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bad ferry-boat. The banks of the river are really picturesque, 
and covered with a variety of southern plants, which reminded 
one of a park. We dined at a very good tavern in a small town 
called Tarborough, situated on the river of the same name. We 
had already crossed this riven, and were delighted with its fine 
banks. Our lodgings were at a solitary plantation, where we ar¬ 
rived at eight o’clock in the evening; the house was entirely of 
wood, except the chimney. It was rather transparent; they as¬ 
signed us a garret for a sleeping place, and through the cracks in 
the floor we could see into the room below. If fire once breaks 
out in such a house, it cannot be saved. In the morning we passed 
by the smoking rubbish of a school-house, which burned down 
in an hour; the brick chimney alone was standing. The log- 
houses of the negro slaves in particular are very open, and pre¬ 
sent by night when lighted with pine splinters a very singular 
appearance. The road was thoroughly sandy; however, it was 
interrupted by log causeways, which are made over the marshy 
spots, in passing which in the mail stage we were shaken to 
pieces. The small town of Tarborough where we dined, is said 
to contain eight hundred inhabitants, is regularly built, has broad 
streets, but its houses are of wood. I saw but two built of brick; 
had there been more brick houses, I should have compared this 
pleasant place to a village in Holland. 
The next morning, at three o’clock, we left our airy lodgings 
and went eighty-six miles to Fayetteville. During the day we 
travelled through a thick forest, and did not meet with a single 
village; we saw some lonely plantations of corn and cotton. 
During several days we saw different species of birds, unknown 
to me, especially a great many large vultures, called buzzards, 
the shooting of which is prohibited, as they feed upon carrion, and 
contribute in this manner to the salubrity of the country. We 
crossed the Neuse, a rather wide river, in a narrow and clumsy 
ferry-boat. On the banks of this river, are many ever green 
trees and bushes. The oak trees are here not very high, but there 
is a great variety of them: thirty-seven species are enumerated; 
chesnut and nut trees are not so numerous; we were told they 
were common only in mountainous countries. At a short distance 
from Fayetteville, where we arrived about nine o’clock, P. M., we 
crossed Cape Fear river, by a long covered bridge, consisting of 
hanging lattice work, of which I saw~ a very good model in the 
patent-office at Washington. As I was very much fatigued with 
the uncomfortable travelling, I intended to stay one day in 
Fayetteville, a flourishing place of about four thousand inhabitants. 
But I was told that no opportunity would occur sooner than three 
days for Charleston. Therefore I resolved to continue our journey 
next morning. A new difficulty now arose; the mail stage going di¬ 
rectly to Charleston, had only two horses, and could not take my 
