220 SMITHFIELD, NORTH CAROLINA. [CHAP. XVI. 



A large export of turpentine is the chief business of this port, 

 and gashes are seen cut in the bark of the pines in the neighbor 

 ing forest, from which resin exudes. The half decayed wood of 

 these resinous pines forms what is called light wood, burning 

 with a most brilliant flame, and often used for candles, as well 

 as for reviving the fire. A North Carolinian is said to migrate 

 most unwillingly to any new region where this prime luxury of 

 life is wanting. 



When we sailed for Charleston, the steamer first proceeded 

 thirty miles to the mouth of the Cape Fear river, and then an 

 chored there for several hours at a village called Smith field, in 

 North Carolina. Here I strolled along the shore, and in a few 

 minutes found myself in a wild region, out of sight of all human 

 habitations, and every sign of the work of man s hands. The 

 soil, composed of white quartzose sand, was hopelessly barren. 

 Coming to a marsh, I put up many peewits, which flew round 

 me, uttering a cry resembling that of our European species. The 

 evergreen oaks round the marsh were hung with Spanish moss, 

 or Tiilandsia, the pods of which are now full of downy seeds. 

 This plant is not a parasite like the misletoe, of which a species 

 is also common on the trees here, but simply supports itself on 

 trees, without sending any roots into them, or drawing nourish 

 ment from their juices. It is what the botanists call an epiphyte, 

 and is precisely the same species ( Tiilandsia usncoides), which 

 is also common in Brazil ; so that as we journey southward, this 

 flowering epiphyte, together with the palmetto, or fan-palm, may 

 be regarded as marking an approach toward a more tropical veg 

 etation. When dried, the outer soft part of the .Tillandsia de 

 cays and leaves a woody fiber in the middle, much resembling 

 horse-hair in appearance, and very elastic. It is used in the 

 United States, and exported to Liverpool, for stuffing mattresses. 

 In preparing it they first bury the moss, and then take it up 

 again when the exterior coating has rotted off. The birds also 

 select only the woody fiber of the withered or dead stems for 

 building their nests. 



On the morning of Christmas-day, we reached Charleston, S.C., 

 and found the interior of the Episcopal church of St. Philip 



