an Jim, to my house on his next visit at the North,
one year later. I then promised,--if I should ever again travel in South
Carolina,--to visit him on his plantation in the extreme north-eastern
part of the State.

In December last, a short time prior to the passage of the ordinance of
secession, I had occasion to again visit Charleston, and, previous to
setting out, dispatched a letter to the Colonel with the information
that I was then ready to be led of him 'into the wilderness.' On
arriving at the head-quarters of Secession, I found a missive awaiting
me, in which he cordially renewed his previous tender of hospitality,
gave me particular directions how to proceed, and stated that his 'man
Jim' would meet me with a carriage at Georgetown, and convey me thence,
seventy miles, to 'the plantation.'

Having performed the business which led me to Charleston, I set out for
the rendezvous five days before the date fixed for the meeting,
intending to occupy the intervening time in an exploration of the
ancient town and its surroundings. Having passed the half of one day and
the whole of one night in that delectable place,--during which night I
was set on and nearly annihilated, while lying defenceless in my bed, by
a myriad of Carolina _big-bugs_,--I found it so intolerably dull that,
to escape a siege of 'the blues,' I hired a horse and a negro driver at
a livery-stable, and started off for the plantation.

I make this preliminary statement to give the reader a satisfactory
reason for taking him over wretched roads, at so inclement a season,
with no companion but an ebony Jehu, into the very heart of
Secessiondom.

My companion was a very intelligent native African, of the name of
Scipio, who 'hired his time' of his mistress, and obtained his living by
doing odd jobs around the streets and wharves of Georgetown. Portions of
the country through which we passed were almost as wild as the forests
of Oregon, and in some places the feeling against the North and Northern
travelers ran very high. I had some strange encounters with swollen
streams and roaring secessionists, in which my negro driver was of great
service to me; and the knowledge I thus gained of him led me for the
first time to the opinion, that real elevation and nobility of character
may exist under an ebony skin.

Our first day on the road was clear, sunshiny, and of delicious
temperature--one of those days so peculiar to the Southern winter, when
the bloo