=§ 66. Escapes to the woods.=--If an opportunity for escape should present itself, the first question for the slave was, "In what direction shall I turn?" Many slaves knew nothing of the Northern people, or had heard of Canada only as a cold, barren, uninviting country, where the negro must perish. To those who had neither the courage nor the knowledge requisite for a long journey, the woods and swamps near by offered the only refuge. There they built cabins, or lived in caves, and got food by hunting and fishing, and by raids upon the neighboring plantations. In one of the papers of the day an underground den is noticed, the opening of which, though in sight of two or three houses, and near roads and fields, where passing was constant, had been so concealed by a pile of straw, that for many months it had remained unnoticed. When discovered, on opening a trap-door, steps were seen leading down into a room about six feet square, comfortably ceiled with boards, and containing a fire-place. The den was well stocked with food by the occupants, who had been missing about a year.[226] In most cases slaves were not so bold, and preferred concealment on an uninhabited island, or a bit of land surrounded by morasses. We often find advertisements of the time, mentioning such places as the probable refuge of runaways. The Savannah Georgian of 1839 offers a reward for two men who have been out for eighteen months, and are supposed to be encamped in a swamp near Pine Grove Plantation. In the Great Dismal Swamp, which extends from near Norfolk, Virginia, into North Carolina, a large colony of these fugitive negroes was established, and so long was the custom continued that children were born, grew up, and lived their whole lives in its dark recesses. Besides their hunting and fishing, they sometimes obtained food and money, in return for work, from the poor whites and the negroes who had homes on the borders of the swamp. It was this practice of remaining out near home which, under easy masters, brought about the habitual runaways,--men who were constantly escaping, and after a little time returning, often of their own accord.[227] One of his masters said of William Browne, afterward a well known speaker upon slavery, that he hesitated some time before he invested seven hundred dollars in William, for he was "a noted runaway."[228] Again, in a Southern paper advertising a sale of slaves, one description is thus given: "Number 47, Daniel, a runaway, but has not run away during the last two years, aged 28 years."[229] [Sidenote: Escapes to the North.]