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 finding a wife where he was going. "I have lately been in that country," continued he, "and I believe that the girls there are all married up." During the early stages of the settlement of the colonies, the excess of male population must have been thought a great inconvenience. It is on record that the settlers of Virginia procured ladies from England in exchange for tobacco. The necessity of importations of this kind has been long ago removed, in that State; and the two sexes are now nearly equal in point of numbers, although not quite equally distributed over the country. Before dropping this digression on celibacy, I must mention my conviction that a very great proportion of Scotsmen remain bachelors in America. This is not asserted as a fact that applies to every part of the country, but in {226} so far as my observation has gone, I state it with much confidence. Whether we are less ardent in the pursuit than other people, or whether we are more under the influence of the prudential principle,—or whether our imputed loyalty, or some other national peculiarities, make the fair daughters of this land repulsive to us, I am not prepared to say. To return to the Scots settlement; J. M. lately a blacksmith in the county of Edinburgh, has settled here. He arrived with his wife, seven sons, two daughters, and a son-in-law, about ten months before I met him. He has purchased 480 acres of land, built two log-houses and a small stable; cleared and inclosed about 22 acres, which is nearly all under crop; deadened the timber of about 80 acres more; and planted an orchard. In addition to these improvements, his sons have wrought for a neighbour to the amount of a hundred days' work. He has a horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry. I inquired if he felt himself happy in a strange land; he replied, that he would