een Bloomfield and Geevah gave way; and
a black deluge, carrying with it the contents of a hundred acres of bog,
took the direction of a small stream and rolled on with the violence of
a torrent, sweeping along heath, timber, mud, and stones, and
overwhelming many meadows and arable land. On passing through some boggy
land, the flood swept out a wide and deep ravine, and part of the road
leading from Bloomfield to St. James's Well was completely carried away
from below the foundation for the breadth of 200 yards.

_Great Dismal Swamp._--I have described, in my Travels in North
America,[1020] an extensive swamp or morass, forty miles long from north
to south, and twenty-five wide, between the towns of Norfolk in
Virginia, and Weldon in North Carolina. It is called the "Great Dismal,"
and has somewhat the appearance of an inundated river-plain covered with
aquatic trees and shrubs, the soil being as black as that of a peat bog.
It is higher on all sides except one than the surrounding country,
towards which it sends forth streams of water to the north, east, and
south, receiving a supply from the west only. In its centre it rises 12
feet above the flat region which bounds it. The soil, to the depth of 15
feet, is formed of vegetable matter without any admixture, of earthy
particles, and offers an exception to a general rule before alluded to,
namely, that such peaty accumulations scarcely ever occur so far south
as lat. 36 degrees, or in any region where the summer heat is so great
as in Virginia. In digging canals through the morass for the purpose of
obtaining timber, much of the black soil has been thrown out from time
to time, and exposed to the sun and air, in which case it soon rots away
so that nothing remains behind, showing clearly that it owes its
preservation to the shade afforded by a luxuriant vegetation and to the
constant evaporation of the spongy soil by which the air is cooled
during the hot months. The surface of the bog is carpeted with mosses,
and densely covered with ferns and reeds, above which many evergreen
shrubs and trees flourish, especially the White Cedar (_Cupressus
thyoides_), which stands firmly supported by its long tap roots in the
softest parts of the quagmire. Over the whole the deciduous cypress
(_Taxodium distichum_) is seen to tower with its spreading top, in full
leaf in the season when the sun's rays are hottest, and when, if not
intercepted by a screen of foliage, they might soon c