LIFE OF WILSON. xc i 



sakes, I am willing to believe they are all better than they 

 seemed to be. 



" Wilmington contains about three thousand souls; and yet 

 there is not one cultivated field within several miles of it. The 

 whole country, on this side of the river, is a mass of sand, into 

 which you sink up to the ankles; and hardly a blade of grass is 

 to be seen. All about is pine barrens. * * * 



" From Wilmington I rode through solitary pine savannas, 

 and cypress swamps, as before; sometimes thirty miles without 

 seeing a hut, or human being. On arriving at the Wackamaw, 

 Pedee, and Black river, I made long zigzags among the rich 

 nabobs, who live on their rice plantations, amidst large villages 

 of negro huts. One of these gentlemen told me that he had 

 " something better than six hundred head of blacks!" 

 These excursions detained me greatly. The roads to the plan- 

 tations were so long, so difficult to find, and so bad, and the 

 hospitality of the planters was such, that I could scarcely get 

 away again. I ought to have told you that the deep sands of 

 South Carolina had so worn out my horse, that, with all my 

 care, I found he would give up. Chance led me to the house 

 of a planter, named V. , about forty miles north of the river 

 Wackamaw, where I proposed to bargain with him, and to 

 give up my young blood horse for another in exchange; giving 

 him at least as good a character as he deserved. He asked 

 twenty dollars to boot, and / thirty. We parted, but I could 

 perceive that he had taken a liking to my steed; so I went on. 

 He followed me to the seabeach, about three miles, under pre- 

 tence of pointing out to me the road ; and there, on the sands, 

 amidst the roar of the Atlantic, we finally bargained; and I 

 found myself in possession of a large, well formed and elegant, 

 sorrel horse, that ran off with me, at a canter, for fifteen miles 

 along the sea shore; and travelled the same day forty-two 

 miles, with nothing but a few mouthfuls of rice straw, which I 

 got from a negro. If you have ever seen the rushes with 

 which carpenters sometimes smooth their work, you may form 

 some idea of the common fare of the South Carolina horses. I 



