Chapter V: Part 5

The part of the country where I landed appeared to be a perfect wilderness; no traces of a road or pathway were visible on the loose white sand, and the cedar and pine trees grew so closely together on all sides, that it was scarcely possible to see farther forward in any direction than one hundred yards. Taking a course, however, as nearly as I could guess, in a direct line from the river up the country, at the end of an hour I came upon a narrow road, which led to a large old brick house, somewhat similar to those I had met with on the Maryland shore. On enquiring here, from two blacks, for a tavern, I was told there was no such thing in this part of the country; that in the house before me no part of the family was at home; but that if I rode on a little farther, I should come to some other gentlemen’s houses, where I could readily get accommodation. In the course of five or six miles I saw several more of the same sort of old brick houses, and the evening now drawing towards a close, I began to feel the necessity of going to some one of them. I had seen no person for several miles to tell me who any of the owners were, and I was considering within myself which house I should visit, when a lively old negro, mounted on a little horse, came galloping after me. On applying to him for information on the subject, he took great pains to assure me, that I should be well received at any one of the houses I might stop at; he said there were no taverns in this part of the country, and strongly recommended me to proceed under his guidance to his master’s house, which was but a mile farther on; “Masser will be so glad to see to you,” added he, “nothing can be like.” Having been apprized beforehand, that it was customary in Virginia for a traveller to go without ceremony to a gentleman’s house, when there was no tavern at hand, I accordingly took the Negro’s advice, and rode to the dwelling of his master, made him acquainted with my situation, and begged I might be allowed to put my horses in his stable for the night. The reception, however, which this gentleman gave me, differed so materially from what I had been led to expect, that I was happy at hearing from him, that there was a _good_ tavern at the distance cf two miles. I apologised for the liberty I had taken, and made the best of my way to it. Instead of two miles, however, this tavern proved to be about three times as far off, and when I came to it, I found it to be a most wretched hovel; but any place was preferable to the house of a man so thoroughly devoid of hospitality.

[Sidenote: VIRGINIA.]

The next day I arrived at this place, the residence of a gentleman, who, when at Philadelphia, had invited me to pass some time with him whenever I visited Virginia. Some of the neighbouring gentlemen yesterday dined here together, and having related to them my adventures on arriving in Virginia, the whole company expressed the greatest astonishment, and assured me that it was never known before, in that part of Virginia, that a stranger had been suffered to go away from a gentleman’s house, where he stopped, to a tavern, although it was close by. Every one seemed eager to know the name of the person who had given me such a reception, and begged me to tell it. I did so, and the Virginians were satisfied, for the person was a—Scotchman, and had, it seems, removed from some town or other to the plantation on which I found him but a short time before. The Virginians in the lower parts of the state are celebrated for their politeness and hospitality towards strangers; beyond the mountains there is a great difference in the manners of the inhabitants.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

+LETTER + XI.

_Of the Northern Neck of Virginia.—First settled by the English.—Houses
built by them remaining.—Disparity of Condition amongst the
Inhabitants.—Estates worked by Negroes.—Condition of the Slaves.—Worse
in the Carolinas.—Lands worn out by Cultivation of Tobacco.—Mode of
cultivating and curing Tobacco.—Houses in Virginia.—Those of Wood
preferred.—Lower Classes of People in Virginia.—Their unhealthy
Appearance._

Stratford, April.

THIS part of Virginia, situated between the Patowmac and Rappahannock rivers, is called the Northern Neck, and is remarkable for having been the birth place of many of the principal characters, which distinguished themselves in America, during the war, by their great talents, General Washington at their head. It was here that numbers of English gentlemen, who migrated when Virginia was a young colony, fixed their residence; and several of the houses which they built, exactly similar to the old manor houses in England, are still remaining, particularly in the counties of Richmond and Westmoreland. Some of these, like the houses in Maryland, are quite in ruins; others are kept in good repair by the present occupiers, who live in a style which approaches nearer to that of English country gentlemen than what is to be met with any where else on the continent, some other parts of Virginia alone excepted.

[Sidenote: MANUFACTURES.]

Amongst the inhabitants here and in the lower parts of Virginia there is a disparity unknown elsewhere in America, excepting in the large towns. Instead of the lands being equally divided, immense estates are held by a few individuals, who derive large incomes from them, whilst the generality of the people are but in a state of mediocrity. Most of the men also, who possess these large estates, having received liberal educations, which the others have not, the distinction between them is still more observable. I met with several in this neighbourhood, who had been brought up at the public schools and universities in England, where, until the unfortunate war which separated the colonies from her, the young men were very generally educated; and even still a few are sent there, as the veneration for that country from whence their ancestors came, and with which they were themselves for a long time afterwards connected, is by no means yet extinguished.

There is by no means so great a disparity now, however, amongst the inhabitants of the Northern Neck, as was formerly, and it is becoming less and less perceptible every year, many of the large estates having been divided in consequence of the removal of the proprietors to other parts of the country that were more healthy, and many more on account of the present laws of Virginia, which do not permit any one son to inherit the landed estates of the father to the exclusion of his brothers.

The principal planters in Virginia have nearly every thing they can want on their own estates. Amongst their slaves are found taylors, shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, turners, wheelwrights, weavers, tanners, &c. I have seen patterns of excellent coarse woollen cloth made in the country by slaves, and a variety of cotton manufactures, amongst the rest good nankeen. Cotton grows here extremely well; the plants are often killed by frost in winter, but they always produce abundantly the first year in which they are sown. The cotton from which nankeen is made is of a particular kind, naturally of a yellowish colour.

[Sidenote: SLAVES.]

The large estates are managed by stewards and overseers, the proprietors just amusing themselves with seeing what is going forward. The work is done wholly by slaves, whose numbers are in this part of the country more than double that of white persons. The slaves on the large plantations are in general very well provided for, and treated with mildness. During three months nearly, that I was in Virginia, but two or three instances of ill treatment towards them came under my observation. Their quarters, the name whereby their habitations are called, are usually situated one or two hundred yards from the dwelling house, which gives the appearance of a village to the residence of every planter in Virginia; when the estate, however, is so large as to be divided into several farms, then separate quarters are attached to the house of the overseer on each farm. Adjoining their little habitations, the slaves commonly have small gardens and yards for poultry, which are all their own property; they have ample time to attend to their own concerns, and their gardens are generally found well stocked, and their flocks of poultry numerous. Besides the food they raise for themselves, they are allowed liberal rations of salted pork and Indian corn. Many of their little huts are comfortably furnished, and they are themselves, in general, extremely well clothed. In short, their condition is by no means so wretched as might be imagined. They are forced to work certain hours in the day; but in return they are clothed, dieted, and lodged comfortably, and saved all anxiety about provision for their offspring. Still, however, let the condition of a slave be made ever so comfortable, as long as he is conscious of being the property of another man, who has it in his power to dispose of him according to the dictates of caprice; as long as he hears people around him talking of the blessings of liberty, and considers that he is in a state of bondage, it is not to be supposed that he can feel equally happy with the freeman. It is immaterial under what form slavery presents itself, whenever it appears there is ample cause for humanity to weep at the sight, and to lament that men can be found so forgetful of their own situations, as to live regardless of the feelings of their fellow creatures.

With respect to the policy of holding slaves in any country, on account of the depravity of morals which it necessarily occasions, besides the many other evil consequences attendant upon it, so much has already been said by others, that it is needless here to make any comments on the subject.

The number of the slaves increases most rapidly, so that there is scarcely any estate but what is overstocked. This is a circumstance complained of by every planter, as the maintenance of more than are requisite for the culture of the estate is attended with great expence. Motives of humanity deter them from selling the poor creatures, or turning them adrift from the spot where they have been born and brought up, in the midst of friends and relations.

[Sidenote: CULTIVATION.]

What I have here said, respecting the condition and treatment of slaves, appertains, it must be remembered, to those only who are upon the large plantations in Virginia; the lot of such as are unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the lower class of white people, and of hard task-masters in the towns, is very different. In the Carolinas and Georgia again, slavery presents itself in very different colours from what it does even in its worst form in Virginia. I am told, that it is no uncommon thing there, to see gangs of negroes staked at a horse race, and to see these unfortunate beings bandied about from one set of drunken gamblers to another for days together. How much to be deprecated are the laws which suffer such abuses to exist! yet these are the laws enacted by people who boast of their love of liberty and independence, and who presume to say, that it is in the breasts of Americans alone that the blessings of freedom are held in just estimation.

The Northern Neck, with the exception of some few spots only, is flat and sandy, and abounds with pine and cedar trees. Some parts of it are well cultivated, and afford good crops; but these are so intermixed with extensive tracts of waste land, worn out by the culture of tobacco, and which are almost destitute of verdure, that on the whole the country has the appearance of barrenness.

This is the case wherever tobacco has been made the principal object of cultivation. It is not, however, so much owing to the great share of nutriment which the tobacco plant requires, that the land is impoverished, as to the particular mode of cultivating it, which renders it necessary for people to be continually walking between the plants from the moment they are set out, so that the ground about each plant is left exposed to the burning rays of the sun all the summer, and becomes at the end of the season a hard beaten pathway. A ruinous system has prevailed also of working the same piece of land year after year, till it was totally exhausted; after this it was left neglected, and a fresh piece of land was cleared, that always produced good crops for one or two seasons; but this in its turn was worn out and afterwards left waste. Many of the planters are at length beginning to see the absurdity of wearing out their lands in this manner, and now raise only one crop of tobacco upon a piece of new land, then they sow wheat for two years, and afterwards clover. They put on from twelve to fifteen hundred bushels of manure per acre at first, which is found to be sufficient both for the tobacco and wheat; the latter is produced at the rate of about twenty bushels per acre.

In some parts of Virginia, the lands left waste in this manner throw up, in a very short time, a spontaneous growth of pines and cedars; in which case, being shaded from the powerful influence of the sun, they recover their former fertility at the end of fifteen or twenty years; but in other parts many years elapse before any verdure appears upon them. The trees springing up in this spontaneous manner usually grow very close to each other; they attain the height of fifteen or twenty feet, perhaps, in the same number of years; there is, however, but very little sap in them, and in a short time after they are cut down they decay.

[Sidenote: TOBACCO PLANTATIONS.]

Tobacco is raised and manufactured in the following manner: When the spring is so far advanced that every apprehension of the return of frost is banished, a convenient spot of ground is chosen, from twenty to one hundred feet square, whereon they burn prodigious piles of wood, in order to destroy the weeds and insects. The warm ashes are then dug in with the earth, and the seed, which is black, and remarkably small, sown. The whole is next covered over with bushes, to prevent birds and flies, if possible, from getting to it; but this, in general, proves very ineffectual; for the plant scarcely appears above ground, when it is attacked by a large black fly of the beetle kind, which destroys the leaves. Persons are repeatedly sent to pick off these flies; but sometimes, notwithstanding all their attention, so much mischief is done that very few plants are left alive. As I passed through Virginia, I heard universal complaints of the depredations they had committed; the beds were almost wholly destroyed.

As soon as the young plants are sufficiently grown, which is generally in the beginning of May, they are transplanted into fields, and set out in hillocks, at the distance of three or four feet from each other. Here again they have other enemies to contend with; the roots are attacked by worms, and between the leaves and stem different flies deposit their eggs, to the infallible ruin of the plant if not quickly removed; it is absolutely necessary, therefore, as I have said, for persons to be continually walking between the plants in order to watch, and also to trim them at the proper periods. The tops are broken off at a certain height, and the suckers, which spring out between the leaves, are removed as soon as discovered. According also to the particular kind of tobacco which the planter wishes to have, the lower, the middle, or the upper leaves are suffered to remain. The lower leaves grow the largest; they are also milder, and more inclined to a yellow colour than those growing towards the top of the plant.

[Sidenote: TOBACCO WAREHOUSES.]

When arrived at maturity, which is generally about the month of August, the plants are cut down, pegs are driven into the stems, and they are hung up in large houses, built for the purpose, to dry. If the weather is not favourable for drying the leaves, fires are then lighted, and the smoke is suffered to circulate between the plants; this is also sometimes done to give the leaves a browner colour than what they have naturally. After this they are tied up in bundles of six or seven leaves each, and thrown in heaps to sweat; then they are again dried. When sufficiently cured, the bundles are packed, by means of presses, in hogsheads capable of containing eight hundred or one thousand pounds weight. The planters send the tobacco thus packed to the nearest shipping town, where, before exportation, it is examined by an inspector appointed for the purpose, who gives a certificate to warrant the shipping of it if it is sound and merchantable, if not, he sends it back to the owner. Some of the warehouses to which the tobacco is sent for inspection are very extensive, and skilful merchants can accurately tell the quality of the tobacco from knowing the warehouse at which it has been inspected[20]. Where the roads are good and dry, tobacco is sent to the warehouses in a singular manner: Two large pins of wood are driven into either end of the hogshead by way of axles; a pair of shafts, made for the purpose, are attached to these, and the hogshead is thus drawn along by one or two horses; when this is done great care is taken to have the hoops very strong.

Footnote 20:

By the laws of America, no produce which has undergone any sort of
manufacture, as flour, potash, tobacco, rice, &c. can be exported
without inspection, nor even put into a boat to be conveyed down a
river to a sea-port. The inspectors are all sworn, are paid by the
states, and not suffered to take fees from any individual. This is a
most politic measure; for as none but the best of each article can be
sent out of the country, it enhances the price of American produce in
foreign markets, and increases the demand.

Tobacco is not near so much cultivated now as it was formerly, the great demand for wheat having induced most of the planters to raise that grain in preference. Those who raise tobacco and Indian corn are called planters, and those who cultivate small grain, farmers.

Though many of the houses in the Northern Neck are built, as I have said, of brick and stone, in the style of the old English manor houses, yet the greater number there, and throughout Virginia, are of wood; amongst which are all those that have been built of late years. This is chiefly owing to a prevailing, though absurd opinion, that wooden houses are the healthiest, because the inside walls never appear damp, like those of brick and stone, in rainy weather. In front of every house is a porch or pent-house, commonly extending the whole length of the building; very often there is one also in the rear, and sometimes all round. These porches afford an agreeable shade from the sun during summer. The hall, or saloon as it is called, is always a favourite apartment, during the hot weather, in a Virginian house, on account of the draught of air through it, and it is usually furnished similar to a parlour, with sofas, &c.

[Sidenote: VIRGINIAN WOMEN.]

The common people in the lower parts of Virginia have very sallow complexions, owing to the burning rays of the sun in summer, and the bilious complaints to which they are subject in the fall of the year. The women are far from being comely, and the dresses, which they wear out of doors to guard them from the sun, make them appear still more ugly than nature has formed them. There is a kind of bonnet very commonly worn, which, in particular, disfigures them amazingly; it is made with a caul, fitting close on the back part of the head, and a front stiffened with small pieces of cane, which projects nearly two feet from the head in a horizontal direction. To look at a person at one side, it is necessary for a woman wearing a bonnet of this kind to turn her whole body round.

In the upper parts of the country, towards the mountains, the women are totally different, having a healthy comely appearance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

+LETTER + XII.

_Town of Tappahannock.—Rappahannock River.—Sharks found in it.—Country
bordering upon Urbanna.—Fires common in the Woods.—Manner of stopping
their dreadful Progress.—Mode of getting Turpentine from
Trees.—Gloucester.—York Town.—Remains of the Fortifications erected
here during the American War.—Houses shattered by Balls still
remaining.—Cave in the Bank of the River.—Williamsburgh.—State House
in Ruins.—Statue of Lord Bottetourt.—College of William and
Mary.—Condition of the Students._

Williamsburgh, April.

[Sidenote: SNIPES.]

SINCE I last wrote, the greater part of my time has been spent at the houses of different gentlemen in the Northern Neck. Four days ago I crossed the Rappahannock River, which bounds the Northern Neck on one side, to a small town called Tappahannock, or Hobb’s Hole, containing about one hundred houses. Before the war this town was in a much more flourishing state than at present; that unfortunate contest ruined the trade of this little place, as it did that of most of the sea-port towns in Virginia. The Rappahannock is about three quarters of a mile wide opposite the town, which is seventy miles above its mouth. Sharks are very often seen in this river. What is very remarkable, the fish are all found on the side of the river next to the town.

From Tappahannock to Urbanna, another small town on the Rappahannock River, situated about twenty-five miles lower down, the country wears but a poor aspect.

The road, which is level and very sandy, runs through woods for miles together. The habitations that are seen from it are but few, and they are of the poorest description. The woods chiefly consist of black oak, pine, and cedar trees, which grow on land of the worst quality only.

On this road there are many creeks to be crossed, which empty themselves into the Rappahannock River, in the neighbourhood of which there are extensive marshes, that render the adjacent country, as may be supposed, very unhealthy. Such a quantity of snipes are seen in these marshes continually, that it would be hardly possible to fire a gun in a horizontal direction, and not kill many at one shot.

[Sidenote: FIRES.]

As I passed through this part of the country, I observed many traces of fires in the woods, which are frequent, it seems, in the spring of the year. They usually proceed from the negligence of people who are burning brushwood to clear the lands, and considering how often they happen, it is wonderful that they are not attended with more serious consequences than commonly follow. I was a witness myself to one of these fires, that happened in the Northern Neck. The day had been remarkably serene, and appearing favourable for the purpose, large quantities of brushwood had been fired in different places; in the afternoon, however, it became sultry, and streams of hot air were perceptible now and then, the usual tokens of a gust. About five o’clock, the horizon towards the north became dark, and a terrible whirlwind arose. I was standing with some gentlemen on an eminence at the time, and perceived it gradually advancing. It carried with it a cloud of dust, dried leaves, and pieces of rotten wood, and in many places, as it came along, it levelled the fence rails and unroofed the sheds for the cattle. We made every endeavour, but in vain, to get to a place of shelter; in the course of two minutes the whirlwind overtook us; the shock was violent; it was hardly possible to stand, and difficult to breathe; the whirlwind passed over in about three minutes, but a storm, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning, succeeded, which lasted for more than half an hour. On looking round immediately after the whirlwind had passed, a prodigious column of fire now appeared in a part of the wood where some brushwood had been burning; in many places the flames rose considerably above the summit of the trees, which were of a large growth. It was a tremendous, and at the same time sublime sight. The negroes on the surrounding plantations were all assembled with their hoes, and watches were stationed at every corner to give the alarm if the fire appeared elsewhere, lest the conflagration should become general. To one plantation a spark was carried by the wind more than half a mile; happily, however, a torrent of rain in a short time afterwards came pouring down, and enabled the people to extinguish the flames in every quarter.

When these fires do not receive a timely check, they sometimes increase to a most alarming height; and if the grass and dead leaves happen to be very dry, and the wind brisk, proceed with so great velocity that the swiftest runners are often overtaken in endeavouring to escape from the flames. Indeed I have met with people, on whose veracity the greatest dependance might be placed, that have assured me they have found it a difficult task, at times, to get out of the reach of them, though mounted on good horses.

There is but one mode of stopping a fire of this kind, which makes such a rapid progress along the ground. A number of other fires are kindled at some distance a head of that which they wish to extinguish, so as to form a line across the course, which, from the direction of the wind, it is likely to take. These are carefully watched by a sufficient number of men furnished with hoes and rakes, and they are prevented from spreading, except on that side which is towards the large fire, a matter easily accomplished when attended to in the beginning. Thus the fires in a few minutes meet, and of consequence they must cease, as there is nothing left to feed them, the grass and leaves being burnt on all sides. In general there is but very little brushwood in the woods of America, so that these fires chiefly run along the ground; the trees, however, are often scorched, but it is very rare for any of them to be entirely consumed.

[Sidenote: GLOUCESTER AND YORK.]

The country between Urbanna and Gloucester, a town situated upon York River, is neither so sandy nor so flat as that bordering upon the Rappahannock. The trees, chiefly pines, are of a very large size, and afford abundance of turpentine, which is extracted from them in great quantities by the inhabitants, principally, however, for home consumption. The turpentine is got by cutting a large gash in the tree, and setting a trough underneath to receive the resinous matter distilled from the wound. The trees thus drained last but a short time after they are cut down. In this neighbourhood there are numbers of ponds or small lakes, surrounded by woods, along some of which the views are very pleasing. From most of them are falls of water into some creek or river, which afford excellent seats for mills.

Gloucester contains only ten or twelve houses; it is situated on a neck of land nearly opposite to the town of York, which is at the other side of the river. There are remains here of one or two redoubts thrown up during the war. The river between the two places is about one mile and a half wide, and affords four fathom and a half of water.

The town of York consists of about seventy houses, an episcopalian church, and a gaol. It is not now more than one third of the size it was before the war, and it does not appear likely soon to recover its former flourishing state. Great quantities of tobacco were formerly inspected here; very little, however, is now raised in the neighbourhood, the people having got into a habit of cultivating wheat in preference. The little that is sent for inspection is reckoned to be of the very best quality, and is all engaged for the London market.

York is remarkable for having been the place where Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to the combined forces of the Americans and French. A few of the redoubts, which were erected by each army, are still remaining, but the principal fortifications are almost quite obliterated; the plough has passed over some of them, and groves of pine trees sprung up about others, though, during the siege, every tree near the town was destroyed. The first and second parallels can just be traced, when pointed out by a person acquainted with them in a more perfect state.

[Sidenote: YORK TOWN.]

In the town the houses bear evident marks of the siege, and the inhabitants will not, on any account, suffer the holes perforated by the cannon balls to be repaired on the outside. There is one house in particular, which stands in the skirt of the town, that is in a most shattered condition. It was the habitation of a Mr. Neilson, a secretary under the regal government, and was made the head quarters of Lord Cornwallis when he first came to the town; but it stood so much exposed, and afforded so good a mark to the enemy, that he was soon forced to quit it. Neilson, however, it seems, was determined to stay there till the last, and absolutely remained till his negro servant, the only person that would live with him in such a house, had his brains dashed out by a cannon shot while he stood by his side; he then thought it time to retire, but the house was still continually fired at, as if it had been head quarters. The walls and roof are pierced in innumerable places, and at one corner a large piece of the wall is torn away; in this state, however, it is still inhabited in one room by some person or other equally fanciful as the old secretary. There are trenches thrown up round it, and on every side are deep hollows made by the bombs that fell near it. Till within a year or two the broken shells themselves remained; but the New England men that traded to York finding they would sell well as old iron, dug them up, and carried them away in their ships.

The banks of the river, where the town stands, are high and inaccessible, excepting in a few places; the principal part of the town is built on the top of them; a few fishing huts and storehouses merely stand at the bottom. A cave is shewn here in the banks, described by the people as having been the place of head quarters during the siege, after the cannonade of the enemy became warm; but in reality it was formed and hung with green baize for a lady, either the wife or acquaintance of an officer, who was terrified with the idea of remaining in the town, and died of fright after her removal down to the cave.

Twelve miles from York, to the westward, stands Williamsburgh, formerly the seat of government in Virginia. Richmond was fixed upon during the war as a more secure place, being farther removed from the sea coast, and not so much exposed to depredations if an enemy were to land unexpectedly. Richmond also had the advantage of being situated at the head of a navigable river, and was therefore likely to increase to a size which the other never could attain. It is wonderful, indeed, what could have induced people to fix upon the spot where Williamsburgh stands for a town, in the middle of a plain, and one mile and a half removed from any navigable stream, when there were so many noble rivers in the neighbourhood.

[Sidenote: WILLIAMSBURGH COLLEGE.]

The town consists of one principal street, and two others which run parallel to it. At one end of the main street stands the college, and at the other end the old capitol or state house, a capacious building of brick, now crumbling to pieces from negligence. The houses around it are mostly uninhabited, and present a melancholy picture. In the hall of the capitol stands a maimed statue of lord Botetourt, one of the regal governors of Virginia, erected at the public expence, in memory of his lordship’s equitable and popular administration. During the war, when party rage was at its highest pitch, and every thing pertaining to royalty obnoxious, the head and one arm of the statue were knocked off; it now remains quite exposed, and is more and more defaced every day. Whether the motto, “_Resurgo rege favente_,” inscribed under the coat of arms, did or did not help to bring upon it its present fate, I cannot pretend to say; as it is, it certainly remains a monument of the extinction of monarchical power in America.

The college of William and Mary, as it is still called, stands at the opposite end of the main street; it is a heavy pile, which bears, as Mr. Jefferson, I think, says, “a very close resemblance to a large brick kiln, excepting that it has a roof.” The students were about thirty in number when I was there: from their appearance one would imagine that the seminary ought rather to be termed a grammar school than a college; yet I understand the visitors, since the present revolution, finding it full of young boys just learning the rudiments of Greek and Latin, a circumstance which consequently deterred others more advanced from going there, dropped the professorships for these two languages, and established others in their place. The professorships, as they now stand, are for law, medicine, natural and moral philosophy, mathematics, and modern languages. The bishop of Virginia is president of the college, and has apartments in the buildings. Half a dozen or more of the students, the eldest about twelve years old, dined at his table one day that I was there; some were without shoes or stockings, others without coats. During dinner they constantly rose to help themselves at the side board. A couple of dishes of salted meat, and some oyster soup, formed the whole of the dinner. I only mention this, as it may convey some little idea of American colleges and American dignitaries.

The episcopalian church, the only one in the place, stands in the middle of the main street; it is much out of repair. On either side of it is an extensive green, surrounded with neat looking houses, which bring to mind an English village.

The town contains about twelve hundred inhabitants, and the society in it is thought to be more extensive and more genteel at the same time than what is to be met with in any other place of its size in America. No manufactures are carried on here, and scarcely any trade.

There is an hospital here for lunatics, but it does not appear to be well regulated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

+LETTER + XIII.

_Hampton.—Ferry to Norfolk.—Danger in crossing the numerous Ferries in
Virginia.—Norfolk.—Laws of Virginia injurious to the Trading
Interest.—Streets narrow and dirty in Norfolk.—Yellow Fever
there.—Observations on this Disorder.—Violent Party Spirit amongst the
Inhabitants.—Few Churches in Virginia.—Several in Ruins.—Private Grave
Yards._

Norfolk, April.

FROM Williamsburgh to Hampton the country is flat and uninteresting. Hampton is a small town, situated at the head of a bay, near the mouth of James River, which contains about thirty houses and an episcopalian church. A few sea boats are annually built here; and corn and lumber are exported annually to the value of about forty-two thousand dollars. It is a dirty disagreeable place, always infested by a shocking stench from a muddy shore when the tide is out.

From this town there is a regular ferry to Norfolk, across Hampton roads, eighteen miles over. I was forced to leave my horses here behind me for several days, as all the flats belonging to the place had been sent up a creek some miles for staves, &c. and they had no other method of getting horses into the ferry boats, which were too large to come close into shore, excepting by carrying them out in these flats, and then making them leap on board. It is a most irksome piece of business to cross the ferries in Virginia; there is not one in six where the boats are good and well manned, and it is necessary to employ great circumspection in order to guard against accidents, which are but too common. As I passed along I heard of numberless recent instances of horses being drowned, killed, and having their legs broken, by getting in and out of the boats.

Norfolk stands nearly at the mouth of the eastern branch of Elizabeth River, the most southern of those which empty themselves into the Chesapeak Bay. It is the largest commercial town in Virginia, and carries on a flourishing trade to the West Indies. The exports consist principally of tobacco, flour, and corn, and various kinds of lumber; of the latter it derives an inexhaustible supply from the Dismal Swamp, immediately in the neighbourhood.

[Sidenote: NORFOLK.]

Norfolk would be a place of much greater trade than it is at present, were it not for the impolicy of some laws which have existed in the state of Virginia. One of these laws, so injurious to commerce, was passed during the war. By this law it was enacted, that all merchants and planters in Virginia, who owed money to British merchants, should be exonerated from their debts if they paid the money due into the public treasury instead of sending it to Great Britain; and all such as stood indebted were invited to come forward, and give their money in this manner, towards the support of the contest in which America was then engaged.

The treasury at first did not become much richer in consequence of this law; for the Virginian debtor, individually, could gain nothing by paying the money that he owed into the treasury, as he had to pay the full sum which was due to the British merchant; on the contrary, he might lose considerably: his credit would be ruined in the eyes of the British merchant by such a measure, and it would be a great impediment to the renewal of a commercial intercourse between them after the conclusion of the war.

However, when the continental paper money became so much depreciated, that one hundred paper dollars were not worth one in silver, many of the people, who stood deeply indebted to the merchants in Great Britain, began to look upon the measure in a different point of view; they now saw a positive advantage in paying their debts into the treasury in these paper dollars, which were a legal tender; accordingly they did so, and in consequence were exonerated of their debts by the laws of their country, though in reality they had not paid more than one hundredth part of them. In vain did the British merchant sue for his money when hostilities were terminated; he could obtain no redress in any court of justice in Virginia. Thus juggled out of his property he naturally became distrustful of the Virginians; he refused to trade with them on the same terms as with the people of the other states, and the Virginians have consequently reaped the fruits of their very dishonourable conduct[21].

Footnote 21:

In February 1796, this nefarious business was at last brought before
the supreme court of the United States in Philadelphia, by the agents
of the British merchants, and the decision of the judges was such as
redounded to their honour; for, they declared that these debts should
all be paid over again, bona fide, to the British merchant.

[Sidenote: IMPOLITIC LAWS.]

Another law, baneful in the highest degree to the trading interest, is one which renders all landed property inviolable. This law has induced numbers to run into debt; and as long as it exists foreigners will be cautious of giving credit to a large amount to men who, if they chuse to purchase a tract of land with the goods or money entrusted to their care, may sit down upon it securely, out of the reach of all their creditors, under protection of the laws of the country. Owing to this law they have not yet been enabled to get a bank established in Norfolk, though it would be of the utmost importance to the traders. The directors of the bank of the United States have always peremptorily refused to let a branch of it be fixed in any part of Virginia whilst this law remains. In Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, &c. there are branches of the bank of the United States, besides other banks, established under the sanction of the state legislature.

Repeated attempts have been made in the state assembly to get this last mentioned law repealed, but they have all proved ineffectual. The debates have been very warm on the business, and the names of the majority, who voted for the continuation of it, have been published, to expose them if possible to infamy; but so many have sheltered themselves under its sanction, and so many still find an interest in its continuance, that it is not likely to be speedily repealed.

The houses in Norfolk are about five hundred in number; by far the greater part of them are of wood, and but meanly built. These have all been erected since the year 1776, when the town was totally destroyed by fire, by the order of Lord Dunmore, then regal governor of Virginia. The losses sustained on that occasion were estimated at £.300,000 sterling. Towards the harbour the streets are narrow and irregular; in the other parts of the town they are tolerably wide; none of them are paved, and all are filthy; indeed, in the hot months of summer, the stench that proceeds from some of them is horrid. That people can be thus inattentive to cleanliness, which is so conducive to health, and in a town where a sixth part of the people died in one year of a pestilential disorder, is most wonderful!![22]

Footnote 22:

The yellow fever, which has committed such dreadful ravages of late
years in America, is certainly to be considered as a sort of plague.
It first appeared at Philadelphia in the year 1793; in 1794 it
appeared at Baltimore; in 1795, at New York and Norfolk; and in 1796,
though the matter was hushed up as much as possible, in order to
prevent an alarm, similar to that which had injured the city so much
the preceding year, yet in New York a far greater number of deaths
than usual were heard of during the summer and autumn, strongly
supposed to have been occasioned by the same malignant disorder.

The accounts given of the calamitous consequences attendant upon it,
in these different places, are all much alike, and nearly similar to
those given of the plague:—The people dying suddenly, and under the
most shocking circumstances—such as were well flying away—the sick
abandoned, and perishing for want of common necessaries—the dead
buried in heaps together without any ceremony—charity at an end—the
ties of friendship and consanguinity disregarded by many—others, on
the contrary, nobly coming forward, and at the hazard of their own
lives doing all in their power to relieve their fellow citizens, and
avert the general woe.——At Philadelphia, in the space of about three
months, no less than four thousand inhabitants were swept off by this
dreadful malady, a number, at that time, amounting to about one tenth
of the whole. Baltimore and New York did not suffer so severely; but
at Norfolk, which is computed to contain about three thousand people,
no less than five hundred fell victims to it.

The disorder has been treated very differently by different
physicians, and as some few have survived under each system that has
been tried, no general one has yet been adopted. I was told, however,
by several people in Norfolk, who resided in the most sickly part of
the town during the whole time the fever lasted, that as a
preventative medicine, a strong mercurial purge was very generally
administered, and afterwards Peruvian bark; and that few of those who
had taken this medicine were attacked by the fever. All however that
can be done by medicine to stop the progress of the disorder, when it
has broke out in a town, seems to be of no very great effect; for as
long as the excessive hot weather lasts the fever rages, but it
regularly disappears on the approach of cold weather. With regard to
its origin there have been also various opinions; some have contended
that it was imported into every place where it appeared from the West
Indies; others, that it was generated in the country. These opinions
have been ably supported on either side of the question by medical
men, who resided at the different places where the fever has appeared.
There are a few notorious circumstances, however, which lead me, as an
individual, to think that the fever has been generated on the American
continent. In the first place, the fever has always broken out in
those parts of towns which were most closely built, and where the
streets have been suffered through negligence to remain foul and
nasty; in the second place, it has regularly broken out during the
hottest time of the year, in the months of July and August, when the
air on the American coast is for the most part stagnant and sultry,
and when vegetable and animal matter becomes putrid in an incredible
short space of time; thirdly, numbers of people died of the disorder
in New York, in the year 1796, notwithstanding that every West Indian
vessel which entered the port that season was examined by the health
officer, a regular bred physician, and that every one suspected was
obliged to perform quarantine. The people in New York are so fully
persuaded that the fever originates in America from putrid matter,
that they have stopped up one or two docks, which were receptacles for
the filth of the neighbourhood, and which contaminated the air when
the tide was out.

[Sidenote: YELLOW FEVER.]

Amongst the inhabitants are great numbers of Scotch and French. The latter are almost entirely from the West Indies, and principally from St. Domingo. In such prodigious numbers did they flock over after the British forces had got footing in the French islands, that between two and three thousand were in Norfolk at one time; most of them, however, afterwards dispersed themselves throughout different parts of the country; those who staid in the town opened little shops of different kinds, and amongst them I found many who had been in affluent circumstances before they were driven from their homes.

[Sidenote: GRAVE YARDS.]

A strong party spirit has always been prevalent amongst the American inhabitants of this town; so much so that a few years ago, when some English and French vessels of war were lying in Hampton roads, and the sailors, from each, on shore, the whole people were up and ready to join them, on the one side or the other, in open contest; but the mayor drew out the militia, and sent them to their respective homes.

Here are two churches, one for episcopalians, the other for methodists. In the former, service is not performed more than once in two or three weeks, and very little regard is paid by the people in general to Sunday. Indeed, throughout the lower parts of Virginia, that is, between the mountains and the sea, the people have scarcely any sense of religion, and in the country parts the churches are all falling into decay. As I rode along, I scarcely observed one that was not in a ruinous condition, with the windows broken, and doors dropping off the hinges, and lying open to the pigs and cattle wandering about the woods; yet many of these were not past repair. The churches in Virginia, excepting such as are in towns, stand for the most part in the woods, retired from any houses, and it does not appear that any persons are appointed to pay the smallest attention to them.

A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private individuals holding grave yards, which are looked upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the owners receiving considerable fees annually for giving permission to people to bury their dead in them. It is very common also to see, in the large plantations in Virginia, and not far from the dwelling house, cemeteries walled in, where the people of the family are all buried. These cemeteries are generally built adjoining the garden.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

+LETTER + XIV.

_Description of Dismal Swamp.—Wild Men found in it.—Bears, Wolves,
&c.—Country between Swamp and Richmond.—Mode of making Tar and
Pitch.—Poor Soil.—Wretched Taverns.—Corn Bread.—Difficulty of getting
Food for Horses.—Petersburgh.—Horse Races there.—Description of
Virginian Horses.—Stile of Riding in America.—Description of Richmond,
Capital of Virginia.—Singular Bridge across James River.—State
House.—Falls of James River.—Gambling common in Richmond.—Lower
Classes of People very quarrelsome.—Their Mode of Fighting.—Gouging._

Richmond, May.

[Sidenote: GREAT SWAMP.]

FROM Norfolk I went to look at the great Dismal Swamp, which commences at the distance of nine miles from the town, and extends into North Carolina, occupying in the whole, about one hundred and fifty thousand acres. This great tract is entirely covered with trees; juniper and cypress trees grow where there is most moisture, and on the dry parts, white and red oaks and a variety of pines.

These trees grow to a most enormous size, and between them the brushwood springs up so thick that the swamp in many parts is absolutely impervious. In this respect it differs totally from the common woods in the country. It abounds also with cane reeds, and with long rich grass, upon which cattle feed with great avidity, and become fat in a very short space of time; the canes, indeed, are considered to be the very best green food that can be given to them. The people who live on the borders of the swamp drive all their cattle into it to feed; care however is taken to train them to come back regularly to the farms every night by themselves, otherwise it would be impossible to find them. This is effected by turning into the swamp with them, for the first few weeks they are sent thither to feed, two or three old milch cows accustomed to the place, round whose necks are fastened small bells. The cows come back every evening to be milked; the rest of the cattle herd with these, following the noise of the bells, and when they return to the farm a handful of salt, or something of which they are equally fond, is given to each as an inducement for them to return again. In a short time the cattle become familiar with the place, and having been accustomed from the first day to return, they regularly walk to the farms every evening.

In the interior parts of the swamp large herds of wild cattle are found, most probably originally lost on being turned in to feed. Bears, wolves, deer, and other wild indigenous animals are also met with there. Stories are common in the neighbourhood of wild men having been found in it, who were lost, it is supposed, in the swamp when children.

[Sidenote: CANAL.]

The swamp varies very much in different parts; in some the surface of it is quite dry, and firm enough to bear a horse; in others it is overflowed with water; and elsewhere so miry that a man would sink up to his neck if he attempted to walk upon it; in the driest part, if a trench is cut only a few feet deep, the water gushes in, and it is filled immediately. Where the canal to connect the water of Albemarle Sound with Norfolk is cut, the water in many places flows in from the sides, at the depth of three feet from the surface, in large streams, without intermission; in its colour it exactly resembles brandy, which is supposed to be occasioned by the roots of the juniper trees; it is perfectly clear however, and by no means unpalatable; it is said to possess a diuretic quality, and the people in the neighbourhood, who think it very wholesome, prefer it to any other. Certainly there is something very uncommon in the nature of this swamp, for the people living upon the borders of it do not suffer by fever and ague, or bilious complaints, as is generally the case with those resident in the neighbourhood of other swamps and marshes. Whether it is the medicinal quality of the water, however, which keeps them in better health or not, I do not pretend to determine.