CRAVEN COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA. I 59 



Porcher had four sons, to whom he left plantations, 

 and he was accustomed to lament the lot of him 

 who had only a place in St. John's. That was the 

 only son who was not compelled to quit his patri- 

 mony. The three others, who were left to the in- 

 heritance of Santee lands, were all obliged to abandon 

 them, and seek in St. John's the means of making 

 cotton. 



How far the unhealthiness of the country may 

 have contributed to its depopulation, it is diffi- 

 cult to say. Our own opinion is, that the insa- 

 lubrity of our climate has been greatly exagger- 

 ated. Nothing is more certain, than that we readily 

 accommodate ourselves to a given standard of health, 

 and scarcely desire any improvement on it. The 

 tone of s*entiment on this subject, as well as on 

 others, is, in a great measure, derived from the me- 

 tropolis, and just in proportion as the sanitary condi- 

 tion of Charleston has improved, does that of the 

 surrounding country appear to have deteriorated. 

 We have seen letters written from Somerton planta- 

 tion, in midsummer, 1725, in which the writer speaks 

 of having retired thither from the insalubrious cli- 

 mate of Charleston. We have heard the late Mr. 

 Daniel Webb say that, when a child, he was carried 

 from Charleston to the neighborhood of Eutaw, for 

 the benefit of his health. And it was a common 

 practice for the late Mrs. Plowden Weston and 

 her sister, Mrs. William Mazyck, to pay an annual 



