128 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



March and early in April, and stay until late in No- 

 vember. At Charleston they are absent hardly longer 

 than from December to February. Regarding the 

 migrations and winter-home of the swallows, so long 

 a matter of uncertainty in Europe, it will soon be 

 possible to obtain more exact information from 

 America. + 



New-Bern is situated on a point of land, where the 

 rivers Neus and Trent unite. The beds of these rivers 

 are very deep and flat and subject to frequent over- 

 flow. The region thus is not the healthiest nor its air 

 the purest, and almost every autumn brings sickness 

 which carries off many. Moreover, the mortality 

 among children in this and other parts of the south is 

 perhaps double what it would be for an equal number 

 of children in the northern states. The river Trent 

 has only a short course inland, but the Neus comes 

 down about 200 miles from the mountains, where it 

 rises near Mount Ararat, making a little fall 70-80 

 miles to the west of this place. The entrance for ships 

 coming in from the sea is impeded by the bars already 

 often mentioned ; the passage is by Occacock Inlet, or 

 the same as that ships must take bound for Edenton, 

 lying much to the north. The town is small, not yet 

 rich, and the houses are all of timber. Its trade is re- 

 stricted entirely to the products of the forests and of 

 cattle-breeding. Formerly it was the seat of govern- 

 ment and for the last British governor, General Tryon, 

 there was a very genteel house built, the only one of 

 brick, on the banks of the Trent. This palace, for it 

 is honored with that much too splendid name, is at this 

 time almost in ruins ; the inhabitants of the town took 

 away everything they could make use of, carpets, pan- 



