At daylight we were steaming into the broad sheet of water which Dupont first made famous, and which our sailors have since come to consider the finest harbor on the Southern coast. Admiral Dahlgren had evidently prepared the naval authorities for our arrival. Within a few moments, the numerous vessels were dressed in all their colors, the sailors manned the yards, and a salute was fired from all the men of war in the harbor. A few minutes later a deluge of naval officers set in, till the quarter deck of the “Wayanda” overflowed with the dignitaries, and the indefatigable boatswain grew weary blowing his whistle as they came over the ship’s side. Everybody seemed possessed with the mania of speculation. Even these naval gentlemen were infected by it; and we saw no civilians or army officers who were not profoundly versed in the rival claims of Hilton Head, Bay Point and Beaufort. That a great city must spring up hereabouts, has been laid down as an axiom. This is the best harbor on the coast, while that of Charleston is positively bad, and that of Savannah is contracted, and not easy of access. Situated midway between the two, the speculators insist that it ought to fall legitimate heir to the trade of both. Besides, the Carolina sea-coast must have a seaport, and Charleston is so utterly ruined, they argue, and so odious to the nation that Northern trade and capital would discriminate against it, in favor of its younger rival. And the most flourishing part of South Carolina to-day is made up of the sea islands, cultivated by the freedmen, all whose trade already centers here. Therefore, for these reasons, and many more, which your speculator will set out in ample array before you, if you only listen, it is necessary and fated that a great city should grow up on the waters of Port Royal harbor. But where?—that is the rub. Not at Hilton Head, say some, for there are hurricanes there, every dozen years or so, that blow everything flat, and even now, in rough weather, shipping can hardly live at the wharf. Not at Bay Point, rejoin the Hilton Head landholders, for it is low and unhealthy. And not at Beaufort, some ten or fifteen miles up Broad river from here, they both agree, because it is so far off. And so, while they make it quite clear that an immense fortune is to be realized here by the purchase of real estate, they leave one in the most provoking uncertainty as to the precise point at which the fortune is located. It is very clear that you can treble and quadruple and quintuple your money here in two or three years—if you don’t lose it all by investing in the wrong place! But, alas, what good did it do Archimedes to know that he could move the world, when he couldn’t find the place to fix his lever?