At last America is in my view; a dreary waste of white barren sand, and melancholy, nodding pines. In the course of many miles, no cheerful cottage has blest my eyes. All seems dreary, savage and desert; and was it for this such sums of money, such streams of British blood have been lavished away? Oh, thou dear land, how dearly hast thou purchased this habitation for bears and wolves. Dearly has it been purchased, and at a price far dearer still it will be kept. My heart dies within me, while I view it.

-Schaw,Janet   b.c.1730
c.1776  On her first sight of the country around Cape Fear. Journal of a Lady of Quality; BeingtheNarrative of aJourney from Scotland to theWest Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the years1774 to1776.