LIFE OF "WILSON. 
ki 
the subject ; tliinklng it a pity, as he says, that the knowledge he possesses 
should die with him. But he has intrusted the business to me; and I have 
promised him an account of our interview. 
"All the subscribers I have gleaned here amount to seventeen. I shall set 
off, on finishing this letter, to Georgetown and Alexandria. I will write you, 
or some of my friends, from Richmond." 
To Mr. D. H. Miller. 
" Charleston, February ;^2d, 1809. 
" Dear Sir. 
" I have passed through a considerable extent of country since I wrote you 
last ; and met with a variety of adventures, some of which may perhaps amuse 
you. Norfolk turned out better than I expected. I left that place on one 
of the coldest mornings I have experienced since leaving Philadelphia. 
^ ^ :I; 
" I mentioned to you in my last that the streets of Norfolk were in a most 
disgraceful state ; but I was informed that some time before, they had been 
much worse; that at one time the news-carrier delivered his papers from a 
boat, which he poled along through the mire ; and that a party of sailors, 
having nothing better to do, actually launched a ship's long-boat into the 
streets, rowing along with four oars through the mud, while one stood at the 
bow, heaving the lead, and singing out the depth. 
" I passed through a flat, pine-covered country, from Norfolk to Suffolk, 
twenty-four miles distant; and lodged, in the way, in the house of a planter, 
who informed me that every year, in August and September, almost all his 
family are laid up with the bilious fever; that at one time forty of his people 
were sick; and that of thirteen children, only three were living. Two of 
these, with their mother, appeared likely not to be long tenants of this world. 
Thirty miles farther, I came to a small place on the river Nottaway, called 
Jerusalem. Here I found the river swelled to such an extraordinary height, 
that the oldest inhabitant had never seen the like. After passing along the 
bridge, I was conveyed, in a boat termed a flat, a mile and three-quarters 
through the woods, where the torrent sweeping along in many places rendered 
this sort of navigation rather disagreeable. I proceeded on my journey, pass- 
ing through solitary pine woods, perpetually interrupted by swamps, that 
covered the road with water two and three feet deep, frecjuently half a mile 
at a time, looking like a long river or pond. These in the afternoon were 
surmountable ; but the weather being exceedingly severe, they were covered 
every morning with a sheet of ice, from half an inch to an inch thick, that 
cut my horse's legs and breast. After passing a bridge, I had mauy' times to 
wade, and twice to swim my horse, to get to the shore. I attempted to cross 
the Pioanoke at three different ferries, thirty-five miles apart, and at last suc- 
ceeded at a place about fifteen miles below Halifax. A violent snow storm 
made the roads still more execrable. 
'■ The productions of these parts of North Carolina are hogs, turpentine, tar, 
and aj^ple brandy. A tumbler of toddy i.« usually the morning's beverage of 
the inhabitants, as soon as they get out of bed. So universal is the practice. 
