the
guests up who had just arrived. The hotel is of the Irish style of
architecture, with parlor, kitchen, dining and bedroom all in the same
room, the whole being heated by a hot air furnace. I have not been to
the Lake for some time, but hear that great improvements have been
made, and it is the object of the proprietor of the hotel to turn the
attention of Northern visitors to Florida every Winter in that
direction, believing that it is the healthiest place in the United
States. It is very accessible--the Norfolk and Western railroad
passing through its northern boundary, and the Suffolk and Carolina
Short Line or Grand Trunk railroad on its western, which by running a
railroad from Skinnerville, on the Grand Trunk, would bring the Lake
Hotel within a few minutes' ride from Suffolk, and with little or no
inconvenience to invalids coming from the rigid climate of the North.
I am told that all snakes remain in a torpid state during the winter,
and no danger might be expected from them, and as the floors of the
hotel would be kept tight no vermin could crawl through. There can be
no doubt that the Lake of the Dismal Swamp must become the great
centre of health-seekers, and that at an early day. Its location and
advantages, the known healthliness of the place, to say nothing of its
beauty and former renown, is sufficient to attract the attention of
persons that seek the Sunny South from the cold and rigorous climate
of the extreme Northern States of the Union. It is true that some
writers pronounce the warm and genial climate of the Sunny South to be
a fraud, practiced to allure the unsuspecting. That cannot be so. It
is universally known that the Dismal Swamp is the healthiest place in
the