“The stranger notes deficiencies. For instance, a gentleman of Petersburg remarked to me that he thought of sending his son to Edinburgh to make a doctor of him, since he would probably not marry and set up as a planter, being now past the age of twenty-one. But it must be admitted that physically, the Virginians are a comely race, and they show on all subjects clear and strong understandings. It is to be regretted that they do not give more attention to the exact sciences. They read, but they do not study. “Christmas Eve we came to Everett’s Bridge, and the next day to Suffolk, on another arm of Nansemond Creek. In the month of May, 1779, a great part of Suffolk was burned by the British. There are no stones at this place, and the deep, fine sand of the streets is an inconvenience. Before the houses they lay a sort of pavement, pitch and tar mixed with the sand and allowed to harden. They drive a trade from this place to the West Indies in small vessels, shallops of twenty to fifty tons burthen. Salt is an especial article of their traffic. When the vessels, which bring it from Tortola, Turk’s Island and other of the West Indies, are delayed, the price of salt is tripled and quadrupled. During the war the people were greatly in want of salt, and the attempt was made to get it from the sea by damming the water in ponds along the coast. Little success attended this experiment south of the thirty-seventh parallel, probably because of the frequent rain-storms which freshened the ponded sea water. “From Suffolk to Cunningham’s we skirted the great Dismal Swamp. Along the road from York, in Virginia, to this point it is observable that the south bank of all the rivers and creeks is steeper and rougher than the north bank. This may be due to the weathering of the north and northeast storms.” _VI._ _COUNT CASTIGLIONI, CHEVALIER OF THE ORDER OF ST. STEPHEN, P. M._ _1786._ _Luigi Castiglioni--Alexandria--Mount Vernon--General Washington--Fredericksburg--Peach Trees and Persimmons--Richmond--Petersburg--Colonel Banister--Dr. Greenway--Colonel Coles--Staunton River--Buckingham Court House--Eniscotty--Rockfish Gap--Staunton--Middle River Ford--Winchester--Charlestown._ In the diary of George Washington for the year 1785 appear these entries: “Sunday, December 25.--Count Castiglioni came here to dinner. December 29.--Count Castiglioni went away after breakfast on his tour to the southward.”