Colonial South Carolina Report (1750)
Uploaded by Brent Goodin on Feb 15, 2002
George the Second, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, King, Defender of the Faith, I write to thee from the heart of South Carolina, Charleston to impart my knowledge of the region. My travels have been long and arduous. I arrived by way of a freight ship bearing finished goods for the colony on the twenty-eighth day of March, in the twenty-third year of thy reign. All that province, territory, or tract of ground, called South Carolina, lying and being within our dominions of America is well.
The environmental conditions of South Carolina differ dramatically to that of England. The days are long, hot, humid, and at times damp. The people of the colony deserve admiration for dealing with such unfavorable weather. Occasionally, storms stemming from the Atlantic Ocean wreak havoc on the villages, upturning the soil and damaging the trees, but the majority of the days are bright with sunshine. During the spring and summer there is a combination of rain and scorching heat, whereas during the fall and winter it sometimes snows in the northern section of South Carolina, but throughout the rest of the region the climate remains moderately cool. The land is undulating and layered with an abundance of forestry. Yet, the terrain does not consist entirely of woodlands and smooth hills. The land is far from perfect. A large portion of the territory is made up of marshlands. The ground is somewhat blemished by the scattered swamplands. These quagmires are abode with vicious alligators and infested with countless mosquitoes. These bloodsucking mosquitoes in turn spread malaria amongst the populace.
Despite the threat of malaria and fierce alligators, the economy thrives from the environment. South Carolina’s economy is based on agriculture. There are two staple crops: rice and indigo. The grimy swamps mentioned before provide the colony and thy gracious one with rice. Many fields are flooded in order to cultivate enough rice for England and the colony. Freshwater swamps are not the only means by which rice can be produced. A number of the chief rice fields are situated along the tidal rivers and inlets. Dikes and floodgates are used to regulate the amount of water supplied to the field according to whether it is low tide or high tide. The same process is reversed when water needs to be drained from the fields (Garraty, 51). People of Africa’s Rice Coast taught this technique...