undertaking. What little clothing and few house-
hold goods we had were placed in a cart, but the
children walked the greater portion of the distance,
which was several hundred miles.

I do not think any of us ever had been very far
from the plantation, and the taking of a long jour-
ney into another state was quite an event. The
parting from our former owners and the members
of our own race on the plantation was a serious
occasion. From the time of our parting till their
death we kept up a correspondence with the older
members of the family, and in later years we have
kept in touch with those who were the younger
members. We were several weeks making the trip,
and most of the time we slept in the open air and
did our cooking over a log fire out-of-doors. One
night I recall that we camped near an abandoned
log cabin, and my mother decided to build a fire in
that for cooking, and afterward to make a "pallet"
on the floor for our sleeping. Just as the fire had
gotten well started a large black snake fully a yard
and a half long dropped down the chimney and ran
out on the floor. Of course we at once abandoned
that cabin. Finally we reached our destination -- a
little town called Malden, which is about five miles
from Charleston, the present capital of the state.

At that time salt-mining was the great industry in

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