lxiv LIFE OF 



I ought to have told you, that the deep sands of South Carolina 

 had so worn out my horse, that, with all my care, I found he would 



give up. Chance led me to the house of a planter, named V , 



about forty miles north of the river Wackamaw, where I proposed 

 to bargain with him, and to give up my young blood horse for 

 another in exchange, giving him at least as good a character as he 

 deserved. He asked twenty dollars to boot, and I thirty. We 

 parted ; but I could perceive that he had taken a liking to my 

 steed, so I went on. He followed me to the sea beach, about three 

 miles, under pretext of pointing out to me the road ; and there on 

 the sands, amidst the roar of the Atlantic, we finally bargained ; 

 and I found myself in possession of a large, well formed, and elegant 

 sorrel horse, that ran off with me, at a canter, for fifteen miles 

 along the sea shore ; and travelled, the same day, forty-two miles, 

 with nothing but a few mouthfuls of rice straw, which I got from 

 a negro. If you have ever seen the rushes with which carpenters 

 sometimes smooth their work, you may form some idea of the common 

 fare of the South Carolina horses. I found now that I had got a very 

 devil before my chair ; the least round of the whip made him spring 

 half a rod at a leap ; no road, however long or heavy, could tame 

 him. Two or three times he had nearly broke my neck, and chair 

 to boot ; and at Georgetown Ferry, he threw one of the boatmen 

 into the river. But he is an excellent traveller, and for that one 

 quality I forgive him all his sins, only keeping a close rein and 

 sharp look out." 



From the increasing subscriptions to the " Ornithology " it was 

 thought expedient to throw off three hundred copies in addition to 

 the first two hundred ; and the second volume, published in January 

 1810, started with an impression of five hundred, and a fair pro- 

 portion of subscribers, — the work gaining, as it advanced, fresh 

 applause and support. A short time before the publication of the 

 second volume, when he was relieved from the press of business by 

 the completion of its various materials, he wrote the following letter 

 to Mr Bartram, from which it would appear, that the extensive 

 expedition, the events of which will be presently detailed in a series 

 of excellent letters to Mr Lawson, was intended to have been under- 

 taken in company : — 



