and must be obliged to manufacture it when they
have done. That he hoped he had done the country very great service by
setting so good an example....

Our conversation on this subject continued till dinner, which was both
elegant and plentiful. The afternoon was devoted to the ladies, who
showed me one of their most beautiful walks. They conducted me through
a shady lane to the landing, and by the way made me drink some very
fine water that issued from a marble fountain, and ran incessantly.
Just behind it was a covered bench, where Miss Theky often sat and
bewailed her virginity. Then we proceeded to the river, which is the
south branch of Rappahannock, about fifty yards wide, and so rapid
that the ferry boat is drawn over by a chain, and therefore called the
Rapidan. At night we drank prosperity to all the colonel's projects in
a bowl of rack punch, and then retired to our devotions.

Having employed about two hours in retirement, I sallied out at the
first summons to breakfast, where our conversation with the ladies,
like whip syllabub, was very pretty, but had nothing in it. This, it
seems, was Miss Theky's birthday, upon which I made her my
compliments, and wished she might live twice as long a married woman
as she had lived a maid. I did not presume to pry into the secret of
her age, nor was she forward to disclose it, for this humble reason,
lest I should think her wisdom fell short of her years....

We had a Michaelmas goose for dinner, of Miss Theky's own raising, who
was now good-natured enough to forget the jeopardy of her dog. In the
afternoon we walked in a meadow by the river side, which winds in the
form of a horseshoe about Germanna, making it a peninsula containing
about four hundred acres. Rappahannock forks about fourteen miles
below this place, the northern branch being the larger, and
consequently must be the river that bounds my Lord Fairfax's grant of
the northern neck.

The sun rose clear this morning, and so did I, and finished all my
little affairs by breakfast. It was then resolved to wait on the
ladies on horseback, since the bright sun, the fine air, and the
wholesome exercise, all invited us to it. We forded the river a little
above the ferry, and rode six miles up the neck to a fine level piece
of rich land, where we found about twenty plants of ginseng, with the
scarlet berries growing on the top of the middle stalk. The root of
this is of wonderful virtue in many cases, particularly