garrison, or to be committed to a prison or work-house for seven years, during which he is to be kept to hard labour. By a more recent act, (which the author of this work has not seen,) a person who kills a slave is liable to a prosecution for murder. The importation of slaves was prohibited by a law passed in the year 1788, after which many were introduced in a clandestine manner, By another act of the legislature, passed in the year 1816, the introduction of slaves from any other state into the state of South Carolina is prohibited. Drayton observes, "that their condition is much ameliorated; that they have their houses, their gardens, their dances, their feasts, and their holidays." Their principal food consists of rice, the sweet potatoe, and Indian corn. On Edisto island the average price of a slave is about 430 dollars; one, young and active, has been sold as high as from 700 to 800 dollars; and hired out at from 110 to 123 dollars a-year; and young girls from 64 to 85. * Education.-Till within these few years the youth were sent for their education to Europe, or to colleges in the northern states. But the subject has lately attracted the attention of the legislature, who have grant * The Grand Jury of Charleston, for the term of January 1816, reported as a most serious evil, that instances of negro homicide were common within the city for many years; the parties exercis ing unlimited control as masters and mistresses, indulging their cruel passions in the barbarous treatment of slaves, using them worse than beasts of burden, and thereby bringing on the community, the state, and the city, the contumely and reproach of the civilized world. ed considerable funds for two colleges; the one at Beaufort, the other at Columbia. The former, called Beaufort College, was incorporated in 1795, and endowed with all the vacant lots in the town, and all the confiscated and escheated property in the districts of the same name, the latter amounting to L. 5000 Sterling, the former to upwards of 60,000 dollars. The other, named South Carolina College, in the town of Columbia, was incorporated in 1801; 50,000 dollars have been appropriated for a building, and 6000 for its yearly maintenance. Already it has a library of 11,000 volumes, and a very valuable philosophical and chemical apparatus. The college and president's house are fine buildings. The former will accommodate 600 students, which is the actual number. The annual stipend, or salary, of the president is 3000 dollars, of the professors, four in number, 1500 each. There are four other colleges incorporated at different periods; but they have not prospered, and we have no correct information concerning them. Academies.-One at Charleston, two in Newbury district, one in Abbeville district, one at Pineville. The last is incorporated under the direction of five trustees, and the master has a salary of 1200 dollars ayear with a house. The price of tuition is fifty dollars for subscribers' children, and sixty for non-subscribers. The master may take sixteen boarders, at a sum not exceeding 100 dollars a-year. On Edisto island there is an academy with two masters, each of whom has a salary of 1000 dollars. In Pendleton district there is a classical academy near the court-house, under the di rection of trustees, where boarding is sixty dollars, and tuition twenty dollars a-year. Between thirty and forty Grammar Schools have been established in several towns; but there are none in the interior parts of the state, though the desire for education is rapidly increasing. Library.-At Charleston there is a Subscription Library, containing about 12,000 volumes, which is considered as one of the most valuable for its size in the United States. Societies.-The Medical Society, for the advancement of the healing art, was incorporated in 1794, and from this institution emanated the Humane Society, the Charleston Dispensary, and the Botanic Garden. The Botanical Society was incorporated in 1805. The garden, opened in 1805, is superintended by a committee. The Agricultural Society, incorporated in 1785, possesses forty-two acres of land in the vicinity of Charleston, for the purpose of agricultural experiments. The members (forty in number) pay an annual subscription of twenty-five dollars each. The Home Spun Company, for the encouragement of manufactures, was established in 1810, and afterwards incorporated with a capital of 30,000 dollars. The South Carolina Society, formed in the year 1737, had funds, in 1809, amounting to 137,000 dollars. The constant number of scholars it educates is seventy-two, consisting of destitute orphans, or the offspring of needy parents. None are received under eight years of age, and the boys are not retained after fourteen, nor the girls beyond twelve years. Indigent members, and the widows of decayed members are maintained by the society. The Fellowship Society, incorporated in 1769, originally intended for the protection of maniacs, has devoted one half of its funds to the education of twenty-five destitute children. The St Andrew's Society has also appropriated funds for the education of twenty children annually. Funds have been set apart for the same object by the Wingaw Society, which was incorporated in 1756 for the endowment of a free school, and the improvement of the culture and manufacture of tobacco; and by the German Friendly Society, incorporated in 1791. The other societies are the Mount Zion Society, incorporated in 1777. St David's Society, in 1778. Minerva Academy, fourteen miles below Columbia, in which fifty-six scholars are educated. Camden Orphan Society, in which about sixty children pay for their education, and some few are educated on charity. The Clarendon Orphan Society, incorporated in 1798. The Trustees for establishing Schools, in the district of Orangeburgh, incorporated the same year. Mount Bethnel Academy, under the patronage of the Methodist Society, with from seventy to eighty students. The Clermont Society, instituted for the purpose of endowing a seminary of learning at Statesburgh. The Friendly Cambridge Society. The Newbury Academy, about a mile from the court-house of the same name. The Literary and Philosophical Society of Charleston was established in 1814. The members are divided into nine classes. 1. Mathematics and mechanical philosophy. 2. Chemistry, including electricity, galvanism, and mineralogy. 3. Zoology and botany. 4. Anatomy, surgery, physiology, and medicine. 5. Agriculture and rural economy. 6. Commerce, manufactures, and internal navigation. 7. History, topography, geography, and antiquities. 8. Belles Lettres, ancient and modern languages, education, public and private. 9. The fine arts. On this last subject it may here be observed, that sculpture is not yet introduced into this state, and that engraving is yet in its infancy; though two or three self-taught artists have great merit. Some females have succeeded pretty well in landscape, and Washington, Alston, and Charles Frazer have already given proofs of very superior talents in different kinds of painting. The Orphan House, established at Charleston in 1790, and placed under the direction of nine commissioners, subject to the control of the intendent and wardens of the city council, is supported in a very liberal manner, at an expence of 17,000 dollars a-year. Since the year 1794 941 boys and 541 girls have been educated in this establishment. Newspapers.-Three daily and two weekly papers are published at Charleston, one at Georgetown, and one in each of the districts of Camden, Columbia, and Pendleton. It is worthy of remark, that a weekly newspaper, at two dollars and a half per year, is printed in a remote part of Pendleton district, which thirty years ago was inhabited by the Indians. -- Agriculture. It was formerly the practice to abandon the culture when the soil seemed exhausted, and the fence in a state of decay; but of late years agriculture has become an object of considerable atten |