See quotations.
1856. He wandered along the edges of a dense bay or swamp-bottom…. He proceeded to traverse the margin of the bay, until he came to its junction with, and termination at, the high-road.—W. G. Simms, ‘The Wigwam and the Cabin,’ pp. 17, 18.
1884. Swamp and “bay” (the word applied in Florida to slough and water-grass meadows).—W. W. Harney, The Drainage of the Everglades, Harper’s Mag., lxviii. p. 601/1. (March) (N.E.D.)
