ment, flour, rye, wax, or other traffic, at
the market-price. As in England, the advertisements were the most
important source of profit. The foreign news was almost wholly extracted
from papers published at the sea-ports.

The district around Lincolnton was peopled, in a great measure, by
Germans from Pennsylvania. Their plantations were kept in excellent
order, and their lands were well cultivated. Almost all had negro
slaves, and there reigned among them a greater independence than in the
families of English origin.

From Lincolnton to Chester, in the state of South Carolina, the distance
is about seventy miles. Through the whole of this space the earth is
light, and of a quality inferior to that between Morganton and
Lincolnton, although the mass of the forests is composed of various
species of oaks. In some places, however, pine-trees are in such
abundance that, for several miles, the ground is covered with nothing
else.

_Chester_ contained about thirty houses, built of wood; and among the
number were two inns and two respectable shops.

From Chester the country becomes worse in every respect than before; and
the traveller is obliged to put up at inns, where he is badly
accommodated both in board and lodging, and at which he pays dearer than
in any other part of the United States. The reputation of these inns is
esteemed according to the quantity and different kinds of spirits which
they sell.

From Chester to Columbia the distance is fifty-five miles. M. Michaux
passed through _Winesborough_, containing about a hundred and fifty
houses. This place is one of the oldest inhabited towns in Carolina, and
several planters of the low country go thither every year to spend the
summer and autumn.

[_Columbia_, now the seat of government for the state of South Carolina,
is situated below the confluence of the _Broad_ and _Saluda Rivers_. It
is laid out on a regular plan, the streets intersecting each other at
right angles. The buildings are erected at the distance of about three
quarters of a mile from the _Cangaree River_, on a ridge of high land,
three hundred feet above the level of the water. In 1808, Columbia
contained about one hundred and fifty houses. Vineyards, cotton, and
hemp-plantations are successfully cultivated in its vicinity; and
oil-mills, rope walks, and some other manufactories have been
established here.]

The distance from Columbia to Charleston is about a hundred and twenty
miles; and, thr