NORTH CAROLINA 147 



There grew on the rocks Acrostichum polypodioides 

 and Asplenium rhizophyllum L. 



The day after our arrival we attended a public 

 auction held in front of the Court-house. House- 

 leases for a year were offered for sale, and very in- 

 different houses in the market street, because advanta- 

 geously placed for trade, were let for 60, 100, and 

 150 Pd. annual rent. 



After this, negroes were let for 12 months to the 

 highest bidder, by public cry as well. A whole family, 

 man, wife, and 3 children, were hired out at 70 Pd. a 

 year ; and others singly, at 25, 30, 35 Pd., according to 

 age, strength, capability, and usefulness. In North 

 Carolina it is reckoned in the average that a negro 

 should bring his master about 30 Pd. Current a year 

 (180 fl. Rhenish). In the West Indies the clear profit 

 which the labor of a negro brings his master, is esti- 

 mated at 25-30 guineas, and in Virginia, according to 

 the nature of the land, at 10-12-15 guineas a year. 

 The keep of a negro here does not come to a great 

 figure, since the daily ration is but a quart of maize, 

 and rarely a little meat or salted fish. Only those 

 negroes kept for house-service are better cared for. 

 Well-disposed masters clothe their negroes once a 

 year, and give them a suit of coarse woollen cloth, two 

 rough shirts, and a pair of shoes. But they who have 

 the largest droves keep them the worst, let them run 

 naked mostly or in rags, and accustom them as much 

 as possible to hunger, but exact of them steady work. 

 Whoever hires a negro, gives on the spot a bond for 

 the amount, to be paid at the end of the term, even 

 should the hired negro fall sick or run off in the mean- 

 time. The hirer must also pay the negro's head-tax, 



