78 REMINISCENCES OF 



three or four well-kept taverns, and five or six excel- 

 lent stores. These were generally branches of larger 

 establishments in Charleston, and as they sold goods 

 at Charleston prices they commanded a fair busi- 

 ness. The usual practice of the Santee planter was 

 to take his crop to Monck's Corner, sell it there, re- 

 ceiving cash or goods in exchange, dine, and return 

 home in the afternoon. 



After indigo had become a valueless drug the 

 planters turned their attention to the culture of 

 rice, and brought into cultivation every branch and 

 inland swamp which could produce it. After it was 

 harvested It was prepared for the market by the 

 slow and laborious process of beating by the hand. 

 This was done with a pestle in mortars holding 

 each three pecks of rough rice. This was an ex- 

 tra task, performed on some plantations before day- 

 light, on others after nightfall. In the course of 

 time those who had water-power constructed rice 

 mills ; others used a machine with from four to six 

 pestles. This was generally worked by oxen and 

 was called the " pecker machine." 



In my boyhood there was not a four-wheeled car- 

 riage owned in that part of Santee which I have 

 been describing, with the exception of a heavy and 

 unsightly vehicle, something like a baggage wagon, 

 owned by General Marion. It was called a caravan 

 and was drawn by four horses, ridden by postilions. 

 The vehicle in common use was the chair. It was 



