LIFE OF WILSON. 
ciii 
chimney sweeps ; stalls with roasted sweet potatoes for sale ; and 
on the wharves clubs of blacks, male and female, sitting round fires, 
amid heaps of oyster-shells, cooking their victuals — these seem the 
happiest mortals on earth. The finest groups for a comic painter 
might every day be found here that any country can produce. 
“ The ladies of Charleston ai'e dressed with taste ; but their 
pale and languid countenances by no means correspond with their 
figures. *** 
‘^To-morrow afternoon I shall set off for Savannah. I have 
collected one hundred and twenty-five subscribers since leaving 
home.” 
Savannah^ March 5, 1809, 
Dear Sir, 
“ I have now reached the ne plus ultra of my pere- 
grinations, and shall return home by the first opportunity. Whether 
this shall be by land or water depends on circumstances ; if the 
former, I shall go by Augusta, where I am told twelve or fifteen 
subscribers may be procured. These, however, would be insuflS- 
cient to tempt me that way, for I doubt whether my funds would 
be sufficient to carry me through. 
“ The innkeepers in the southern states are like the vultures 
that hover about their cities ; and treat their guests as the others 
do their carrion : are as glad to see them, and pick them as bare. 
The last letter I wrote you was on my arrival in Charleston. I 
found greater difficulties to surmount there than I had thought of. 
I solicited several people for a list of names, but that abject and 
disgraceful listlessness and want of energy which have unnerved 
the whites of all descriptions in these states, put me ofl' from time 
to time, till at last I was obliged to walk the streets, and pick out 
those houses which, from their appearance, indicated wealth and 
taste in the occupants, and introduce myself. Neither M., Dr. R., 
