* The word slashes is applied to tracts of fiat clay soil, covered with pine woods, and always wet. The clay is almost impervious to water, and as evaporation goes on slowly in the shadow of the pines, the ground is seldom dry. "The mill-boy of the slashes" was an electioneering phrase applied to Henry Clay some years ago, when he was a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Mr. Clay, who is now (1852) a representative of Kentucky in the Senate of the United States, is the last survivor of the Commissioners who negotiated the treaty at Ghent in 1815, with the representatives of the British government.
Early Settlement at Rockett's and Powhatan.—Captain Smith.—Abandonment of "Nonesuch."—Fort Charles.
CHAPTER XVII.
Virginia, hail! Thou venerable state
In arms and council still acknowledged great!
When lost Britannia, in an evil hour,