In our progress from the sea coast, we rise gradually, by several steps or ascents, in the following manner: first, from the sea coast, fifty miles back, is a level plain, generally of a loose sandy soil, producing spacious high forests, of Pinus tæda, P. lutea, P. squarrosa, P. echinata, 1. Quercus sempervirens, 2. Quercus aquatica, 3. Q. phillos, 4. Q. tinctoria, 5. Q. dentata, 6. Q. prinos, 7. Q. alba, 8. Q. finuata, 9. Q. rubra[[10]], Liriodendron tulipifera, Liquidambar styraciflua, Morus rubra, Cercis tilia, Populus heterophylla, Platanus occidentalis, Laurus sassafras, Laurus Borbonia, Hopea tinctoria, Fraxinus excelsior, Nyssa, Ulmus, Juglans exaltata, Halesa, Stewartia. Nearly one third of this vast plain is what the inhabitants call swamps, which are the sources of numerous small rivers and their branches: these they call salt rivers, because the tides flow near to their sources, and generally carry a good depth and breadth of water for small craft, twenty or thirty miles upwards from the sea, when they branch and spread abroad like an open hand, interlocking with each other, and forming a chain of swamps across the Carolinas and Georgia, several hundred miles parallel with the sea coast. These swamps are fed and replenished constantly by an infinite number of rivulets and rills, which spring out of the first bank or ascent; their native trees and shrubs are, besides most of those already enumerated above, as follow: Acer rubrum, Nyssa aquatica, Chionanthus, Celtis, Fagus sylvatica, Sambricus; and the higher knolls afford beautiful clumps of Azalea nuda and Azalea viscosa, Corypha palma, Corypha pumila, and Magnolia grandiflora; besides, the whole surface of the ground between the trees and shrubs appears to be occupied with canes (Arundo gigantea) entangled with festoons of the floriferous Glycine frutescens, Bignonia sempervirens, Glycine apios, Smilax, various species, Bignonia crucigera, Bign. radicans, Lonicera sempervirens, and a multitude of other trees, shrubs, and plants less conspicuous; and, in very wet places, Cupressus disticha. The upper soil of these swamps is a perfectly black, soapy, rich earth, or stiff mud, two or three feet deep, on a foundation or stratum of calcareous fossil, which the inhabitants call white marle; and this is the heart or strength of these swamps; they never wear out or become poor, but, on the contrary, are more fertile by tillage; for when they turn up this white marle, the air and winter frosts causing it to fall like quicklime, it manures the surface: but it has one disadvantage, that is, in great droughts, when they cannot have water sufficient in their reservoirs to lay the surface of the ground under water, it binds, and becomes so tough as to burn and kill the crops, especially the old cleared lands; as, while it was fresh and new, the great quantity of rotten wood, roots, leaves, &c. kept the surface loose and open. Severe droughts seldom happen near the sea coast.
We now rise a bank of considerable height, which runs nearly parallel to the coast, through Carolina and Georgia; the ascent is gradual by several flights or steps for eight or ten miles, the perpendicular height whereof, above the level of the ocean, may be two or three hundred feet (and these are called the sand-hills) when we find ourselves on the entrance of a vast plain, generally level, which extends west sixty or seventy miles, rising gently as the former, but more perceptibly. This plain is mostly a forest of the great long-leaved pine (P. palustris Linn.) the earth covered with grass, interspersed with an infinite variety of herbaceous plants, and embellished with extensive savannas, always green, sparkling with ponds of water, and ornamented with clumps of evergreen, and other trees and shrubs, as Magnolia grandiflora, Magnolia glauca, Gordonia, Ilex aquifolium, Quercus, various species, Laurus Borbonia, Chionanthus, Hopea tinctoria, Cyrilla, Kalmia angustifolia, Andromeda, varieties, Viburnum, Azalea, Rhus vernix, Prinos, varieties, Fothergilla, and a new shrub of great beauty and singularity; it grows erect, seven or eight feet high; a multitude of erect stems arise from its root; these divide themselves into ascendant branches, which are garnished with abundance of narrow lanceolate obtuse pointed leaves, of a light green, smooth and shining. These branches, with their many subdivisions, terminate in simple racemes of pale incarnate flowers, which make a fine appearance among the leaves; the flowers are succeeded by desiccated triquetrous pericarpi, each containing a single kernel.
The lowest sides of these savannas are generally joined by a great cane swamp, varied with coppices and hommocks of the various trees and shrubs already mentioned. In these swamps several rivulets take their rise, which drain them and the adjoining savannas, and thence meandering to the rivers through the forests, with their banks decorated with shrubs and trees. The earth under this level plain may be described after the following manner: the upper surface, or vegetative mould, is a light sandy loam, generally nine inches or a foot deep, on a stratum of cinereous coloured clay, except the sand-hills, where the loose sandy surface is much deeper upon the clay; stone of any sort, or gravel, is seldom seen.
The next ascent, or flight, is of much greater and more abrupt elevation, and continues rising by broken ridges and narrow levels, or vales, for ten or fifteen miles, when we rest again on another extensive nearly level plain of pine forests, mixed with various other forest trees, which continues west forty or fifty miles farther, and exhibits much the same appearance with the great forest last mentioned; its vegetable productions nearly the same, excepting that the broken ridges by which we ascend to the plain are of a better soil; the vegetative mould is mixed with particles of clay and small gravel, and the soil of a dusky brown colour, lying on a stratum of reddish brown tough clay. The trees and shrubs are, Pinus tæda, great black Oak, Quercus tinctoria, Q. rubra, Laurus, Sassafras, Magnolia grandiflora, Cornus Florida, Cercis, Halesia, Juglans acuminata, Juglans exaltata, Andromeda arborea; and, by the sides of rivulets (which wind about and between these hills and swamps, in the vales) Styrax latifolia, Ptelea trifoliata, Stewartia, Calycanthus, Chionanthus, Magnolia tripetala, Azalea and others.
Thus have I endeavoured to give the reader a short and natural description of the vast plain lying between the region of Augusta and the sea coast; for from Augusta the mountainous country begins (when compared to the level sandy plain already passed), although it is at least an hundred and fifty miles west, thence to the Cherokee or Apalachian mountains; and this space may with propriety be called the hilly country, every where fertile and delightful, continually replenished by innumerable rivulets, either coursing about the fragrant hills, or springing from the rocky precipices, and forming many cascades; the coolness and purity of which waters invigorate the air of this otherwise hot and sultry climate.
The village of Augusta is situated on a rich and fertile plain, on the Savanna river; the buildings are near its banks, and extend nearly two miles up to the cataracts, or falls, which are formed by the first chain of rocky hills, through which this famous river forces itself, as if impatient to repose on the extensive plain before it invades the ocean. When the river is low, which is during the summer months, the cataracts are four or five feet in height across the river, and the waters continue rapid and broken, rushing over rocks five miles higher up: this river is near five hundred yards broad at Augusta.
A few days after our arrival at Augusta, the chiefs and warriors of the Creeks and Cherokees being arrived, the Congress and the business of the treaty came on, and the negociations continued undetermined many days; the merchants of Georgia demanding at least two millions of acres of land from the Indians, as a discharge of their debts, due, and of long standing; the Creeks, on the other hand, being a powerful and proud spirited people, their young warriors were unwilling to submit to so large a demand, and their conduct evidently betrayed a disposition to dispute the ground by force of arms, and they could not at first be brought to listen to reason and amicable terms; however, at length, the cool and deliberate counsels of the ancient venerable chiefs, enforced by liberal presents of suitable goods, were too powerful inducements for them any longer to resist, and finally prevailed. The treaty concluded in unanimity, peace, and good order; and the honorable superintendant, not forgetting his promise to me, at the conclusion, mentioned my business, and recommended me to the protection of the Indian chiefs and warriors. The presents being distributed among the Indians, they departed, returning home to their towns. A company of surveyors were appointed, by the governor and council, to ascertain the boundaries of the new purchase; they were to be attended by chiefs of the Indians, selected and delegated by their countrymen, to assist, and be witnesses that the articles of the treaty were fulfilled, as agreed to by both parties in Congress.
Col. Barnet, who was chosen to conduct this business on the part of the Georgians, a gentleman every way qualified for that important trust, in a very friendly and obliging manner, gave me an invitation to accompany him on this tour.
It was now about the middle of the month of May; vegetation, in perfection, appeared with all her attractive charms, breathing fragrance every where; the atmosphere was now animated with the efficient principle of vegetative life; the arbustive hills, gay lawns, and green meadows, which on every side invest the villa of Augusta, had already received my frequent visits; and although here much delighted with the new beauties in the vegetable kingdom, and many eminent ones have their sequestered residence near this place, yet, as I was never long satisfied with present possession, however endowed with every possible charm to attract the sight, or intrinsic value to engage and fix the esteem, I was restless to be searching for more, my curiosity being insatiable.
Thus it is with regard to our affections and attachments, in the more important and interesting concerns of human life.