.MTM3MQ.MTE2NTY3

99 when we heard the distant bark of a dog; we concluded we could not be very far from a settlement. We hollorred 'like mad' for half an hour when we were responded to by human voices. Three gentlemen from a plantation about 1/4 mile off kindly came to our assistance & with much difficulty extracted us out of the "brush" talking as to their habitation. A good supper was prepared for us & we all had a hearty laugh at the late 'fix' we had been in. This was a corroboration of advice often given to us that "When in a strange country, inthout? the traveller is a backwoodsman, not to travel of a dark night if it can be avoided."

10th Here we found the Bonnet-gourd, in great perfection; two feet long, green exterior, when split seen to be full of black seeds imbedded in fibrous & mucilegenous matters; the latter being washed away, the seeds fall out & a slightly yellowish tissue of fibres remains, which bleaches white by exposure to the sun, when it is made into ladies bonnets, hats, mats for the table & lastly "cup cloths & dish-rags" X Ten miles