The author describes Williamsburg, that capital city, but being fond of sports, he gives most space to the races: “Very capital horses are started here, such as would make no despicable figure at Newmarket; nor is their speed, bottom or blood inferior to their appearance. Their stock is from old Cade, old Crab, old Partner, Regulus, Babraham, Bosphorus, Devonshire Childers, the Cullen Arabian, the Cumberland Arabian, &c., in England; and a horse from Arabia named the Bellsize, which was imported into America and is now in existence.” The quarter-racing of Southern Virginia and North Carolina struck Smyth as being a strange institution. Many early travelers devote a page or two to the quarter-race, a match between two horses to run one-quarter of a mile straight out. Smyth observes: “They have a breed in Virginia that performs it with astonishing velocity, beating every other for that distance with great ease; but they have no bottom. However, I am confident that there is not a horse in England, nor perhaps the whole world, that can excel them in rapid speed; and these likewise make excellent saddle horses for the road. The Virginians, of all ranks and denominations, are excessively fond of horses, and especially those of the race breed. Nobody walks on foot the smallest distance, except when hunting; indeed, a man will frequently go five miles to catch a horse, to ride only one mile afterwards.” Returning from Williamsburg to Jamestown, Smyth joined the ship again, which, on the 9th of August, got “under weigh” for City Point. They passed many delightful situations and charming seats, the names of which are still well known either actually or historically. At City Point the genial author hired a boat and four negroes for a dollar and a half per day to continue up the river to Richmond. “I slept on board the boat, and on the 11th, in the forenoon, landed at the town of Shokoes, at the falls of James River. There are three towns at this place. Richmond, the largest, is below the falls, and is separated only by a creek, named Shokoes, from the town of Shokoes. On the south side of the river stands the town of Chesterfield, best known by the name of Rocky Ridge.” In those days the river was the road to town. Tobacco was boated down to Westham, seven miles above the falls, and thence brought by land carriage to Shokoes, or Richmond. Smyth speaks of a man who, bringing a double load down to Westham, unconsciously kept on, passed all the falls, and arrived not quite sobered at Shokoes. “This is one of the most extraordinary accidents that has occurred, or perhaps was ever heard of.”