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tive of the Charleston district was a well-educated negro, from the North. The Georgetown district was represented by an extremely polished black gentleman, who was formerly a very popular barber in Charleston, and is not at all a bad sort of son. The Beaufort district has long been represented by General S, who, while a slave, was employed as a pilot, and in the war distinguished himself by carrying off a Confederate vessel and delivering her to the Federals. He has now great influence among his own race, and is not unpopular among white people. He behaved well towards his former master's family and assisted them. In spite, however, of this favourable account, there is a general accusation that under the Carpet-bag Government all were corrupt, both black and white. Honesty was a thing unknown.

I observe that in a great number of the elections for county and local offices in these Southern States the opportunity is taken to provide for the veterans of the Confederate army who are not eligible for pensions. I saw several notices of elections of one-legged and one-armed ex-soldiers to county offices. These offices are profitable-if not paid by salaries they have considerable fees.

Looking over the accounts of the elections in other States, of which the papers are full, I observe that Governor Nicholls, of Louisiana, is said to be conciliatory and to have followed the same policy as Wade Hampton; but there the negroes fought more successfully than here; and in some cases the Democrats carried the seats in Congress only by adopting a fusion ticket and giving the blacks a good many county offices. There seems to be more bulldozing' in Mississippi than anywhere else. That is called 'the Mississippi plan.' South Carolina seems to be the only State which carried everything solidly Democratic. In all the others there has been more or less success of Republican or independent candidates.

I have heard a good deal here about the late exodus to Liberia, which was such a wretched failure. The upper class of blacks do not go themselves, but preach to their countrymen the advantage of going. There seems no doubt that the unhappy people who went found themselves much worse off than if they had stayed at home. There seems to be a much more promising field for emigration from Mississippi and the States in that part or the country to the back parts of Kansas and the Territories where land is to be got free. The negroes

seem to have been less domiciled in Mississippi than they were here, and since emancipation they have been more migratory. They are now entitled to homesteads on the same terms as white men; and if they can manage the means of cultivating virgin lands in the Far West they will do very well.

I have been looking over some of the legislation of South Carolina. It does not seem very different from that which I have noticed in other States. There is, as usual, a good deal of legislation on small subjects, such as an Act to legitimise a child, and another to make an adopted child an heir. There is a regular poor law, providing for a poor-house and outdoor relief. Nothing is said of able-bodied paupers. The relief seems to be confined to really necessitous cases. The road law gives the option of contributing either labour or money for the making of roads. There is a provision for inspecting and classifying flour and some other things, the same as I noticed at Chicago, and a limit to the rates for grinding flour. There is a 7 per cent. usury law; but I understand that in practice it is almost entirely evaded. Few people can get money here at 7 per cent., the credit is so bad. There is a law of limited partnership for sleeping partners, but companies seem to be only incorporated by special Acts, of which there are many. There is not now in South Carolina any law prohibiting the intermarriage of white and black people.

I have had a very pleasant visit to Charleston, and have received much kindness here. Mr. A, whom I have already mentioned, and who has throughout given me much assistance, has kindly arranged for me a visit to the country. I am to go to a son-in-law of his, who has an estate in the rice country.

Travelling in this part of the country is sometimes very difficult, if one has to stop at places on the way, for there are seldom more than two trains, sometimes only one, in the course of the twenty-four hours, and they seem generally to manage to arrive and depart in the very middle of the night. However, by getting up very early I made a start from Charleston. The country through which we ran seemed mostly forest, with occasional cultivation. At Greenpond I was met by Mr. W who drove me through the forest to his rice plantation, some miles off. After breakfast we had a long and pleasant ride over his land. He has a very large extent of fine rice-fields. His farm is nearly a thousand acres,

and he has several neighbours who have also large plantations; so altogether there is in this part of the country a rice district of which the cultivation is well maintained. Mr. W has a very elaborate system of tidal canals for the irrigation of the rice. The salt water is banked out, and the fresh water is regulated by sluices, the land being irrigated when the tides rise to the necessary level. The rice seems large and fine, and the yield is said to be large-sometimes as much as eighty bushels of unhusked rice to the acre; but the expense of the irrigation and other arrangements is considerable. Still they would do well if it were not for the competition of Indian rice which has been invading the American market. The planters keep the rice-lands in their own hands, and, beyond a little fodder for their mules, &c., grow little else. The higher grounds they give over to the negroes, who cultivate corn and vegetables for themselves, and a little cotton. In lieu of rent for the land they give two days' labour in the week, and generally work two days more, at fifty cents a day. In most cases they are put upon task-work. In this part of the country the women seem to work as 'freely as the men, both in the fields and in the thrashing-mills. The negroes keep a large number of cattle and pigs; but Mr. W says that says that is a serious difficulty, as the animals increase too much, and the proprietor is expected to find grazing for them. The fence law is a great subject of dispute in this part of the country. The question is, whether the owner of the land is bound to fence cattle out, or the owner of the cattle to keep them in. Each county decides for itself, but it seems to be a burning question. Mr. W- speaks extremely well of his negroes, and they appear to be on very good terms with him. They have quite a respectful manner, and in this out-of-the-way place the little negro girls curtsey like English Sunday-school children. There has only been one strike in this neighbourhood, but that was a bad one. The negroes struck for more pay for harvest-work, and very violently drove away others who wished to work. Mr. W was away, and his manager could get no assistance from the Radical Government; so he was obliged to yield for that time, but he has since come back to the old rates, and all has gone smoothly; there has been no more trouble. During the war the people of this part of the country suffered very much from the destruction of property by raiding parties from the Federal fleet; and after the war, when the Federal people

established the Radical rule, their feelings were apt to be hurt by their being arrested by black soldiers, and so on. However, they do not seem to have suffered very severely; and now, if money were only more plentiful, and there was a better demand for their produce, they would do very well.

Talking of these arrests, I may mention that arrest means very little in the United States. Under their old-fashioned English laws every process, criminal or civil, is commenced by arrest, followed by bail. De Tocqueville instances this as showing how an English law favourable to the rich, who can give bail, has prevailed even under Democratic institutions.

Mr. W has laid out a good deal of land in lots, which he offers to the negroes for sale. Some of them have bought, but most have not the means. He, like others, speaks of their immorality and want of fidelity to their spouses. They are religious in their way, but have their own peculiar ideas of religion, and do not appreciate some of our theology.

In this lower country, so much peopled by blacks, who can stand the climate, the whites are generally obliged to go away from the plantations, in the hot weather to healthier places. In slave days the white overseers were a bad set, and little educated. They had no accounts, there being no money to pay, and they were mere slave-drivers. Now Mr. Whas two

or three educated young men under him, and they take it turn and turn about to stay during the unhealthy season. He has also some property up-country, and he says that the blacks there are more intelligent, speak better English, and often make good farmers. On the other hand, the low country people are more simple and more easily managed; and it is a great advantage that the women work here.

There is plenty of game about here. Mr. W gave me venison of his own shooting. These Southerners habitually eat sweet potatoes, and hominy made of Indian corn. One sees very little of potatoes proper, called Irish potatoes.'

I enjoyed this visit very much; and the impression left upon my mind is, that the relations between a planter and the negroes upon his property may well be pleasant and satisfactory. A little more money and profit only is needed to make things go along very satisfactorily.

The following day Mr. W- drove me to Kusaw, en route for Beaufort. All this is quite a negro country. There never were many whites; and after leaving the rice planta

tions we find that most of the planters have disappeared since the war and the decadence of long cotton. We saw nothing but scattered negro huts. The negroes seem now never to live in villages; they have left the old slave lines and set up isolated houses on their farms. At the meeting of cross-roads you may find small stores, generally kept by Germans.

At Kusaw we went over the Phosphate Company's works. They seem to be very active and energetic. The material (composed of animal fossils) is dredged or dived for in the river, and is then cleaned and crushed and prepared for export. All the labour is black. I talked to Mr. C the son

of the former proprietor of all the land about here, and now a manager of the Phosphate Company. He speaks very highly indeed of the free negro labour, and I myself saw the negroes working as well as any men in the world can work. Evidently these people are not wanting in physical capacity, and make excellent hired labourers. Mr. Csays he has tried Irishmen, but he found them no better workmen than negroes, and very troublesome, so he got rid of them. The blacks, however, only do the manual labor; they are not what is called 'responsible,' and not to be trusted with machines or anything of that kind. There are, however, some good black carpenters and blacksmiths. Most of these black labourers have land of their own over on the Islands. After doing their ploughing and sowing they leave the women and children to hoe and weed and come over here. They get a dollar a day, and some of the better men a dollar and a quarter, but they seldom save. After they have made a little money they like to go and spend it. They drink, but not to such a degree as to interfere with their work. They go home and get drunk on Saturday night, go to church on Sunday, and generally are back at their work on Monday. He has had only one small strike. The men stayed away on the Saturday, but came back on the Monday. He carried on his work all through the Radical rule, but has had no trouble on account of political difficulties. He could always get on with the black labourers. All that the negroes require is to get their wages regularly paid in cash. On the day of the election they would not stay at work. They all went off to vote at Greenpond, which was the regular polling-place; but when they got there, fifteen miles off, they were told that there would be no poll.