As I was one day standing near some slaves who were threshing, the driver, thinking one of the women did not use her flail quick enough, struck her over the head:  the end of the whip hit her in the eye.  I thought at the time he had put it out; but, after poulticing and doctoring for some days, she recovered.  Speaking to him about it, he said that he once struck a slave so as to put one of her eyes entirely out.

A patrol is kept upon each estate, and every slave found off the plantation without a pass is whipped on the spot.  I knew a slave who started without a pass, one night, for a neighboring plantation, to see his wife:  he was caught, tied to a tree, and flogged.  He stated his business to the patrol, who was well acquainted with him but all to no purpose.  I spoke to the patrol about it afterwards:  he said he knew the negro, that he was a very clever fellow, but he had to whip him; for, if he let him pass, he must another, &c.  He stated that he had sometimes caught and flogged four in a night.

In conversation with Mr. Swan about runaway slaves, he stated to me the following fact:—­A slave, by the name of Luke, was owned in Wilmington; he was sold to a speculator and carried to Georgia.  After an absence of about two months the slave returned; he watched an opportunity to enter his old master’s house when the family were absent, no one being at home but a young waiting man.  Luke went to the room where his master kept his arms; took his gun, with some ammunition, and went into the woods.  On the return of his master, the waiting man told him what had been done:  this threw him into a violent passion; he swore he would kill Luke, or lose his own life.  He loaded another gun, took two men, and made search, but could not find him:  he then advertised him, offering a large reward if delivered to him or lodged in jail.  His neighbors, however, advised him to offer a reward of two hundred dollars for him dead or alive, which he did.  Nothing however was heard of him for some months.  Mr. Swan said, one of his slaves ran away, and was gone eight or ten weeks; on his return he said he had found Luke, and that he had a rifle, two pistols, and a sword.

I left the plantation in the spring, and returned to the north; when I went out again, the next fall, I asked Mr. Swan if any thing had been heard of Luke; he said he was shot, and related to me the manner of his death, as follows:—­Luke went to one of the plantations, and entered a hut for something to eat.  Being fatigued, he sat down and fell asleep.  There was only a woman in the hut at the time:  as soon as she found he was asleep, she ran and told her master, who took his rifle, and called two white men on another plantation:  the three, with their rifles, then went to the hut, and posted themselves in different positions, so that they could watch the door.  When Luke waked up he went to the door to look out, and saw them with their rifles,