The system of agriculture throughout the South was vicious. Few crops so soon exhaust the soil as tobacco; and as this staple was the main reliance of the planters, it was usual to seek fresh fields as fast as needed, leaving the old planting grounds to revert to wilderness. From this, as well as from other causes already stated, the settlements became diffuse, and great belts of forest often separated the holdings. The far-reaching rivers were fringed with plantations, and the waterways were the paths of commerce. The cross-country roads were very bad, often degenerating into mere bridle-paths; there was little travel, and that largely restricted to saddle or sulky,--the former preferred; for there were numerous streams to ford or swim. It was not uncommon for travellers to lose their way and to be obliged to pass the night in the thicket. Inns were few and wretched; but the hospitality of the planters was unstinted, every respectable wayfarer being joyfully welcomed as a guest to the manor-houses. Sidenote: Life at the plantations. Some glowing pictures of life in these "baronial halls," with their great open fireplaces, rich furnishings imported from England, crowds of negro lackeys, bounteous larders, and general air of crude splendor, have come down to us in the journals of pre-Revolutionary travellers. But the wealth of the large planters was more apparent than real. Their wasteful agricultural and business methods fostered a speculative spirit, their habits were reckless, their tastes expensive, and their hospitality ruinous; they were generally steeped in debt, and bankruptcy was frequent. The South Carolina planters, however, were more prosperous and independent than those to the north of them. Sidenote: Education.