From the Dismal Swamp to Richmond, a distance of about one hundred and forty miles, along the south side of James River, the country is flat and sandy, and for miles together entirely covered with pine trees. In Nansemonde county, bordering on the Swamp, the soil is so poor that but very little corn or grain is raised; it answers well however for peach orchards, which are found to be very profitable. From the peaches they make brandy, and when properly matured it is an excellent liquor, and much esteemed; they give it a very delicious flavour in this part of the country by infusing dried pears in it. Spirit and water is the universal beverage throughout Virginia. They also make considerable quantities of tar and pitch from the pine trees. For this purpose a sort of pit is dug, in which they burn large piles of the trees. The tar runs out, and is deposited at the bottom of the pit, from whence it is taken, cleared of the bits of charcoal that may be mixed with it and put into barrels. The tar, inspissated by boiling, makes pitch. The accommodation at the taverns along this road I found most wretched; nothing was to be had but rancid fish, fat salt pork, and bread made of Indian corn. For this indifferent fare also I had to wait oftentimes an hour or two. Indian corn bread, if well made, is tolerably good, but very few people can relish it on the first trial; it is a coarse, strong kind of bread, which has something of the taste of that made from oats. The best way of preparing it is in cakes; the large loaves made of it are always like dough in the middle. There is a dish also which they make of Indian corn, very common in Virginia and Maryland, called “hominy.” It consists of pounded Indian corn and beans boiled together with milk till the whole mass becomes firm. This is eat, either hot or cold, with bacon, or with other meat.