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cotton as freight; though by such a mode of conveyance it was very likely to get wetted. I learnt, however, that this was very little thought of, as not more than one bale in fifty of all the cotton in Georgia was under cover to protect it from rain. It frequently happens that when the raft takes the ground, the cotton bales are thrown overboard and float in the river till the raft is got off, when they are picked up and taken on board again; the water does not penetrate more than an inch beyond the surface, and this soon dries up. More than onehalf of the whole crop produced in Georgia, is transported down to Savannah for shipment by this river.

During our passage we halted several times at fixed stations to take in a supply of wood, as this is the only fuel used for the steam-engines. There was rarely any person at these stations in charge of the wood, or to superintend its delivery, labour being too dear to be so appropriated; but there is placed on a pole a small box, into which the person who takes the supply of wood he requires, is requested to deposit an order for the payment on Augusta or Savannah, relying on his honesty to enter the exact quantity he takes away. Once a week these orders are collected by a clerk, who visits the station, and takes out the papers deposited in the box. The price of such wood, hewn into pieces of a convenient size, and piled up in cords, is three dollars per cord; and the boats that ply on the river being well known, there is rarely or ever any difficulty about the supplies or payment.

On the Carolina side, on our right hand, we

passed a station called "The Willow Oak Spring," where a fine spring of beautifully clear water is found very near the river; but some traditional stories of ghosts being connected with this locality, the negroes, who are very superstitious, have great dread in passing it at night. Many of the negroes now in this country are of African birth. The direct importation of slaves from Africa did not cease till long after the revolution; and some, therefore, of these imported slaves still survive, retaining many of their idolatrous notions and practices, and nearly all their native superstitions.

The whole of the day continued to be damp and foggy, though the rain had abated; and at night the fog rested so thickly on the river, though all was clear above, that it was difficult to see our way. The steersmen, of whom there were two, each skilful pilots, were often puzzled to keep in mid-channel, and were frequently obliged to lessen our speed to avoid running on shore; but with these occasional interruptions only, we continued to run all night.

On the following morning, February 26th, the weather was clear, and the sun shone out with all his brightness. The weather, too, was as warm as in an English summer, though on the preceding day it was so cold as to make a fire agreeable in the cabin. These vicissitudes are common here; and one gentleman of our party assured us that last winter he had been in Augusta, when at twelve o'clock at night the air was quite close and sultry, and the rain descending freely; and at sunrise on the following morning, the whole country was bound in frost, the water in his bed-room being hard frozen.

Another added, that in 1835, the year in which all the orange-trees in Georgia and Florida were killed by the cold, and have never since revived, the thermometer at Augusta fell to 8° below zero; but on the average of several years, the range of the thermometer is found to be from 20°, the lowest, in January and February, to 90°, the highest, in July and August.

About thirty miles before we came to Augusta, we passed a steam-vessel lying high and dry in the woods, where she had grounded during a high flood among the trees, and had never been got off since. Just above this, at a wood-landing, called Silver Bluff, were several houses, one of which, near the river, on the Carolina side, was of two stories, the lower half of brick and the upper half of wood; but all of them were uninhabited.

It has been found here, as in the great river of the Mississippi, that the bluffs, though originally chosen for places of residence from their elevation, are not so healthy as the lower lands. This is accounted for by their exposure to the miasma arising from the swamps on the opposite side of the river. Purisburg and Ebenezer were both seated on such bluffs, and have never grown into any size or importance; and even Savannah was for many years extremely unhealthy, until the marsh lands opposite to it were purchased by the city, and drained and devoted to a dry culture of the cotton plant, instead of the rice formerly grown there.

As we approached nearer to Augusta, the signs of cultivation began to appear nearer the river's edge, and through openings in the woods we could per

ceive cattle grazing, and Indian corn lands lying in stubble. The soil here is peculiarly favourable for the cultivation of this grain, it requiring about a bushel and half to sow an acre, and the returns yielding sixty bushels at least, and often mo e.

Still nearer to Augusta, and on the Carolina side, is a stream of fine clear water, emptying itself into the river with great force. It is called Horse Creek; and some few miles upward, on its banks, are seated two cotton factories, worked by water-power, at a place called Vaucluse. They have been established about nine years, and are considered prosperous and profitable concerns. They are principally devoted to the spinning of cotton yarn, though some weaving of coarse cotton cloths is done in them also. The labourers employed are chiefly negro slaves, especially women and girls; and under the direction of a few white superintendents, or overseers, they are found to perform their duty very well.

About noon on the second day of our voyage from Savannah, we came in sight of Augusta, which, with its dwellings, spires, and bridge, presented a promising appearance on a bluff, or high land, like Savannah, and on the same side of the river, namely, the S.W. or on the left hand as you sail up the stream. At one, we reached the landing-place, having been about twenty-seven hours, or twentyfive deducting the stoppages, performing a distance of 250 miles against a current of four miles, thus making an actual rate of fourteen miles an hour all the way.

CHAP. XI.

Plan of the city, spacious streets-Public buildings-Liberty Pole-Churches, population, manners of society — Medical college-Jail, discipline-Academy, free school, ladies' seminary -Theatre, library-Mild treatment of slaves-Cotton factories, Irish emigrants-Bridges, railroads, and iron steam-vessels Falls of the Savannah-Trappers at the rapids-Snow-hill and Campbelltown-Search for hidden treasures— s-Exhaustion of the soil by the cotton crops-Lottery for lands vacated by the Cherokee Indians-Wood near the river-Grape vines-The opossum and racoon-Prickly pear, wax plant-HamburghLiberty hill-Slave-breeding in Virginia for Southern markets -Prohibition of all public discussion on Slavery-Efforts to promote direct commerce from the South.

WE remained at Augusta for a week, and were very pleasantly accommodated at the private residence of Judge Hale, to whom we had letters of introduction from our friends at Savannah, and where we found ourselves as much at home as in our own abode. My lectures were given in the Baptist church every evening of the week without intermission, where they were very largely attended; and here, as at Savannah and at Charleston, the resident families seemed to vie with each other as to who should show us the greatest kindness and attention. We interchanged many agreeable visits, were taken by families in their carriages to several pleasant excursions in the neighbourhood, and saw all that was worthy of interest in the town itself.

Augusta was first founded in 1735, and was so called in honour of London, of which this was the