NOTES ON AMERICA. 151 



had intended to remain for the night, lay at a little distance on the 

 opposite side, and I was somewhat puzzled how to proceed. Very soon, 

 however, I was accosted by a planter, who with his family and negroes 

 was delayed in his progress by the same accident. He invited me to 

 join his party, who were preparing to camp out in the pine barren which 

 skirted the road-side. I gladly accepted the invitation, and, as the 

 evening was warm and pleasant, by no means disliked the prospect of a 

 bivouac. After walking a short distance through a narrow road in the 

 forest, we arrived at a cleared plot of ground, which had evidently been 

 before used by travellers and carriers as a place of encampment. A 

 little circular barricade had been formed by the baggage waggons, and 

 in the centre, there blazed a crackling fire of dried pine wood. The 

 negroes, of whom there were about fifteen or twenty, of all ages and 

 both sexes, were devouring their supper of bacon and homony, in high 

 glee. Their young ones, some of whom were scarcely a year old, were 

 snugly seated round an iron kettle, which contained their smoking 

 food, and looked somewhat like a blackbird pie with the upper crust 

 removed. 



Their owner was a careless looking fellow, with a hard countenance, 

 and very fond of peach brandy. He talked continually of the price of 

 cotton, and the delights of a plantation in Alabama, which he had lately 

 purchased ; and where he " reckoned upon raising all out of doors, of 

 cotton and niggers." His poor wife was evidently anxious and incre- 

 dulous. She told me that she was " raised" in Massachusetts, near the 

 beautiful little village of Deerfield, and was overjoyed to find me 

 acquainted with that part of America. " There was nothing like it," 

 she said, " south of the Potomac. Nothing like Deerfield meadow, with 

 its fine old elm trees !" In this opinion I cordially concurred, for, 

 although I have seen much and travelled far, I recollect few scenes 

 whose green and fresh beauty " sprinkled such coolness on the heart," 

 as those lovely haunts of the old Indians on the banks of the Connecticut 

 river. 



The poor woman added, <c that her husband was never content to 

 remain for three years on the same farm that her health, and that of her 

 children, was ruined by a residence in the damp, though fertile Savan- 

 nahs ; and she had sorrowful anticipations of the result of their present 

 expedition." Her husband paid not the slightest attention to the com- 

 plaints which she was pouring into my ear. I suppose, he would have 

 sacrificed his whole kith and kin for a few additional pounds of cotton 

 per acre. Our supper consisted of hot bread and a decoction of coffee, 

 which, as is usual in the interior, had not been roasted previous to 

 boiling, and therefore, produced a very bitter beverage. Besides this, 

 we had another dish which I will leave the reader to name, when I have 

 mentioned the contents thereof, viz., ham, fried chicken, rice, eggs, 

 homony, sweet potatoes, and sausages. A singular medley, certainly, 

 but not unpalatable to one who had ridden upwards of forty miles 

 through the woods without breaking his fast. 



After supper I retired to rest under cover of one of the waggons, 

 which served as a protection from the falling dew, where, wrapped up 

 in my travelling cloak, I overheard the following short and characteristic 

 conversation among the negroes. 



" Scippy, wot do oo tink Dinah say ?" 



" Don't know, sar wot Dinah say, massa Pompey ?" 



