SAVANNAH RIVER - 21 
enshrouded banks to ficlds of perennial green, so forcibly sym- 
bolizes man’s passage over the river of death, that the author 
sometimes more than half believed that he had indeed made tha 
journey to that mystic realm between which and earth the travel 
is all one way. - 
We approached the bar off the mouth of the Surana river” 
in the morning twilight of January 21st, passing quite a number. 
of ships at anchor in the offing. From prudential reasons our 
captain so timed the steamship’s progress that we crossed tho * 
bar at high tide. As we entered. the river, we turned to waft - 
upon the mild and gentle air a silent but heartfelt blessing to ~ 
old ocean for having treated us so well during our voyage, and ~~ 
we inwardly hoped that nothing in the future would occur to 
make us like each other less. 
The color of the waters of the Savannah river closely resembles . : 
that of a New Haven mud-puddle, and after leaving our New - 
York steamer and its excellent Croton water, it was a constant. 
study with us how not to drink it, there being but a small and - 
inadequate supply of condensed water on our next steamer. .We © 
approached the city between low sedgy meadows, some of which : 
are utilized for the cultivation of rice. Forts, with their- large 
guns still in sight, and low mud batteries, remain to keep alive. 
the memory of the recent “‘ unpleasantness,” while new saw-mills, 
large lumber yards, spacious warehouses, bales of cotton, barrels. ~ 
of resin and turpentine, twenty-five or thirty first-class ships “ 
and three-masted schooners moored to wharves—all 4 mile below. ° 
the city and near the eastern terminus of a branch of the Gulf. - 
railroad, told of northern capital and enterprise, of the healing 
and healthy influences of peace, and of a growing feeling of 
fraternity between those so recently engaged in a life and death 
strugele for the mastery in the dreadful ordeal of battle on sea 
and land. Everything was so quict and peaceful, it was hard to 
