^otttft Carolina* 



We found no sort of reason to speak well of our 

 first tavern in South Carolina, either for comfort or 

 charges. For a little bacon and tea, a night's lodging, 

 corn and corn-fodder for our horses the hostess, to 

 make an even reckoning, asked for 3 horses and 3 

 riders, head for head a piastre, or 6 Spanish dollars in 

 all (14 fl. 24 kr. Rhenish). The night was very cold; 

 what with the rain of the day before, and the night's 

 snow, in the morning everything, earth and trees, was 

 covered with a thin coating of ice. We saw nothing 

 but sand and pine-woods for 16 miles, until we came 

 to a few cabins and then to the plantation of Mr. 

 Vareen. Notwithstanding we arrived here early, the 

 weather being bad as also the state of the road before 

 us, we were obliged to spend the rest of the day, hav- 

 ing 26 miles to ride before reaching the next human 

 habitation. At Mr. Vareen's we saw for the first time 

 the staple South Carolina dish, rice in place of bread ; 

 for such use it is baked compact and dry, a pound of 

 rice to two pounds of water, so that it may be cut in 

 the dish. Customarily no other sort of bread is seen 

 in the country, and the inhabitants of these southern 

 provinces are so used to rice that now and then it is 

 served in this form in towns, and is preferred to 

 bread. For a change, small, thin cakes are baked, 

 either of rice alone or mixed with maize, and served 

 warm. For the people of the hither Carolinian 

 country rice is the most important food and for their 



