'No, sar; de Cunnel say 'tan't. He say in Scriptur' dey hab a heap ob 'em, and dat niggers kin hab jess so many as dey likes--a hun'red ef dey want ter.' 'Does the Colonel teach that to his negroes?' I asked, turning to the native. 'Yas, I reckon he do, an' sits 'em th' 'zample, too,' he replied, laughing; 'but th' old sinner knows better'n thet; he kin read.' 'Do you find that in the Bible, Lazarus?' 'Yas, massa, whar I reads it. Dat's whar it tell 'bout David and Sol'mon and all em--dey hab a heap ob wives. A pore ole darky karn't hab nuffin' 'sides dem, an' he _orter_ be 'low'd jess so many as he likes.' Laughing at the reasoning of the negro, I asked: 'How would _you_ like it, if your wife over at Colonel J----'s had as many husbands as _she_ liked?' 'Wal, I couldn't fine no fault, massa; an' I s'pose she do, dough I doan't knows it, 'case I'se dar only Sundays.' 'Have you any children?' 'Yas, sar, Ise free 'longin' ter de Cunnel, an' four or five--I doan't 'zactly know--up ter hum; but _dey'se_ grow'd up.' 'Is your wife up there married again?' 'Yas, massa, she got anoder man jess w'en I cum 'way; har ole massa make har do it.' We then left the cabin, and when out of hearing of the blacks, I said to the corn-cracker: 'That _may be_ Scripture doctrine, but _I_ have not been taught so.' 'Scriptur' or no Scriptur', stranger, it's d----d heathenism,' replied the farmer, who, take him all in all, is a superior specimen of the class of small planters at the South; and yet, seeing polygamy practiced by his own slaves, he made no effort to prevent it. He told me that if he should object to his darky cohabiting with the Colonel's negress, it would be regarded as unneighborly, and secure him the enmity of the whole district! And still we are told that slavery is a _divine_ institution! After this, we strolled off into the woods, where the hands were at work. They were all stout, healthy, and happy-looking, and in answer to my comments on their appearance, the native said that the negroes on the turpentine-farms are always stronger and longer-lived than those on the rice and cotton-fields. Unless carried off by the fevers incident to the climate, they generally reach a good old age, while the rice-negro seldom lives to be over forty, and the cotton-slave very rarely attains sixty. Cotton-growing, however, my host thought, is not, in itself, much more unhealthy than turpentine-gathering, though cotton-hands work in the sun, while the turpentine-slaves labor altogether in the shade. 'But,' he said, 'the' work 'em harder nor we does, an' doan't feed 'em so well. We give ourn meat and whisky ev'ry day, but them articles is skarse 'mong th' cotton blacks, an' th' rice niggers never get 'em excep' ter Christmas-time, an' thet cums but onst a yar.' 'Do you think the white could labor as well as the black, on the rice and cotton-fields?' I asked.