ll starve you,' to decline to work for anything less than mastery over
his whole life, and to take up with his mess of porridge as the
alternative. One thing that Mr. ---- said seemed to me to prove rather too
much. He declared that his son, objecting to the folks on his plantation
going about bare-headed, had at one time offered a reward of a dollar to
those who should habitually wear hats without being able to induce them to
do so, which he attributed to sheer careless indolence; but I think it was
merely the force of the habit of going uncovered rather than absolute
laziness. The universal testimony of all present at this conversation was
in favour of the sweetness of temper and natural gentleness of
disposition of the negroes; but these characteristics they seemed to think
less inherent than the result of diet and the other lowering influences of
their condition; and it must not be forgotten that on the estate of this
wise and kind master a formidable conspiracy was organised among his
slaves.

We rowed home through a world of stars, the stedfast ones set in the still
blue sky, and the flashing swathes of phosphoric light turned up by our
oars and keel in the smooth blue water. It was lovely.

* * * * *

_Sunday, 14th._--My dear E----. That horrid tragedy with which we have
been threatened, and of which I was writing to you almost jestingly a few
days ago, has been accomplished, and apparently without exciting anything
but the most passing and superficial sensation in this community. The duel
between Dr. H---- and Mr. W---- did not take place, but an accidental
encounter in the hotel at Brunswick did, and the former shot the latter
dead on the spot. He has been brought home and buried here by the little
church close to his mother's plantation; and the murderer, if he is even
prosecuted, runs no risk of finding a jury in the whole length and breadth
of Georgia who could convict him of anything. It is horrible.

I drove to church to-day in the wood wagon, with Jack and Aleck, Hector
being our charioteer, in a gilt guard-chain and pair of slippers to match
as the Sabbatic part of his attire. The love of dirty finery is not a
trait of the Irish in Ireland, but I think it crops out strongly when they
come out here; and the proportion of their high wages put upon their backs
by the young Irish maid-servants in the north, indicates a strong
addiction to the female passion for dress. Here