SOUTH CAROLINA. 461 



tion of this back country. Here the air is pure and wholesome, 

 and the summer heat much more temperate than on the flat sandy- 

 coast. 



Rivers and canals. ...South Carolina is watered by many naviga- 

 ble rivers, the principal of which are the Savannah, Edisto, Santee, 

 Pedee, and their branches. The Santee is the largest river in the 

 state. Those of a secondary size are the Wakamaw, Biack, Cooper, 

 Ashly, Wando, Stono, Asheppo, Coosaw, Broad, and Combahee 

 rivers. A canal of twenty -two miles in length, connects Cooper and 

 Santee rivers ; it cost 650,600 dollars. Another canal is in contem- 

 plation, to unite the Edisto with the Ashley. 



Metals, minerals. ...South Carolina abounds with various ores, 

 such as lead, black-lead, copper, and iron. There are likewise 

 rock-crystal, pyrites, marble beautifully variegated, abundance of 

 chalk, red and yellow ochres, asbestos, slate, soap-stone, white flint, 

 nitre and emery. 



Climate and air. ...The climate of South Carolina does not differ 

 much from that of North Carolina and Virginia. The heat is of 

 longer continuance. But the weather, as in all this part of America, 

 is subject to sudden transitions from heat to cold, and from cold to 

 heat, but not to such violent extremities as in Virginia. The winters 

 are seldom severe enough to freeze any considerable water, affecting 

 only the mornings and evenings ; the frosts have never sufficient 

 strength to resist the noon day sun, so that many tender plants, which 

 do not stand the winter in Virginia, flourish in South Carolina ; 

 they have oranges near Charleston, excellent in their kinds, both 

 sweet and sour. This fruit was once very abundant, but the climate 

 does not appear so favourable to its growth as formerly. The salu- 

 brity of the air is different in different parts of the state. Along the 

 sea coast, bilious diseases, and fevers of various kinds, are preva- 

 lent between July and October ; one cause of which is the low 

 marshy country, which is overflowed for the sake of cultivating rice. 

 The upper country, situate in the medium between extreme heat and 

 cold, is as healthful as any part of the United States. 



Soil and produce. ...The soil of South Carolina may be divided 

 into four kinds : first, the pine barren, which is valuable only for 

 its timber. Interspersed among the pine barrens are tracts of land 

 free of timber, and every kind of growth but that of grass. These 

 tracts are called savannas, constituting a second kind of soil, proper 

 for grazing. The third kind is that of the swamps and low grounds 

 on the rivers, which is a mixture of black loam and fat clay, pro- 

 ducing, naturally, canes in great plenty, cypress bays, pines, &c. 

 In these swamps rice is cultivated, which, with cotton, constitutes 

 the staple commodity of the state. The high lands, commonly known 

 by the name of oak and hickory lands, constitute the fourth kind of' 

 soil. The natural growth is oak, hickory, walnut, pine, and locust. 

 On these lands, in the low country, Indian corn is principally culti- 

 vated ; and in the back country, likewise, they raise tobacco in large 

 quantities, wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, flax, and cotton. From, 

 experiments which have been made, it is well ascertained that olives, 

 silk, and madder, may be as abundantly produced in South Carolina, 

 and we may add in Georgia also, as in the south of France. There 

 is little fruit in this state, especially in the lower parts of it. They 

 have oranges, chiefly sour, and figs in plenty ; a few limes and lemons, 



Vol. II. 3 N 



