211 
On this occasion I made acquaintance with a Mr. Elliott, who 
had published a Flora of the state of South Carolina; he extolled 
the botanical treasures of that state. A small observatory was 
shut up; perhaps they would not show it to me, because there 
were but few instruments. 
In Mr. Herbemont’s garden, we saw some very interesting 
plants and trees; magnolias, gardenias, pomegranate and other 
fruit trees, which he had grafted in a very singular manner one 
upon another; date palm trees and fig trees, raised from kernels, 
and a great number of evergreen laurel trees. 
A mile from the city, on the left bank of the Congaree river 
is a canal three miles in length, to avoid some rapids, which are 
in the river. This canal has four locks, and the difference of the 
level of the water above and below them, is thirty-six feet. Two 
are built of granite, which is obtained close to the canal. Seve¬ 
ral blocks have been blown up, to make way for the canal. The 
other two are of brick, and the mason work appeared to me to 
have been well executed. They were just building a wooden 
bridge over the Congaree, in order to lead to Augusta; the bridge 
was to be supported by eight piers of stone. They are made of 
granite without any lime or cement.* The exterior stones were 
chiseled and connected with cramp-irons. The undertaking was 
contracted for at seventy thousand dollars. 
Not far from the bridge are several cotton plantations belong¬ 
ing to the wealthy family of Taylor. On one of these fields the 
harvest was just making by fifty-eight negroes of both sexes. 
They take the cotton by hand from the capsules, look at it, that 
no withered leaves may he attached to it, and throw it into bags, 
which are hanging before them; afterwards they shake the cotton 
from the bags into baskets which are prepared for that purpose. 
These negroes made a very disagreeable impression upon me, es^ 
pecially when some of the women asked Mr. Herbemont for 
some chewing tobacco. I saw here some fine oak and pine trees, 
the latter are very abundant in all the woods we lately passed 
through. They have extremely long leaves; the young shoots 
particularly have a fine appearance. The leaves are more than a 
foot in length, and the shoot looks like the bunch of horse-hairs on 
the caps of the Prussian grenadiers. On the trees hangs a long 
moss-like plant called Spanish beard. They pick up this plant, 
put it into water, to rot the grayish bark, and employ the black 
fibres which then make their appearance, like horse-hair, for 
making mattresses, which are even exported to Europe. Finally, 
we saw several aromatic and medicinal herbs, for instance, the 
* Because they would be obliged to bring it from the northern states at a 
great expense. 
