A GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY OF 2500 MILES FROMQUEBEC TO THE GULF OF MEXICO,DURING THE YEARS 1874-5.

BY NATHANIEL H. BISHOP,

AUTHOR OF "ONE THOUSAND MILES WALK ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA"AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORYAND OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK: CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 1878.

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT. ASSISTANTS, AIDS, AND ALL EMPLOYEES OF THEUNITED STATES COAST SURVEY BUREAU, THE "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE"IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

AS A SLIGHT EVIDENCE OF THE APPRECIATION BY ITS AUTHOR FORTHEIR INTELLIGENT EFFORTS AND SELF-DENYING LABORSIN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, SO PATIENTLYAND SKILFULLY PERFORMING, UNDER MANYDIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS.

INTRODUCTION.

The author left Quebec, Dominion of Canada,July 4, 1874, with a single assistant, in a woodencanoe eighteen feet in length, bound for the Gulf ofMexico. It was his intention to follow the naturaland artificial connecting watercourses of thecontinent in the most direct line southward to the gulfcoast of Florida, making portages as seldom aspossible, to show how few were the interruptions toa continuous water-way for vessels of light draught,from the chilly, foggy, and rocky regions of the Gulfof St. Lawrence in the north, to the semi-tropicalwaters of the great Southern Sea, the waves of whichbeat upon the sandy shores of the southernmostUnited States. Having proceeded about fourhundred miles upon his voyage, the author reachedTroy, on the Hudson River, New York state, wherefor several years E. Waters & Sons had beenperfecting the construction of paper boats.

The advantages in using a boat of only fifty-eightpounds weight, the strength and durability of whichhad been well and satisfactorily tested, could notbe questioned, and the author dismissed hisassistant, and "paddled his own canoe" about twothousand miles to the end of the journey. Thoughfrequently lost in the labyrinth of creeks and marsheswhich skirt the southern coast of his country, theauthor's difficulties were greatly lessened by the useof the valuable and elaborate charts of the UnitedStates Coast Survey Bureau, to the faithfulexecuters of which he desires to give unqualified andgrateful praise.

To an unknown wanderer among the creeks, rivers,and sounds of the coast, the courteous treatment ofthe Southern people was most gratifying. Theauthor can only add to this expression an extractfrom his reply to the address of the Mayor of St.Mary's, Georgia, which city honored him with anovation and presentation of flags after thecompletion of his voyage:

"Since my little paper canoe entered southernwaters upon her geographical errand, — from thecapes of the Delaware to your beautiful St. Mary's,— I have been deeply sensible of the value ofSouthern hospitality. The oystermen and fishermenliving along the lonely beaches of the eastern shoreof Maryland and Virginia; the surfmen andlighthouse keepers of Albemarle, Pamplico, and Coresounds, in North Carolina; the ground-nut planterswho inhabit the uplands that skirt the network ofcreeks, marshes, ponds, and sounds from BogueInlet to Cape Fear; the piny-woods people,lumbermen, and turpentine distillers on the little bluffsthat jut into the fastnesses of the great swamps of thecrooked Wac

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