40 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



For other reasons as well, the German and Irish ser- 

 vants brought over in such numbers have been long un- 

 willing to apprentice themselves in Virginia or Caro- 

 lina, nor have they cared to settle there if not pos- 

 sessed of considerable property and able to buy slaves 

 themselves. They are too proud to work with and 

 among the negroes who in Virginia and Carolina are 

 almost the only working people. For the Virginians as 

 such are an indolent, haughty people whose thoughts 

 and designs are directed solely towards paying the lord, 

 owning great tracts of land and numerous troops of 

 slaves. Any man whatever, if he can afford so much as 

 2-3 negroes, becomes ashamed of work and goes about 

 in idleness, supported by his slaves. Thus the intro- 

 duction of the negroes has been injurious to the moral 

 principles of the inhabitants of these provinces, has 

 made them sluggish and arrogant ; and at times cruel, 

 because of the despotic power they have over their 

 slaves. Besides, the cultivation of the land merely by 

 negroes is not the most profitable, which the people 

 themselves see plainly enough and would like to get rid 

 of them, but what is to be done with them and where 

 are other working hands to be found ? 



By the grown-up banks of a small stream, on the 

 Captain's land, a narrow vein of copper-ore has been 

 discovered, which according to a test made at Phila- 

 delphia is said to yield 25-30 pounds in the hundred. 

 The work is very little advanced at present, the owner 

 intending to follow the circumspect method and have 

 his negroes, whenever they are not otherwise busy, dig 

 as much as possible (not a difficult matter, doubtless, 

 since the vein lies very shallow beneath the surface, 

 from all appearances), and then he will make arrange- 



