the remarks on temperance it would seem that the most of this capital must be held in the form of whiskey. One "store" in Liberty county, which I myself entered, contained, so far as I could see, nothing but casks, demijohns, decanters, a box of coffee, a case of tobacco, and some powder and lead; and I believe that nine-tenths of the stock in trade referred to in these statistics is of this character. It was mentioned to me by a gentleman who had examined this district with a commercial purpose, that, off the plantations, there was no money in the country—almost literally, no money. The dealings even of the merchants or tradesmen seemed to be entirely by barter. He believed there were many full-grown men who had never seen so much as a dollar in money in their lives.
The following is a graphic sketch by a native Georgian of the present appearance of what was once the most productive cotton land of the State:—
"The classic hut occupied a lovely spot, overshadowed by majestic
hickories, towering poplars, and strong-armed oaks. The little plain on
which it stood was terminated, at the distance of about fifty feet from the
door, by the brow of a hill, which descended rather abruptly to a noble
spring, that gushed joyously forth from among the roots of a stately beech,
at its foot. The stream from this fountain scarcely burst into view, before
it hid itself in the dark shade of a field of cane, which overspread the dale
through which it flowed, and marked its windings, until it turned from
sight, among vine-covered hills, at a distance far beyond that to which the
eye could have traced it, without the help of its evergreen belt. A remark
of the captain's, as we viewed this lovely country, will give the reader my
apology for the minuteness of the foregoing description: 'These lands,'
said he, 'will never wear out. Where they lie level, they will be just as
good, fifty years hence, as they are now.' Forty-two years afterwards, I
visited the spot on which he stood when he made the remark. The sun
poured his whole strength upon the bald hill which once supported the
sequestered school-house; many a deep-washed gully met at a sickly bog,
where had gushed the limpid fountain; a dying willow rose from the soil
which had nourished the venerable beech; flocks wandered among the
dwarf pines, and cropped a scanty meal from the vale where the rich cane
