The Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond, Early recollections | Page 9

became the property of the Dismal Swamp Land Company.
How long the company worked him before he became the property of
Uncle Alek, I do not know, but am satisfied that it was several years,
and that his wind was injured by overloading. I have the testimony of a
gentleman well-known in Suffolk, now living, who stated that he saw a
cymling vine at jack's Camp which was of spontaneous growth, and
which covered more juniper trees than he could count, and from that
vine there was gathered two hundred and fifty cart loads of cymlings. It
may be that the hauling away of these cymlings so injured the mule that
he was no longer of service to the company. There is no doubt he was
turned over to Uncle Alek, which must have been during the year 1832.
I was in the Swamp during that year and saw the cymling vine above
alluded to, and no one could tell how it came to grow there. It will be
impossible for me to tell how old Uncle Alek's mule was or what

became of him. I have never heard that he died or was killed. He was
no doubt the most remarkable mule that ever lived. The last that I heard
from him was related by Uncle Alek himself, and which was no doubt
true. I will relate as near as I can what the old man told me. He came to
Suffolk one day and I noticed that he was very much excited. I said to
him: "Uncle Alek, what has happened to you?" He answered: "Marse
Robert I neber was in sich a fix befo' in all my life. I hav' fit bars,
rattlesnakes, wild cats and bees, but I tell you sumfin' has happened to
me to-day dat neber bin known to befall any one." "What was that
Uncle Alek?" I inquired. "I'm terribly upsot, and I dunno what to do. I
shall hab to mov' 'way frum my place; a whirlwind struc' my well dis
mornin' an' has twisted it so dat I can't git de bucket down in de well,
an' I can't git no water, an' what is wuss den all, my mule has bin
translated. He wus a good mule, and his loss ruins me." I saw Uncle
Alek some time after that, when he told me that he was out in the
Swamp hunting bees, when lo and behold! he heard his mule bray. He
cast his eyes up and saw him lodged in the forks of a large tree. There
was no way by which he could get him down, and left him as he
thought to die. But his surprise can be imagined when he heard
nuzzling at the door one morning, when, upon opening, what should he
see but his mule. How he came down he could not tell, but said he
should always believe that his mule could climb a tree. I said it must
have been a Providential interference, and that the same Power which
landed him in the tree was able to lift him out. "Dat is so," said the old
man, "an' I will nebber agin' complain at de ways ob an Over-Rulin'
Providence." I often think of Col. Godfrey and his remark, when he
said that what best conduces to the happiness of mankind is right.
Uncle Alek, knowing that his mule was at home with his head well in
the crib, and he in the Swamp fighting bears and bees, was perfectly
happy. Uncle Alek and his mule are both now dead, and I shall always
have a lively recollection of them. I often think of them, and that I rode
Uncle Alek's mule as Knight of the Dismal Swamp at a tournament,
won the first honor, and was ruled out on account of my mule not
making time, much to the mortification of Uncle Alek. As Uncle Alek
and his mule will appear again, I will leave them for the present and
relate an interesting conversation with Mr. Richard Hosier, who now
lives in Suffolk, and who is as well acquainted with the Dismal Swamp

as any one now living. He is perfectly familiar with every part of it, and
is, no doubt, correct in many of his statements. He informed me that
long before the Lake was discovered by Drummond, two gentlemen
from Elizabeth City, N. C., left for the Dismal Swamp on a hunting
expedition, and having lost their way, wandered about until they came
to what they discovered to be a large body of water. From it they
traveled a due west course and came out at a farm on the Desert road,
known as Mossy Swamp, and one of the men was taken sick and died;
the other one returned