the tombs were mutilated, and it may be that little is left of
them. I had the inscriptions of some of them, but gave them to a
gentleman from Westmoreland county, Virginia. He wanted them on
account of their singularity, and he being an antiquarian he said they
would be quite an acquisition to his cabinet of curiosities. It is
highly probable that Mount Pleasant was settled long before the Dismal
Swamp was known or heard of, and I doubt if any one thought that
there could be found such a place as really was existing, and having
hid in its dark foliage such a beautiful place as Lake Drummond.

The first great enterprise that was commenced in Suffolk after the
surrender, was the building of the railroad of the Suffolk Lumber
Company, which runs from Suffolk to Asher, in Gates county, North
Carolina, where is the home of the Hon. C. A. Whaley. As soon as the
road was completed as far as Whaleyville, in Nansemond county, Va., a
town soon sprung up, and a mercantile business was commenced, which
for time paralyzed business in Suffolk. It stopped the channel through
which flowed the life-blood of the town from where it started. This
road is owned by Governor Eliew Jackson, Co. & Brothers, of Maryland,
and has from its commencement done a heavy business. It has been ably
managed by W. M. Whaley, Esq., and Mr. D. B. Cannon. Whether it has
been of any great good to Suffolk is a question that we are not
prepared to answer, though the land holders through which it has
passed have been benefitted. It brought their pine timber into market,
which otherwise would have remained a primeval forest and a dead
expense to its owners. The sale of it to Jackson & Co. has cleared
many of debt, and to that extent the road has been a benefit. The
company has bought large landed possessions in Alabama and Georgia,
and will soon move their field of operations to those points. The
quantity of wood and timber that has been transported over the road
is incredible. To say the least of Jackson & Brothers they started a
spirit of enterprise, which, to some extent, has been a benefit. New
ideas have been infused into the minds of our people, and instead of
keeping their capital locked up they have invested it in various
directions for the improvement and benefit of trade, thereby causing
to spring up factories and machine shops, to say nothing of the many
other advantages that are derived through patriotic motives.

CHAPTER XII.

BEAR HUNTING