he strength, that the system is unable to
cope with other and more dangerous diseases for which it paves the way.

Upon a little creek, tributary to St. Martin's River, and near its
confluence with the Isle of Wight Bay, a long day's pull from the swamp
of Love Creek, was the old plantation home of a friend of my boyhood,
Mr. Taylor, who about this time was looking out for the arrival of the
paper canoe. It was a question whether I could descend Love Creek three
miles, cross Rehoboth and Indian River sounds, ascend White's Creek,
make a portage to Little Assawaman Bay, thread the thoroughfare west of
Fenwick's Island Light, cross the Isle of Wight Bay, ascend and cross
St. Martin's River to Turval's Creek, and reach the home of my friend,
all in one day. But I determined to attempt the task. Mr. Webb roused
his family at an early hour, and I rowed down Love Creek and crossed the
shallow waters of Rehoboth Bay in the early part of the day.

From Cape Henlopen, following the general contour of the coast, to Cape
Charles at the northern entrance of Chesapeake Bay, is a distance of one
hundred and thirty-six miles; from Cape Charles across the mouth of
Chesapeake Bay to Cape Henry is thirteen miles; from Henlopen south, the
state of Delaware occupies about twenty miles of the coast; the eastern
shore of Maryland holds between thirty and forty miles, while the
eastern shore of Virginia, represented by the counties of Accomac and
Northampton, covers the peninsula to Cape Charles.

Commencing at Rehoboth Bay, a small boat may follow the interior waters
to the Chesapeake Bay. The watercourses of this coast are protected from
the rough waves of the ocean by long, narrow, sandy islands, known as
beaches, between which the tides enter. These passages from the sea to
the interior waters are called inlets, and most of them are navigable
for coasting vessels of light draught. These inlets are so influenced
by the action of storms, and their shores and locations are so changed
by them, that the cattle may graze to-day in tranquil happiness where
only a generation ago the old skipper navigated his craft. During June
of the year 1821 a fierce gale opened Sandy Point Inlet with a foot
depth of water, but it closed in 1831. Green Point Inlet was cut through
the beach during a gale in 1837, and was closed up seven years later.
Old Sinepuxent Inlet, which was forced open by the sea more than sixty
years ago, closed in 1831. These three inl