VIRGINIA 65 



plaint, because such a company at other times may be 

 very agreeable, entertaining, and instructive; but the 

 indelicate custom of having so many beds together in 

 one room is the more surprising, since elsewhere in 

 America there is much store set by decorum and neat- 

 ness, which by such an arrangement as this must often 

 be dispensed with. 



The coming together of so many gentlemen from all 

 parts of the province brought hither a great number of 

 very fine horses. One could almost fancy it was an 

 Arabian village; there were to be seen the whole day 

 long saddled horses at every turn, and a swarming of 

 riders in the few and muddy streets, for a horse must 

 be mounted, if only to fetch a prise of snuff from 

 across the way ; but of coaches there were none, which 

 in the larger towns elsewhere jolt through all the 

 streets. Horses are a prime object with the Vir- 

 ginians ; but they give their attention chiefly to racers 

 and hunters, of which indubitably they have the finest 

 in America, their custom formerly being to keep up 

 and improve the strain by imported English stallions 

 and mares. The pedigree of their horses is carried out 

 with great exactitude. Virginia supplied the best and 

 finest horses to the American cavalry, and the Virginia 

 light horse was superior to every other in speed and 

 capacity. But the province has no good draught and 

 work-horses, and their teams, in the low country at 

 least, are in general extremely sorry. One sees every- 

 where little, thin animals, hitched to wagons made of 

 wood throughout, not the smallest bit of iron to be 

 found in the construction. A collar of pleated straw, 

 and a pair of rough leather traces, or perhaps of 

 twisted bark, make the entire harness. The numerous 



