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 cable, is much wanted here. The American mode of ploughing wears out the soil faster than the cropping. They just move and pulverize the surface, which in wet or dry weather either blows or washes away into the valleys. By the English mode, fresh soil would be raised, and the exhausted surface soil turned down to rest and replenish itself.

26th.—"A propensity to cheat and deceive," says a shrewd informant, "pervades all classes of this people, from the lowest mechanic and tradesman, or companies in trade, up to nearly the first officer of government. It is the boasted qualification of the smart man. Thieving is a characteristic feature of Maryland, which is peopled principally by Catholics, who correct all evil by absolution. The Carolinians keep and train up large dogs for hunting and finding runaway or concealed negroes, who are easily scented and found by them, if they be in the woods. The mode of training is thus: Set a young negro daily to strike a pup, and then run from it. This is dog-training. My cousin, Captain H. Rugeley, in my presence [116] ordered a young negro to strike a half-grown cur, which immediately seized the boy, who was worried a little, for my amusement and instruction. Hence these dogs, though generally docile and gentle to well dressed whites, instantly seize on any strange black man who approaches the plantation, just as an English greyhound flies upon a hare. I am told that Mr. Long, late of Lincolnshire, wrote his puffing letters to England, under feelings of great disappointment, and said that he would give 1,000 guineas to be reinstated in his farm in Lincolnshire. Letters from emigrants, I have proved to be at best but questionable and doubtful authority. Janson, author of The