) 
§04 t RAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA t 
not absorb the water very quickly,, tbe farmer 
is exposed to great losses from heavy falls of 
rain ; tbe seed is liable to be washed out of 
tbe ground, so that sometimes it is found ne¬ 
cessary to sow a field two or three different 
times before it becomes green; and if great 
care be not taken to guard such fields as lie 
on a declivity by proper trenches, tlie crops 
are sometimes entirely destroyed, even after 
they arrive at maturity; indeed, very often, 
notwithstanding the utmost precautions, the 
water departs from its usual channel, and 
sweeps away all before it. After heavy tor-* 
rents of rain, I have frequently seen all the 
negroes in a farm dispatched with hoes and 
spades to different fields, to be ready to turn 
the course of the water, in case it should take 
an improper direction. On the sides of the 
mountain, where the ground has been worn 
out with the culture of tobacco, and left 
waste, and tbe water has been suffered to run 
in the same channel for a length of time, it is 
surprising to see the depth of the ravines or 
gullies, as they are called, which it has formed. 
They are just like so many precipices, and are 
insurmountable barriers to the passage from 
one side of the mountain to the other. 
Notwithstanding such disadvantages, how¬ 
ever, the country in the neighbourhood of 
these mountains is far more populous than 
