Friday 15th. Mercury at 54 in the Morning—66 at Noon and 64 at Night.
Clear, calm, and very pleasant.
After breakfast the two Mr. Lees and Doctr. Craik went away. I rid to Muddy hole & Neck Plantations. Treading out Wheat & rye at both retarded fodder getting at the first, & wheat Sowing at the other.
Sent my Boat to Alexandria for Molasses & Coffee which had been sent to me from Surinam by a Mr. Branden of that place.
sent my boat to alexandria: GW wished to breed Royal Gift, the jackass he had received from Spain in late 1785. Hearing that South America was noted for its jennies, GW, through William Lyles & Co. of Alexandria, got in touch with Samuel Brandon (Branden), a merchant in Surinam (Netherlands Guiana), and asked him to purchase for him “one of the largest & best she asses that can be obtained in your country fit to breed from.” Unsure how much such an animal would cost, GW had 25 barrels of superfine flour placed on board one of Lyles’s ships bound for Surinam. If Brandon could not procure an ass for him, GW asked that he send instead two hogsheads of molasses and some coffee. Brandon sent GW an ass, and molasses and coffee as well, in exchange for the flour (GW to Brandon, 10 Feb., 20 Nov. 1786, DLC:GW).