7 
officer’s quarters. In the chamber of a lieutenant, in which we 
stopped, I found, besides the books belonging to service, a small 
library of English belles lettres, and classical poets. 
Charleston keeps in pay a company of police soldiers, who 
during the night occupy several posts. They have their guard 
house near Jones’s Hotel, and I was startled to hear the retreat 
and reveille beat there. This corps owes its support to the fear 
of the negroes. At nine o’clock in the evening a bell is sound- 
ed; and after this no negro can venture without a written per¬ 
mission from his master, or he will immediately be thrown into 
prison, nor can his owner obtain his release till next day, by the 
payment of a fine. Should the master refuse to pay this fine, 
then the slave receives twenty-five lashes, and a receipt, with 
which he is sent back to his master! 
The market consists of five houses, in a long street ending 
upon the harbour, and resemble somewhat those of the Philadel¬ 
phia market. The quantity of the most beautiful tropical fruit 
therein arranged, oranges from Florida, pistachios, and large ex¬ 
cellent pine apples from Cuba, interested me much. These 
large and delicious fruit cost only twelve and a half cents each, 
of course a dollar for eight. There were nuts of various descrip¬ 
tions; many sorts of potatoes, cabbages, and white and red ra¬ 
dishes. Fish were not presented in so great a variety as I expect¬ 
ed, Of shell-fish, I saw oysters only, which are roasted in the 
shell at market, and consumed by the negroes with great avidity. 
Upon the roofs of the market houses sat a number of buzzards, 
who are supported by the offals. It is a species of vulture, black, 
with a naked head. Seen from a distance they resemble turkeys, 
for which reason they are denominated turkey-buzzards. They 
are not only suffered as very useful animals, but there is a fine 
of five dollars for the killing of one of these birds. A pair of 
these creatures were so tame that they crept about in the meat 
market among the feet of the buyers. 
Accompanied by Dr. Johnson, Mr. Lowndes, and Dr. Tidy- 
man, I visited the public institutions of the city. The Court¬ 
house, in which the different courts of justice hold their ses¬ 
sions, contains nothing remarkable with the exception of the City 
Library in the upper story, established by subscription. 1 no 
ticed in this a beautiful collection of copperplates from the Shak- 
speare Gallery, and a sketched plan of Charleston with the in¬ 
vestment of it in the revolutionary war. Since this epoch the 
city has much extended itself. On the localities, which then 
were occupied by fortifications, houses are now standing. The 
morasses which covered the left wing of these works, are filled 
up level with earth, and no trace of them is perceivable. 
In the City Hall, the lower story is occupied by one large 
