CHAPTER XII.
B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE.
"High Hills of the Santee, 18--.
"DEAR FRIEND,
"From the city of Savannah, I paid my first visit to our old heathen dad, Neptune, and if first impressions of the sea were not as common and as numerous as doggerel verses in a modern lady's album, I might be tempted to become sublime for your edification. I was rowed down from the city, in a beautiful boat made of a single cypress, by the hands of the gentleman who was so polite as to give me this gentle passage. By this you may know that they take as much pride in their boats as the Venetians themselves. It was beautifully painted, and rowed by eight well-formed negroes. Inside of the seat at one end was a marooning chest, as they called it, full of all kinds of liquors and cold meat, with the necessary utensils for their use. The gentleman was an islander; and during the few hours in which we were gliding over the seventeen miles between the city and the ocean, he entertained me with an account of his marooning expeditions. These are their excursions upon the Sea Islands, for purposes of fishing and hunting. These islanders are a peculiar, but delightful people; however, I must not keep you too long in the sea-breeze; at some other time, perhaps, I may indite you a history of these hospitable and isolated gentlemen.
"When I left Savannah, I determined to pursue a different route from the one by which I came. I therefore crossed the Savannah river fifteen or sixteen miles above the city; I then crossed the country in as straight a line as I could draw upon the map, between the ferry and the high hills of Santee; and in a short time found myself in as complete solitude as ever Crusoe experienced upon his desolate island. Nothing was to be seen but the tall and gloomy-looking pines, stretching away into the bosom of the atmosphere, and the interminable sands which lay before me as far as the eye could reach. Twilight presently came on, and those horrible musicians, the tree-frogs, began to chirp and sing. The dolorous note of the whippoorwill was heard, with a horn accompaniment from the throat of a screech-owl. Here was a pretty serenade for a man with his heart attuned for melody, and his stomach attuned for a slash at a cold ham, for I had had no dinner. I struck up an accompaniment from my own pipes, but I soon found that the vacuum was too profound for a due modulation in concert pitch with this sylvan band. I wished them all at the d----l, with their shrill pipes and full crops, and set my horse, or rather _your_ horse, at full gallop, in a vain effort to escape from the intended honour; but the harder I rode, the more enthusiastic they became. I soon made another comfortable discovery; I found that I had been riding for the last two hours in a perfect wilderness, in utter contempt of what two pioneer wheels had made for a highway; nor could I tell the north from the south, nor the east from the west, having foolishly enough turned the horse round and round in order to gaze at the stars. 'Like master like man,' my servant did the same, as if he could read in the pine tops more than I could in the heavens. All my astronomy had gone with my dinner; I could see nothing in the starry regions but what is sometimes called the _Frying-pan_. Oh! the shades of Thales of Miletus, who first imported astronomy into Greece! to think that a bachelor of such heavenly arts could not look into the face of the Frying-pan without thinking of grilled chickens and rashers of bacon, and the crackling of fire, and the sputtering of fat. I dismounted, and ordered Sam to do likewise, and try to find me a piece of flint by which to strike a light; he declared that he had not seen a stone or a rock since he came into the Carolinas. 'So much for geology and astronomy,' said I. 'I rader tink they all bad fur empty stumuck, masta,' said Sam, considering himself privileged by the exigencies of the case. 'True enough, Sam,' said I, 'it would be an apt scholar that could produce bread or a stone either by his learning, in our circumstances.'
"As I mounted, Sam mounted, not a word more having been uttered; he seemed to be aware of the fact, that language generally fails with the food; a man's ideas in such a case run fast enough, but they are all in humble life; below stairs, diving among pots, and pans, and pantries, and receptacles for cold victuals. As the ideas ran, so ran the horses, until the water began to splash our legs from a thick bushy swamp, into which we found that we had initiated ourselves. 'Now Sam,' said I, 'we are swamped.' Sam said nothing aloud, but was evidently muttering something to himself, being engaged, as I supposed, at his secret devotions, for you must know that he would be a Puritan. Like most of his race, however, he has more faith in the effect of singing hymns, than devotions of any other kind. I saw that he was itching for a trial at his usual relief in all his troubles. I therefore told him not to suppress it on my account, but to give it free utterance; the idea of it naturally excited ludicrous recollections of old Noll and the veteran Rumpers, but Sam saw the new vein I had so inappropriately fallen into, and therefore resisted his inward strivings. I must say, _en passant_, that I think him honest and sincere in his faith, I therefore do not ridicule him.
"We waded through the black regions of this little pandemonium for some three-quarters of a mile, before the dry sand again greeted our hearing. The Frying-pan still stared me in the face, and the sylvan band still plied their pipes. We had not proceeded far by land before we came directly against a fence. I was truly glad to see it, for I was sure it must lead to some inhabited place, and accordingly ordered Sam to let us into the field, which we found to be an immense plain covered with cotton,--the most beautiful of all crops. We rode between the rows, for many a weary foot, until at length the glimmering of many lights greeted our longing eyes. We made directly for them, and soon stood in the midst of an immense negro quarter. On inquiring whether their master's house was near at hand, we found that it was many miles distant. The overseer's house, they told us, was not more than half a mile off; but to these animals I have always had an utter aversion. I therefore bought some fodder for the horses, and two fowls for ourselves, from the _driver_, who had the privilege of raising them, and employed his wife to pick and grill them upon the coals, and a delightful and savoury prelude they soon sent up to my famished senses; a heartier or a sweeter meal was never made than I thus took; a fowl seasoned with salt, and a large pot of small homminy, served direct to my mouth from a large wooden spoon, without the cumbrous intervention of plates, knives, and forks. Our meal being finished,--for you must know Sam and I dined at the same time and from the same table, which was none other than the ground floor, covered with the head of a barrel,--hunger is a wonderful leveller of distinctions,--as I was saying, our meal being finished, a goodly number of the more aged, respectable, and intelligent blacks of the quarter assembled to entertain us, or be entertained themselves, I scarcely know which. Many of these negroes, I found, were born in Africa, and one poor tattooed fellow claimed to be of royal blood. He told me that his father, the king, had a hundred children. I asked if any of those present could write; they replied that there was one man in the quarter who could write in his own language, and several of them went out and brought in a tall, bald-headed old fellow, who seemed to come with great reluctance. After being told what was desired, he acknowledged to me that he could write when he last tried, which was many years previous. I took out my pocket-book, tore out a blank leaf, and handing him a pen from my pocket inkstand, requested him to give me a specimen. He took the head of the barrel on his lap, and began, if I recollect right, on the right side of the page; the following is a fac simile of his performance:
"The following is a liberal translation into English:--
"'In the name of God the merciful! the compassionate! God bless our Lord Mohammed his prophet, and his descendants, and his followers, and prosper them
exceedingly. Praise be to God the Lord of all creatures! the merciful, the compassionate king of the day of judgment! Thee we adore, and of thee we implore assistance! Guide us in the right way, the way of those with whom thou art well pleased, and not of those with whom thou art angry, nor of those who are in error. Amen!'
"The original is written in Arabic. The old fellow's name is Charno, which it seems he has retained, after being enslaved, contrary to their general custom in that respect. I became quite affected and melancholy in talking to this venerable old man, and you may judge from that rare circumstance that he is no common character.
"I now fixed my saddle under my head in a cotton shed to rest for the night; but, weary as I was, I could not directly get to sleep for thinking of sandy deserts, old Charno, chicken suppers, negro quarters, and Virginia Bell! You see she is still the heroine, let my wanderings lay the scenes where they will.
"I have no doubt but you will say, on the reception of this letter, 'Well! I thought Randolph would run his nose into all the out-of-the-way places in Carolina,' I plead guilty! I have a sort of natural instinct for unbeaten paths, and the one by which I arrived at Belville shall be given in my next; until then, fare thee well.
"B. RANDOLPH."