483 



ANNUAL IIKGISTEII, Isl?. 



friend, for the 8ake of a trifling 

 reward, went to the Georgia slave 

 traders, to betray the whole fa- 

 mily into their hands ; and, in the 

 middle of the ni^ht, they were 

 seized, bound, and forcibly taken 

 from their comfortal>le habitation, 

 in order to be put on board a small 

 sloop which lny in the river, near 

 at hand. On coming near the 

 river, the poor black man, who 

 hud been j^iaced on hoiseback, 

 behind one of these Georgia men, 

 suddenly broke loose, and leaping 

 from the horse, plunged headlong 

 into the river, which he quickly 

 swam across, and, sj;etting into the 

 woods, escaped from his inhuman 

 pursuers. On this occasion, the 

 agitation of the poor wife and 

 children was beyond expression; 

 and to silence the shrieks and cries 

 of this miserable family, these 

 unprincipled men beat them un- 

 mercifully; and the last which the 

 poor negro man saw of this scene, 

 as he fled into the woods was, their 

 beating his wife upon the head, in 

 the most brutal maimer. To a 

 person who has not been an eye- 

 witness to such scenes, it may ap- 

 pear incredible that transactions of 

 80 atrocious a nature, could occur 

 under a form of government like 

 that of the United States ; but the 

 slavecy of the negroes having long 

 since been introduced, the evil 

 consequences resulting from it have 

 not yet been rooted out of the 

 Southern States ; where a warm 

 climate seems to have enervated 

 both the bodies and the minds of 

 the white inhabitants. It is, how- 

 ever, to the credit of the people of 

 Pennsylvania, and the States to the 

 eastward and northward of them, 

 that almost every thing in their 

 power has been done, to iirdnce 



their Southern neighbours to re* 

 linquish the infamous and debas-* 

 iiig system of personal slavery ; 

 and there can be scarcely a doubt, 

 if they i ei severe in their honour- 

 able endeavours, that they will, in 

 the end, be crowned with succet^s. 



Settlers on the Banks of the OhiOf 

 from the same. 

 This afternoon, at B. J.'s, one 

 of our company was a young 

 woman who was there on a visit. 

 Her usual residence was in one of 

 tiie new settlements, on the banks 

 of the Ohio, about 500 miles from 

 Philadelphia. She informed us 

 lliat many famdies on the banks of 

 this great river, are supplied with 

 shop goods from vessels which 

 navigate it, and are fitted up with 

 counters, shelves, and drawers, in 

 the same manner as are shoi)S on 

 land, and well stored with all 

 kinds of goods. As they sail along 

 the river, on coming near a plan- 

 tation, they blow a horn or conch 

 shell, to give notice of their 

 arrival ; when the planters, with 

 their wives and daughters, repair 

 to these floating shops, and select 

 such things as they are in want of; 

 and make payment in the produce 

 of their plantations; such as grain, 

 flour, cotton, tobacco, dried veni- 

 son, the skins of wild animals, 

 &c. &Ci The shopkeeper having 

 disposed of his goods in this way, 

 returns home with the produce he 

 has collected; and again renews 

 his stock, and proceeds on another 

 voyage. The young woman re- 

 marked, that four or five of these 

 floating shops would pass by^ her 

 father's house, in the course of a 

 day. 



She likewise informed us, such 

 vras the primitive simplicity in 



whick 



