can only be removed by a peculiar machine, that lightly pounds it so as to crack the husk without breaking the rice. Rice in the rough, that is, with the husk on, is termed "paddy," an East Indian word. The usual crop is from thirty to sixty bushels an acre, and it sells in Charleston and Savannah in the rough from eighty cents to one dollar per bushel.

During the malarious season it is dangerous for any but negroes to remain over night in the vicinity of the swamps or rice-fields. At this period even the overseers generally retreat at night to adjacent pine-lands away from the deadly influence. Negroes do not enjoy as good health as elsewhere; even those born on the soil are generally weakly and short-lived.*

Southern Cabin.†

"We pass on now to a hasty peep at the special traits in the social life of the whites on the rice plantations. The characteristic, under this head, which will *A late traveler in the south illustrates the fatality of night exposure in the low country of the rice plantations by the following anecdotes: "As to the degree of danger to others, 'I would as soon stand fifty feet from the best Kentucky rifleman and be shot at by the hour as to spend a night on my plantation in summer,' a Charleston gentleman said to me. And the following two instances of the deadly work it sometimes does were mentioned to me by another: A party of six ladies and gentlemen went out of town to spend a day at the mansion of a rice-planter, on an island. By an accident to their boat, their return before night was prevented, and they went back and shut themselves within the house, had fires made, around which they sat all night, and took every other precaution to guard against the miasma. Nevertheless, four of them died from its effects within a week, and the other two suffered severely. Two brothers owned a plantation, on which they had spent the winter. One of them, as summer approached, was careful to go to another residence every night; the other delayed to do so until it was too late. One morning he was found to be ill; a physician could not be procured until late in the afternoon, by which time his recovery was hopeless. The sick man besought his brother not to hazard his own life by remaining with him; and he was obliged, before the sun set, to take the last farewell, and leave him with the servants, in whose care, in the course of the night, he died."

"In the better class of cabins the roof is usually built with a curve, so as to project eight or ten feet beyond the log wall; and a part of this space, exterior to the logs, is inclosed

first strike the stranger, and, for a while, most disagreeably, is, perhaps, the general disregard and disdain of order and comfort in the style and appointments of the residences even of the wealthiest of the people. He will wonder when he visits friends here whose accomplished manners and refined tastes have almost shamed the elegance of his lavishly adorned drawing-rooms at the North, to find them living in the humblest of wooden, perchance of log, houses, only half finished outside, and not at all within; often carpetless even in the parlors, and seldom with any other furniture to speak of; no trace of the rich curtains, the sumptuous sofas, the gorgeous picture-frames, or of the thousand and one dainty household gods, so carefully gathered and treasured, and so great a part of the pleasure of his own home. He may be disposed at first to set this peculiarity down to the indolence and carelessness, or to the improvidence of the people, and perhaps some of it may go that way; but by-and-by he will more truly account

for it by the nature and circumstances of the case. As he begins to feel at home, to discover the new pleasures at his command, and to fall into the way and spirit with boards, making an additional small room; the remainder forms an open porch. The whole cabin is often elevated on four corner-posts, two or three feet from the ground, so that the air may circulate under it. The fire-place is built at the end of the house, of sticks and clay, and the chimney is carried up outside, and often detached from the log-walls; but the roof is extended at the gable, until in a line with its outer side. The porch has a railing in front, and a wide shelf at the end, on which a bucket of water, a gourd and hand-basin are usually placed. There are chairs, or benches, in the porch, and you often see women sitting at work in it, as in Germany. The logs are usually hewn but little; and, of course, as they are laid up, there will be wide interstices between them, which are increased by subsequent shrinking. These very commonly are not "chinked," or filled up in any way, nor is the wall lined on the inside. Through the chinks, as you pass along the road, you may often see all that is going on in the house, and at night the light of the fire shines brightly out on all sides. Cabins of this class are almost always flanked by two or three negro huts. The cabins of the poorest class of whites are mere pens of logs, roofed over, provided with a chimney, and usually with a shed of boards, supported by rough posts, before the door."

of the life around him, he will feel that the wants of one social condition and cli mate may not be the wants of another, and very opposite one; that on the rice plantations the people "live out of doors;" that their very houses, ever wide open, are themselves "out of doors;" and consequently, but little more cared for than are the self-caring lawns and woods around them.

It would seem, and so indeed it is, as a rule, that the southern gentleman, even the most assiduous in business, labors only for occupation, his daily toil being his welcome pleasure. He never buries the man in the business, but makes of his business itself his social enjoyment and his true life. Thus, whatever may be his engagements, he seems never to have anything to do but to amuse himself and his family and the stranger within his gates.

The social season on the plantation is that of the winter and spring months only, from November, or the time of early frost, to the beginning of June. During the interval all the whites are away, excepting, may be, the overseer, who stays at his peril. We are speaking thus of the swamp lands only, not of the whole region, for the rice-fields are surrounded often by belts or ridges of high sandy ground, covered with a close growth of pine, sanitary oases and safety-valves, exempt in a great degree from the dreaded malaria of the richer soils. These sandy terraces and pine barrens are places of refuge, in the hot season, to those whose convenience or pleasure does not lead them to the cities or to the Northern States. They are, besides, the pleasant, permanent abode, summer and winter, of a considerable population.

The gay season begins at Christmas, which is celebrated hereabouts with much of the old poetic interest, culminates in February, and by the end of March is over and gone. After it, in April and May, come the most attractive out-of-door days, when all nature is decked in the full, fresh drapery of summer-the greenest of leaves and the brightest of flowers. Loving and accustomed to equestrian exercise, the ladies have enough of pleasant and profitable out-door life; while their large households furnish ample employment, even without the generally great cares of hospitality. It is much the custom, at least on the smaller plantations, for the mistress to charge herself with the labors and responsibility of supplying the wants of the blacks as well as the whites of the family, providing them with their rations of food and their stock of clothing, and ministering to them in hours of sickness; so that, on the whole, one way or another, black and white together, a Southern matron has no necessity, and but little opportunity, to be an idle woman. The gentlemen are equally well provided with occupation in the care of their plantations, the entertainment of their guests, and with studies in the library and sports in the field. The swamps are full of deer, which beguile them to the chase, and the peopled waters tempt them to wander forth with hook and line.

The planter's mansion is not an edifice of extraordinary architectural pretension, even in its best estate. The superior houses are usually two story frame buildings, with piazzas double in front and single in the rear, the outer parts of the latter often inclosed so as to form small store or sleeping apartments. These are called shed-rooms, and are very comfortable quarters. The chimneys are always built outside of the walls, and slightly detached therefrom. The whole house is elevated above the ground from six to eight feet, or even more, upon log or brick supports, thus usefully avoiding dampness, aiding ventilation, and providing a cozy retreat oftentimes for dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, and rubbish generally. The kitchen is, in all cases, a separate building, but is occasionally connected with the main edifice by a covered passage. The houses are painted and furnished with outside blinds, and are plastered or ceiled, or not, as it happens. In spring, when musquitoes congregate, bright fires, one on each side of the gate, are made of the resinous pine or "light wood," to lure them from the piazzas, where the household is gathered. These fires are built on brick posts, or upon elevated wooden trays covered with earth. They give a cheerful air to the wooded surroundings, and serve to say if distant neighbors are at home or not."

The following are extracts from the minutes of the trustees of the colony of Georgia, and published, with many others, in White's Hist. Collections of Georgia:

Nov. 16, 1732. On board the frigate Ann, Capt. Thomas mustered the passengers on board, and computed the freight of them to 91 heads.

Aug. 11, 1733. Read a letter from Mr. Oglethorpe, with an account of the death of several persons in Georgia, which he imputed to the drinking of rum. Resolved that the drinking of rum in Georgia be absolutely prohibited, and that all which shall be brought there shall be staved.

Oct. 16, 1734. Read an indenture for binding William Ewen as servant to the trustees for two years. That 50 acres of land be given to said William Ewen when his time is out [Mr. Ewen afterward became governor of Georgia.]

May 5, 1735. One thousand cwt. of copper farthings to be sent to Georgia.

April 4, 1737. A law was read against the use of gold and silver in apparel and furniture in Georgia, and for preventing extravagance and luxury.

Nov. 9, 1737. Received from Major William Cook 16 different sorts of vine cuttings from France for the use of the colony.

Dec. 7, 1737. Several letters were read from Mr. Williamson at Savannah complaining of the Rev. John Wesley having refused the sacrament to his wife, with affidavit of the latter thereupon, and two presentments of the Grand Jury of the Rev. John Wesley for said refusal, and for several other facts laid to his charge.

May 16, 1739. Received a bottle of Salitrum seeds, being a remedy for the bloody flux for the use of the colony. Read a commission to the Rev. George Whitefield to perform all religious and ecclesiastical offices at Savannah, Georgia.

June 27, 1739. That the seal of the corporation be affixed to the Trustees' answer to the Representation from Savannah of the 9th of Dec., 1738, for altering tenure of lands, and introducing negroes in Georgia.

Jan. 16, 1739-40. Lieut. Delegel, Capt Dymond and Mr. Aspourger asked by the trustees their opinion about the climate of Georgia-declared they thought it very healthy, and that in the hottest weather there are fine breezes in the middle of the day. As to the goodness of the soil, "there was a great quantity of good land, called mixt land." Lieut. Delegel said that the white Mulberry tree grows wild as well as the black. Capt. Dymond said that no vegetable thrives faster in any part of the world than the Mulberry tree in Georgia. Mr. Aspourger said that he had seen the family of Camuse winding silk. Capt. Dempsey said that the wild vines grow abundantly in Georgia; that the grapes are very sweet, and that these vines are capable of great improvement by engraftment. Mr. Robert Millar, botanist, said that he believed Indigo would grow very well in Georgia, and that it may be sown and raised in four months in Georgia, whereas in most other places the climates are not proper for it above three months.

Capt. Dymond being questioned about Cotton, declared that it thrives very well in Georgia; that he has brought home with him very good pods of it, and that it was planted on the island of St. Simon, by Mr. Horton.

Capt. Dymond, Lieut. Delegel and Mr. Aspourger declared that they had all seen the prickly pear shrub in Georgia, and the Cochineal Fly upon it; that there are great numbers of those trees, which grow wild in the southern part of the province, and that the islands are full of them; that they have taken the fly between their fingers, and though green upon the tree it dyes the fingers (if squeezed) with a deep red color. Lieut. Delegel said the dye of it could not easily be washed off with soap.

Capt. Dymond being asked by the trustees about the timber in the province, said that he had seen very good and fit for masts, and that Captain Gascoigne's carpenter told him there was timber fit for masts for the largest men-of-war; that the timber grows very high at some distance up in the country; that the trees grow very near rivers, which are navigable, and down which they may be floated. Lieut. Delegel said that the trees for masts are very tall, twenty miles up in the country from St. Simon's. Capt. Shubrick said that he had seen very fine knee timber growing near the sea. Capts. Dymond and Shubrick declared that the sea-coast of Georgia is capable and secure for navigation as any coast in the world.

Capt. Mapey told the trustees that since the establishment of Georgia the price of lands has been greatly raised in Carolina, and the plantations there increased; that Georgia is a fine barrier for the Northern provinces, and especially for Carolina; and is also a great security against the running away of negroes from Carolina to Augustine, because every negro, at his first appearance in Georgia, must be immediately known to be a runaway, since there are no negroes in Georgia.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUTHERN STATES IN THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

Watson, in his "Men and Times of the Revolution," has left a valuable record of a journey which he made in the years 1777-78 through the southern states. He was then a youth of nineteen years of age, and in the employment of John Brown, an eminent merchant of Providence, the founder of Brown University. We make the extract in an abridged form. The southern states were then very thinly settled, and society but in a forming condition:

"At York the congress was at that time assembled after its dispersion from Philadelphia. Protected by Washington, whose forces interposed between them and the British army, they held daily secret sessions. Here we procured passports for our southern journey. We entered Maryland on the 5th of October, and passed through Hanover and Fredericksburg into Virginia, over the Potomac at Newland's ferry. We found the country, through a wilderness region, infested by a semi-barbarian population. We liberated an unfortunate traveler assailed by one of these wretches, who, in his technical language, swore he "would try the strength of his eye-ball strings. Soon after entering Virginia, and at a highly respectable house, I was shocked, beyond the power of language to express, at seeing, for the first time, young negroes of both sexes, from twelve even to fifteen years old, not only running about the house, but absolutely tending table, as naked as they came into the world, not having even the poor apology of a fig-leaf to save modesty a blush. What made the scene more extraordinary still, to my unpracticed eye, was the fact that several young women were at table, who appeared totally unmoved at the scandalous violation of decency. I find custom will reconcile us to almost everything.

Proceeding on our journey from Leesburg, night overtook us in the midst of a wild and secluded region. A wretched ordinary, filled with a throng of suspicious characters, afforded us the only refuge; but as the moon was just rising, we chose to press forward through the woods rather than to encounter its hospitalities. We traveled thus until a late hour in the night, amid stately forests of tall, venerable pines, our three carriages in a line, and man Tom, our servant, in advance. Suddenly Tom came galloping back in a terrible fright. "What is the matter, Tom?" we cried. "Oh, massa, I see the d-1 just this minute flying in dem woods!" Mr. Scott, being ahead, stopped and exclaimed. "What can it be! Don't you see it moving in the air among those trees?" We distinctly saw the object of Tom's terror. Well," says Scott, "let it be a d-1, or a d-d tory, or what, I'll find out." He dismounted, pistol in hand, and dashed into the wood, calling upon Tom to follow. They had not proceeded far when Tom whirled about, and was in full career toward us, applying whip and spur at a merciless rate, his hat off, and his naked head in a line with the horse's mane. Mr. Scott pressed forward with due caution toward the terrific object, which still seemed to float in the air. We were all impatience and anxiety for the fate of our gallant companion. In a moment more he made the old forest ring with his powerful voice. "I have got the d-1, or some dead tory, fast by the leg; a man in gibbets!" After this absurd scene, we advanced five miles further through the woods to a small tavern, where we found rest and comfort, Here we learned that the cause of our alarm was a negro hung in chains for the murder of his master.

As we approached Fredericksburg, we passed many elegant plantations, whose owners appeared to enjoy the splendor and affluence of nabobs. About two miles from the town, on the north bank of the Rappahannock, we examined the extensive factory belonging to Colonel Hunter, for the manufacture of small arms, bar iron, steel, files, etc. Fredericksburg is situated on the Rappahannock, and con tains about 8,000 inhabitants. At this place the mother of our Washington resides, and was pointed out to me. She is a majestic and venerable woman.

On the 17th of October we reached Williamsburg. Here I separated from my traveling companions. This city contains three hundred and twenty dwellinghouses, principally built of wood, on one street three-fourths of a mile in length.