University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.

“From the city of Savannah, I paid my first
visit to our old heathen dad, Neptune, and if first
impressions of the sea were not as common and as
numerous as doggerel verses in a modern lady's
album, I might be tempted to become sublime for
your edification. I was rowed down from the
city, in a beautiful boat made of a single cypress,
by the hands of the gentleman who was so polite
as to give me this gentle passage. By this you
may know that they take as much pride in their
boats as the Venetians themselves. It was beautifully
painted, and rowed by eight well-formed
negroes. Inside of the seat at one end was a
marooning chest, as they called it, full of all kinds
of liquors and cold meat, with the necessary utensils
for their use. The gentleman was an islander;
and during the few hours in which we were gliding
over the seventeen miles between the city and the
ocean, he entertained me with an account of his
marooning expeditions. These are their excursions
upon the Sea Islands, for purposes of fishing

and hunting. These islanders are a peculiar, but
delightful people; however, I must not keep you too
long in the sea-breeze; at some other time, perhaps,
I may indite you a history of these hospitable
and isolated gentlemen.

“When I left Savannah, I determined to pursue
a different route from the one by which I came.
I therefore crossed the Savannah river fifteen or
sixteen miles above the city; I then crossed the
country in as straight a line as I could draw upon
the map, between the ferry and the high hills of
Santee; and in a short time found myself in as
complete solitude as ever Crusoe experienced upon
his desolate island. Nothing was to be seen but
the tall and gloomy-looking pines, stretching away
into the bosom of the atmosphere, and the interminable
sands which lay before me as far as the eye
could reach. Twilight presently came on, and
those horrible musicians, the tree-frogs, began to
chirp and sing. The dolorous note of the whippoorwill
was heard, with a horn accompaniment
from the throat of a screech-owl. Here was a
pretty serenade for a man with his heart attuned
for melody, and his stomach attuned for a slash at
a cold ham, for I had had no dinner. I struck up
an accompaniment from my own pipes, but I soon
found that the vacuum was too profound for a
due modulation in concert pitch with this sylvan
band. I wished them all at the d—l, with their
shrill pipes and full crops, and set my horse, or
rather your horse, at full gallop, in a vain effort to

escape from the intended honour; but the harder
I rode, the more enthusiastic they became. I soon
made another comfortable discovery; I found that
I had been riding for the last two hours in a perfect
wilderness, in utter contempt of what two
pioneer wheels had made for a highway; nor
could I tell the north from the south, nor the east
from the west, having foolishly enough turned the
horse round and round in order to gaze at the
stars. `Like master like man,' my servant did
the same, as if he could read in the pine tops
more than I could in the heavens. All my astronomy
had gone with my dinner; I could see nothing
in the starry regions but what is sometimes called
the Frying-pan. Oh! the shades of Thales of
Miletus, who first imported astronomy into Greece!
to think that a bachelor of such heavenly arts
could not look into the face of the Frying-pan
without thinking of grilled chickens and rashers
of bacon, and the crackling of fire, and the sputtering
of fat. I dismounted, and ordered Sam to do
likewise, and try to find me a piece of flint by
which to strike a light; he declared that he had
not seen a stone or a rock since he came into the
Carolinas. `So much for geology and astronomy,'
said I. `I rader tink they all bad fur empty
stumuck, masta,' said Sam, considering himself privileged
by the exigencies of the case. `True enough,
Sam,' said I, `it would be an apt scholar that could
produce bread or a stone either by his learning, in
our circumstances.'

“As I mounted, Sam mounted, not a word more

having been uttered; he seemed to be aware of the
fact, that language generally fails with the food;
a man's ideas in such a case run fast enough, but
they are all in humble life; below stairs, diving
among pots, and pans, and pantries, and receptacles
for cold victuals. As the ideas ran, so ran
the horses, until the water began to splash our legs
from a thick bushy swamp, into which we found
that we had initiated ourselves. `Now Sam,' said
I, `we are swamped.' Sam said nothing aloud,
but was evidently muttering something to himself,
being engaged, as I supposed, at his secret devotions,
for you must know that he would be a Puritan.
Like most of his race, however, he has
more faith in the effect of singing hymns, than devotions
of any other kind. I saw that he was
itching for a trial at his usual relief in all his
troubles. I therefore told him not to suppress it
on my account, but to give it free utterance; the
idea of it naturally excited ludicrous recollections
of old Noll and the veteran Rumpers, but Sam
saw the new vein I had so inappropriately fallen
into, and therefore resisted his inward strivings.
I must say, en passant, that I think him honest
and sincere in his faith, I therefore do not ridicule
him.

“We waded through the black regions of this
little pandemonium for some three-quarters of a
mile, before the dry sand again greeted our hearing.
The Frying-pan still stared me in the face,
and the sylvan band still plied their pipes. We
had not proceeded far by land before we came

directly against a fence. I was truly glad to see
it, for I was sure it must lead to some inhabited
place, and accordingly ordered Sam to let us into
the field, which we found to be an immense plain
covered with cotton,—the most beautiful of all
crops. We rode between the rows, for many a
weary foot, until at length the glimmering of many
lights greeted our longing eyes. We made directly
for them, and soon stood in the midst of an immense
negro quarter. On inquiring whether their
master's house was near at hand, we found that it
was many miles distant. The overseer's house,
they told us, was not more than half a mile off;
but to these animals I have always had an utter
aversion. I therefore bought some fodder for the
horses, and two fowls for ourselves, from the
driver, who had the privilege of raising them, and
employed his wife to pick and grill them upon the
coals, and a delightful and savoury prelude they
soon sent up to my famished senses; a heartier or
a sweeter meal was never made than I thus took;
a fowl seasoned with salt, and a large pot of small
homminy, served direct to my mouth from a large
wooden spoon, without the cumbrous intervention
of plates, knives, and forks. Our meal being finished,—for
you must know Sam and I dined at
the same time and from the same table, which was
none other than the ground floor, covered with
the head of a barrel,—hunger is a wonderful leveller
of distinctions,—as I was saying, our meal
being finished, a goodly number of the more aged,
respectable, and intelligent blacks of the quarter
assembled to entertain us, or be entertained themselves,
I scarcely know which. Many of these
negroes, I found, were born in Africa, and one
poor tattooed fellow claimed to be of royal blood.
He told me that his father, the king, had a hundred
children. I asked if any of those present could
write; they replied that there was one man in the
quarter who could write in his own language, and
several of them went out and brought in a tall,
bald-headed old fellow, who seemed to come with
great reluctance. After being told what was
desired, he acknowledged to me that he could
write when he last tried, which was many years
previous. I took out my pocket-book, tore out a
blank leaf, and handing him a pen from my pocket
inkstand, requested him to give me a specimen.
He took the head of the barrel on his lap, and
began, if I recollect right, on the right side of the
page; the following is a fac simile of his performance:

“The following is a liberal translation into English:—

“`In the name of God the merciful! the compassionate!
God bless our Lord Mohammed his
prophet, and his descendants, and his followers,
and propser them exceedingly. Praise be to God
the Lord of all creatures! the merciful, the compassionate
king of the day of judgment! Thee
we adore, and of thee we implore assistance!
Guide us in the right way, the way of those with
whom thou art well pleased, and not of those with
whom thou art angry, nor of those who are in
error. Amen!'

“The original is written in Arabic. The old
fellow's name is Charno, which it seems he has retained,
after being enslaved, contrary to their general
custom in that respect. I became quite affected
and melancholy in talking to this venerable old
man, and you may judge from that rare circumstance
that he is no common character.

“I now fixed my saddle under my head in a
cotton shed to rest for the night; but, weary as I
was, I could not directly get to sleep for thinking
of sandy deserts, old Charno, chicken suppers,
negro quarters, and Virginia Bell! You see she
is still the heroine, let my wanderings lay the scenes
where they will.

“I have no doubt but you will say, on the reception
of this letter, `Well! I thought Randolph

would run his nose into all the out-of-the-way
places in Carolina.' I plead guilty! I have a sort
of natural instinct for unbeaten paths, and the one
by which I arrived at Belville shall be given in my
next; until then, fare thee well.