TOWNS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. GG7 



population has a number of charitable organizations for tlie care of their 

 sick and the burial of the dead. Some of these are, the Benevolent So- 

 ciety of the First Baptist Church, the Workers of Charity, the Shekinah 

 Society, the Sons and Daughters of Zion, the Rising Sons and Daughters 

 of Zion, the Rising Sons and Daughters of Benevolence, the Rising Sons 

 and Daughters of Charity, the Mary and Martha Society, the Olive 

 Branch, the Sisters of Zion, the Knights of AVise Men, and an Independ- 

 ent Order of Odd Fellows. These societies have an aggregate member- 

 ship exceeding one thousand, and own eleven buildings and lots, valued 

 at over $12,000. There is a white school, attendance sixty, and a colored 

 school, attendance one hundred. The market is excellent, and living is 

 cheap, fish, oysters, clams, shrimp, sea turtle and terrapin, with game, 

 including partridges, water fowl, wild turkeys and deer, are abundant ; 

 the cost of beef on the foot is four cents to six cents, and of mutton three 

 cents to five cents. The stores on the Bay rent for $300 to $1,200, and 

 dwelling houses from S180 to $600 per annum ; the Sea Island hotel rents 

 for $2,500. The indebtedness of the town is $5,000, bearing seven per cent, 

 interest, and represents the unpaid balance of the sums expended for 

 the purchase of the steam fire engine, in building the house for it, and 

 in laying the brick sewers. The taxable property is valued at $500,000 

 for the real estate, and $200,000 for the personal property. The taxes 

 are one per cent , and the sale of licenses yield $1,500 more per annum. 

 The government of the town is invested in an intendant and six alder- 

 men, elected annually by the citizens. The police force consists of a chief 

 marshal and two assistants. The town is remarkable for quiet and good 

 order ; for twenty years past, not a single individual has been killed or 

 seriously injured in any disturbance within the corporate limits. There 

 are fort^'-three stores, and the yearly sales are estimated at $300,000 for pro- 

 visions and groceries, $200,000 for dry goods, $15,000 for hardware, $20,000 • 

 miscellaneous; total, $535,000. Trade and the mechanical and manufac- 

 turino; industries engaged the attention of the old residents of Beaufort to a 

 very limited extent. It was the home of the large landowners of the ad- 

 jacent sea islands. Those whose time was not fully occupied with the care 

 of their estates, devoted themselves to the professions, to politics, or to 

 literature. In addition to the amusements incident to a refined and cul- 

 tivated society, their chief pastime was in boating, fishing and hunting, 

 and Elliott's volume on the Field Sports of Carolina is esteemed a 

 classic in such literature, as well for the scholarly elegance of its style, 

 the vivid interest it excites in the adventures and scenes it describes, oc- 

 curring in this immediate vicinity, as for the pleasant pictures of rural 

 life it portrays. Recently, three large steam custom gins have been es- 



