From Tappahannoc to Urbanna, another small town on the Rappahannoc, and about twenty-five miles lower down, the country wears but a poor aspect. The road, which is level and sandy, runs, for many successive miles, through woods. The habitations that are seen from it are but few, and these of the poorest description. The woods chiefly consist of black oak, pine, and cedar-trees, which only grow on land of the worst quality.
Mr. Weld observed many traces of fires in the woods. Such fires, he was informed, were frequent in the spring of the year; and they were usually occasioned by the negligence of people who burnt the underwood, for the purpose of clearing the lands. He was himself witness to one of them. The day had been remarkably serene, and the underwood had been fired in several places. During the afternoon, the weather was sultry, and, about five o'clock, the horizon, towards the north, became dark, and a terrible whirlwind arose. Mr. Weld was standing, with some gentlemen, on an eminence, and perceived it gradually advancing. It carried along with it a cloud of dust, dried leaves, and pieces of rotten wood; and, in many places, as it passed along, it levelled the fence-rails, and unroofed the cattle-sheds. Mr. Weld and his friends endeavoured, but in vain, to reach a place of shelter. In the course of two minutes the whirlwind overtook them: the shock was violent; it was hardly possible to stand, and was difficult to breathe. It passed over in about three minutes; but a storm, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning, succeeded: this lasted more than half an hour. On looking round, immediately after the whirlwind had passed, a prodigious column of fire appeared in a part of the wood where some underwood had been burning. In many places the flames rose considerably above the summit of the trees, which were of large growth. It was a tremendous, and, at the same time, a sublime sight. The Negroes, on the surrounding plantations, were all assembled with their hoes; and guards were stationed, at every corner, to give alarm, if the fire appeared elsewhere, lest the conflagration should become general. To one plantation a spark was carried by the wind more than half a mile; happily, however, a torrent of rain, shortly afterwards, came pouring down, and enabled the people to extinguish the flames in every quarter.
The country between Urbanna and Gloucester is neither so sandy nor so flat as that bordering upon the Rappahannoc. The trees, chiefly pines, are of large size, and afford abundance of turpentine, which is extracted from them, in great quantities, by the inhabitants.
Gloucester contained, at this time, only ten or twelve houses. It is situated on a neck of land nearly opposite to the town of York, and on the bank of the York River, here about a mile and half wide. York consisted of about seventy houses, an episcopalian church, and a gaol. It is remarkable for having been the place where lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to the combined forces of the Americans and French. The banks of the river are, for the most part, high and inaccessible; and the principal part of the town is built upon them; only a few fishing-huts and store-houses standing at the bottom.
Twelve miles from York is Williamsburgh, formerly the seat of government in Virginia. At this time it consisted of one principal street, and two others, which ran parallel to it. At one end of the main street stands the college, and, at the other end, the old capitol or State-house, a capacious building of brick, which was crumbling to pieces, from neglect. The houses around it were mostly uninhabited, and presented a melancholy appearance.
The college of William and Mary, as it is still called, is at the opposite end of the main street: it is a heavy pile of building, somewhat resembling a large brick-kiln. The students were, at this time, about thirty in number; but, from their boyish appearance, the seminary ought rather to be termed a grammar-school than a college.
Mr. Weld dined with the president of the college. Half a dozen, or more, of the students, the eldest about twelve years old, were at table; some without shoes and stockings, and others without coats. A couple of dishes of salted meat, and some oyster-soup, formed the whole of the repast.
The town of Williamsburgh contained, at this time, about twelve hundred inhabitants; and the society in it was thought to be more extensive, and at the same time more genteel, than in any other place of its size in America. No manufactures were carried on here, and there was scarcely any trade.
From Williamsburgh to Hampton the country is flat and uninteresting. Hampton is a small town, situated at the head of a bay, near the mouth of James River. It contained about thirty houses and an episcopal church; and was a dirty, disagreeable place.
From this town there is a regular ferry to Norfolk, across Hampton Roads, eighteen miles over. Norfolk stands nearly at the mouth of the eastern branch of Elizabeth River, the most southern of the rivers which fall into Chesapeak Bay. This is the largest commercial town in Virginia, and carries on a flourishing trade to the West Indies. Its exports consist principally of tobacco, flour, and corn, and various kinds of timber. Of the latter it derives an inexhaustible supply, from the great "Dismal Swamp," which is immediately in its neighbourhood.