ce, and the
bamboo-briar, an evergreen creeper, twines itself with various other
plants, which never shed their leaves in winter. These woods abound in
game, which, you will believe me when I say, I had rather start than
shoot,--flocks of turtle-doves, rabbits rising and scudding before you;
bevies of quails, partridges they call them here, chirping almost under
your horse's feet; wild ducks swimming in the pools, and wild turkeys,
which are frequently shot by the practiced sportsman.

But you must hear of the corn-shucking. The one at which I was present was
given on purpose that I might witness the humors of the Carolina negroes.
A huge fire of _light-wood_ was made near the corn-house. Light-wood is
the wood of the long-leaved pine, and is so called, not because it is
light, for it is almost the heaviest wood in the world, but because it
gives more light than any other fuel. In clearing land, the pines are
girdled and suffered to stand; the outer portion of the wood decays and
falls off; the inner part, which is saturated with turpentine, remains
upright for years, and constitutes the planter's provision of fuel. When a
supply is wanted, one of these dead trunks is felled by the axe. The
abundance of light-wood is one of the boasts of South Carolina. Wherever
you are, if you happen to be chilly, you may have a fire extempore; a bit
of light-wood and a coal give you a bright blaze and a strong heat in an
instant. The negroes make fires of it in the fields where they work; and,
when the mornings are wet and chilly, in the pens where they are milking
the cows. At a plantation, where I passed a frosty night, I saw fires in
a small inclosure, and was told by the lady of the house that she had
ordered them to be made to warm the cattle.

The light-wood fire was made, and the negroes dropped in from the
neighboring plantations, singing as they came. The driver of the
plantation, a colored man, brought out baskets of corn in the husk, and
piled it in a heap; and the negroes began to strip the husks from the
ears, singing with great glee as they worked, keeping time to the music,
and now and then throwing in a joke and an extravagant burst of laughter.
The songs were generally of a comic character; but one of them was set to
a singularly wild and plaintive air, which some of our musicians would do
well to reduce to notation. These are the words:

Johnny come down de hollow.
Oh hollow!
Johnny come down de hollow.