38 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



into the road again people directed us through impass- 

 able woods and swamps, where we should have stuck 

 had not a good old man met us at the right time, and 

 taken the trouble to show us the way. There was no 

 tavern anywhere far and wide in the region, and he in- 

 dicated to us the plantation of a Captain B. H., whose 

 house, as he said, stands open to every traveller, and 

 the man himself is obliged to strangers if they will call 

 upon him. After a day of tedious and idle wandering- 

 about we finally reached this belauded house, which 

 stood on a very pleasant hill, with much open land about 

 it. The customary negro cabins and other farm-build- 

 ings formed together a little village in which the finer 

 and larger house of the Captain stood out well by con- 

 trast. We described our adventures to the Captain and 

 the necessity we were under of asking for refreshments 

 and a night's lodging, which he was willing for, but at 

 the same time remarking that his house was no tavern. 

 A reminder which we scarcely expected in a hospitable 

 house (as later he boasted his was known to be 

 throughout the country), and one not sustained by the 

 hay, maize-bread, water, and fish (of which they take 

 2000 at a catch) we and our horses were entertained 

 with. 



A clear, warm, and lovely day seemed indeed to 

 promise well for the pleasant climate of this region; 

 but this same landscape, so agreeable on the 9th of De- 

 cember, + was seen a few years ago covered with snow 

 on the 10th of June 1781, and in that year far to the 

 south there was snow a foot deep in the month of May 

 at Yellow-Cliffs in North Carolina. This changeable 

 weather is a hindrance to the growth of fruit-trees in 

 the region, where the warm spring tempts out the 



