have deprived him of his seat he says he might lodge a peti tion in Congress; but, if he does, he must bear all the expense of the petition and the witnesses to support his case, and then he would not have a chance as long as the Democrats have the majority in Congress. He does not seem to be supported by any party organisation in or out of the State. He takes a favourable view of the condition of the coloured people, and is against Liberia. Though they have been so unfairly treated in the elections, they are the best-natured people in the world, and bear no malice. He complains very much of the want of justice. There were eight hundred political murders committed by the Ku-klux and other Democratic organisations, but not a single white has been hanged nor a single one sent to the Penitentiary by the States Courts-only a few imprisoned by the United States Courts. He attributes the difficulty to the rule requiring unanimity of the jury, which still prevails. The whites, he says, have sworn to their clubs never to convict. As long as there is one of them on the jury they never will. The United States Chief Justice tried one case which was as clear as daylight, and he expressed himself as dreadfully disgusted that the jury would not convict. General S- admits that there was very much abuse during the eight years of Radical rule in this State. They were led astray by bad men. He declares, however, that the black members now sent to the State Assembly from this county are good men; two of them are well educated, and the third, though illiterate, is a good Christian farmer. I like what I have seen of General S

Next day I spent in an expedition to Ladies' and St. Helen's Sea Islands, to see the negroes settled there as farmers, and was very much pleased with what I saw. I went with General S- -, the Congressman, who kindly chaperoned me, and put me in the way of seeing the people. These islands are so far islands that they are surrounded by waterchannels. They have good soil and plenty of fresh water. Most of the land was sold for taxes and bought by the blacks, and a good deal of what remained as private property of the white planters is being gradually disposed of to these same blacks, as the owners here are very happy to sell it to them

so that now they own the greater part of the islands, and rent what remains, with little exception. They have thus no planter rivals. The whites now on these islands are Northern

people, who fulfil functions which the blacks cannot yet undertake. Some white merchants grow and buy their cotton, and others keep the stores necessary to supply their necessities. The better class of schools are maintained by Northern and English ladies. General S seems to be on very popular and pleasant terms with the people. They all salute him heartily, and ask him all kinds of questions, and he has always something to say to them. On one of the islands this was a kind of fête day-the Baptist Preacher's Convention was being held, and the people attended in large numbers, the women especially, in their best clothes. The whole scene was very pleasing and cheerful. In the Convention everything was entirely managed by the black people themselves, as much as if no whites existed on this continent. The preachers observed much parliamentary form, but the Court was apparently an open one--the black ladies sat round and assisted. These country people seem to have many carts and nice ponies. Their houses are tolerable, and altogether they seem to be comfortable. The farms seem fairly cultivated, especially the cotton crop. The houses have all been built. since the war, and some of them show signs of decided improvement.

I visited Miss T, the head of the Northern schools which I have mentioned. She is a lady of independent property, who has devoted herself to this work. I had a good deal of talk with her. She gives a very favourable account of the negroes, and says they are generally out of debt. The system of advances which at one time prevailed has now ceased, and all their transactions are for cash. They even pay in advance for any land that they rent. She lets out some land herself, and finds that they pay punctually in this way. Many of them to her knowledge are saving money and buying farms for their sons. They are especially anxious to set up their sons in this way. She and others with whom I have talked in these islands decidedly differ from the accounts I had heard elsewhere, and say that the blacks as a class are kind to one another and generally ready to assist relations and friends in distress; but it is admitted that they are still very loose in their connubial relations, that being a relic of slave times, when marriage was not regarded. Miss T says that the blacks are temperate. Their children rather look down upon those among them who have any white blood, and

point at them as 'Secesh; that is, secession people. The people sell their cotton, and eat sweet potatoes, corn, and bacon, importing some of these things. I had a good deal of conversation with Mr. N, the principal cotton merchant in the Islands, and with one or two storekeepers. Their accounts very much tally with that which I have already stated. Merchants and ginners look a good deal after the quality of the seed, and distribute it among the small farmers, in order that the plant may not deteriorate. The cotton culture gives the people employment for most of the year, and after the crop is gathered the women have much employment in the ginning factories. The long cotton requires much more handling than does the short. The people are very regular and good as regards their dealings at the stores. Besides the superior education given by the Northern ladies, State schools are kept up, but for want of funds are not very efficient, and sometimes are scarcely open more than two months in the year; but the people do a good deal for themselves in this way, and are getting on very well.

I was amused to see the way in which the women fell upon General S- on the question of the title to their lands, in which a flaw had been alleged, which has much alarmed them. They demanded assurances that they should not be turned out. As to politics the blacks seem very ignorant, but very hearty upon the Republican side. People here deny that there is much drinking among them; in fact, until recently there was no whisky-shop at all upon the Islands. The black preachers seem to be a sort of Christian Brahmins among them, but still they are very democratic in their arrangements. The people like to have a large voice in all their religious affairs. These preachers, as I saw them gathered together to-day, are rather a funny-looking set, with their black faces and white ties, but they seem hearty and pleasant. They have often other trades besides preaching. General S- pointed out one of them who is a first-rate wheelwright. Altogether I have much enjoyed seeing this example of a negro Ryotwar' community, who, having had a fair chance, are really doing very well. Originally these people were among the lowest, most ignorant, and most enslaved class of negroes; and they have gone through political convulsions and excitements which might well have unsettled any people; yet they are now quite settled down.

I still like General S on further acquaintance. He is not very highly educated or brilliant, but is a thoroughly representative man among these people, and seems to have their unlimited confidence. He complains that the present Government has taken away the arms from the National Guards, of which there were two regiments in these Islands. They were disbanded, and only the volunteer militia companies remain. Of these only in Charleston is there a black company. Colonel E-, however, does not admit this statement. He says the National Guards were fairly treated, and every chance was given to them to become efficient. They were only disbanded because they were hopelessly inefficient. The Government gives arms to the volunteer companies, but they must pass muster as efficient and properly clothed. General S, on the other hand, says that the white volunteer rifle companies are really political clubs, and that they are constantly brought together by their own will for political purposes. In one place where he had a political meeting he and his friends were fired at; and this statement seems to be confirmed by a white man of the other party whom we met at the hotel on our return. He talked with much gusto of the way in which the buckshot had crashed through a heap of apples upon that occasion. The blacks have also their clubs, but they are not of a military or political character: they are more of the nature of friendly societies for the support of the sick, and burial clubs. They all attach great importance to burial. These clubs are very much under the management of the preachers. General Sshowed me one reverend gentleman who, he said, during the election canvass was hauled up with a rope about his neck, and barely escaped with his life.

I paid several visits before leaving the place. Mr. G——, a Northern man, who deals in land, says that the negroes are certainly buying land; he has had many transactions with them himself. Dr. S- and Colonel E excuse the present extreme to which the Democratic party have carried their triumph in the elections by showing how willing they were to compromise; but, they say, the Radicals would not compromise.

There are decided mosquitoes in these parts; not very serious at this season, but so much so as to make mosquitocurtains necessary. After a successful visit to Beaufort I

started in the evening for Georgia, and, after passing through some lagoons and heavy wood, travelled far inland through the night, leaving the coast districts behind me.

GEORGIA.

At daylight in the morning we were passing through a flattish country, with much cotton cultivation, and soon afterwards we reached Augusta, in Georgia. Augusta is handsomely laid out, with broad boulevards and houses surrounded by beautiful shrubs and trees. It must be charming in fine weather; but to-day, for the first time during my tour, it is raining heavily, and I had an opportunity of appreciating the mud of an unpaved American town. I am told, too, that before the rain the place was very dusty. This is a great cotton mart-the centre of a large cotton-growing country. The only complaint is, that the farmers grow cotton too exclusively, and do not rotate enough, or grow food enough for themselves, but have to buy largely from the West. Augusta is on the River Savannah, which gives an immense waterpower, the fall being rapid, the stream strong, and the supply constant and unfailing. Advantage has been taken of this to establish great cotton-mills, which are doing a large and prosperous business. The stock of the mills is at a premium. At a very large mill which I visited they make only coarse unbleached goods, using only very low numbers of yarn; but at another mill close by they make finer goods, the yarns used being, I was told, about No. 22. It is said that, while in other parts of the States millowners are losing, these Southern mills make large profits. Three-fourths of the goods go to New York, as the commercial emporium. The labour employed is entirely white, and is upon what they call the 'family system,' which is much the same as the English system, as opposed to the New England practice, where the mill-girls live in great barracks. Here they have workmen's houses near the mills, much like what one sees in England. The manager says that the people work quite as well as Northern mill-workers of whom he has had experience. There are good schools in the town, and most of the people are now fairly educated; but there is no compulsory school law, direct or indirect, and no restriction as regards the work of children. The women earn