a union service or mass-meeting was held, which was crowded to overflowing, most of the churches in the town having been closed, that their congregations and ministers might be present. On the following morning he addressed a meeting of pastors for an hour and 10 minutes, preached in the evening at the Old Bethel Church for coloured people, and on the 12th held a meeting at the Centenary Church, where an immense congregation of negroes and coloured persons assembled, many of whom stood in the aisles and outside the doors, whilst numbers were unable to get in.
On Feb. 13th we left Charleston for Savannah, the chief city of Georgia, and travelled all day slowly by "accommodation train" through one of the great American swamps, a morass with stagnant water and luxuriant vegetation on each side of the railway.
"This route lies within a few miles of the coast, and passes through many of the seaside and lowland towns and villages of the State, situated in the midst of the wildest, richest scenery. For miles the rails are laid on piles passing through marsh and morass, and crossing swift rushing streams; but it is in regions of this nature that the grandest and most tropical vegetation is to be found. In this country of miasmas, fever, and excessive heat, where, in the summer months, few but the negro can exist, the most profuse and abundant vegetation thrives luxuriantly. Extensive pine forests, lofty cypresses wreathed with garlands of grey moss, the bay and the laurel covered with the vines of the wild grape or ivy, and immense live oaks, line the road on each side. Wild flowers grow in profusion during the spring and summer, and the canebrake rises to a height of ten, twelve, or fifteen feet. In these regions alligators abound, which delight in the muddy, stagnant waters, and find in them a river home."
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