48 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



places along the navigable creeks and rivers, the Eng- 

 lish factor is to be seen again, who supplies the planter, 

 in exchange for his tobacco and timber, with manu- 

 factured articles and other wares ; but rich planters 

 also, here and there, have set up their own ware- 

 houses, whence their neighbors may get what they 

 need. Here too new land is always taken in for to- 

 bacco as soon as the old is impoverished, albeit the 

 people know and admit that old well-dunged land 

 would be quite as profitable ; but the trouble of laying 

 down grass, and gathering feed for winter so as to 

 keep the cattle in stalls or folds to make dung, all this 

 they regard as more irksome than cutting down trees 

 and rooting up stumps ; preferring to let the cattle 

 wander about in the woods and swamps to seek a 

 meagre winter support. In this region also we saw for 

 the first time several mules, which are beginning to be 

 liked because they are so perfectly adapted for the 

 American ceconomy, thriving with scant attention and 

 bad feed. These were hitched to large tobacco-hogs- 

 heads, which are drawn for miles over the bare and 

 level sand from the plantations to the ware-houses. 



In order to reach Richmond we had to leave the 

 sandy flats and, approaching the granite line, got again 

 into the uneven, hilly country pre-adjacent, where oaks 

 and other leaf-trees were again to be found in the 



self answerable to deliver tobacco in French ports at the fol- 

 lowing prices : 



Best quality of James and York River, 



the hundred a 38 livres 



Potowmack and Rappahannock tobacco a 36 



Maryland tobacco a 34 



