Strange to say, their dwellings and plantation quarters were invariably located on the edges of the swamps, in utter disregard of the manifest laws of health. In such malarial situations was the entire year passed. Their houses at first were built of wood, one story high, with dormer windows in the roofs, small in size, without lights, with no inside linings, and with chimneys of clay. The negro-houses were made either of clay or poles. For market, rice was the only article cultivated. While corn was planted on the upland, chief attention was bestowed upon the clearing, ditching, and drainage of the swamps. A miasmatic soil was thus exposed to the action of the sun, at their very doors. The consequence of such injudicious location, and of a general inattention to domestic comfort, was violent sickness and considerable mortality. So frequent were the deaths among children that they seldom arrived at puberty. Those who attained the age of manhood and womanhood possessed feeble constitutions. According to the register kept by the Society, from 1752 to 1772,—the period during which this settlement was being formed,—193 births and 134 deaths occurred. The mortality was greatest during the months of September, October, and November. April, May, June, and August appear to have been the healthiest months:—June particularly so. Bilious fevers in the fall, and pleurisies in the winter and spring, were the diseases which proved most fatal. It used to be said of such as survived a severe attack of bilious fever in the fall, that they would certainly die of pleurisy in the winter or spring. The Indians being in the vicinity, and at times indulging in acts of hostility, some of the houses of these early settlers were made of hewn cypress logs after the fashion of block houses, and were bullet proof. The style of agriculture in vogue was of the most primitive sort. The ground was tilled with hoes only. Ploughs were not in use. All rails for fencing were carried on the heads and shoulders of the negroes, and in the same manner was rice transported from the fields. This grain was not only threshed but also beaten by hand: and thus was the crop prepared for market. At first some of the planters sold their crops in Savannah. A trip to that place was the event of the year, and the anticipated journey was talked of in the neighborhood for some time before it was undertaken. Horses were specially fed and carefully attended for a week or more preparatory to the jaunt. Ordinary journeys to church, and of a social character, were performed on horseback. Hence horse-blocks were to be seen at every door. When he would a-wooing go, the gallant appeared mounted upon his finest steed and in his best attire, followed by a servant on another horse, conveying his master’s valise behind him.