by saying it was near night when I came to the house, and I had not seen any white gentleman sit on the bench.

I remained on the log till the termination of the festival in honour of liberty and equality, when my master ordered me into the kitchen to sleep. He gave me no supper; but the people gave me a piece of meat and wheaten bread-the first I had tasted since I left Maryland. The next morning I ran by the side of my master's gig to his plantation, twenty miles from Columbia, through a region which had been pine forest, but was now partially cleared, and where I first saw the most beautiful of all trees-the southern magnolia. The foliage is splendid, the flower magnificent, and so fragrant, that the scent of a grove may be perceived at sixty miles' distance. My master was a wealthy planter, and had two hundred and sixty slaves. The house was of brick (an uncommon thing), and the gardens and hothouses were beautiful. The huts of the slaves were a quarter of a mile distant, in rows, and built of hewn logs, roofed with shingles, and floored with pine boards; these houses had chimneys, and were dry and comfortable. I was put to live with a middle-aged man, who had a wife and five children. The only furniture of the cabin was a few blocks of wood for seats, a short pine-wood bench for a table, and a small bed in one corner, composed of a mat made of common rushes, spread upon corn husks, and confined by a narrow slip of wood fastened to the floor by wooden pins. A common iron pot stood by the side of the chimney, and several wooden spoons and dishes hung against the wall. Several blankets also hung on wooden pins, and an old pine box stood in a corner. As I entered, a naked child, of four years old, ran from the corner, where it was watching a naked infant, to its father, and clasping him round the knees, said, "Now we shall get good supper." The father laid his hand upon the head of his naked child, and stood silently looking in its face, which was turned towards his own for a moment, and then turning to me, said, "Did you leave any children at home?" The scene before me, the question, and the manner of this poor man and his child, caused my heart to swell; and my thoughts returned to my wife's lowly dwelling in Maryland, where I had so often been on a Saturday evening when I paid them my weekly visit, and to my own little ones, who clung to my knees for protection and support, even as the poor little wretch now before me seized upon the weary limb of its hapless and destitute father, hoping that, naked as he was (for he had only the tattered remains of a pair of old trousers), he would bring with his return at evening its customary scanty supper. I was unable to reply, but stood leaning by the wall of the cabin, while my children seemed to flit by me in the dim twilight. My reverie was broken by the entrance of the mother with her three eldest children. She wore an old ragged shift; but the children, the eldest of whom appeared to be about twelve,

and the youngest about six years old, were quite naked. Her husband told her that the overseer had sent me to live with them; and she immediately began to prepare supper, which was corn bread, and the leaves of a plant called lambs'-quarter, boiled. The overseer sent me about half a pound of bread, and they gave me some of their greens; after which I went to sleep in the loft of the cabin, with only the blanket I had brought from Maryland for a bed.

The next morning I went to work with the rest at hoeing and weeding cotton. There were about a hundred and sixty-eight slaves. There was not an entire garment among us, nor a bonnet, cap, or head-dress of any kind, except my old strawbonnet, which my wife had made for me; and this I soon laid aside, to avoid singularity. Some of the men had shirts, some ragged trousers; but no one wore both. Several of the women had petticoats, many shifts; but not one had both these garments. The overseer had a horn in one hand, and a whip in the other; under him were captains, who overlooked the other slaves. About seven in the morning, the overseer had his breakfast of bread, butter, cold ham, and coffee; and we had ours of corncake and water. Our dinner was the same, with a little salt and a radish. At night we returned home; and on Sunday evening each person received a peck of corn, which he might grind and bake as he chose. The women who had young children laid them by a fence, or under shade of the cotton plants, while they were at work, occasionally going to feed them. One poor woman loitered behind, to speak to me while we were returning from work; and not being present when her name was called, although but a few steps behind, the overseer called her, and me, and two others into the yard. Lydia (that was the woman's name) fell on her knees before him, begging forgiveness. "Where have you been?" said he. "Lie down." She was compelled to So, and to remove her old tow-linen shift, so as indelicately to expose her, when he gave her ten lashes with his long whip, every touch of which brought blood and a shriek from the sufferer. The other culprits were then flogged; and the overseer, calling me to him, said, "Boy, you see how things are done here; I never whip a new negro unless he be an outrageous villain, when I anoint him a little at first. I settle every Wednesday and Saturday evenings for the conduct of the last few days. Do not repeat this offence."

do

This method of flogging is much practised in the south; and I have seen men and women nearly cut to pieces by it, though it does not sprain the thumbs and wrists like tying up. The staff of the whip is about twenty inches in length, with a large heavy head, loaded with about half a pound of lead. The lash

is ten feet long, of strips of buckskin, tanned hard and dry, and plaited closely together, about the size of a man's little finger, tapering to the end, to which is fastened a cracker, nine inches

by saying it was near night when I came to the house, and I had not seen any white gentleman sit on the bench.

I remained on the log till the termination of the festival in honour of liberty and equality, when my master ordered me into the kitchen to sleep. He gave me no supper; but the people gave me a piece of meat and wheaten bread-the first I had tasted since I left Maryland. The next morning I ran by the side of my master's gig to his plantation, twenty miles from Columbia, through a region which had been pine forest, but was now partially cleared, and where I first saw the most beautiful of all trees-the southern magnolia. The foliage is splendid, the flower magnificent, and so fragrant, that the scent of a grove may be perceived at sixty miles' distance. My master was a wealthy planter, and had two hundred and sixty slaves. The house was of brick (an uncommon thing), and the gardens and hothouses were beautiful. The huts of the

As I

slaves were a quarter of a mile distant, in rows, and built of hewn logs, roofed with shingles, and floored with pine boards; these houses had chimneys, and were dry and comfortable. I was put to live with a middle-aged man, who had a wife and five children. The only furniture of the cabin was a few blocks of wood for seats, a short pine-wood bench for a table, and a small bed in one corner, composed of a mat made of common rushes, spread upon corn husks, and confined by a narrow slip of wood fastened to the floor by wooden pins. A common iron pot stood by the side of the chimney, and several wooden spoons and dishes hung against the wall. Several blankets also hung on wooden pins, and an old pine box stood in a corner. entered, a naked child, of four years old, ran from the corner, where it was watching a naked infant, to its father, and clasping him round the knees, said, "Now we shall get good supper." The father laid his hand upon the head of his naked child, and stood silently looking in its face, which was turned towards his own for a moment, and then turning to me, said, "Did you leave any children at home?" The scene before me, the question, and the manner of this poor man and his child, caused my heart to swell; and my thoughts returned to my wife's lowly dwelling in Maryland, where I had so often been on a Saturday evening when I paid them my weekly visit, and to my own little ones, who clung to my knees for protection and support, even as the poor little wretch now before me seized upon the weary limb of its hapless and destitute father, hoping that, naked as he was (for he had only the tattered remains of a pair of old trousers), he would bring with his return at evening its customary scanty supper. I was unable to reply, but stood leaning by the wall of the cabin, while my children seemed to flit by me in the dim twilight. My reverie was broken by the entrance of the mother with her three eldest children. She wore an old ragged shift; but the children, the eldest of whom appeared to be about twelve,

and the youngest about six years old, were quite naked. Her husband told her that the overseer had sent me to live with them; and she immediately began to prepare supper, which was corn bread, and the leaves of a plant called lambs'-quarter, boiled. The overseer sent me about half a pound of bread, and they gave me some of their greens; after which I went to sleep in the loft of the cabin, with only the blanket I had brought from Maryland for a bed.

The next morning I went to work with the rest at hoeing and weeding cotton. There were about a hundred and sixty-eight slaves. There was not an entire garment among us, nor a bonnet, cap, or head-dress of any kind, except my old strawbonnet, which my wife had made for me; and this I soon laid aside, to avoid singularity. Some of the men had shirts, some ragged trousers; but no one wore both. Several of the women had petticoats, many shifts; but not one had both these garments. The overseer had a horn in one hand, and a whip in the other; under him were captains, who overlooked the other slaves. About seven in the morning, the overseer had his breakfast of bread, butter, cold ham, and coffee; and we had ours of corncake and water. Our dinner was the same, with a little salt and a radish. At night we returned home; and on Sunday evening each person received a peck of corn, which he might grind and bake as he chose. The women who had young children laid them by a fence, or under shade of the cotton plants, while they were at work, occasionally going to feed them. One poor woman loitered behind, to speak to me while we were returning from work; and not being present when her name was called, although but a few steps behind, the overseer called her, and me, and two others into the yard. Lydia (that was the woman's name) fell on her knees before him, begging forgiveness. "Where have you been?" said he. "Lie down.' She was compelled to do so, and to remove her old tow-linen shift, so as indelicately to expose her, when he gave her ten lashes with his long whip, every touch of which brought blood and a shriek from the sufferer. The other culprits were then flogged; and the overseer, calling me to him, said, "Boy, you see how things are done here; I never whip a new negro unless he be an outrageous villain, when I anoint him a little at first. I settle every Wednesday and Saturday evenings for the conduct of the last few days. Do not repeat this offence."

This method of flogging is much practised in the south; and I have seen men and women nearly cut to pieces by it, though it does not sprain the thumbs and wrists like tying up. The staff of the whip is about twenty inches in length, with a large heavy head, loaded with about half a pound of lead. The lash is ten feet long, of strips of buckskin, tanned hard and dry, and plaited closely together, about the size of a man's little finger, tapering to the end, to which is fastened a cracker, nine inches

long, of stout sewing silk, twisted and knotted till it is as firm as the hardest twine. This whip, when adroitly used, is one of the keenest instruments of torture ever invented by man; it has superseded the cowhide and hickory, which bruise and mangle the flesh; while this cuts as sharply as a knife, and does not injure the bones.

Sunday came. We were not called out to work; but here, as everywhere in the south, the slaves are discouraged by all possible means from going to any place of public worship on a Sunday. This is to prevent their associating together, and plotting mischief. No slave can leave a plantation without a written order from the master or overseer; and any white man who meets a slave off the plantation without a pass, has a right to take him up and flog him. Passes are granted only on the most urgent occasions; and a cotton planter has no more idea of permitting his slaves to go at will about the neighbourhood on a Sunday, than a farmer in Pennsylvania has of letting his horses out of the field on that day. The planters also fear lest, by listening to preachers, and attending religious meetings, their slaves should imbibe the notions of morality and liberty contained in the gospel. For the same reason the cotton planters prevent the slaves from learning to read; and most of them are, in consequence, extremely ignorant and superstitious. Not the slightest religious regard is paid to Sunday; but the slaves are allowed to work for wages, and by this means the overseers who have no slaves get their field-work done. Many slaves work for other planters on a Sunday, and others work at their patches-little bits of unprofitable ground given them in some remote part of the estate, generally in the woods, where they plant corn, potatoes, pumpkins, &c. for themselves: this must be done on a Sunday. I must remark, that when slaves go out to work on a Sunday, they are never flogged, and they are honestly paid. Sunday is also the customary washing-day on cotton plantations; and the few clean garments among us were reserved for Monday morning. The earnings are spent in clothing, sugar, molasses, coffee, or tobacco; and some money may also be made in the rainy days, when the slaves do not work, by making baskets, brooms, horse-collars, and other things, which are sold among the planters. I could make wooden bowls and ladles, and I added my earnings to those of the slave Nero and his wife, with whom I lived, on condition that I should be allowed to partake of the proceeds of their garden. Before Christmas I had enabled Nero to buy blankets for us all, which Dinah made up into coats.

III.

About ten days after my arrival, we had a great feast at the quarter. I was sent with a boy into a swamp to find a bullock.