VALETUDINARIAN. JANUARY 8. Give me terra firma!' said I, as I awoke this morning, after a troubled night's rest, and surveyed my comfortable apartments at the Exchange Coffee-House, in Norfolk, Ol' Vi'ginny,' 'and save me from the romance of the sea, its poetry, and so forth!' In truth, dear—, could I describe to you our voyage down the Chesapeake, I am sure you would share my watery aversion. We experienced a severe gale nearly the whole distance. Oh, such lurches of the steamer-such piteous screeches, and affecting prayers, from the ladies such groans from the men, and worse noises from the actively sea sick! The waves ran mountain-high-the children bawled - the tables and chairs became locomotive, and were no longer standing members' of the cabin - and, to crown all, the engine gave way, and we were compelled to make a precarious harbor in the night. In the morning, as the storm had somewhat abated, we again set forth, only to encounter new disasters, together with the inconvenience of 'short allowance.' Right glad was I, when, after having been so long 'exceedingly tossed of the tempest,' we passed the Rip-Raps, into comparatively smooth water. 6 JANUARY 23. Through favor,' I am at last in Charleston- the first important stage in my journey-having escaped numerous perils, for which I desire to be thankful. Before leaving Norfolk, the passengers passed a vote of thanks to the captain of the steam-boat in which we had such trying times on the Chesapeake, wherein, first and foremost, we praised his sumptuous table!' and closed with the able, prudent, and seaman-like manner in which he had conducted us through many dangers.' We left Norfolk at six o'clock on the following morning, crossing its fine harbor, to Portsmouth. Here we took the Roanoke rail-road, twenty-four miles across the Dismal Swamp- a section of country whose title does not belie its character. Here I first saw the cypress tree; (I have seen enough since, to satisfy me for a life-time.) We left the cars in the midst of a cypress swamp, and took stage, eight miles, to Blackwater River, which, after uniting with several others, forms the Chowan, and disembogues into Albemarle Sound, at Edenton, North Carolina. On arriving at the banks of the Blackwater, we were not a little gratified to find, moored to the trees, the little snug, convenient steam-boat Fox, which used formerly to run from NewYork to Flushing, and was a favorite of Grant Thorburn's, who has presented it with a print of A Fox on the Lookout.' A trio of us had the whole boat to ourselves, there being no other passengers. Indeed, this was the case for hundreds of miles in succession. At Edenton, after transferring our baggage to a miserable, dirty steamer, called The Bravo,' we made an exploring excursion into the town, which contains two thousand five hundred inhabitants, ships five thousand bales of cotton annually, and has a charter for a rail-road to Norfolk; but with a suicidal perverseness the citizens will not build it, for the very politic reason, that though it could not but benefit Edenton much, it would also help Norfolk! เ At four o'clock next morning, we started for a place called Jamestown, on the Roanoke River -a town, by the way, which exists entirely in the imagination of its namers for it consists solely of one old hovel, and that without a sign of inhabitant. After being tossed about like an egg-shell, in a severe gale, on the Albemarle Sound, we finally entered the mouth of the Roanoke River. We landed at (so called) Jamestown, where we took stage, and passing through a barren country, with scarcely a habitation, and covered with pitch pines, from which turpentine, the only production of this region, is extracted, we came to Washington, where we supped, and left for Newbern, which we reached at one, and left at eight, in the morning, (with an addition to our party of two India-rubber yankees from Boston,) for Wilmington, distant an hundred miles, where we arrived the next day at noon, having travelled all night through a miserable country, covered with cypress swamps and pine barrens, occasionally diversified with a tolerable corn and cotton plantation. It was on this route, that I first saw a cotton field. Most of the cotton had been picked; but there were still scattering bolls, to reward my curiosity. I should be behind the 'intelligence' or practice of the age, did I not pause here to record a few of my first impressions' of the country through which I have passed, on my way to Charleston. The bridges in this section are of a peculiar construction; they are of various lengths, from one to fifty rods, and are very numerous. The flooring is composed of sand, laid under water at various depths, from one to six feet. They are the work of dame Nature, and have this striking advantage, that though you may be submerged in crossing them, there is no danger of falling through! Public houses are very rare; and we were compelled to pick up our meals at the houses of the scattering planters on the road, where corn-cake and 'big hominy' is the universal provender. The houses, whether built of logs or boards, resemble our northern corn-cribs; and in them are built huge fires of 'light-'ud,' or pitch-pine knots, which have a most picturesque effect, when seen at a distance, in a dark night, and, gleaming through the crannies of the dwellings, remind the traveler of a glowing coal-fire in a northern grate. There is not an inch of paint, plaster, or whitewash about these houses, and yet, in strange contrast with the opposite features of the picture, evidences of refinement, and even of luxury, are by no means rare. On one side stands a superb Geibs' piano; on the other, a mahogany side-board and secretary, and generally a splendid gilt-framed looking-glass. When the weather is cool, the occupants may be seen hovering over their fires, with their cloaks on, it may be, while every door in the house is wide open! It is a remarkable fact, that nobody ever thinks of shutting a door in this country. The stage-drivers all carry long tin horns, to which they give breath with their mouths' almost incessantly, in the night, in imitation of the bugle; but their strains are peculiar to this region, or perhaps to themselves; and never shall I forget the effect produced on my mind by the echoes and reverberations of their long-drawn notes, combined with the picturesque aspect we presented, as we wound slowly among the innumerable by-paths, marked out in shunning the treacherous sands of the main track, while the wild and lurid glare of the light-'ud' torch, in the hand of the guard, penetrated the dark recesses of the vast forest of stately evergreens which we were traversing. In certain sections, I became impressed with the idea, that the inhabitants were of the green-est description. At one place, I especially remember, while we were engaged in cutting away a tree which had fallen directly across our path, our coach underwent a most minute searching operation,' inside and out, by several women who came from a neighboring house, where they were visiting, and who seemed never to have encountered a stage before. After satisfying their curiosity in relation to the vehicle, the passengers, and their baggage, one of them kindly remarked, that it was a rapid shame that four men couldn't get that 'ere tree out o' the road sooner; if I wan't a lady, I'd tote it clar away myself!' One evening we stopped at a very large plantation for supper. While discussing our big hominy,' we asked the planter's wife how many acres there were. She replied: Wal, I d'n' know—but there's a rapid heap on 'em, I reckon! But to proceed with my journey. On the morning of the 13th we reached Wilmington. This day, for the first time, I began to feel the genial warmth of a southern sun. The day rivalled our loveliest in June.* The mellow light and Sabbath stillness which prevailed that morning, as we rode through forests of stately pines-the ground perfectly free from underwood, and carpeted with long grass, the whole resembling an extensive park was perfectly enchanting. During a brief stay in Wilmington, I embraced the occasion to visit several steam saw and rice mills, the former owned by some enterprising Yankees, who are turning to good account the lumber which is easily procured from the hitherto useless and pestilential swamps in this vicinity. The first two persons we encountered, on embarking on board the steam-boat at Wilmington, were the two Indian-rubber pedlars from Boston, heretofore alluded to. I mention them merely to say, that I *Ar this time, the snow was five or six feet deep in the streets of New-York, and the 'fierce extremity of the skies' was a matter of public comment. EDS. KNICKERBOCKER. admire the home spirit which prompted them to declare, that the commercial accommodations of Boston were better than those of New-York, though I doubt the fact! Lieutenant W -, of the army, was a most agreeable acquisition to our company; inducing me to believe, (and subsequent experience has confirmed the impression,) with M. La Trobe, that whenever you meet with an officer of the United States' Army, generally speaking, you find a gentleman, in all the best essentials of that much abused term. We had a tolerably pleasant passage; for our boat, though calculated rather for freight than passengers, was well captain-ed,' and 'cook-ed.' As for the scenery, it may be summed up in four words - muddy water, and swampy margins. We arrived at Fayetteville in the evening the finest town I have yet seen in North Carolina, judging from an examination necessarily cursory. Next day we started for Cheraw, by stage, at which place we arrived at midnight, and where we were compelled to tarry one day for a boat to take us down the Great Pedee to Georgetown. Cheraw is a flourishing town; but it has recently been visited by a severe calamity; a greater amount of property having been destroyed, in proportion to its size, than was consumed by the great fire in New-York. For several days after embarking at Cheraw, the weather was rainy and uncomfortable. For two hundred and fifty miles, we wound in our high-pressure steam freight boat through the interminable crooks and shoals of the Great Pedee, stopping occasionally to pick up a few bales of cotton from the plantations along the banks, and to take in wood. The scenery and incidents were of the most monotonous description; and had it not been for books, those silent but eloquent companions,' we should have died of ennui. There is, however, one spot on the margin of this river which is replete with deep interest—I mean Marion's Battleground, an area of from ten to fifteen acres, elevated a little above the surrounding swamp, and covered with young and thrifty evergreens, in the midst of which stands a venerable live-oak, said to have sheltered the hero's tent. Standing as they do, surrounded by a forest divested of verdure, this little cluster of evergreens struck me as a forcible emblem of the immortality of the spot which they ornamented. The anniversary of American Independence is always celebrated here, though several miles distant from any settlement, by the patriotic citizens of this district. The trees, in many places for miles together, are covered with a moss peculiar to the southern country, and most striking to unaccustomed eyes. It is very long, and hangs suspended in festoons from branch to branch, and in long pendant masses, all inclining in one direction, owing probably to the prevailing course of the winds. Imagine the swingle-tow of the farmer to have been profusely lodged on a tree, in a stiff breeze, and you will have a correct idea of the appearance of this moss. It is supposed to be produced by the miasma. arising from the unhealthy swamps. It is rotted and dressed in much the same manner as flax, and is used in making 'pure hair mattresses!' We reached Charleston at eight o'clock on the morning of the 22d of January, twenty-three days from New-York! I like Charleston; it is a fine city, and delightfully situated, its bay and harbor reminding me forcibly of New-York. The buildings are mostly of dark-colored brick, and have a solemn, antiquated appearance. Many of the dwellings have spacious court-yards, filled with various shrubbery green, even at this season; and yesterday I saw full-blown roses blooming in the open air, without the aid of hot-beds or flower-pots. The weather is to the full as pleasant and warm as a day in our northern May. These are stirring times in this quarter. The intelligence from Florida continues to be of the most alarming character; and volunteers are enlisting here from among the most respectable young men of this chivalrous community. Success to them! I say. I was present last evening at a meeting for organizing volunteers, General Hayne presiding, assisted by General Hamilton. The required number presented themselves in less than an hour, and a steam-boat was gratuitously tendered to convey them to the scene of action. This is doing things in earnest, and speaks well for the generous spirits of South Carolina. I admire the chivalrous daring and disinterestedness which prompt this noble band of volunteers to undertake their perilous enterprise; but my admiration was mingled with a melancholy presentiment, when I saw the brimming eyes of the fair forms who thronged the open corridors on either side of the street, while husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers, marched by to the sound of inspiring martial music. The horrors and uncertainty of war never struck me more vividly. JANUARY 30. I am on board the steam-boat' William Seabrook,' bound for Savannah a vessel perfect in all its arrangements, whether of beauty, comfort, or luxury, and owned by the gentleman whose name she bears. Charleston has fallen far in the distance, over her beautiful harbor we have passed Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie, and are rising and sinking on the long swells of the open sea - that 'watery kingdom, whose ambitious head Spits in the face of heaven.' เ If I held the pen of a Marryat, I would here apostrophize Old Ocean,' and tell how this my first step on his boundless domain has enkindled a latent desire within me to share their adventures who go down to the sea in ships, and do business in great waters.' The theme is too magnificent for my feeble powers- as it is for the capacity of most others. Descriptions of the sea seldom do justice to its grandeur, sublimity, and power. To my perception, Shakspeare's clown (in the Winter's Tale,' I think,) comes nearest to a correct delineation of the ocean agitated by a tempest: I would,' says he, 'you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point: O the most piteous cry of the poor shipwrecked souls! Sometimes to see 'em and not to see 'em: now the ship boring the dim moon with her main-mast, and anon swallowed with yeast and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead: to see how the sea flap-dragoned it! how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them!' But to return from this digression. I I arrived in Savannah on the first of February, in the midst of a heavy rain, which at last subsided, leaving the streets in ice.' had but little leisure to examine the city, which is well situated, and I understand flourishing, beyond any former period. We embarked in a dirty steam-boat-the best on the river for Augusta; and after three days and three nights' patient endurance of fogs, breaking of cranks, stopping to take in wood, etc., we arrived safe and sound, but wo |