common forest trees of
various kinds.

When a mast tree is to be felled, much preparation is necessary. So tall
a stick, without any limbs nearer the ground than eighty or a hundred
feet, is in great danger of breaking in the fall. To prevent this the
workmen have a contrivance which they call bedding the tree, which is
thus executed. They know in what direction the tree will fall; and they
cut down a number of smaller trees which grow in that direction; or if
there be none, they draw others to the spot, and place them so that the
falling tree may lodge on their branches; which breaking or yielding
under its pressure, render its fall easy and safe. A time of deep snow
is the most favorable season, as the rocks are then covered, and a
natural bed is formed to receive the tree. When fallen, it is examined,
and if to appearance it be sound, it is cut in the proportion of three
feet in length to every inch of its diameter, for a mast; but if
intended for a bow-sprit or a yard, it is cut shorter. If it be not
sound throughout, or if it break in falling, it is cut into logs for the
saw-mill.

When a mast is to be drawn on the snow, one end is placed on a sled,
shorter, but higher than the common sort, and rests on a strong block,
which is laid across the middle of the sled.

In descending a long and steep hill they have a contrivance to prevent
the load from making too rapid a descent. Some of the cattle are placed
behind it; a chain which is attached to their yokes is brought forward
and fastened to the hinder end of the load, and the resistance which
is made by these cattle checks the descent. This operation is called
_tailing_. The most dangerous circumstance is the passing over the
top of a sharp hill, by which means the oxen which are nearest to the
tongues are sometimes suspended, till the foremost cattle can draw the
mast so far over the hill as to give them opportunity to recover the
ground. In this case the drivers are obliged to use much judgment and
care to keep the cattle from being killed. There is no other way to
prevent this inconvenience than to level the roads.

* * * * *

=_David Ramsay, 1749-1815._= (Manual, p. 491.)

From "The History of the Revolution in South Carolina."

=_114._= FEELING OF THE PROVINCE TOWARD GREAT BRITAIN.

In South Carolina, an enemy to the Hanoverian succession, or to the
British constitution, was scarcely known. The inhabitants were fond
o