Part 17 (1/2)

Upon the following day I was accompanied by Mr Bacott and his brother-in-law, to St Michael's episcopal church, to see the building, and particularly the steeple, one hundred and eighty-six feet high We mounted two hundred and thirty-six steps, and enjoyed a very handsoular built city, the bay, and adjacent country The bay, with its protecting forts, showed to great advantage; the surrounding district not so agreeably, it being very level and overgroood In the city several buildings reared their heads, a others, the churches, and there are here twenty-two churches belonging to various sects, then the orphan-house and custo worthy of remark, if you except some simple funeral tablets The churches, rounds, and the custo the dead in the city

On the same day, the last of my stay in Charleston, I was present at a dinner which the Ger invited me by a deputation The party met at half past three o'clock The company was composed, with the exception of the mayor, Dr

Johnson, of more than sixty persons, for the in It was asse to the society, in which, besides the large assembly room, was also a school for the children of the s of the preceptors The society was instituted in the year 1766, the principal founder was Captain Kalteisen, a native Wirteer, who had raised a volunteer corps of fusileers fro there, hich he not only distinguished hilish, but also personally, during the whole war, rendered the eneral in the staff of the southern army The company of fusileers always preserved their connection with the German Society Kalteisen himself died in the year 1807, as commandant of Fort Johnson; he was so attached to this German association, that he had hi, the bricks of the pavement mark the form of his coffin over it, and a tablet of marble in the hall contains an inscription to the s next to that of Colonel Sass, who after him commanded the company, and of a Wormser, named Strobel, as a joint founder of the society, and whose sons and nephew appeared at table Two brothers, Messrs Horlbeck, presided at the dinner, which was very well arranged They had the politeness to nominate me an honorary nature; under them were here and there crosses only

Several of the usual toasts were given out; uage There was also singing The uided by an old Mr Eckhardt, a Hessian that had come to America with the Hessian troops, as a anist of one of the churches, and three of his sons occupy the same station in other churches The German society possesses, in to donations In the school-room there was a planetarium, very neatly finished, set in motion by clock-work

CHAPTER XVI

_Journey froeville, Macon, and the country of the Creek Indians, to Montgon had been to travel froe to Savannah was very bad; that the steaularly; that Savannah had lost its importance as a place of trade, and on the whole, contained nothing worthy of observation As this tour would cost me many days, and a circuitous route, I resolved to relinquish the visit to Savannah, and betake usta, one hundred and twenty-nine h the Creek Indians, to go into the state of Alabama Colonel Wool liked lo-American, a very polished er days served in the British are for ourselves alone, and in it left Charleston on the 20th of December

We passed Ashley river at the saht days back It was at low ebb, and many oyster banks were exposed dry This was a novel spectacle to ether, and had soroes were e them out of the e,fast On the opposite shore the road ran through a country generally woody, but partly ornamented with plantations Several of these plantations are pretty, commonly an avenue of ancient, well preserved live oaks, leads up to the ate is placed Maize and cotton are planted here, and in some places also rice, which is the staple of the lower part of South Carolina The rice fields must stand several months of the year under water On this account they are situated in swampy districts, and surrounded by ditches of water

But in consequence of this, these places are so unhealthy, that hardly a white planter can reed to resort to Charleston, or the northern states The cliinning of the hot season, dares not to sleep a single night during the continuance of it, upon a plantation, without exposing his life to is on whom this deadly climate has no bad effect, and they are, therefore, indispensable for the cultivation of this district The vegetation was again extrenolias, cabbage and es over sling We saw the faant boat,to their plantation In a large inn, which was itself the ood dinner In the evening we crossed the Edisto river in a narrow ferry-boat, for the arrival of which ere obliged to delay a long time The soil wascauseways made us tired of our lives On this side of the river we arrived at the village of Edisto We travelled through the whole night, and I suffered much from the cold in ht, and if it had been a little wared our stage during the night, but gained nothing

The succeedingexhibited all the ponds of water covered with a crust of ice We passed the Salkechee and Ca worthy of observation The vegetation was less beautiful than on the preceding day; the plantations were also less considerable At a new plantation, at which we arrived about break of day, I spoke to the overseer of the negroes The nised fro up the negroes to make a fire He told us that in the district, where the plantation was situated, and where maize and cotton were planted, but a little ti but forest; his eroes, and now he possessed one hundred and four, ere kept at work in clearing the wood, and extending the plantation The cotton crop was finished in most of the fields, and cattle were driven in, to consume the weeds and tops of the bushes

We passed several mill-ponds, and saw some saw-mills Only pine trees appeared to flourish in this part of the country; upon the whole, it was hilly, and the progress was tedious through the deep sand We passed the river Savannah three usta, in a little ferry-boat The left bank appeared here and there to be rocky, and pretty high; the right is sandy When we crossed the river, we left the state of South Carolina, and entered that of Georgia, the most southern of the old thirteen United States, which in fifty years have grown to twenty-four in nu at nine o'clock, on a very good road, a scattered built town of four thousand six hundred inhabitants, of both complexions We took up our quarters in the Globe Hotel, a tolerable inn; during the whole day it was very clear, but cold weather, in the evening it froze hard The old remark is a very just one, that one suffers no where so s are well calculated to resist heat, but in nowise suited to repel cold

We were co the 22d of Deceeville on the following day, and Colonel Wool had to inspect the United States' arsenal here, which contained about six thousand stand of arms for infantry We understood that Mr Crawford, formerly embassador of the United States, in Paris, afterwards secretary of state, and lastly, candidate for the office of president, was here at a friend's house We therefore paid hinified appearance; he had a stroke of apoplexy about a year since, so that he was crippled on one side, and could not speak without difficulty To h he had been several years an envoy in Paris They say, that Mr Crawford's predecessor in Paris, was chancellor Livingston, this gentleston and Crawford were introduced to the Emperor Napoleon at the same time; the emperor, who could carry on no conversation with either of them, expressed his surprise, that the United States had sent him a deaf and dumb embassy I likewise reaped very little profit from Mr Crawford's conversation As he was an old friend of Mr Bowdoin, almost all the benefit of it fell to his share, and I addressed hter, and one of her female friends, ere present Much indeed was to be anticipated as the result of a conversation with the daughter of such a statesman She had been educated in a school of the southern states My conclusion was, the farther south I advanced, so much the firmer am I convinced that the inhabitants of these states suffer in co their education with those of the north To conclude, Mr

Crawford was the hero of the democratic party, and would, in all probability, have been chosen president in the spring of 1825, had not his apoplectic attack supervened On account of his indisposition, General Jackson was pushed before hiainst the individual character of this person in opposition, that the present incumbent, Adausta is very regularly built The main street is about one hundred feet wide, it containsstores None of the streets are paved, but all have brick foot-paths

A wooden bridge, three hundred and fifty yards long, and thirty feet wide, crosses frohbourhood of the city, to the left bank of Savannah river, the city lies on the right bank Along the bank is erected a quay in the manner of a terrace, which is one of the most suitable that I have seen; for it is accommodated to the swell of the river, which often rises above twenty feet It has three terraces The lower one has a in of beams, mostly of cypress tie of the water, the vessels are loaded

From the second terrace, (which as well as the upper one, has a brick facing,) are wooden landings reaching to the edge of the under terrace, by which, at higher stages, the vessels e stones, which are quarried above the city

The quay, as well as the landings, belong to the State Bank of Georgia: the landings produce fifteen per cent annually

Augusta is the depot for the cotton, which is conveyed froe, and here shi+pped either to Savannah or Charleston We noticed a couple of vessels of a peculiar structure, employed in this trade They are flat underneath, and look like large ferry-boats Each vessel can carry a load of three hundred tons The bales of cotton, each of which weighs about three hundred pounds, were piled upon one another to the height of eleven feet Steam-boats are provided to tow these vessels up and down the stream, but on account of the present low state of the water, they cannot cousta

I was assured that year by year between fifteen and twenty thousand bales of cotton were sent down the river The state of South Carolina, to which the left bank of the river belongs, was forusta its depot To prevent this, Mr Schulz, a inally fro, upon the left bank of the river, close by the bridge, supported, as is said, by the legislature of South Carolina with an advance of fifty thousand dollars This toas commenced in the year 1821, and numbers about four hundred inhabitants, who are collectively le roooden houses, streaked hite, which appear very well upon the dark back ground, forh forest close behind the houses Nearly every house contains a store, a single one, which comprised two stores, was rented for one thousand dollars Several new houses were building, and population and co The row of houses which form the town, runs parallel with the river, and is removed back from it about one hundred and fifty paces Upon this space stands a large warehouse, and a little wooden hut, looking quite snug, upon the whole, with the superscription ”Bank” A Ha an object formy curiosity I went in, and made acquaintance with Mr

Schulz, as there He appears tobeen one of the usta It is said, however, that he only acco for himself He has already several times possessed a respectable fortune, which he has always sunk again by too daring speculations This Ha bank, moreover, has suspended its payments, and will not resume business till the first of next month On this account, it was not possible for , I would gladly have taken back with usta, about four o'clock, by ht, and the weather pretty cold, in the ed for ourselves It went for Milledgeville, eighty-six usta The road was one of the most tedious that I had hithertobut sand, at times solitary pieces of rock, and eternal pine woods with very little foliage; none of the evergreen trees and the southern plants seen elsewhere, which, new as they were to my eye, had so pleasantly broke the h which I had travelled fro of Dece contributed to give ia are regarded in the United States under the character of great barbarians, and this reputation appears really not unjustly conferred We see unpleasant countenances even in Italy: but here all the faces are haggard, and bear the stamp of the sickly climate

To the cold weather which we had for several days, warm temperature succeeded to-day We were considerably annoyed by dust Besides several solitary houses and plantations, we encountered two little hamlets here, called towns, Warrenton and Powelton, this last lies upon Great Ogechee river, over which passes a wooden bridge We stopped at Warrenton The court of justice is in the only brick house of the place: close by it stands the prison, or county gaol, a building coether Between Warrenton and Powelton, we had a drunken Irisher This race of beings, who have spread themselves like a pestilence over the United States, are here also, and despised even by the Georgians We travelled again all night; it was, however, not so cold as the nights previous Towardsplace called Sparta We were obliged to stop here soed We seated ourselves at the fire-place in the tavern All of a sudden there stood betwixt us, like an evil genius, a stout felloith an aboe, who appeared to be intoxicated, and crowded hientleuard for his pockets The ruffian made a movement, and a dirk fell from his sleeve, which he clutched up, and made off They told me that he was an Irishman, who, abandoned to liquor, as most of his countrymen were, had no ht to sleep in houses that happened to be open

Most probably he had intended to steal We then obtained another driver, whoed to be a son of Hibernia, and was not deceived

On the 24th December, we left this unlucky Sparta at one o'clock in the er in the stage with us, which we prevented Vexed by this, he drove us so tediously, that we spent full eight hours going twenty-two eville, and did not therefore reach there until nine in thein the woods where there was little accoht seen bivouacs of wagoners or e to the western states--the backwoods The horses of such a caravan are tied to the side of the wagon, and stand feeding at their trough; near the wagon is a large fire lighted up, of fallen or cut tiood weather, in bad, they lay theusta we encountered several of these bivouacs, which consist partly of nuo to Alabama, the district of country lately sold by the United States, and there to set the I saw three fa fallen tree, to which they had set fire in three places These groups placed the is very dangerous The night beforethe woods on fire in three different directions, and the fire ithout doubt occasioned by such erants as these The lofty pine trees look very handso, when they are insulated, but the owner of the forest has all the trouble attending it to hih towardswas hilly, the bottom constantly sandy, towards the last, -leafed pines Close by Milledgeville, we crossed the Oconee river on a bridge that had been finished but a few days, and which rested on wooden piles Until now the river was passed by a ferry-boat Both shores are very high and steep, so that going in and coeville lies upon elevated ground, the town is very regularly built, its broad streets are right-angled, they are, however, unpaved

It numbers about three thousand inhabitants of both coo, and increased very rapidly froia, and the seat of the legislature Its increase is now calculated to be checked, since the story goes that the seat of governed to the newly-founded town of Macon, or when the state has conquered congress in the cause yet depending before that body, and part of the Creek Indians territory is obtained, then it will be placed at Athens, where the university of the state is situated We took up our residence at La Fayette Hall, a large tavern

Soon after our arrival, I took a walk through the town It contains antly built, good stores, also a bookseller's shop, and several printing presses There are published here four gazettes, which a little while since were exceedingly active on the sides of the two parties who oppose each other in the state One party is that of Governor Troup, who, fro the Creek territory, and on account of his warmth in his official correspondence, has becoovernor, General Clark, who is, in all appearance, a very mild man, and very much respected by sensible and well-disposed persons At the last election of the governor, it was believed and hoped that General Clark would be chosen

He had the overnor in this state is chosen for two years by the people, and every man that pays half a dollar tax has a vote, it so happened that Governor Troup succeeded, by his popularity, in bearing off the palm

I examined the state-house, which is a si of two stories In the ground floor are the offices, in the upper story two halls, one is for the senate, the other for the representatives In each there is a seat, with a canopy, for the speaker The senators have each a desk before them, in the hall of the representatives one desk serves two persons All places are numbered, to prevent aard encounters In each hall there is a gallery for the public The state-house is placed alone on a little ehbourhood stands the state arsenal Another house belonging to the state, is appointed for the residence of the governor Mr Troup, notwithstanding, does not inhabit it; he has no family establish-house We intended to pay him our respects, he could not, however, receive us, as he lay dangerously ill of a pleurisy Through two friends, Colonel Haies, and these gentlemen, in his name, proffered us their services

We were then carried to the state prison, a large brick edifice, under the superintendence of Mr Williams, and contained seventy-six prisoners All these hite persons, for the black were punished by the whip, and not with i the prisoners If one understood no ed to learn one I found ; others laboured in a sreatest quiet and silence prevailed a the prisoners Their dress is blue, with broad white stripes upon all the sea-house did not please me as much as the workshops Cleanliness, so indispensable to such an establish here; it was neither swept nor scrubbed, and in the cells of the prisoners, in which four or five slept upon the floor, the woollen coverlets and pillows lay confusedly together There were also cells for solitary confinement, this was, however, used only as a reeable to me A piece of cooked meat was laid on the table for each prisoner, without knives, forks, or plates Bread did not appear to be furnished every day; at least the day ere there, none was to be seen The prison is surrounded by a high wall, at each of its four corners stands a sentry-box for the watch, which they ascend from without, and from which the whole yard can be overlooked This establishment is so well conducted, that it occasions no expense to the state, on the contrary, it produces a profit Upon the principal building stands a turret, which commands an extensive view over the town and circumjacent country The district around appears uneven and covered ood, the in at the edge of the town