SOUTH CAROLINA 169 



than one. These social unions give themselves strange 

 names at times, as : Mount Sion Society, Hell-fire 

 Club, Marine Anti-Britannic Society, Smoaking So- 

 ciety, and the like. All the games usual in England 

 are in vogue here. As regards dress, the English 

 taste is closely followed ; also the clergy and civil 

 officers wear the garb customary in England. The 

 ladies bestow much attention upon their dress, and 

 spare no cost to obtain the newest modes from Europe. 

 Milliners and hair-dressers do well here and grow 

 rich. 



Charleston, at sundry times and by opposite ele- 

 ments, has been threatened with complete destruction. 

 A great part of the town has several times gone up in 

 fire, and with a loss of considerable stores of mer- 

 chants' wares. Again, violent and lasting hurricanes 

 have seemed as if certain to destroy the place. The 

 low situation of the town exposes it, if north-east 

 storms hold somewhat long, to the danger of furious 

 overflow, these winds checking the northwestern 

 course of the gulf-stream flowing along the coast 

 from the Mexican gulf, and driving it and other 

 water of the ocean against the flat coast of Carolina. 

 From the same causes also the two rivers flowing by 

 the town are checked, and in a very brief space the 

 water often rises to an incredible height. 



In the item of weather Carolina is subject to the 

 same changes as the rest of the eastern coast of North 

 America; warmth and cold, fair and rainy days are 

 the effects or consequences of the winds. The North- 

 west spreads cold over this southern region as over 

 all the coast besides. In January and February 1784, 

 the time of my stay at Charleston, the weather was 

 12 



