THE DIVIDING LINE. 33 



Sd. By the advantage of clear woods, the line was extended twelve miles 

 and three quarters, as far as the banks of Meherrin. Though the mouth of 

 this river lies fifteen miles below the mouth of Nottoway, yet it winds so much 

 to the northward, that we came upon it, after running this small distance. 



During the first seven miles, we observed the soil to be poor and sandy ; 

 but as we approached Meherrin it grew better, though there it was cn^it to 

 pieces bj'' sundry miry branches, which discharge themselves into that river, 

 Several of our horses plunged up to the saddle skirts, and were not dis- 

 engaged without difficulty. 



The latter part of our day's work was pretty laborious, because of the 

 unevenness of the way, and because the low groimd of the river was full of 

 cypress snags, as sharp and dangerous to our horses as so many chevaux-de- 

 frise. We found the whole distance from the mouth of Nottoway to Meherrin 

 river, where our hne intersected it, thirteen miles and a quarter. 



It was hai'dly possible to find a level large enough on the banks of the 

 river whereupon to pitch our tent. But though the situation was, on that 

 account, not very convenient for us, 5-et it was for our poor horses, by 

 reason of the plenty of small reeds on which they fed voraciously. These 

 reeds are green here all the year round, and will keep cattle in tolerable 

 good plight during the winter. But whenever the hogs come where they 

 are, they destroy them in a short time, by ploughing up their roots, of which, 

 unluckily, they are very fond. 



The river was in this place about as wide as the river Jordan, that is, 

 forty yards, and would be navigable very high for flat bottom boats and 

 canoes, if it were not choked up with large trees, brought down by every 

 fresh. Though the banks were full twenty feet high from the surface of the 

 water, yet we saw certain marks of their having been overflowed. 



These narrow rivers that run high up into the country are subject to fre- 

 quent inundations, when the waters are rolled down with such violence as to 

 carry all before them. The logs that are then floated, are very fatal to the 

 bridges built over these rivers, which can hardly be contrived strong enough to 

 stand against so much weight and violence joined together. 



The Isle of Wight county begins about three miles to the east of Meherrin 

 river, being divided from that of Nansemond only by a line of marked trees. 



4th. The river was here hardly fordable, though the season had been very 

 dry. The banks too were so steep that our horses were forced to climb like 

 mules to get up them. Nevertheless we had the luck to recover the opposite 

 shore without damage. 



We halted for half an hour at Charles Anderson's, who lives on the western 

 bank of the river, in order to christen one of his children. In the mean time, 

 the surveyors extended the line two miles and thirty-nine chains, in which 

 small distance Meherrin river was so serpentine, that they crossed it three 

 times. Then we went on to Mr. Kinchin's, a man of figure and authority in 

 North Carolina, who lives about a mile to the southward of the place where 

 the surveyors left off. By the benefit of a little pains, and good management, 

 this worthy magistrate lives in much afliuence. Amongst other instances of 

 his industry, he had planted a good orchard, which is not common in that 

 indolent climate ; nor is it at all strange, that such improvident people, who 

 take no thought for the morrow, should save themselves the trouble to make 

 improvements that will not pay them for several years to come. Though, if 

 they could trust futurity for any thing, they certainly would for cider, which 

 they are so fond of, that they generally drink it before it has done working, 

 lest the fermentation might unluckily turn it sour. 



It is an observation, which rarely fails of being true, both in Virginia and 

 Carolina, that those who take care to plant good orchards are, in their ge- 



