XCViii LIFE OF WILSON. 



tenth of the curses slavery has brought on the southern states. 

 Nothing has surprised me more than the cold melancholy re- 

 serve of the females, of the best families, in South Carolina and 

 Georgia. Old and young, single and married, all have that dull 

 frigid insipidity, and reserve, which is attributed to solitary old 

 maids. Even in their own houses they scarce utter any thing 

 to a stranger but yes or no, and one is perpetually puzzled to 

 know whether it proceeds from awkwardness or dislike. Those 

 who have been at some of their balls say that the ladies hardly 

 ever speak or smile, but dance with as much gravity, as if they 

 were performing some ceremony of devotion. On the contrary, 

 the negro wenches are all sprightliness and gayety; and if re- 

 port be not a defamer (here, there is a hiatus in the manu- 

 script) which render the men callous to all the finer sensations 

 of love, and female excellence. 



" I will not detain you by a recital of my journey from 

 Charleston to Savannah. In crossing the Savannah river, at a 

 place called the Two Sisters' Ferry, my horse threw himself 

 into the torrent, and had I not, at the risk of my own life, res- 

 cued him, would have been drowned." 



Of the first volume of the Ornithology, only two hundred 

 copies had been printed. But it was now thought expedient to 

 strike off a new edition of three hundred more; as the increas- 

 ing approbation of the public warranted the expectation of cor- 

 responding support. 



TO MR. WM. BARTRAM. 



Philadelphia, August 4, 1809. 



" The second volume of " American Ornithology" being 

 now nearly ready to go to press, and the plates in considerable 

 forwardness, you will permit me to trespass on your time, for 

 a few moments, by inquiring if you have any thing interesting 

 to add to the history of the following birds, the figures of which 



will be found in this volume. 



* * * * 



\ 



" I have myself already said every thing of the foregoing 



