nd the canoe soon reached the broad Cooper River, which I
ascended in the misty darkness by following close to the left bank. Four
miles up the Cooper River from Calibogue Sound there is a passage
through the marshes from the Cooper to New River, which is called Ram's
Horn Creek. On the right of its entrance a well-wooded hammock rises
from the marsh, and is called Page Island. About midway between the two
rivers and along this crooked thoroughfare is another piece of upland
called Pine Island, inhabited by the families of two boat-builders.

While navigating Cooper River, as the heavy mists rolled in clouds over
the quiet waters, a sailboat, rowed by negroes, emerged from the gloom
and as suddenly disappeared. I shouted after them: "Please tell me the
name of the next creek." A hoarse voice came back to me from the cloud:
"Pull and be d----d." Then all was still as night again. To solve this
seemingly uncourteous reply, so unusual in the south, I consulted the
manuscript charts which the Charleston pilots had kindly drawn for my
use, and found that the negroes had spoken geographically as well as
truthfully, for Pine Island Creek is known to the watermen as "Pull and
be d----d Creek," on account of its tortuous character, and chiefly
because, as the tides head in it, if a boat enters it from one river
with a favorable tide, it has a strong head current on the other side of
the middle ground to oppose it. Thus pulling at the oars at some parts
of the creek becomes hard work for the boatmen; hence this name, which,
though profane, may be considered geographical.

After leaving the Cooper River, the watercourses to Savannah were
discolored by red or yellow mud. From Pine Island I descended New River
two miles and a half to Wall's Cut, which is only a quarter of a mile in
length, and through which I entered Wright's River, following it a
couple of miles to the broad, yellow, turbulent current of the Savannah.

My thoughts now naturally turned to the early days of steamboat
enterprise, when this river, as well as the Hudson, was conspicuous; for
though the steamer Savannah was not the first steam-propelled vessel
which cut the waves of the Atlantic, she was the first steamer that ever
crossed it. Let us examine historical data. Colonel John Stevens, of New
York, built the steamboat Phoenix about the year 1808, and was
prevented from using it upon the Hudson River by the Fulton and
Livingston monopoly charter.

The Phoeni