ton; and afterwards, at breakfast, by a medical man in the neighbourhood, who was going to the vicinity of Charleston to see a patient.

It continued very dark when we left Georgetown. The planter volunteered to carry a lamp on the driving-seat for a few miles, while the darkness continued. He afterwards joined us in the stage. The driver breakfasted with us, and was quite as free and easy with the whole party as if they had been his companions. The doctor recommended brandy and water as a preventive of all disorders in that climate; and, having set the example by partaking of some, it was liberally followed by all the party but myself.

The planter and the doctor seemed to be on intimate terms, which rendered their conversation tolerably unreserved. The doctor asked the planter, what could have induced him to stay at such and such a plantation during the unhealthy season. I shall never forget the sang froid with which the question was answered by his friend. He said, he found that half a dozen of the girls could not longer be trusted without a husband, for one of them had been already seized by the blacksmith at his gate; and that he thought it was not only for his interest, but that of the plantation generally, that he should be the first husband. This answer, of course, gave rise to a great deal of merriment among the friends; and the doctor, who gave us accounts of his management of his own slaves of a similar kind, of course admitted the validity of the reason. In the course of the conversation which followed, it turned

out that this planter was frequently waited upon at table by his own children, and had actually sent some of them to the public market to be sold as slaves.

Great part of the road from Georgetown to Charleston was good; and the driver carried us out very rapidly, on one occasion four miles in twenty-one mi

nutes.

On this day's journey I first saw, and in great numbers, the most valuable of the American trees, the evergreen oak, the Quercus virens of the southern states of North America, the most durable of oaks. It flourishes most on lands adjacent to salt water. It is almost as heavy as lignum vitæ. Its trunk is generally not long, but its large crooked branches frequently spread over more than a quarter of an acre of ground. The wood of this tree is almost incorruptible. It was on account of the abundance of this tree in Florida, fit for building ships of war, that the Americans showed the great anxiety, which was at last gratified in 1819, to add Florida to their extensive territories, and which had led the general government, since its acquirement, to lay out very large sums in the preservation and establishment of live oak plantations in Florida. Indeed, I have heard of the formation of plantations of trees, upon a great scale, nowhere in North America but in Florida; but this need not occasion surprise, for there is no object which the people of the United States are so anxious to attain as the possession of a powerful navy. On the way between Georgetown and Charleston, I observed one very sin

gular mixture of growing trees,-a pine of some size growing from the top of the trunk of a live oak.

The ferry over Cooper's River to Charleston is about four miles wide. We crossed it in a very long boat with a sail.

CHAPTER V.

Slaves

Difficulty of obtaining Accommodation at Charleston, on account of Races Houses Planters' Hotel - Population of Charleston Churches- Situation of Charleston Harbour Theatre sleep in the Passages-Manners of the People-Equipages-RaceJockey Club-Stewards of the Race-Treatment of the Coloured People on the Race-Ground-Tropical Fruit-Situation of the Slaves at the Planters' Hotel-Ceremonious Dinner at Charleston-Dr Tidyman's Kindness Service at St Michael's Church-Dr Tidyman's Slaves-Orphan Hospital-Rice-Mill-Dr Tidyman's Calculation respecting the Expence of Slaves and that of White MenGeneral Hampton's Treatment of his Slaves-Patrole at Charleston -Fever at Charleston-Country in the neighbourhood of Charleston and in South Carolina-Treatment of the Men of Colour-Laws respecting them and the Slaves-Mrs Street's Cruelty to her Slaves, particularly to the Cook-Punishment inflicted on the Slaves in the Gaol Duke of Saxe Weimar's Account of the Gaol-Public Sale of Slaves at Charleston-Their Separation from their Relations on Sales taking place-Slater's Trial for the Murder of a Slave-ThirtyFive Slaves executed at Charleston in July 1822-The Judge's Address to them--The Proceedings justified by the execution of FiftyFour Persons in Britain after the Rebellion of 1745-Slavery an anomaly in a Free Country-Jefferson's Opinion respecting Slavery -Charleston the Theatre of War during the Revolution-Clinton, Tarleton, and Lord Cornwallis-Lord Rawdon's unprincipled Execution of Colonel Hayne-Details-Marquis of Hastings became a

different Man-Colonel Huger's Attempt to relieve La Fayette at Olmutz.

March 1830.

I HAD heard on the way to Charleston, that this was the week of the Charleston races, and I was therefore not much surprised when I found, that I could not be accommodated at the Carolina coffee-house, kept by Stewart, or at Jones's hotel, which I had been desired first to try. From thence I went to the Planters' hotel. On my mentioning that I required a room for myself, the landlady protested that the house was so full, that it was impossible to let me have one. I pressed my suit, however, so long and so earnestly, that she at last became propitious, and told Mr Street, her husband, who happened to come in at the moment, what she had done, but that she was persuaded that I was at least a colonel. I got possession of a small apartment; and after the races were over, I was comfortably enough accommodated.

The ordinary at this hotel was very good. It being the race week, the table was full, and there were several ladies. The dinner consisted of turtle-soup, fish, and abundance of food. Mrs Street sat at the head of the table, and her husband at the foot. I lost no time in walking about the town, which is as different as possible from any of the American cities I have yet seen. The population is somewhat above 30,000. The fine houses are very large, many of them inclosed like the great hotels in Paris, and all of them covered with verandas, and situated in gardens neatly dressed, and at