icily light, spread out its white sails to
the breezes of the Atlantic.

Day after day and week after week the voyagers seem the centre of the
same watery circle canopied by the same bending sky. No mile-stones tell
of their progress. The way-marks of the mariner are the sun by day and
the moon and stars by night; no kindred ship answers back its red-cross
signal; but there they float, the germ of a future nation, upon the
desert waters. Sailing a circuitous route, they did not reach the coast
of America until January 13, 1733, when they cast anchor in Rebellion
Roads, and furled their sails at last in the harbor of Charleston.

Oglethorpe immediately landed, and was received by the Governor and
Council of South Carolina with every mark of civility and attention. The
King's pilot was directed by them to carry the ship into Port Royal, and
small vessels were furnished to take the emigrants to the river
Savannah. Thus assisted, in about ten hours they resumed their voyage
and shortly dropped anchor within Port Royal bar.

The colony landed at Beaufort on January 20th, and had quarters given
them in the new barracks. Here they received every attention from the
officers of His Majesty's Independent Company and the gentlemen of the
neighborhood, and refreshed themselves after the fatigues and
discomforts of their long voyage and cramped accommodations.

Leaving his people here, Oglethorpe, accompanied by Colonel William
Bull, of South Carolina, went forward to the Savannah River to select a
site for the projected settlement. Winding among the inlets, which break
into numerous islands the low flat seaboard, their canoe at last shot
into the broad stream of the Savannah; and bending their course upward
they soon reached a bold, pine-crowned bluff, at the foot of which they
landed to inspect its localities.

Reaching its top, a beautiful prospect met their eyes. At their feet,
some fourteen yards below, flowed the quiet waters of the Savannah,
visible for some distance above and traceable through its green
landscape till it emptied itself into the ocean. Before them lay a
beautiful island of richest pasturage, beyond which was seen the north
branch of the Savannah bordered by the slopes of Carolina, with a dark
girdle of trees resting against the horizon. Behind them was the
unbroken forest of tall green pines, with an occasional oak draperied
with festoons of gray moss or the druidical mistletoe. A wide expanse of
varied