SOUTH CAROLINA 163 



On this Bay lies Georgetown, that is, at the mouth 

 of the Black river. This place is said to have con- 

 tained formerly 200 houses, of which the greater part 

 were burned during the war by friends as well as foes. 

 The situation is convenient for shipping and trade, 

 and the town is therefore the depot of all the produce 

 raised by the plantations on the neighboring rivers. 

 It is the capital of the District of the same name, its 

 distance from Charleston being 65 miles. We saw 

 this town only from afar, having been landed several 

 miles below it, on crossing the Bay. Twelve miles 

 farther we had the North and South Santee to pass, 

 which in this region are separated merely by a low, 

 marshy island, half a mile wide but several miles long. 

 This island, like all swampy spots on the rivers, was 

 quite covered with evergreen bush, but a plant in 

 bloom was nowhere to be seen. Here stood the canes 

 already mentioned, and of an astonishing length ; I saw 

 many of them 36-40 ft. high, and single shoots or 

 joints 1 0-12- 1 5 inches long, and proportionately thick. 

 The Santee at its mouth is of a considerable breadth ; 

 the rivers Catawba, Congaree, and Wateree unite with 

 it. The remainder of the road to Charleston was as 

 little remarkable as that which went before, the way 

 lying through barren, flat, sandy pine-forests, seldom 

 a house or a cabin to rejoice the eye, since everything 

 is crowded near to or on the rivers, or where there is 

 water. Finally, on the 14th of January, we reached 

 Bolton's Ferry, opposite Charleston, and were that 

 evening set over the Bay, three miles wide, to the city. 

 It was a pleasure to us to see our journey from Phila- 

 delphia hither now happily ended, for in the present 

 condition of the country, and at this dismal time of the 



