152 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



1 worthy soul, in such black, ugly bodies. The negroes 

 1 think beads of greater value than gold, which 

 1 plainly shows that they are unreasoning beings.* 

 1 It is not possible we should regard these creatures 

 1 as men, for so we make ourselves no Christians." 

 Montesquieu has here said everything that the de- 

 fenders of negro slavery are wont to say, whether 

 clearly or ambiguously. 



The Cape Fear river divides at Wilmington into the 

 n. east branch and the n. west branch, which receive 

 the Deep river, Haw river, and many other streams. 

 The North-east branch, under different names, extends 

 far into the interior of the country, and is navigable by 

 boat to Cross Creek, ioo miles from here. The straight 

 road from Wilmington to South Carolina lies .through 

 a swampy region ; the war had left the bridges useless, 

 and we were obliged to go some miles up the North- 

 west Branch by boat, to avoid the swamp. The low 

 banks of the river were grown up on both sides with 

 reeds and canes; closest in were the smaller varieties 

 of evergreen bush, beyond which stood the higher 

 evergreen trees : magnolias, laurels, Hopea, Gordonia 

 Lasianthus, and the like, their green a pleasant pros- 

 pect. Amongst this green grew splendid oaks, water- 



* For the truth of the matter, not to be questioned without 

 valid grounds, "that the negroes, as regards their natural 

 " capacities and powers of mind, are in no way inferior to the 

 " rest of the human species," See Prof. Blumenbach's re- 

 marks on the negro in Mugazin zur Physik und Naturge- 

 schichte, IV, No. 3, 4. An impartial, unprejudiced observer 

 might assemble among the American negro slaves, notwith- 

 standing their unfavorable situation, numerous instances in 

 support of this undeniable truth. 



