accommodation so few, that the district is but rarely visited by mere tourists. About sixty miles from hence, in a northerly direction, is a mountain called the Stone Mountain, which rises abruptly in a perpendicular cliff on its northern front, and with a very steep ascent on all its other sides, from a perfectly level plain. It is said to present a perpendicular cliff of more than two thousand feet in elevation from its base; and from its summit a prospect of the surrounding country may be enjoyed for more than fifty miles in every direction; while in one part of the horizon, the Alleghanny mountains are visible at a distance of a hundred miles. The Tulloola and Tuscoa Falls, within this State also, but distant from this nearly two hundred miles, are said to be beautiful scenes, especially the former, where a great chasm, or rent, between two perpendicular cliffs of more than a thousand feet high, exhibits all the grandeur of the deep gorges of the Alps, and the cataract greatly adds to the beauty of the picture.

We attended worship in the Presbyterian church, on the last day of our stay in Macon; and heard, from the pastor, one of the most able and impressive sermons I had yet heard from an American pulpit. The text was from the epistle of Paul to Timothy, in which he warns him against the sin of covetousness, and uses those emphatic words" For the love of money is the root of all evil." It was a composition that would have done honour to the most accomplished divine in Europe; but what added to its effect was, that it was preached with as much sincerity as fervour, the preacher's whole life being, it was said, in harmony with his doctrine; while there

is no country on earth in which such warnings against too eager a desire for riches are more required than in this. The service was admirably conducted; the music and singing good; and the whole deportment of the congregation attentive, orderly, and becoming. In no country, indeed, are places of worship entered or occupied with more respect and reverence than in this, where every one seems to come, not as a matter of weekly ceremony, or habitual custom, but to the performance of a solemn duty, to which they give themselves up wholly during their stay there. Such are the workings, in this country, of the plan of supporting religion by the voluntary system.

This church, which would accommodate more than 700 worshippers, was built by twelve gentlemen, at a cost of about 30,000 dollars, or £6,000 sterling; they taking upon themselves the reimbursement of their outlay by the sale of the fee-simple in the pews to resident families, each pew being considered worth 400 dollars; and they were nearly all taken or bought before the church was completed. There were certain free seats reserved for strangers or visiters, but not for the poor, as there are none so poor in towns like this, as to be unable or unwilling to pay for a pew, if resident in the town. A moderate

assessment, made by the elders and trustees, on the pews, provides the minister's salary, which is cheerfully paid; and never could there be a more striking proof than that exhibited of the sermon of to-day, that such dependence on the payment of his hearers does not prevent the pastor from speaking boldly to them, reproving them, and warning them against their

most prevalent sins. The organ, which cost 1,500 dollars, was built at Philadelphia, and was the gift of a single individual. It is thus that the churches of America are voluntarily built, supported, and supplied, without the bitter contentions which divide the churches in England, arraying the flock against the shepherd, and the shepherd against the flock, in contentions about tithes, oblations, first-fruits, church-rates, and other claims.

CHAP. XIII.

Departure from Macon for Columbus-Anecdote of negroesExtravagant charges-Hospitality and kindness of the people of Macon-Break-down of a coach-Road to KnoxvilleNegro Meg Merrilies, more than a century old-Peach orchards German emigrants-Swiss girls-The river Flint-First steps of settlers-Appearance and condition of backwood families— Schools - Churches-Dram-shops -Animals - Birds-Postoffices Executive patronage Southern drivers - Use of tobacco-Aversion to labour -Value of negro slaves-Varieties of slave traffic-Daughters of American farmers-Cottongins and cotton-presses-Value of land-Bears on the rivers -Mount Sinai-Methodists-Orthodox and "Hard-shelled " Baptists-Commotion on amalgamation-Obliquities of moral views dependent on colour-Proportions of blacks to whites in Georgia-Alabama and Mississippi-Night scene in the woods-Arrival at Columbus-Discomfort of the large American hotels-Stay at Columbus-Falls of the Chathahooche - Confectionaries-Dirks and bowie-knives sold by druggists -Story of a negro female slave.

THE inconvenient hour at which the regular stages pass through this town to the west, from 12 to 4 in the middle of the night, had induced us to seek for an extra coach in which to perform our journey from hence to Columbus; but, as none were to be had, we were obliged not only to start at this inconvenient period, but to sit up, in order to ascertain whether there was room for our party of four in the coaches running through, as no places could be secured to us beforehand. When the first arrived, which was near four o'clock, there were as many persons congregated around it, to see it come in and go out, as if it had been the first time of its passing

through; so long has the curiosity to see, outlived the novelty of the object to be seen.

On this head we were told some curious anecdotes of the country people and the negroes of the town. It is not long since the first church-bell was erected in Macon; and when it rang for the hour of worship on the sabbath, crowds of persons from the country would assemble in groups to see it, and watch its. upward and downward motions with all the eagerness of children witnessing for the first time the movements of a new toy. The river of Macon, the Ocmulgee, is navigable by steam-boats of light draught of water, up to the bridge; its length, by the circuitous windings of the stream, being about 600 miles. When the first steam-boat arrived here from Darien, it was in the middle of the night, so that the letting off the steam was heard with great distinctness, from the absence of all other sounds. The negroes not being informed of the expected arrival, and never having heard any similar noise before, arose in great alarm, and hurried to the spot to see what was its cause; when perceiving the intense lights from the furnace, and observing the sparks vomited forth by the wood fires from the large chimney, accompanied with the violent hissing of a column of steam, or as they called it, "white smoke," some of them thought the last day had arrived, and deemed this the summons to judgment. Their ignorance and fear soon causing this impression to spread, in a short time it became general, and created the greatest consternation among the coloured multitude, which was only allayed by the return of daylight, and the sight of the boat in a state of quiet and repose.