^2 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA, 



Within the enclosure is a mound, covering a brick vault, 

 with a plain square front, having an iron door below and a 

 tablet above : on the tablet are engraved two verses from the 

 New Testament, John xi. 25, 26. On entering the house we 

 saw in the hall a key of the Bastile, in a glass case, and 

 several prints, -the property of Washington. The rooms are 

 plain and old-fashioned, but the furniture is new ; this 1 re- 

 gretted. I left Mount Vernon with mixed feelings of sorrow 

 and pleasure : I was pleased to have seen such a place, 

 grieved to have seen it as it is. 



Having returned to Washington, we next day visited the 

 residence of the President, the state offices, &c. I was princi- 

 pally interested with the original Declaration of Independence, 

 Washington's Commission, the original Treaties with Foreign 

 Powers, &c. 



Charleston, South Carolina, 3d December^ 1837. — Between 

 nine and ten p. m. on the 22d of November, somewhat less than 

 thirty, but more than twenty persons might have been seen, had 

 it not been too dark, proceeding in one omnibus, of the usual 

 London size, from Gadby's Hotel, at Washington, to the 

 wharf, where laid the steamer which was to convey them down 

 the Potomac. 'Twas a dark, thundery night, illumined now and 

 then by a flash of lightning. After much confusion, arising 

 from some passengers not being able to find seats, and conse- 

 quently tumbling backwards, of which some a certain A was one, 

 after much shaking and much jolting, the omnibus arrived in 

 perfect safety at the v/harf, the wind blowing, the lightning 

 flashing, and the thunder roaring. At three a. m. we started, 

 and landed at eight, on the banks of the Potomac, about nine 

 miles from Fredericksburgh ; and then we took a stage to that 

 city, and thence, by rail-road, we proceeded to Richmond. 

 The country is generally poor. We stayed an hour or two at 

 Richmond, and then took the stage for Petersburgh, which we 

 reached at night. 



The houses in Virginia certainly have an English look; they 

 seem much out of repair. The country is going to ruin, and 

 is only supported by breeding negroes ! ! for the Alabama and 

 Texas markets, and by tobacco-growing ; but for this latter 

 the land is getting too poor, and Oliio is taking the trade out 

 of their hands. From Petersburgh we took the rail-road for 

 Gaston, on the Roanoke, and thence proceeded by stage to 



