Chapter 6

_Dec. 8th._--The President's message on the subject of the indemnity due from France to America was received in this city, where it appears to produce a startling effect: I should say, ten voices out of every eleven I have heard speak on the subject, deprecate any idea of a rupture with France. The merchants and travellers of that nation, of whom there are numbers here, appear somewhat indignant at the tone assumed by the chief of the government, which they affirm to be insulting to the nation, with which a Frenchman, in all places, whatever may be his political sentiments or present condition, never fails completely to identify himself. This respect for France is a gallant sentiment of theirs, and shows particularly well when they are far from the country whose honour they assert, standing a few amongst many.

_Dec. 9th._--I engaged a pilot-boat to run down the coast south as far as Savannah, which, although some hundred miles out of my line, I had set down as a place to be seen. My Charleston managers, two worthy industrious souls, hearing of my route, begged of me to permit them to take the pilot-boat off my hands for the transport of their company, on condition that I would halt in Savannah for three or four representations. To this I was readily moved by their strongly-expressed desire, and gave up my little schooner, becoming a passenger where I had looked to reign sole proprietor; the whole thing was arranged in the course of the day. The wind continued steadily about north-east and by the evening, the freight, composed of the paraphernalia, was shipped and stowed; the company assembled; and, after sundry holdings-on for some music-book forgotten in the orchestra, or some actor left at his lodging, we in about one hour after the time fixed by the pilot for the latest minute of tide, slipped the hawsers of the smart little Washington, and fell off into the stream of ebb.

When we got on the bar, it was almost low-water: the schooner drew eight feet abaft, and we had just nine feet soundings over the bank; we cleared all, however, after a minute of some anxiety, owing to there being a heavy northerly swell setting in, which appeared each moment to increase.

Once over the bar, we got nearly before the wind with a staggering breeze, and went along right merrily. Our representative of all the Juliets and Julias had a pretty voice; the Kemble of the company, a fine, tall, good-tempered fellow, sang duets and trios well enough for a tragedian; a chorus was easily mustered out of the remaining members of the corps who continued fit for duty; and we roused old Ocean with "When the wind blows," until he became too obstreperous in his emulation, and fairly drowned our melody.

The wind did blow, at last, in such a sort as to disperse our chorus; the schooner was about forty tons measurement, sharp as a wedge below, and not over three feet and a half between decks; the cabin was about the same square measurement, with two little berths, into which we stowed the ladies, the managers and the principals occupying the remaining space; in the hold, over the ballast, the rest of the company stowed themselves away.

To penetrate either of these close quarters I found utterly impossible: all were ill save the stout tragedian; comedy, farce, and opera, ballet and band, the manager, his subjects and his properties, were alike disorganized and overwhelmed. I resolved therefore on keeping the deck as I best could, by the help of a stout dread-nought, a pocket-full of cigars, and a mild infusion of old cognac, provided for me by a considerate friend.

Within two hours, the wind had gradually increased until it blew a gale: the foresail was taken in, the mainsail close-reefed, and the saucy boat flew along before it like a gull, the following seas just kissing the edge of her taffrail, as she slipped away before them.

Our pilot, the owner of the craft, was a careful and steady old Bristol-man, but somewhat nervous and timid: his regular crew consisted of two fine white boys, apprentices, and a couple of stout slaves: we had, in addition, taken on board an old apprentice of the pilot's, who as we started had volunteered to accompany his once master. This was a droll subject, a regular long-sided dare-devil of a South Carolinian: he was full three sheets in the wind when we sailed, and managed to keep the steam up by the contributions liberally proffered during our short season of festivity.

As the gale freshened this fellow showed out; when a sail was to be handed or a reef taken in, he was a crew in himself; one of the coolest and smartest fellows I ever met, but somewhat profane in his humour, and rather hard upon the nerves of the chief: few of his sayings will bear repetition; but the exaggeration of his figures of speech, the wild fantastic spirit of reckless humour by which he was governed, I shall not lose sight of; during the night I supplied him with cigars, and with his oddness wore away the time. One little bit of dialogue will describe this wild man of the water better than any words of mine. We had already taken in two reefs when the pilot gave directions "Stand by to lower away the peak."

"Ay, ay," sang out his _aide_, as he sprang nimbly to the foot of the mast; adding, "but what the devil are you going to do now, stranger?"

"Bear a hand!" cried the senior, "take in another reef!"

"What! you're afear'd little Wash-the-water goes through it too fast, are you, old man?"

"To be sure: I don't want to get off the bar before daylight."

"Don't you? Why then you must tie her fast to a stump, my friend; for if you let her go ahead, she'll make the light long afore you can see your way across the bar, between the white water."

"The wind between now and then may slack a little," urged the senior, looking back over the seas now rolling very high, as though he wished the time was come.

"Well, that's a cur'ous kind o' guess you've made, any way, old stranger," laughed his tormentor, clapping his foot against the companion, and taking the pull of a giant on the reef-tackle as he spoke. "If you ever know'd where to look for the fag-ind of a north-easter at this time o' year, it's more nor you ever larn'd me to do, and that I do say wasn't doin' your honest duty by me. I'd lay a pistreen this breeze would last the Washy, to the south'ard o' the Tortugas, and well you know it too."

"Well, suppose it would, I can't help it--what would _you do_, Matthew? It blows like thunder: I can't tell how fast she's going,--I don't want to over-shoot the light, and then have to thrash back through such a smother of a sea."

"Well, now I see what you're at; and it's all right, I guess," observed Matthew, with affected deference of tone. "I know the varmint's pretty slick, but I never should ha' thought of her crawling over ninety miles in four hours:"--it was at this time about midnight. "You ask me what I'd do; why now I'll tell you, if I was you, I'd say, Mat. here take the stick,--it wouldn't be the first time,--and I'd crawl out o' that hole and shake myself; and then I'd ask this gentleman for a cigar and a mouthful of liquor, and then I'd clap a bit o' the square mainsail on her, and lift the sloppy little slut out of it a yard or two; that's what I'd do: and now what have you to say agin it, he?"

"You have a square mainsail in the craft, I suppose?" here inquired I, by way of taking Matthew off the old man a little.

"Why, I don't know; maybe the old man has had it cut up to make trousers: but there used to be one when I was in her, and such an omni-po-tent tearer,--it had a hoist to heaven, it sheeted home to h--ll, outspread the eternal universe, and would ha' dragged a frigate seventeen knots through a sea o' treacle, by the living jingo! Why, I've seen it afore now raise the leetle hooker clean out o' water, and tail off, with her hanging on, like the boat to a balloon."

With the least possible sail we continued to slip along at a slapping rate, and long before daylight made the light at the entrance of the Savannah river: had our pilots known this bar as familiarly as they did that of Charleston, we might have run in; as it was, we hove-to in a very heavy sea for upwards of two hours, and the Washington behaved under these circumstances to admiration; she lay-to like a sea-bird, now floating buoyant upon the foamy crest of the great seas, then sliding down their sides into the trough where they would threaten to enclose her.

The senior pilot never quitted the little square hole sunk over the run, wherein he stood to steer, although sometimes, when she rolled to windward and made a dip, the green seas would make a rush over her quarter, and sweep the deck a foot deep; luckily there was nothing to hold the water; but for fourteen hours the old man's hand never left the tiller.

Soon after daylight we once more filled-away, and brought the little jewel of a boat snugly by-the-wind, hauling in for the bar, although not without some ugly doubts; for Matthew and the old man could not agree, and the sea all along in-shore looked plaguy white and ugly as we neared the low land: however, in we flew, having breakers on either hand, over near to be pleasant, and in a few minutes, entering the river close by the wreck of a large brig, were in comparative security.

Our counsel was even now divided about the true channel, until one of the boys, who had made a couple of trading trips up to the city, took it upon his own responsibility to read the buoys and landmarks as far as he knew them. Keeping the lead constantly going, we quietly jogged up the river with a stiff breeze; the country bleak and bare, a region of half-redeemed swamp and lagoon: being in smooth water, our party all turned out; stores were rummaged, and a good breakfast provided upon the deck of the boat so recently swept by the green seas: the past was forgotten, the sun shone out, and again the glee and merry song floated through the air of morning.

Matthew had by this become quite sober, and took his spell at the helm; admitting, evidently to his senior's satisfaction, that it certainly was "a real nullifier of a breeze, enough to blow the leetle Washy into pieces."

About six miles off the city, we got at last set fast; when, growing impatient of such close confinement, I requested the captain to set me on shore. The thing was voted impracticable; but I decided to make the attempt, and was accordingly rowed to the right bank of the river, when I took to the swamp, hungry and savage enough to have eaten any alligator fool-hardy enough to assail me. After a hard scramble, together with two or three plunges waist deep, I escaped suffocation, and gained one of the banks dividing and draining these vast fields: following this, unimpeded by other difficulty, I reached, after half an hour's march, the high land; and, attracted by the sounds of merriment, mounted the first bluff, where I found a large barn occupied by a couple of score laughing, noisy negroes employed thrashing out the crop: from one of these I received directions how to reach Savannah, whose spires were clearly to be seen.

At the end of about five miles, I found myself an exceeding dirty gentleman entering upon the long well-shaded mall which protects the river-front of the city. I was, by this, tolerably tired of my walk; for the light sandy soil was ankle-deep, and the sun broiling. After passing one block or range of counting-houses, I gladly read on the first of the next range the name of a friend from whom I felt certain of welcome.

A capital dinner, and a glass of the finest Madeira in the States, made light of past labour; and during the evening I was glad to learn that the Washington had arrived with her freight all safe and well. My friend Matthew now informed me he had given the boys in the boat directions to wait for me half an hour, which they did, fully anticipating that I should never clear the cane-brake and swamp lying between the river and the fields; and, in sooth, it required some perseverance.

SAVANNAH.

With this little city I was exceedingly pleased. The weather was remarkably mild, the sun shone brightly; and I took much pleasure in wandering along the quiet sandy streets, flanked by double rows of the Pride-of-India tree.

Except the range of buildings immediately facing the river, the dwellings are nearly all detached; each surrounded by its own offices, many by a garden filled with orange and other evergreens: they are mostly built on the true Southern plan, of two stories, with a broad gallery running entirely round; being of wood and painted white, with bright green _jalousies_, they give to the streets a gay and lively look, which is exceedingly cheerful and attractive.

Here are, however, several very ambitious-looking dwellings, built by a European architect for wealthy merchants during the palmy days of trade; these are of stone or some composition, showily designed, and very large, but ill-adapted, I should imagine, for summer residences in this climate. They are mostly deserted, or let for boarding-houses, and have that decayed look which is so melancholy, and which nowhere arrives sooner than in this climate.

Here is a very well designed and well-built theatre, but, like the houses I speak of, a good deal the worse in consequence of neglect: the materials and design were, I understood, all imported from England, at a prodigious cost when the smallness of the population is considered; but it is now, I fancy, rarely occupied.

On this occasion I had the pleasure of seeing it well filled for the four nights I acted, and had to regret my time was of necessity so limited, since my audience was as merry and intelligent as heart could wish.

My days were passed at the hospitable house of Mr. G----n, where I encountered many pleasant people; and was attended by the sleekest, merriest set of negroes imaginable, most of whom had grown old or were born in their master's house: his own good-humoured, active benevolence of spirit was reflected in the faces of his servants.

The trade of this port was at one period great; it offered at this time a cheerful prospect of well-lined quays, and I was glad to learn that the prospects of the community were again brightening; indeed, the high prices of produce this year are infusing additional life and spirit into the whole Southern community: the speculators in cotton are ardent, and the prices continually on the rise.

On the 15th, left this in a steamer called the George Washington, to proceed up the Savannah river to Augusta; a distance, by this route, of rather more than two hundred miles.

I got on board late at night, went immediately to bed, and, on coming on deck the next morning, found myself in the bosom of a dense forest, the trees growing as it were out of the very water, and all of them, with the exception of the gloomy cypress, still thickly covered with their gay autumnal foliage: numbers of the willow tribe were as fresh and green as in early springtime, at which season a sail up this river must be overpoweringly fragrant: even now, although offering little change of character for two hundred miles, it was not wholly devoid of interest; for it is constantly upon the wind, the longest reach limiting your view to a few hundred yards.

Our boat was small and very deeply laden, making hardly four miles an hour; but she had few passengers, was capitally provisioned, and possessed an indefatigable and most obliging commander, so that the tedium consequent upon such a progress had at least no nuisance superadded to make it more irksome.

Every few miles we brought up to take in a fresh supply of fuel; we were thus enabled constantly to stretch our legs in the forest; but throughout the whole distance so exactly similar were most of these landings that a light-hearted countryman of mine, whose company I was lucky enough to have, constantly used, on stopping, to say,

"I'd like to be sure we haven't gone back; and that this place is itself, and not the other."

We went ahead however, though but slowly; and after passing four nights and three days upon this miniature Mississippi,--for the characteristics are exactly similar, even to the owls and alligators,--we were safely landed at Augusta; perhaps, the most enterprising and most thriving community in Georgia.

By Mr. G----n's recommendation, I proceeded to the Planters' Hotel, kept by Judge Hales, a kind man and a worthy magistrate; and found that, in anticipation of my arrival, he had already secured me the earliest chance for a vacancy on the way-bill for Millidgeville.

Augusta consists of one very wide street, a couple of miles in length, and composed of a mixed description of building; many of the houses and stores being of wood, and exceedingly humble in appearance; others are built of brick, large, handsome, and well fitted up, in emulation of those in the northern cities; all, however, exhibited evidences of active and successful trade.

This was the high season for the arrival here of cotton from the plantations in the interior, whence it is forwarded by the railroad to Charleston, or down the river to Savannah. The streets were crowded with planters, and the suburbs with waggons either empty or laden; and these, together with their hardy drivers and assistants, who camp in all weathers amidst the forest, make a picture at once interesting in a commercial point of view, and in itself singularly striking.

As in the smallest American towns, I here met with an excellent bathing establishment; and found a hot bath, after being mewed up three days on board the steamer, a most joyous luxury.

The Planters' Hotel afforded an excellent dinner and a good bottle of sherry; and in the evening the mail-stage arrived, when to my great joy I was informed my place was safe, although there were many expectants necessarily left to abide the next stage. At this season of the year the current setting South is enormous: every stage from the North is laden; and, once thrown out, a man may have many days to wait before he gets a chance of proceeding.

_19th._--At six P.M. quitted Augusta, with nine other victims, in a stage otherwise laden with mail-bags and luggage. About an hour before we started rain set in, and the weather-wise prognosticate that the fine season is now at an end for this year. I certainly have no right to complain, but could desire the rain might yet be postponed for a few days. The roads were from the start as bad as could be, and the heavy fall was not likely to improve that part of our route which was to come.

We passed in the course of this night several camps of emigrants, on the move from the Carolinas and Georgia: they managed to keep their fires blazing in the forest, in spite of the falling shower; occasionally might be seen a huge pine crackling and burning throughout as it lay on the ground, whilst, ranged to windward, stood the waggons and huts of the campers.

The rich alluvial lands of Alabama, recently belonging to the Indian reserves, and now on sale by government or through land-speculators, are attracting thousands of families from the washed-out and impoverished soil of the older Southern States; and, during this and the preceding season, the numbers moving along this and the other great lines towards the South-west are incredible, when viewed in reference to the amount of population given to the countries whence the emigrants are chiefly derived.

At a season like the present, the sufferings of these families must be considerable. The caravan usually consists of from two to four tilt waggons, long and low-roofed; each laden, first with the needful provisions and such household gear as may be considered indispensable; next, over this portion of the freight is stowed the family of the emigrant planter, his wife, and commonly a round squad of white-haired children, with their attendants: on the march these vehicles are preceded and surrounded by the field slaves, varying in numbers from half a dozen to fifty or sixty, according to the wealth of the proprietor; a couple of mounted travellers commonly complete the cavalcade, which moves over these roads at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles a day. At night, or when the team gives out, or the waggons are fairly stalled, or set fast, the party prepares to camp: the men cut down a tree for fire, and with its branches make such rude huts as their time and ingenuity may best contrive; the females prepare the evening meal, and perform such domestic duties as may be needful. On these occasions I have frequently passed amongst or halted by them, and have been surprised at the air of content and good-humour commonly prevailing in their rude camps, despite of the apparent discomfort and privation to which they were exposed.

Many of the negroes, however, I am informed, are exceedingly averse to a removal from the sites on which they have been bred, and where their connexions are formed: in these cases, planters who are uncertain of the personal attachment of their slaves, generally dispose of them amongst their neighbours: when they are really attached to their owners, however, there is little difficulty experienced in their removal.

In most of the parties I encountered, I should say, judging fairly by their deportment and loud merriment, despite the great fatigue and constant exposure, the affair was taken in a sort of holiday spirit, no way warranted by their half-naked miserable appearance.

Thus they crawl onward from day to day, for weeks or months, until they have reached that portion of the forest, or cane-brake, fixed upon for the plantation: and here the enterprising settler has to encounter new toil, and a long series of privations, cheered however by the hope, seldom a delusive one, of ultimate wealth accumulating to the survivors of the party; for, unhappily, health is the sacrifice, I believe, generally paid for the possession of the fat soil lying along these sluggish rivers.

Along the whole line of our route from Augusta in Georgia to the banks of the Alabama, we found the road covered by parties of this description; and, according to the opinions of well-informed residents, with whom I conversed on this subject, not fewer than ten thousand families have quitted the two Carolinas and Georgia during the course of this season.

Amongst these families journeying to the land of promise, inspired by hopes for the future and cheered by the presence of those on whom they relied for their fulfilment, we now and then met little parties of broken-men retracing their sad steps toward the homes they had consigned to strangers: of these, one family, which we encountered camping near the banks of a swollen river whose bridge we were compelled to repair before we could cross it, excited deep commiseration. The establishment consisted of a single covered waggon, a small open cart, and half-a-dozen slaves, principally women: its conductress was a widow, not exceeding thirty years of age, having by her side five children, one an infant.

Within a year after the location of his family on the banks of the Black-warrior, her husband, we learned, had died; and the widow was thus far on her way back to Virginia, accompanied by such of her household as remained to her; this was the 22nd of December, and there yet remained five hundred miles of her journey unperformed. I know my heart was sore as I contemplated her forlorn condition, and thought upon the toilsome way yet dividing her from the changed home she sought.