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diff --git a/35133.txt b/35133.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd97829 --- /dev/null +++ b/35133.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7718 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The South-West, by Joseph Holt Ingraham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The South-West + By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 1 + +Author: Joseph Holt Ingraham + +Release Date: January 31, 2011 [EBook #35133] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOUTH-WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE + + SOUTH-WEST. + + + + + BY A YANKEE. + + + + + Where on my way I went; + ------------A pilgrim from the North-- + Now more and more attracted, as I drew + Nearer and nearer. + + ROGERS' ITALY. + + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + + + + NEW-YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, CLIFF-ST. + 1835. + + + + +[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, +by HARPER & BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern +District of New-York.] + + + + + TO THE + + HON. JOHN A. QUITMAN, + + EX-CHANCELLOR OF MISSISSIPPI, + + THESE VOLUMES + + ARE + + RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED + + BY + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The succeeding pages grew out of a private correspondence, which the +author, at the solicitation of his friends, has been led to throw into +the present form, modifying in a great measure the epistolary vein, and +excluding, so far as possible, such portions of the original papers as +were of too personal a nature to be intruded upon the majesty of the +public;--while he has embodied, so far as was compatible with the new +arrangement, every thing likely to interest the general reader. + +The author has not written exclusively as a traveller or journalist. His +aim has been to present the result of his experience and observations +during a residence of several years in the South-West. This extensive +and important section of the United States is but little known. Perhaps +there is no region between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic +shores, of which so little accurate information is before the public; a +flying tourist only, having occasionally added a note to his diary, as +he skirted its forest-lined borders. + +New-York, Sept. 1835. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. + + A state of bliss--Cabin passenger--Honey-hunting--Sea-life--Its + effects--Green horns--Reading--Tempicide--Monotony--Wish for + excitement--Superlative misery--Log--Combustible materials--Cook + and bucket--Contrary winds--All ready, good Sirs--Impatient + passengers--Signal for sailing--Leave-takings--Sheet home--Under + weigh. Page 13 + + + II. + + A tar's headway on land--A gentleman's at sea--An agreeable trio + --Musical sounds--Helmsman--Supper Steward--A truism--Helmsman's + cry--Effect--Cases for bipeds--Lullaby--Sleep. 20 + + + III. + + Shakspeare--Suicide or a 'foul' deed--A conscientious table-- + Fishing smacks--A pretty boy--Old Skipper, Skipper junior, and + little Skipper--A young Caliban--An alliterate Man--Fisherman-- + Nurseries--Navy--The Way to train up a Child--Gulf Stream-- + Humboldt--Crossing the Gulf--Ice ships--Yellow fields--Flying + fish--A game at bowls--Bermuda--A post of observation--Men, + dwellings, and women of Bermuda--St. George--English society-- + Washing decks--Mornings at sea--Evenings at sea--A Moonlight + scene--The ocean on fire--Its phosphorescence--Hypotheses 25 + + + IV. + + Land--Abaco--Fleet--Hole in the Wall--A wrecker's hut--Bahama + vampyres--Light houses--Conspiracy--Wall of Abaco--Natural + Bridge--Cause--Night scene--Speak a packet ship--A floating + city--Wrecker's lugger--Signal of distress--A Yankee lumber + brig--Portuguese Man of War. 42 + + + V. + + A calm--A breeze on the water--The land of flowers--Juan Ponce de + Leon--The fountain of perpetual youth--An irremediable loss to + single gentlemen--Gulf Stream--New-Providence--Cuba--Pan of + Matanzas--Blue hills of Cuba--An armed cruiser--Cape St. Antonio + --Pirates--Enter the Mexican Gulf--Mobile--A southern winter--A + farewell to the North and a welcome to the South--The close of the + voyage--Balize--Fleet--West Indiaman--Portuguese polacre--Land ho! + --The land--Its formation--Pilot or "little brief authority"-- + Light house--Revenue cutter--Newspapers--"The meeting of the + waters"--A singular appearance--A morning off the Balize--The + tow-boat 55 + + + VI. + + The Mississippi--The Whale--Description of tow-boats--A package--A + threatened storm--A beautiful brigantine--Physiognomy of ships-- + Richly furnished cabin--An obliging Captain--Desert the ship-- + Getting under weigh--A chain of captives--Towing--New-Orleans--A + mystery to be unraveled. 64 + + + VII. + + Louisiana--Arrival at New-Orleans--Land--Pilot stations--Pilots + --Anecdote--Fort--Forests--Levee--Crevasses--Alarms--Accident-- + Espionage--A Louisianian palace--Grounds--Sugar-house--Quarters + --An African governess--Sugar-Cane--St. Mary--"English Turn"-- + Cavalcade--Battle-ground--Music Sounds of the distant city--Land + in New-Orleans--An _amateur_ sailor. 73 + + + VIII. + + Bachelor's comforts--A valuable valet--Disembarked at the Levee + --A fair Castilian--Canaille--The Crescent city--Reminiscence of + school days--French cabarets--Cathedral--Exchange--Cornhill--A + chain of light--A fracas--Gens d'Armes--An affair of honour-- + Arrive at our hotel 87 + + + IX. + + Sensations on seeing a city for the first time--Capt. Kidd-- + Boston--Fresh feelings--An appreciated luxury--A human medley + --School for physiognomists--A morning scene in New-Orleans-- + Canal street--Levee--French and English stores--Parisian and + Louisianian pronunciation--Scenes in the market--Shipping--A + disguised rover--Mississippi fleets--Ohio river arks--Slave laws. + 96 + + X. + + First impressions--A hero of the "Three Days"--Children's ball-- + Life in New-Orleans--A French supper--Omnibuses--Chartres street + at twilight--Calaboose--Guard house--The vicinage of a theatre-- + French cafes--Scenes in the interior of a cafe--Dominos--Tobacco + smokers--New-Orleans society. 108 + + + XI. + + Interior of a ball room--Creole ladies--Infantile dancers--French + children--American children--A singular division--New-Orleans + ladies--Northern and southern beauty--An agreeable custom--Leave + the assembly room--An olio of languages--The Exchange--Confusion + of tongues--Temples of Fortune. 117 + + + XII. + + The Goddess of fortune--Billiard rooms--A professor--Hells--A + respectable banking company--"Black-legs"--Faro described-- + Dealers--Bank--A novel mode of franking--Roulette table--A supper + in Orcus--Pockets to let--Dimly lighted streets--Some things not + so bad as they are represented. 127 + + + XIII. + + A sleepy porter--Cry of fire--Noise in the streets--A wild scene + at midnight--A splendid illumination--Steamers wrapped in flames + --A river on fire--Firemen--A lively scene--Floating cotton-- + Boatmen--An ancient Portuguese Charon--A boat race--Pugilists--A + hero 137 + + + XIV. + + Canal-street--Octagonal church--Government house--Future + prospects of New-Orleans--Roman chapel--Mass for the dead-- + Interior of the chapel--Mourners--Funeral--Cemeteries--Neglect + of the dead--English and American grave yards--Regard of + European nations for their dead--Roman Catholic cemetery in + New-Orleans--Funeral procession--Tombs--Burying in water-- + Protestant grave-yard. 145 + + + XV. + + An old friend--Variety in the styles of building--Love for + flowers--The basin--Congo square--The African bon-ton of + New-Orleans--City canals--Effects of the cholera--Barracks-- + Guard-houses--The ancient convent of the Ursulines--The school + for boys--A venerable edifice--Principal--Recitations--Mode of + instruction--Primary department--Infantry tactics--Education in + general in New-Orleans. 158 + + + XVI. + + Rail-road--A new avenue to commerce--Advantages of the rail-way + --Ride to the lake--The forest--Village at the lake--Pier-- + Fishers--Swimmers--Mail-boat--Cafes--Return--An unfortunate cow + --New-Orleans streets. 171 + + + XVII. + + The legislature--Senators and representatives--Tenney--Gurley + --Ripley--Good feeling among members--Translated speeches-- + Ludicrous situations--Slave law--Bishop's hotel--Tower--View + from its summit--Bachelor establishments--Peculiar state of + society. 178 + + + XVIII. + + Saddle horses and accoutrements--Banks--Granite--Church-members + --French mode of dressing--Quadroons--Gay scene and groups in the + streets--Sabbath evening--Duelling ground--An extensive cotton + press--A literary germ--A mysterious institution--Scenery in the + suburbs--Convent--Catholic education. 186 + + + XIX. + + Battle-ground--Scenery on the road--A peaceful scene--American + and British quarters--View of the field of battle--Breastworks + --Oaks--Packenham--A Tennessee rifleman--Anecdote--A gallant + British officer--Grape-shot--Young traders--A relic--Leave the + ground--A last view of it from the Levee. 196 + + + XX. + + Scene in a bar room--Affaires d'honneur--A Sabbath morning--Host + --Public square--Military parades--Scenes in the interior of a + cathedral--Mass--A sanctified family--Crucifix--Different ways of + doing the same thing--Altar--Paintings--The Virgin--Females + devotees. 207 + + + XXI. + + Sabbath in New-Orleans--Theatre--Interior--A New-Orleans audience + --Performance--Checks--Theatre d'Orleans--Interior--Boxes-- + Audience--Play--Actors and actresses--Institutions--M. Poydras-- + Liberality of the Orleanese--Extracts from Flint upon New-Orleans. 219 + + + XXII. + + A drive into the country--Pleasant road--Charming villa--Children + at play--Governess--Diversities of society--Education in + Louisiana--Visit to a sugar-house--Description of sugar-making, + &c.--A plantation scene--A planter's grounds--Children--Trumpeter + --Pointer--Return to the city. 229 + + + XXIII. + + Leave New-Orleans--The Mississippi--Scenery--Evening on the water + --Scenes on the deck of a steamer--Passengers--Plantations-- + Farm-houses--Catholic college--Convent of the Sacred Heart--Caged + birds--Donaldsonville--The first highland--Baton Rouge--Its + appearance--Barracks--Scenery--Squatters--Fort Adams--Way + passengers--Steamer. 245 + + + + +THE SOUTH WEST. + + + + +I. + + A state of bliss--Cabin passenger--Honey-hunting--Sea-life + --Its effects--Green horns--Reading--Tempicide--Monotony-- + Wish for excitement--Superlative misery--Log--Combustible + materials--Cook and bucket--Contrary winds--All ready, good + Sirs--Impatient passengers--Signal for sailing--Under weigh. + + +To be a "Cabin passenger" fifteen or twenty days _out_, in a Yankee +merchantman, is to be in a state as nearly resembling that of a +half-assoilzied soul in purgatory, as flesh and blood can well be placed +in. A meridian sun--a cloudless sky--a sea of glass, like a vast burning +reflector, giving back a twin-heaven inverted--a dry, hot air, as though +exhaled from a Babylonian furnace, and a deck, with each plank heated to +the foot like a plate of hot steel--with the "Horse latitudes," for the +scene, might, perhaps, heighten the resemblance. + +Zimmerman, in his excellent essay upon Solitude, has described man, in a +"state of solitary indolence and inactivity, as sinking by degrees, like +stagnant water, into impurity and corruption." Had he intended to +describe from experience, the state of man as "Cabin passenger" after +the novelty of his new situation upon the heaving bosom of the "dark +blue sea," had given place to the tiresome monotony of never-varying, +daily repeated scenes, he could not have illustrated it by a more +striking figure. This is a state of which you are happily ignorant. +Herein, ignorance is the height of bliss, although, should a Yankee +propensity for peregrinating stimulate you to become wiser by +experience, I will not say that your folly will be more apparent than +your wisdom. But if you continue to vegetate in the lovely valley of +your nativity, one of "New-England's yeomanry," as you are wont, not a +little proudly, to term yourself--burying for that distinctive honour +your collegiate laurels beneath the broad-brim of the farmer--exchanging +your "gown" for his frock--"Esq." for plain "squire," and the Mantuan's +Georgics for those of the Maine Farmer's Almanac--I will cheerfully +travel for you; though, as I shall have the benefit of the wear and +tear, rubs and bruises--it will be like honey-hunting in our school-boy +days, when one fought the bees while the other secured the sweet +plunder. + +This sea life, to one who is not a sailor, is a sad enough existence--if +it may be termed such. The tomb-stone inscription "Hic jacet," becomes +prematurely his own, with the consolatory adjunct _et non resurgam_. A +condition intermediate between life and death, but more assimilated to +the latter than the former, it is passed, almost invariably, in that +proverbial inactivity, mental and corporeal, which is the well-known +and unavoidable consequence of a long passage. It is a state in which +existence is burthensome and almost insupportable, destroying that +healthy tone of mind and body, so necessary to the preservation of the +economy of the frame of man.--Nothing will so injure a good disposition, +as a long voyage. Seeds of impatience and of indolence are there sown, +which will be for a long period painfully manifest. The sweetest +tempered woman I ever knew, after a passage of sixty days, was converted +into a querulous Xantippe; and a gentleman of the most active habits, +after a voyage of much longer duration, acquired such indolent ones, +that his usefulness as a man of business was for a long time destroyed; +and it was only by the strongest application of high, moral energy, +emanating from a mind of no common order, that he was at length enabled +wholly to be himself again. There is but one antidote for this disease, +which should be nosologically classed as _Melancholia Oceana_, and that +is employment. But on ship-board, this remedy, like many other good ones +on shore, cannot always be found. A meddling, bustling passenger, whose +sphere on land has been one of action, and who pants to move in his +little circumscribed orbit at sea, is always a "lubberly green horn," or +"clumsy marine," in every tar's way--in whose eye the "passenger" is +only fit to thin hen-coops, bask in the sun, talk to the helmsman, or, +now and then, desperately venture up through the "lubber's hole" to look +for _land_ a hundred leagues in mid ocean, or, cry "sail ho!" as the +snowy mane of a distant wave, or the silvery crest of a miniature cloud +upon the horizon, flashes for an instant upon his unpractised vision. + +A well-selected library, which is a great luxury at sea, and like most +luxuries very rare, does wonders toward lessening this evil; but it is +still far from constituting a _panacea_. I know not how it is, unless +the patient begins in reality to suspect that he is taking _reading_ as +a prescription against the foe, and converting his volumes into pill +boxes--which by and by gets to be too painfully the truth--but the +appetite soon becomes sated, the mind wearied, and the most fascinating +and favourite authors "pall upon the sense" with a tiresome familiarity. +Reading becomes hateful, for the very reason that it has become +necessary. Amusements are exhausted, invented, changed, varied, and +again exhausted. Every thing upon which the attention fixes itself, +vainly wooing something novel, soon becomes insipid. Chess, back-gammon, +letter-writing, journalizing, smoking, eating, drinking, and sleeping, +may at first contribute not a little to the discomfiture of old Time, +who walks the _sea_ shod with leaden sandals. The last three enumerated +items, however, generally hold out to the last undisabled. But three +Wellingtons could not have won Waterloo unsupported; nor, able and +doughty as are these bold three--much as they prolong the +combat--manfully as they fight, can they hold good their ground for +ever; the obstinate, scythe-armed warrior, with his twenty-four body +guards following him like his shadow, will still maintain the broadest +portion of his diurnal territory, over which, manoeuvre as they may, +these discomfited worthies cannot extend their front. + +Few situations are less enviable, than that of the worn voyager, as day +after day "drags its slow length along," presenting to his restless, +listless eyes, as he stretches them wearily over the leaden waste around +him--the same unbroken horizon, forming the periphery of a circle, of +which his vessel seems to be the immovable and everlasting centre--the +same blue, unmeaning skies above--the same blue sea beneath and +around--the same gigantic tracery of ropes and spars, whose fortuitous +combinations of strange geometrical figures he has demonstrated, till +they are as familiar as the diagrams on a turtle's back to an alderman; +and the same dull white sails, with whose patches he has become as +familiar as with the excrescences and other innocent defects upon the +visages of his fellow-sufferers. + +On leaving port, I commenced a journal, or rather, as I am in a nautical +atmosphere, a "log," the choicest chips of which shall be hewn off, +basketed in fools-cap, and duly transmitted to you. Like other chips +they may be useful to kindle the fire withal. "What may not warm the +feelings may--the toes," is a truism of which you need not be reminded: +and if you test it practically, it will not be the first time good has +been elicited from evil. But the sameness of a sea-life will by no means +afford me many combustible incidents. Somebody has said "the will is +equal to the deed, if the deed cannot be." Now I have the will to pile a +hecatomb, but if I can pile only a couple of straws, it will be, of +course, the same thing in the abstract. Mine, perchance, may be the fate +of that poor journalist who, in a voyage across the Atlantic, could +obtain but one wretched item wherewith to fill his journal--which he +should have published, by the way. What a rare sort of a book it would +have been! So soon read too! In this age when type-blotted books are +generative, it would immortalize the author. Tenderly handed down from +one generation to another, it would survive the "fall of empires, and +the crash of worlds." "At three and a quarter P. M., ship going +two and a half knots per hour, the cook lost his bucket +over-board--jolly boat lowered, and Jack and Peter rowed after it." + +"Half-past three, P. M.--Cook has got his bucket again--and a +broken head into the bargain." + +To one who has never "played with Ocean's mane," nor, borne by his +white-winged coursers, scoured his pathless fields, there may be, even +in the common-place descriptions of sea-scenes, something, which wears +the charm of novelty. If my hasty sketches can contribute to your +entertainment "o' winter nights," or, to the gratification of your +curiosity, they will possess an influence which I do not promise or +predict for them. + +Unfavourable winds had detained our ship several days, and all who had +taken passage were on the "tiptoe of expectation" for the signal for +sailing. Trunks, boxes, chests, cases, carpet-bags, and all the +paraphernalia of travelling equipage, had long been packed, locked, and +shipped--and our eyes had hourly watched the fickle gyrations of a +horizontal gilt figure, which surmounted the spire of a neighbouring +church, till they ached again. Had the image been Eolus himself, it +could not have commanded more devoted worshippers. + +A week elapsed--and patience, which hitherto had been admirably +sustained, began to flag; murmurings proceeded from the lips of more +than one of the impatient passengers, as by twos and threes, they would +meet by a kind of sympathetic affinity at the corners of the streets, +where an unobstructed view could be obtained of some church-vane, all of +which, throughout our city of churches, had taken a most unaccommodating +fancy to kick their golden-shod heels at the Northern Bear. + +At precisely twenty minutes before three of the clock, on the afternoon +of the first of November instant, the phlegmatic personage in the gilt +robe, very obligingly, after he had worn our patience to shreds by his +obstinacy, let his head and heels exchange places. At the same moment, +ere he had ceased vibrating and settled himself steadily in his new +position, the welcome signal was made, and in less than half an hour +afterward, we were all, with bag and baggage, on board the ship, which +rode at her anchor two hundred fathoms from the shore. + +The top-sails, already loosed, were bellying and wildly collapsing with +a loud noise, in the wind; but bounding to their posts at the command +of their superior officer, the active seamen soon extended them upon the +spars--immense fields of swelling canvass; and our vessel gracefully +moved from her moorings, and glided through the water with the lightness +of a swan. + +As we moved rapidly down the noble harbour, which, half a century since, +bore upon its bosom the hostile fleet of the proud island of the north, +the swelling ocean was sending in its evening tribute to the continent, +in vast scrolls, which rolled silently, but irresistibly onward, and +majestically unfolded upon the beach--or, with a hoarse roar, resounded +along the cliffs, and surged among the rocky throats of the promontory, +impressing the mind with emotions of sublimity and awe. + + + + + II. + + A tar's headway on land--A gentleman's at sea--An agreeable + trio--Musical sounds--Helmsman--Supper--Steward--A truism-- + Helmsman's cry--Effect--Cases for bipeds--Lullaby--Sleep. + + +The motion was just sufficiently lively to inspirit one--making the +blood frolic through the veins, and the heart beat more proudly. The old +tars, as they cruised about the decks, walked as steadily as on land. +This proves nothing, you may say, if you have witnessed Jack's +pendulating, uncertain--"right and left oblique" advance on a shore +cruise. + +Our tyros of the sea, in their venturesome projections of their persons +from one given point in their eye to another, in the hope of +accomplishing a straight line, after vacillating most appallingly, would +finally succeed "haud passibus aequis" in reaching the position aimed +for, fortunate if a lee-lurch did not accommodate them with a dry bed in +the "lee scuppers." + +Of all laughter-exciting locomotives which most create sensations of the +ludicrously serious, commend me to an old land-crab teaching its young +one to "go _ahead_"--a drunkard, reeling homeward through a broad street +on a Saturday night--and a "gentleman passenger" three days at sea in +his strange evolutions over the deck. + +Stretched before me upon the weather hen-coop, enveloped in his cloak, +lay one of our "goodlie companie." If his sensations were such as I +imagined them to be, he must have felt that the simplest chicken under +him wore the stoutest heart. + +On the lee hen-coop reposed another passenger in sympathy with his +fellow, to whose feelings I felt a disposition to do equal justice. +Abaft the wheel, coiled up in the rigging, an agreeable substitute for a +bed of down, lay half obscured within the shadow of the lofty stern, +another overdone toper--a victim of Neptune, not of the "jolly god"--but +whose sensations have been experienced by many of the latter's pupils, +who have never tasted other salt water than their own tears. + +It has been said or sung by some one, that the "ear is the road to the +heart." That it was so to the stomach, I already began to feel, could +not be disputed; and as certain "guttural sounds" began to multiply from +various quarters, with startling emphasis, lest I should be induced to +sympathize with the fallen novitiates around me, by some _overt_ act, I +hastily glided by the helmsman, who stood alone like the sole survivor +of a battle-field--his weather-beaten visage illuminated at the moment +with a strange glare from the "binnacle-lamp" which, concealed within a +case like a single-windowed pigeon house, and open in front of him, +burned nightly at his feet. The next moment I was in the cabin, now +lighted up by a single lamp suspended from the centre of the ceiling, +casting rather shade than light upon a small table--studiously arranged +for supper by the steward--that non-descript _locum tenens_ for +valet--waiter--chambermaid--shoe-black--cook's-mate, and swearing-post +for irascible captains to vent stray oaths upon, when the wind is +ahead--with a flying commission for here, there, and nowhere! when most +wanted. + +But the supper! ay, the supper. Those for whom the inviting display was +made, were, I am sorry to say it, most unhesitatingly "floored" and +quite _hors du combat_. What a deal of melancholy truth there is in that +aphorism, which teaches us that the "brave must yield to the braver!" + +As I stood beside the helmsman, I could feel the gallant vessel +springing away from under me, quivering through every oaken nerve, like +a high-mettled racer with his goal but a bound before him. As she +encountered some more formidable wave, there would be a tremendous +outlay of animal-like energy, a momentary struggle, a half recoil, a +plunging, trembling--_onward_ rush--then a triumphant riding over the +conquered foe, scattering the gems from its shivered crest in glittering +showers over her bows. Then gliding with velocity over the glassy +concave beyond, swaying to its up-lifting impulse with a graceful +inclination of her lofty masts, and almost sweeping the sea with her +yards, she would majestically recover herself in time to gather power +for a fresh victory. + +Within an hour after clearing the last head-land, whose lights, level +with the plain of the sea, gleamed afar off, twinkling and lessened like +stars, with which they were almost undistinguishably mingled on the +horizon--we had exchanged the abrupt, irregular "seas" of the bay, for +the regular, majestically rolling billows of the ocean. + +I had been for some time pacing the deck, with the "officer of the +watch" to recover my sea-legs, when the helmsman suddenly shouted in a +wild startling cry, heard, mingling with the wind high above the booming +of the sea, the passing hour of the night watch.--"Four bells."--"Four +bells," repeated the only one awake on the forecastle, and the next +moment the ship's bell rung out loud and clear--wildly swelling upon the +gale, then mournfully dying away in the distance as the toll ceased, +like the far-off strains of unearthly music-- + + "----Died the solemn knell + As a trumpet music dies, + By the night wind borne away + Through the wild and stormy skies." + +There is something so awful in the loud voice of a man mingling with the +deep tones of a bell, heard at night upon the sea, that familiar as my +ear was with the sounds--the blood chilled at my heart as this "lonely +watchman's cry" broke suddenly upon the night. + +When he again told the hour I was safely stowed away in a comfortable +berth, not so large as that of Goliah of Gath by some cubits, yet +admirably adapted to the sea, which serves most discourteously the +children of Somnus, unless they fit their berths like a modern M. D. his +sulkey, lulled to sleep by the rattling of cordage, the measured tread +of the watch directly over me, the moanings, _et caetera_, of sleepless +neighbours, the roaring of the sea, the howling of the wind, and the +gurgling and surging of the water, as the ship rushed through it, +shaking the waves from her sides, as the lion scatters the dew from his +mane, and the musical rippling of the eddies--like a glassichord, +rapidly run over by light fingers--curling and singing under the keel. + + + + +III. + + Shakspeare--Suicide or a 'fowl' deed--A conscientious fable + --Fishing smacks--A pretty boy--Old Skipper, Skipper junior, + and little Skipper--A young Caliban--An alliterate Man-- + Fishermen--Nurseries--Navy--The Way to train up a Child-- + Gulf Stream--Humboldt--Crossing the Gulf--Ice-ships--Yellow + fields--Flying fish--A game at bowls--Bermuda--A post of + observation--Men, dwellings, and women of Bermuda--St. + George--English society--Washing decks--Mornings at sea-- + Evenings at sea--A Moonlight scene--The ocean on fire--Its + phosphorescence--Hypotheses. + + +"Let's whip these stragglers o'er the seas again," was the gentle +oratory of the aspiring Richard, in allusion to the invading +Bretagnes.-- + + "Lash hence these overweening rags of France." + +The interpreter of the heart's natural language--Shakspeare, above all +men, was endowed with human inspiration. His words come ripe to our lips +like the fruit of our own thoughts. We speak them naturally and +unconsciously. They drop from us like the unpremeditated language of +children--spring forth unbidden--the richest melody of the mind. Strong +passion, whether of grief or joy while seeking in the wild excitement of +the moment her own words for utterance, unconsciously enunciates _his_, +with a natural and irresistible energy. There is scarcely a human +thought, great or simple, which Shakspeare has not spoken for his +fellow-men, as never man, uninspired, spake; which he has not embodied +and clothed with a drapery of language, unsurpassable. So-- + + "Let's whip _this_ straggler o'er the seas again," + +I have very good reason to fear, will flow all unconsciously from your +lips, as most applicable to my barren letter; in penning which I shall +be driven to extremity for any thing of an interesting character. If it +must be so, I am, of all epistlers, the most innocent. + +Ship, air, and ocean equally refuse to furnish me with a solitary +incident. My wretched "log" now and then records an event: such as for +instance, how one of "the Doctor's" plumpest and most deliriously +_embonpoint_ pullets, very rashly and unadvisedly perpetrated a +summerset over-board, after she had been decapitated by that sable +gentleman, in certainly the most approved and scientific style. None but +a very silly chicken could have been dissatisfied with the +unexceptionable manner in which the operation was performed. But, both +feathered and plucked bipeds, it seems, it is equally hard to please. + +For the last fourteen days we have been foot-balls for the winds and +waves. Their game may last as many more; therefore, as we have as little +free agency in our movements as foot-balls themselves, we have made up +our minds to yield our fretted bodies as philosophically as may be, to +their farther pastime. The sick have recovered, and bask the hours away +on deck in the beams of the warm south sun, like so many luxurious +crocodiles. + +To their good appetites let our table bear witness. Should it be blessed +with a conscience, it is doubly blessed by having it cleared thrice +daily by the most rapacious father-confessors that ever shrived +penitent; of which "gentlemen of the _cloth_" it boasts no less than +eight. + +The first day we passed through a widely dispersed fleet of those short, +stump-masted _non-descripts_, with swallow-tailed sterns, snubbed bows, +and black hulls, sometimes denominated fishing smacks, but oftener and +more euphoniously, "Chebacco boats," which, from May to October, are +scattered over our northern seas. + +While we dashed by them, one after another, in our lofty vessel, as, +close-hauled on the wind, or "wing and wing," they flew over the foaming +sea, I could not help smiling at the ludicrous scenes which some of +their decks exhibited. + +One of them ran so close to us, that we could have tossed a potato into +the "skipper's" dinner-pot, which was boiling on a rude hearth of bricks +placed upon the open deck, under the _surveillance_ of, I think, the +veriest mop-headed, snub-nosed bit of an urchin that I ever saw. + +"Keep away a little, or you'll run that fellow down," suddenly shouted +the captain to the helmsman; and the next moment the little fishing +vessel shot swiftly under our stern, just barely clearing the spanker +boom, whirling and bouncing about in the wild swirl of the ship's wake +like a "Massallah boat" in the surf of Madras. + +There were on board of her four persons, including the steersman--a +tall, gaunt old man, whose uncovered gray locks streamed in the wind as +he stooped to his little rudder to luff up across our wake. The lower +extremities of a loose pair of tar-coated duck trowsers, which he wore, +were incased, including the best part of his legs, in a pair of +fisherman's boots, made of leather which would flatten a rifle ball. His +red flannel shirt left his hairy breast exposed to the icy winds, and a +huge pea-jacket, thrown, Spanish fashion, over his shoulders, was +fastened at the throat by a single button. His tarpaulin--a little +narrow-brimmed hat of the pot-lid tribe, secured by a ropeyarn--had +probably been thrown off in the moment of danger, and now hung swinging +by a lanyard from the lower button-hole of his jacket. + +As his little vessel struggled like a drowning man in the yawning +concave made by the ship, he stood with one hand firmly grasping his +low, crooked rudder, and with the other held the main sheet, which alone +he tended. A short pipe protruded from his mouth, at which he puffed +away incessantly; one eye was tightly closed, and the other was so +contracted within a network of wrinkles, that I could just discern the +twinkle of a gray pupil, as he cocked it up at our quarter-deck, and +took in with it the noble size, bearing, and apparel of our fine ship. + +A duplicate of the old helmsman, though less battered by storms and +time, wearing upon his chalky locks a red, woollen, conical cap, was +"easing off" the foresheet as the little boat passed; and a third was +stretching his neck up the companion ladder, to stare at the "big ship," +while the little carroty-headed imp, who was just the old skipper +_razeed_, was performing the culinary operations of his little kitchen +under cover of the heavens. + +Our long pale faces tickled the young fellow's fancy extremely. + +"Dad," squalled the youthful reprobate, in the softest, hinge-squeaking +soprano--"Dad, I guess as how them ar' chaps up thar, ha'nt lived on +salt grub long."--The rascal--we could have minced him with his own fish +and potatoes. + +"Hold your yaup, you youngster you," roared the old man in reply.--The +rest of the beautiful alliteration was lost in the distance, as his +smack bounded from us, carrying the young _sans-culotte_ out of reach of +the consequences of his temerity. To mention _salt grub_ to men of our +stomachs' capacity, at that moment! He merited impaling upon one of his +own cod-hooks. In ten minutes after, we could just discern the glimmer +of the little vessel's white sails on the verge of the distant horizon, +in whose hazy hue the whole fleet soon disappeared. + +These vessels were on a tardy return from their Newfoundland harvests, +which, amid fogs and squalls, are gathered with great toil and privation +between the months of May and October. The fishermen constitute a +distinct and peculiar class--not of society, but of men. To you I need +not describe them. They are to be seen at any time, and in great +numbers, about the wharves of New-England sea-ports in the winter +season--weather-browned, long-haired, coarsely garbed men, with honesty +and good nature stamped upon their furrowed and strongly marked +features. They are neither "seamen" nor "countrymen," in the usual +signification of these words, but a compound of both; combining the +careless, free-and-easy air of the one, with the awkwardness and +simplicity of the other. Free from the grosser vices which characterize +the foreign-voyaged _sailor_, they seldom possess, however, that +religious tone of feeling which distinguishes the ruder _countryman_. + +Marblehead and Cape Cod are the parent nurseries of these hardy men. +Portland has, however, begun to foster them, thereby adding a new and +vigorous sinew to her commercial strength. In conjunction with the whale +fisheries, to which the cod are a sort of introductory school, these +fisheries are the principal nurseries of American seamen. I have met +with many American ships' crews, one-half or two-thirds of which were +composed of men who had served their apprenticeship in the "fisheries." +The youth and men whom they send forth are the bone and muscle of our +navy. They have an instinctive love for salt water. Every one who is a +parent, takes his sons, one after another, as they doff their +petticoats, if the freedom of their limbs was ever restrained by such +unnecessary appendages, and places them on the deck of his fishing +smack; teaches them to call the ropes by their names, bait, fling, and +patiently watch the deceptive hook, and dart the harpoon, or plunge the +grains--just as the Indian is accustomed to lead his warrior-boys forth +to the hunting grounds, and teach them to track the light-footed game, +or heavier-heeled foe--wing, with unerring aim, the fatal arrow, or +launch the deadly spear. + +The three succeeding days we were delayed by calms, or contending with +gales and head winds. On the morning of the seventh day "out," there was +a general exclamation of surprise from the passengers as they came on +deck. + +"How warm!" "What a suffocating air!" "We must have sailed well last +night to be so far south!" They might well have been surprised if this +change in the temperature had been gained by regular "southing." But, +alas, we had barely lessened our latitude twenty miles during the night. +We had entered the Gulf Stream! that extraordinary natural phenomenon of +the Atlantic Ocean. This immense circle of tepid water which revolves in +the Atlantic, enclosing within its periphery, the West India and Western +Islands, is supposed by Humboldt to be occasioned "by the current of +rotation (trade winds) which strikes against the coasts of Veraguas and +Honduras, and ascending toward the Gulf of Mexico, between Cape Caloche +and Cape St. Antoine, issues between the Bahamas and Florida." From this +point of projection, where it is but a few miles wide, it spreads away +to the northeast in the shape of an elongated slightly curved fan, +passing at the distance of about eighty miles from the coast of the +southern states, with a velocity, opposite Havana, of about four miles +an hour, which decreases in proportion to its distance from this point. +Opposite Nantucket, where it takes a broad, sweeping curve toward +Newfoundland, it moves generally only about two miles an hour. Bending +from Newfoundland through the Western Islands, it loses much of its +velocity at this distance from its radiating point, and in the eastern +Atlantic its motion is scarcely perceptible, except by a slight ripple +upon the surface. + +This body of water is easily distinguishable from that of the +surrounding blue ocean by its leaden hue--the vast quantity of +pale-yellow gulf-weed, immense fields of which it wafts from clime to +clime upon its ever-rolling bosom, and by the absence of that +phosphorescence, which is peculiar to the waters of the ocean. The water +of this singular stream is many degrees warmer than the sea through +which it flows. Near Cuba the heat has been ascertained to be as great +as 81 deg., and in its course northward from Cuba, it loses 2 deg. of +temperature for every 3 deg. of latitude. Its warmth is easily accounted for +as the production of very simple causes. It receives its original +impulse in the warm tropical seas, which, pressed toward the South +American shore by the wind, meet with resistance and are deflected along +the coast northward, as stated above by Humboldt, and injected into the +Northern Atlantic Ocean--the vast column of water having parted with +very little of its original caloric in its rapid progress. + +We crossed the north-western verge of "The Gulf" near the latitude of +Baltimore, where its breadth is about eighty miles. The atmosphere was +sensibly warmer here than that of the ocean proper, and the water which +we drew up in the ship's bucket raised the mercury a little more than +8 deg.. Not knowing how the mercury stood before entering the Gulf, I could +not determine accurately the change in the atmosphere; but it must have +been very nearly as great as that in the denser fluid. Veins of cool air +circled through its atmosphere every few minutes, as welcome and +refreshing to our bared foreheads as the sprinkling of the coolest +water. + +When vessels in their winter voyages along our frigid coasts become +coated with ice, so as to resemble almost precisely, though of a +gigantic size, those miniature glass ships so often seen preserved in +transparent cases, they seek the genial warmth of this region to "thaw +out," as this dissolving process is termed by the sailors. We were +nearly three days in crossing the Gulf, at a very acute angle with its +current, which period of time we passed very pleasantly, for voyagers; +as we had no cold weather to complain of, and a variety of objects to +entertain us. Sea, or Gulf-weed, constantly passed us in acres, +resembling immense meadows of harvest wheat, waving and undulating with +the breeze, tempting us to walk upon it. But for the ceaseless roll and +pitching of our ship, reminding us of our where-about, we might, without +much trouble, have been cheated into the conviction that it was real +_terra firma_. + +Flocks of flying fish suddenly breaking from a smooth, swelling billow, +to escape the jaws of some voracious pursuer, whose dorsal fin would be +seen protruding for an instant afterward from the surface, flitted +swiftly, with a skimming motion, over the sea, glittering in the sun +like a flight of silver-winged birds; and then as suddenly, with dried +wings, dropped into the sea again. One morning we found the decks +sprinkled with these finned aerial adventurers, which had flown on board +during the night. + +Spars, covered with barnacles--an empty barrel marked on the head N. E. +Rum, which we slightly altered our course _to speak_--a hotly contested +_affaire d'honneur_, between two bantam-cocks in the weather-coop--a few +lessons in splicing and braiding sennet, taken from a good-natured old +sailor--a few more in the art of manufacturing "Turks' Heads," not, +however, _a la Grec_--and other matters and things equally important, +also afforded subjects of speculation and chit-chat, and means of +passing away the time with a tolerable degree of comfort, and, during +the intervals of eating and sleeping, to keep us from the blues. + +A gallant ship--a limitless sea rolled out like a vast sheet of mottled +silver--"goodlie companie"--a warm, reviving sun--a flowing sheet, and a +courteous breeze, so gently breathing upon our sails, that surly Boreas, +in a gentler than his wonted mood, must have sent a bevy of Zephyrs to +waft us along--are combinations which both nautical amateurs and +ignoramuses know duly how to appreciate. + +From the frequency of "squalls" and "blows" off Hatteras, it were easy +to imagine a telegraphic communication existing between that head-land +and Bermuda, carried on by flashes of lightning and tornadoes; or a game +at bowls between Neptune and Boreas, stationed one on either spot, and +hurling thunderbolts over the sea. This region, and that included +between 25 deg. and 23 deg. north latitude termed by sailors the "horse +latitudes," are two of the most unpleasant localities a voyager has to +encounter on his passage from a New-England sea-port to New-Orleans or +Havana. In one he is wearied by frequent calms, in the other, exposed to +sea sickness, and terrified by almost continual storms. + +On the eighth day out, we passed Bermuda--that island-sentinel and spy +of Britain upon our shores. The position of this post with regard to +America, forcibly reminds me--I speak it with all due reverence for the +"Lion" of England--of a lap-dog sitting at a secure distance and keeping +guard over an eagle _volant_. How like proud England thus to come and +set herself down before America, and like a still beautiful mother, +watch with a jealous eye the unfolding loveliness of her rival +daughter--build up a battery d'espionage against her shores, and seek to +hold the very key of her seas. + +The Bermudas or "Summer islands" so called from Sir George Summer, who +was wrecked here two centuries since--are a cluster of small coral reefs +lying nearly in the form of a crescent, and walled round and defended +from the sea by craggy rocks, which rear their fronts on every side like +battlements:--They are situated about two hundred and twenty leagues +from the coast of South Carolina, and nearly in the latitude of the city +of Charleston. + +The houses are constructed of porous limestone, not unlike lava in +appearance. This material was probably ejected by some unseen and +unhistoried volcanic eruption, by which the islands themselves were in +all probability heaved up from the depths of the ocean. White-washed to +resist the rain, their houses contrast beautifully with the +green-mantled cedars and emerald carpets of the islands. The native +Bermudians follow the sea for a livelihood. They make good sailors while +at sea; but are dissipated and indolent when they return to their native +islands, indulging in drinking, gaming, and every species of +extravagance. + +The females are rather pretty than otherwise; with good features and +uncommonly fine eyes. Like all their sex, they are addicted to dress, in +which they display more finery than taste. Dancing is the pastime of +which they are most passionately fond. In affection and obedience to +their "lords," and in tenderness to their children, it is said that they +are patterns to all fair ones who may have taken those, seldom +_audibly-spoken_, vows, "to love, honour, and obey"--oft times +unuttered, I verily believe, from pure intention. + +St. George, the principal town in the islands, has become a fashionable +military residence. The society, which is English and extremely +agreeable, is varied by the constant arrival and departure of ships of +war, whose officers, with those of the army, a sprinkling of +distinguished civilians, and clusters of fair beings who have winged it +over the sea, compose the most spirited and pleasant society in the +world. Enjoying a remarkably pure air, and climate similar to that of +South Carolina, with handsomely revenued clergymen of the Church of +England, and rich in various tropical luxuries, it is a desirable +foreign residence and a convenient and pleasant haven for British +vessels sailing in these seas. + +This morning we were all in a state of feverish excitement, impatient to +place our eyes once more upon land. Visions of green fields and swelling +hills, pleasantly waving trees and cool fountains--groves, meadows, and +rural cottages, had floated through our waking thoughts and mingled with +our dreams. + +"Is the land in sight, Captain?" was the only question heard from the +lips of one and another of the expectant passengers as they rubbed their +sleepy eyes, poked their heads from their half-opened state-room doors, +or peeped from their curtained berths. Ascending to the deck, we beheld +the sun just rising from the sea in the splendor of his oriental pomp, +flinging his beams far along the sky and over the waters, enriching the +ocean with his radiance till it resembled a sea of molten gold, gilding +the dew-hung spars, and spreading a delicate blush of crimson over the +white sails. It was a morning of unrivalled beauty. But thanks to +nautical housewifery, its richness could not be enjoyed from the decks. + +At sea, the moment the sun rises, and when one feels in the humor of +quitting his hot state-room and going on deck, the officer of the watch +sings out in a voice that goes directly to the heart--"Forard +there--wash decks!" Then commences an elemental war rivalling Noah's +deluge. _That_ was caused by the pouring down of rain in drops--_thie_ +by the out-pouring of full buckets. From the moment this flood commences +one may draw back into his narrow shell, like an affrighted snail, and +take a morning's nap:--the deck, for an hour to come, is no place for +animals that are not web-footed. + +Fore and aft the unhappy passenger finds no way of escaping the +infliction of this purifying ceremony. Should he be driven aloft, there +"to banquet on the morning," he were better reposing on a gridiron or +sitting astride a handsaw. If below, there the steward has possession, +sweeping, laying the breakfast table and making-up berths, and the air, +a hundred times breathed over, rushes from the opening state-rooms +threatening to suffocate him--he were better engulfed in the bosom of a +stew-pan. + +To stand, cold, wet, and uncomfortable upon the damp decks till the sun +has dried both them and him is the only alternative. If after all the +"holy stone" should come in play, he may then quietly jump over-board. + +The evenings, however, amply compensate for the loss of the fine +mornings. The air, free from the dust, floating particles and +exhalations of the land, is perfectly transparent, and the sky of a +richer blue. The stars seem nearer to you there; and the round moon +pours her unclouded flood of light, down upon the sea, with an opulence +and mellowness, of which those who have only seen moonlight, sleeping +upon green hills, cities and forests, know nothing. On such nights, +there cannot be a nobler, or prouder spectacle, as one stands upon the +bows, than the lofty, shining pyramid of snow-white canvass which, +rising majestically from the deck, lessens away, sail after sail, far +into the sky--each sheet distended like a drum-head, yet finely rounded, +and its towering summit, as the ship rises and falls upon the billows, +waving like a tall poplar, swaying in the wind. In these hours of +moonlit enchantment, while reclining at full length upon the deck, and +gazing at the diminished point of the flag-staff, tracing devious +labyrinths among the stars, the blood has danced quicker through my +veins as I could feel the ship springing away beneath me like a fleet +courser, and leaping from wave to wave over the sea. At such moments the +mind cannot divest itself of the idea that the bounding ship is instinct +with life--an animated creature, careering forward by its own volition. +To this are united the musical sighing of the winds through the sails +and rigging--the dashing of the sea and the sound of the rushing vessel +through the water, which sparkles with phosphorescent light, as though +sprinkled with silver dust. + +A dark night also affords a scene to gratify curiosity and charm the +eye. A few nights since, an exclamation of surprise from one of the +passengers called me from my writing to the deck. As, on emerging from +the cabin, I mechanically cast my eyes over the sea, I observed that at +first it had the appearance of reflecting the stars from its bosom in +the most dazzling splendour, but on looking upward to gaze upon the +original founts of this apparently reflected light, my eyes met only a +gloomy vault of clouds unillumined by a solitary star. The "scud" flew +wildly over its face and the heavens were growing black with a gathering +tempest. Yet beneath, the sea glittered like a "lake of fire." The +crests of the vast billows as they burst high in the air, descended in +showers of scintillations. The ship scattered broken light from her +bows, as though a pavement of mirrors had been shivered in her pathway. +Her track was marked by a long luminous train, not unlike the tail of a +comet, while gleams of light like lighted lamps floating upon the water, +whirled and flashed here and there in the wild eddies of her wake. The +spray which was flung over the bows glittered like a sprinkling of +diamonds as it fell upon the decks, where, as it flowed around the feet, +it sparkled for some seconds with innumerable shining specks. And so +intense was the light shining from the sea that I was enabled to read +with ease the fine print of a newspaper. A bucket plunged into the sea, +which whitened like shivered ice, on its striking it, was drawn up full +of glittering sea-water that sparkled for more than a minute, after +being poured over the deck, and then gradually losing its lustre, +finally disappeared in total darkness. + +Many hypotheses have been suggested by scientific men to account for +this natural phenomenon. "Some have regarded it," says Dr. Coates, "as +the effect of electricity, produced by the friction of the waves; others +as the product of a species of fermentation in the water, occurring +accidentally in certain places. Many have attributed it to the +well-known phosphorescence of putrid fish, or to the decomposition of +their slime and exuviae, and a few only to the real cause, the voluntary +illumination of many distinct species of marine animals. + +"The purpose for which this phosphorescence is designed is lost in +conjecture; but when we recollect that fish are attracted to the net by +the lights of the fisherman, and that many of the marine shellfish are +said to leave their native element to crawl around a fire built upon the +beach, are we not warranted in supposing that the animals of which we +have been speaking, are provided with these luminous properties, in +order to entice their prey within their grasp?" + + + + +IV. + + Land--Abaco--Fleet--Hole in the Wall--A wrecker's hut-- + Bahama vampyres--Light houses--Conspiracy--Wall of Abaco-- + Natural Bridge--Cause--Night scene--Speak a packet ship--A + floating city--Wrecker's lugger--Signal of distress--A + Yankee lumber brig--Portuguese Man-of-War. + + +"Land ho!" shouted a voice both loud and long, apparently from the +clouds, just as we had comfortably laid ourselves out yesterday +afternoon for our customary _siesta_. + +"Where away?" shouted the captain, springing to the deck, but not so +fast as to prevent our tumbling over him, in the head-and-heels +projection of our bodies up the companion-way, in our eagerness to catch +a glimpse, once more, of the grassy earth; of something at least +stationary. + +"Three points off the weather bow," replied the man aloft. + +"Where is it?"--"which way?" "I see it"--"Is that it captain--the little +hump?" were the eager exclamations and inquiries of the enraptured +passengers, who, half beside themselves, were peering, straining, and +querying, to little purpose. + +It was Abaco--the land first made by vessels bound to New Orleans or +Cuba, from the north. With the naked eye, we could scarcely distinguish +it from the small blue clouds, which, resting, apparently, on the sea, +floated near the verge of the southern horizon. But with the spy glass, +we could discern it more distinctly, and less obscured by that vail of +blue haze, which always envelopes distant objects when seen from a great +distance at sea, or on land. + +As we approached, its azure vail gradually faded away, and it appeared +to our eyes in its autumnal gray coat, with all its irregularities of +surface and outline clearly visible. + +Slightly altering our course, in order to weather its southern +extremity, we ran down nearly parallel with the shores of the island +that rose apparently from the sea, as we neared it, stretching out upon +the water like a huge alligator, which it resembled in shape. Sail after +sail hove in sight as we coasted pleasantly along with a fine breeze, +till, an hour before the sun went down, a large wide-spreading fleet +could be discerned from the deck, lying becalmed, near the extreme +southern point of Abaco, which, stretching out far into the sea, like a +wall perforated with an arched gateway near the centre, is better known +by the familiar appellation of "The Hole in the Wall." + +"There is a habitation of some sort," exclaimed one of the passengers, +whose glass had long been hovering over the island. + +"Where--where?" was the general cry, and closer inspection from a dozen +eyes, detected a miserable hut, half hidden among the bushes, and so +wild and wretched in appearance, that we unanimously refused it the +honor of + + "----A local habitation and a name!" + +It was nevertheless the first dwelling of man we had seen for many a +day; and notwithstanding our vote of non-acceptance, it was not devoid +of interest in our eyes. It was evidently the abode of some one of those +demi sea-monsters, called "Wreckers," who, more destructive than the +waves, prey upon the ship-wrecked mariner. The Bahamas swarm with these +wreckers who, in small lugger-sloops, continually prowl about among the +islands, + + "When the demons of the tempest rave," + +like birds of ill omen, ready to seize upon the storm-tossed vessel, +should it be driven among the rocks or shoals with which this region +abounds. At midnight, when the lightning for a moment illumines the sky +and ocean, the white sail of the wrecker's little bark, tossing amid the +storm upon the foaming billows, will flash upon the eyes of the toiling +seamen as they labour to preserve their vessel, striking their souls +with dread and awakening their easily excited feelings of superstition. +Like evil spirits awaiting at the bed-side the release of an unannealed +soul, they hover around the struggling ship through the night, and, +flitting away at the break of morning, may be discovered in the +subsiding of the tempest, just disappearing under the horizon with a +sailor's hearty blessing sent after them. + +That light-houses have not been erected on the dangerous head-lands and +reefs which line the Bahama channel, is a strange oversight or neglect +on the part of the governments of the United States and England, which +of all maritime nations are most immediately concerned in the object. +Suitable light-houses on the most dangerous points, would annually save, +from otherwise inevitable destruction, many vessels and preserve +hundreds of valuable lives. The profession of these marauders would be, +in such a case, but a sinecure; provided they would allow the lights to +remain. But, unless each tower were converted into a well-manned +gun-battery the piratical character of these men will preclude any hope +of their permanent establishment. Men of their buccaneering habits are +not likely to lie quietly on their oars, and see their means of +livelihood torn from them by the secure navigation of these waters. They +will sound, from island to island, the tocsin for the gathering of their +strength, and concentrate for the destruction of these enemies to their +_honest calling_, before they have cast their cheering beams over these +stormy seas a score of nights. + +As we approached the Hole in the Wall, the breeze which we had brought +down the channel, stole in advance and set in motion the fleet of +becalmed vessels, which rolled heavily on the long, ground-swell, about +a league ahead of us. The spur or promontory of Abaco, around which we +were sailing, is a high, wall-like ridge of rock, whose surface +gradually inclines from the main body of the island to its abrupt +termination about a quarter of a league into the sea. As we sailed along +its eastern side we could not detect the opening from which it derives +its name. The eye met only a long black wall of rock, whose rugged +projections were hung with festoons of dark purple sea-weed, and around +whose base the waters surged, with a roar heard distinctly by us, three +miles from the island. + +On rounding the extremity of the head-land, and bearing up a point or +two, the arch in the Cape gradually opened till it became wholly +visible, apparently about half the altitude of, and very similar in +appearance to the Natural bridge in Virginia. The chasm is irregularly +arched, and broader at thirty feet from the sea than at its base. The +water is of sufficient depth, and the arch lofty enough, to allow small +fishing vessels to pass through the aperture, which is about one hundred +feet in length through the solid rock. There is a gap which would +indicate the former existence of a similar cavity, near the end of this +head-land. A large, isolated mass of rock is here detached from the main +wall, at its termination in the sea, which was undoubtedly, at some +former period, joined to it by a natural arch, now fallen into the +water, as, probably, will happen to this within a century. + +These cavities are caused by the undermining of the sea, which, dashing +unceasingly against the foundations of the wall, shatters and crumbles +it by its constant abrasion, opens through it immense fissures, and +loosens large fragments of the rock, that easily yield and give way to +its increased violence; while the upper stratum, high beyond the reach +of the surge, remains firm, and, long after the base has crumbled into +the sea, arches over like a bridge the chasm beneath. By and by this +falls by its own weight, and is buried beneath the waves. + +As the shades of night fell over the sea, and veiled the land from our +eyes, we had a fresh object of excitement in giving chase to the vessels +which, as the sun went down among them, were scattered thickly along the +western horizon far ahead of us--ships, brigs, and schooners, stretching +away under all sail before the evening breeze to the south and west. We +had lost sight of them after night had set in, but at about half past +eight in the evening, as we all were peering through the darkness, upon +the _qui vive_ for the strangers, a bright light flashed upon our eyes +over the water, and at the same moment the lookout forward electrified +us with the cry---- + +"A ship dead ahead, sir!" + +The captain seized his speaking-trumpet, and sprang to the bows; but we +were there before him, and discovered a solitary light burning at the +base of a dark pyramid, which towered gloomily in the obscurity of the +night. The outline of the object was so confused and blended with the +sky, that we could discern it but indistinctly. To our optics it +appeared, as it loomed up in the night-haze, to be a ship of the largest +class. The spy glass was in immediate requisition, but soon laid aside +again. + +Let me inform you that "DAY and NIGHT" marked upon the +tube of a spy-glass, signifies that it may be used in the day, and kept +in the beckets at night. + +We had been gathered upon the bowsprit and forecastle but a few seconds, +watching in silence the dark moving tower on the water before us, as we +approached it rapidly, when we were startled by the sudden hail of the +stranger, who was now hauling up on our weather bow-- + +"Ship-ahoy!" burst loudly over the water from the hoarse throat of a +trumpet. + +"Ahoy!" bellowed our captain, so gently back again through the ship's +trumpet, that the best "bull of Bashan" might have envied him his roar. + +"What ship's that?" + +"The Plato of Portland," with a second bellow which was a very manifest +improvement upon the preceding. + +"Where bound?" + +"New-Orleans!" + +Now came our turn to play the querist. "What ship's that?" + +"The J. L., eleven days from New-York, bound to New-Orleans." + +"Ay, ay--any news?" + +"No, nothing particular." + +We again moved on in silence; sailing in company, but not always in +sight of each other, during the remainder of the night. + +A delightful prospect met our eyes, on coming on deck the morning after +making the Hole in the Wall. The sea was crowded with vessels, bearing +upon its silvery bosom a floating city. By some fortuitous +circumstance, a fleet of vessels, bearing the flags of various nations, +had arrived in the Bahama channel at the same time, and now, were +amicably sailing in company, borne by the same waves--wafted by the same +breeze, and standing toward the same point. Our New-York friend, for +whom, on casting our eyes over the lively scene we first searched, we +discovered nearly two leagues from us to the windward, stretching boldly +across the most dangerous part of the Bahama Banks, instead of taking, +with the rest of the fleet, the farther but less hazardous course down +the "Channel"--if a few inches more of water than the Banks are +elsewhere covered with, may with propriety be thus denominated. + +A little to the south of us, rocking upon the scarcely rising billows, +was a rough clumsy looking craft, with one low, black mast, and +amputated bowsprit, about four feet in length, sustaining a jib of no +particular hue or dimensions. Hoisted upon the mast, was extended a dark +red painted mainsail, blackened by the smoke, which, issuing from a +black wooden chimney amidships, curled gracefully upward and floated +away on the breeze in thin blue clouds. A little triangular bit of red +bunting fluttered at her mast head; and, towed by a long line at her +stern, a little green whale-boat skipped and danced merrily over the +waves. Standing, or rather reclining at the helm--for men learn +strangely indolent postures in the warm south--with a segar between his +lips, and his eye fixed earnestly upon the J. L., was a black-whiskered +fellow, whose head was enveloped in a tri-coloured, conical cap, +terminated by a tassel, which dangled over his left ear. A blue flannel +shirt, and white flowing trowsers, with which his body and limbs were +covered, were secured to his person by a red sash tied around the waist, +instead of suspenders. Two others similarly dressed, and as bountifully +bewhiskered, leaned listlessly over the side gazing at our ship, as she +dashed proudly past their rude bark. A negro, whose charms would have +been unquestionable in Congo, was stretched, apparently asleep, along +the main-boom, which one moment swung with him over the water, and the +next suspended him over his chimney, whose azure incense ascended from +his own altar, to this ebony deity, in clouds of grateful odour. + +"What craft do you call that?" inquired one of the passengers of the +captain. + +"What? It's a wrecker's lugger.--Watch him now!" + +At the moment he spoke, the lugger dropped astern of us, came to a few +points--hauled close on the wind, and then gathering headway, bounded +off with the speed of the wind in the direction of the New-York packet +ship, which the wrecker's quicker and more practised eye had detected +displaying signals of distress. Turning our glasses in the direction of +the ship, we could see that she had grounded on the bank, thereby +affording very ample illustration of the truth of the proverb, "The more +haste the less speed." + +About the middle of the forenoon the wind died away, and left us +becalmed within half a mile of a brig loaded with lumber. The remaining +vessels of the fleet were fast dispersing over the sea--this Yankee +"fruiterer" being the only one sailing within a league of us. + +These lumber vessels, which are usually loaded with shingles, masts, +spars, and boards, have been long the floating mines of Maine. But as +her forests disappear, which are the veins from whence she draws the +ore, her sons will have to plough the earth instead of the ocean. Then, +and not till then, will Maine take a high rank as an agricultural state. +The majority of men who sail in these lumber vessels are both farmers +and sailors; who cultivate their farms at one season, fell its timber +and sail away with it in the shape of boards and shingles to a West +India mart at another. Jonathan is the only man who knows how to carry +on two trades at one time, and carry them on successfully. + +For their lumber, which they more frequently _barter_ away than sell, +they generally obtain a return cargo of molasses, which is converted by +our "sober and moral" fellow-countrymen into liquid gunpowder, in the +vats of those numerous distilleries, which, like guide-posts to the +regions of death, line the sea skirts of New-England! + +The smooth bottom, above which we were suspended, through the deceptive +transparency of the water, appeared, though eighteen feet beneath us, +within reach of the oar. But there were many objects floating by upon +the surface, which afforded us more interest than all beneath it. + +Among these was the little nautilus which, gaily dancing over the waves, +like a Lilliputian mariner, + + "Spreads his thin oar and courts the rising gale." + +This beautiful animal sailed past us in fleets wafted by a breeze +gentler than an infant's breathing. We endeavoured to secure one of them +more beautiful than its fellows, but like a sensitive plant it instantly +shrunk at the touch, and sunk beneath the surface; appearing beneath the +water, like a little, animated globule tinged with the most delicate +colours. This singular animal is termed by the sailors, "The Portuguee' +man-o'-war," from what imaginary resemblance to the war vessels of His +Most Christian Majesty I am at a loss to determine; unless we resort for +a solution of the mystery to a jack-tar, whom I questioned upon the +subject-- + +"It's cause as how they takes in all sail, or goes _chuck_ to bottom, +when it 'gins to blow a spankin' breeze,"--truly a fine compliment to +the navarchy of Portugal! + +This animal is a genus of the mollusca tribe, which glitters in the +night on the crest of every bursting wave. In the tropical seas it is +found riding over the gently ruffled billows in great numbers, with its +crystalline sail expanded to the light breeze--barks delicate and tiny +enough for fairy "Queen Mab." Termed by naturalists _pharsalia_, from +its habit of inflating its transparent sail, this splendid animal is +often confounded with the _nautilus pompilius_, a genus of marine +animals of an entirely distinct species, and of a much ruder +appearance, whose dead shells are found floating every where in the +tropical seas, while the living animal is found swimming upon the ocean +in every latitude. + +Dr. Coates, in describing the Portuguese man-of-war (pharsalia) says, +that "it is an oblong animated sack of air, elongated at one extremity +into a conical neck, and surmounted by a membraneous expansion running +nearly the whole length of the body, and rising above into a +semi-circular sail, which can be expanded or contracted to a +considerable extent at the pleasure of the animal. From beneath the body +are suspended from ten to fifty, or more little tubes, from half an inch +to an inch in length, open at their lower extremity, and formed like the +flower of the blue bottle. These I cannot but consider as proper +stomachs, from the centre of which depends a little cord, never +exceeding the fourth of an inch in thickness, and often forty times as +long as the body. + +"The group of stomachs is less transparent, and although the hue is the +same as that of the back, they are on this account incomparably less +elegant. By their weight and form they fill the double office of a keel +and ballast, while the cord-like appendage, which floats out for yards +behind, is called by seamen "the cable." With this organ, which is +supposed by naturalists, from the extreme pain felt, when brought in +contact with the back of the hand, to secrete a poisonous or acrid +fluid, the animal secures his prey." But in the opinion of Dr. C. +naturalists in deciding upon this mere hypothesis have concluded too +hastily. He says that the secret will be better explained by a more +careful examination of the organ itself. "The cord is composed of a +narrow layer of contractile fibres, scarcely visible when relaxed, on +account of its transparency. If the animal be large, this layer of +fibres will sometimes extend itself to the length of four or five yards. +A spiral line of blue, bead-like bodies, less than the head of a pin, +revolves around the cable from end to end, and under the microscope +these beads appear covered with minute prickles so hard and sharp that +they will readily enter the substance of wood, adhering with such +pertinacity that the cord can rarely be detached without breaking. + +"It is to these prickles that the man-of-war owes its power of +destroying animals much its superior in strength and activity. When any +thing becomes impaled upon the cords, the contractile fibres are called +into action, and rapidly shrink from many feet in length to less than +the same number of inches, bringing the prey within reach of the little +tubes, by one of which it is immediately swallowed. + +"Its size varies from half an inch to six inches in length. When it is +in motion the sail is accommodated to the force of the breeze, and the +elongated neck is curved upward, giving to the animal a form strongly +resembling the little glass swans which we sometimes see swimming in +goblets. + +"It is not the form, however, which constitutes the chief beauty of this +little navigator. The lower part of the body and the neck are devoid of +all colours except a faint iridescence in reflected lights, and they are +so perfectly transparent that the finest print is not obscured when +viewed through them. The back becomes gradually tinged as we ascend, +with the finest and most delicate hues that can be imagined; the base of +the sail equals the purest sky in depth and beauty of tint; the summit +is of the most splendid red, and the central part is shaded by the +gradual intermixture of these colours through all the intermediate +grades of purple. Drawn as it were upon a ground-work of mist, the tints +have an aerial softness far beyond the reach of art." + + + + +V. + + A calm--A breeze on the water--The land of flowers--Juan + Ponce de Leon--The fountain of perpetual youth--An + irremediable loss to single gentlemen--Gulf Stream--New- + Providence--Cuba--Pan of Matanzas--Blue hills of Cuba--An + armed cruiser--Cape St. Antonio--Pirates--Enter the Mexican + Gulf--Mobile--A southern winter--A farewell to the North and + a welcome to the South--The close of the voyage--Balize-- + Fleet--West Indiaman--Portuguese polacre--Land ho!--The land + --Its formation--Pilot or "little brief authority"--Light- + house--Revenue cutter--Newspapers--"The meeting of the + waters"--A singular appearance--A morning off the Balize-- + The tow-boat. + + +During the period we lay becalmed under a burning sun, which, though +entering its winter solstice retained the fervour of summer fire, we +passed the most of our time in the little cockle-shell of a yawl, (as +though the limits of our ship were not confined enough) riding +listlessly upon the long billows or rowing far out from the ship, which, +with all her light sails furled, rolled heavily upon the crestless +billows, suggesting the anomalous idea of power in a state of +helplessness. + +An hour before sunset our long-idle sails were once more filled by a +fine breeze, which, ruffling the surface of the ocean more than a league +distant, we had discerned coming from the Florida shore, some time +before it reached us; and as it came slowly onward over the sea, we +watched with no little anxiety the agitated line of waves which danced +merrily before it, marking its approach. + +A faintly delineated gray bank lining the western horizon, marked the +"land of flowers" of the romantic Ponce de Leon. Can that be Florida! +the _Pasqua de Flores_ of the Spaniards--the country of blossoms and +living fountains, welling with perpetual youth! were our reflections as +we gazed upon the low marshy shore. Yet here the avaricious Spaniard +sought for a mine more precious than the diamonds and gold of the Incas! +a fountain whose waters were represented to have the wonderful property +of rejuvenating old age and perpetuating youth! Here every wrinkled +Castilian Iolas expected to find a Hebe to restore him to the bloom and +vigour of Adonis! But alas, for the bachelors of modern days, the seeker +for fountains of eternal youth wandered only through inhospitable wilds, +and encountered the warlike Seminoles, who, unlike the timorous natives +of the newly discovered Indies, met his little band with bold and +determined resolution. After a long and fruitless search, he returned to +Porto Rico, wearied, disappointed, and no doubt with his brow more +deeply furrowed than when he set out upon his singularly romantic +expedition. + +While we glided along the Florida shore, which was fast receding from +the eye, a sudden boiling and commotion of the sea, which we had +remarked some time before we were involved in it, assured us that we had +again entered the Gulf Stream, where it rushes from the Mexican Sea, +after having made a broad sweep of eighteen hundred miles, and in twenty +days after emerging from it in higher latitudes. Our course was now very +sensibly retarded by the strong current against which we sailed, though +impelled by a breeze which would have wafted us, over a currentless sea, +nine or ten miles an hour. In the afternoon the blue hills of Cuba, +elevated above the undulating surface of the island, and stretching +along its back like a serrated spine, reared themselves from the sea far +to the south; and at sunset the twin hills of Matanzas, for which +sailors' imaginations have conjured up not the most pleasing +appellation--could be just distinguished from the blue waves on the +verge of the ocean; and receding from the sea, with an uneven surface, +the vast island rose along the whole southern horizon, not more than +four or five leagues distant. The Florida shore had long before +disappeared, though several vessels were standing toward it, bound +apparently into Key West, between which and Havana we had seen an armed +schooner, under American colours, hovering during the whole afternoon. + +Cape St. Antonio, the notorious rendezvous of that daring band of +pirates, which, possessing the marauding without the chivalrous spirit +of the old buccaneers, long infested these seas, just protruded above +the rim of the horizon far to the south-east. We soon lost sight of it, +and in the evening, altering our course a little to avoid the shoals +which are scattered thickly off the southern and western extremity of +Florida, ran rapidly and safely past the Tortugas--the Scylla and +Charybdis of this southern latitude. + +We already begin to appreciate the genial influence of a southern +climate. The sun, tempered by a pleasant wind, beams down upon us warm +and cheerily--the air is balmy and laden with grateful fragrance from +the unseen land--and though near the first of December, at which time +you dwellers under the wintry skies of the north, are shivering over +your grates, we have worn our summer garments and palm-leaf hats for +some days past. If this is a specimen of a southern winter, where +quietly to inhale the mellow air is an elysian enjoyment--henceforth +sleighing and skating will have less charms for me. + +We are at last at the termination of our voyage upon the _sea_. In three +days at the farthest we expect to land in New-Orleans. But three days +upon the waveless Mississippi to those who have been riding a month upon +the ocean, is but a trifle. After an uncommonly long, but unusually +pleasant passage of thirty-one days, we anchored off the Balize[1] last +evening at sun set. + +The tedious monotony of our passage since leaving Cuba, was more than +cancelled by the scenes and variety of yesterday. We had not seen a sail +for four or five days, when, on ascending to the deck at sunrise +yesterday morning, judge of my surprise and pleasure at beholding a +fleet of nearly fifty vessels surrounding us on every side, all standing +to one common centre; in the midst of which our own gallant ship dashed +proudly on, like a high mettled courser contending for the victory. To +one imprisoned in a companionless ship on the broad and lonely ocean so +many days, this was a scene, from its vivid contrast, calculated to +awaken in the bosom emotions of the liveliest gratification and +pleasure. + +A point or two abaft our beam, within pistol shot distance, slowly and +majestically moved a huge, British West Indiaman, her black gloomy hull +wholly unrelieved by brighter colours, with her red ensign heavily +unfolding to the breeze in recognition of the stars and stripes, +floating gracefully at our peak. Farther astern, a taunt-rigged, rakish +looking Portuguese polacca (polaque) carrying even in so light a breeze +a "bone in her teeth," glided swiftly along, every thing set from deck +to truck. We could distinctly see the red woollen caps and dark red +faces of her crew, peering over the bow, as they pointed to, and made +remarks upon our ship. Early in the morning, about a league ahead of +us, we had observed a heavy sailing Dutch ship, as indeed all Dutch +ships are; about eleven o'clock we came up with, and passed her, with +the same facility as if she had been at anchor. On all sides of us +vessels of nearly every maritime nation were in sight; and in +conjectures respecting them, and in admiring their variety of +construction and appearance, we passed most of the day, elated with the +prospect of a speedy termination to our voyage. + +Before we had completed dinner, the cry of "Land ho!" was heard from the +main-top, and in the course of half an hour we saw from the deck, not +exactly _land_, but an apology for it, in the form and substance of an +immense marsh of tall, wild grass, which stretched along the horizon +from west to east _ad infinitum_. This soil, if you may term it such, is +formed by the accumulation and deposition of ochreous matter discharged +by the Mississippi, whose turbid waters are more or less charged with +terrene particles, so much so, that a glass filled with its water +appears to deposit in a short time a sediment nearly equal to +one-twelfth of its bulk. The matter discharged by the river, condensed +and strengthened by logs, trees, grass, and other gross substances, is +raised above the ordinary tide waters, upon which a soil is formed of +mingled sand and marl, capable of producing the long grass, which not +only lines the coast in the vicinity of this river, but extends many +miles into the interior, where it unites with the cypress swamps which +cover the greater part of the unreclaimed lowlands of Louisiana. We +coasted along this shore till about three in the afternoon, when the +light-house at the South-East passage, the chief _embouchure_ of the +Mississippi, appeared in sight but a few miles ahead; passing this, we +received a pilot from a fairy-like pilot-boat, which, on delivering him, +bounded away from us like a swift-winged albatross. About four o'clock +the light-house at the South-West passage lifted its solitary head above +the horizon. The breeze freshening, we approached it rapidly, under the +guidance of the pilot, who had taken command of our ship. When nearly +abreast of the light-house, a fierce little warlike-looking revenue +cutter ran alongside of us, and lowering her boat, sent her lieutenant +on board, to see that "all was straight." He cracked a bottle of wine +with the captain, and leaving some late New-Orleans papers, took his +departure. For the next half hour the quarter-deck appeared like a +school-room--buzz, buzz, buzz! till the papers were read and re-read, +advertisements and all, and all were satisfied. About six in the evening +we cast anchor at the mouth of the South-West pass, in company not only +with the fleet in which we had sailed during the day, but with a large +fleet already at anchor, waiting for tide, pilots, wind, or tow-boats. +In approaching the mouth of the river, we observed, to us, a novel and +remarkable appearance--the meeting of the milky, turbid waters of the +Mississippi, with the pale green of the ocean. The waters of the former, +being lighter than the latter, and not readily mingling with it, are +thrown upon the surface, floating like oil to the depth of only two or +three feet. A ship passing through this water, leaves a long, dark +wake, which is slowly covered by the uniting of the parted waters. The +line of demarkation between the yellowish-brown water of the river, and +the clear green water of the sea, is so distinctly defined, that a cane +could be laid along it. When we first discovered the long white line, +about two miles distant, it presented the appearance of a low sand +beach. As we reached it, I went aloft, and seating myself in the +top-gallant cross-trees, beheld one of the most singular appearances of +which I had ever formed any conception. When within a few fathoms of the +discoloured water, we appeared to be rushing on to certain destruction, +and when our sharp keel cut and turned up the sluggish surface, I +involuntarily shuddered; the next instant we seemed suspended between +two seas. Another moment, and we had passed the line of division, +ploughing the lazy and muddy waves, and leaving a dark transparent wake +far astern. We are hourly expecting our tow-boat--the Whale. When she +arrives we shall immediately, in the company of some other ships, move +up for New-Orleans. The morning is delightful, and we have the prospect +of a pleasant sail, or rather _tow_, up the river. A hundred snow-white +sails are reflecting the rays of the morning sun, while the rapid +dashing of the swift pilot-boats about us, and the slower movements of +ships getting under weigh to cross the bar, and work their own way up to +the city--together with the mingling sounds of stern commands, and the +sonorous "heave-ho-yeo!" of the labouring seamen, borne upon the breeze, +give an almost unparalleled charm and novelty to the scene. Our Whale +is now in sight, spouting, not _jets d'eau_, but volumes of dense black +smoke. We shall soon be under weigh, and every countenance is bright +with anticipation. Within an hour we shall be floating upon the great +artery of North America, "prisoners of hope" and of _steam_, on our way +to add our little number to the countless thousands who throng the +streets of the Key of the Great Valley through which it flows. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] French BALISE, Spanish, VALIZA, a _beacon_; once placed at the mouth +of the river, but now superseded by a light-house. Hence the term +"Balize" applied to the mouth of the Mississippi. + + + + +PART II. + + + + +VI. + + The Mississippi--The Whale--Description of tow-boats--A + package--A threatened storm--A beautiful brigantine-- + Physiognomy of ships--Richly furnished cabin--An obliging + Captain--Desert the ship--Getting under weigh--A chain of + captives--Towing--New-Orleans--A mystery to be unraveled. + + +Upon the mighty bosom of the "Father of Waters", our gallant ship now +proudly floats. The Mississippi! that noble river, whose magnificent +windings I have traced with my finger upon the map in my school-boy +days, wishing, with all the adventurous longing of a boy, that I might, +like the good fathers Marquette and Hennepin, leap into an Indian's +birch canoe, and launching from its source among the snows and untrodden +wilds of the far north, float pleasantly away under every climate, down +to the cis-Atlantic Mediterranean; where, bursting from its confined +limits, it proudly shoots into that tideless sea through numerous +passages, like radii from one common centre. My wishes are now, in a +measure, about to be realized. The low, flat, and interminable marshes, +through the heart of which we are rapidly advancing--the ocean-like +horizon, unrelieved by the slightest prominence--the sullen, turbid +waves around us, which yield but slowly and heavily to the irresistible +power of steam--all familiar characteristics of this river--would alone +assure me that I am on the Mississippi. My last letter left us in the +immediate expectation of being taken in tow by the "Whale," then coming +rapidly down the South-West passage, in obedience to the hundred signals +flying at the "fore" of as many vessels on every side of us. In a few +minutes, snorting and dashing over the long ground-swell, and flinging a +cloud of foam from her bows, she ran alongside of us, and sent her boat +on board. While the little skiff was leaping from wave to wave to our +ship, we had time to observe more attentively than when in motion, the +singular appearance of this _unique_ class of steamboats. + +Her engine is of uncommon power, placed nearer the centre of the hull +than in boats of the usual construction; her cabin is small, elevated, +and placed near the engine in the centre of the boat. With the exception +of the engine and cabin, she is "flush" from stem to stern; one quarter +of her length abaft the cabin, and the same portion forward of the +boilers being a broad platform, which extends quite around the boat, +forming a very spacious guard on either side. + +The after part of this guard is latticed for the purpose of carrying off +the water with facility when thrown back from the wheels. They seldom or +never take passengers up to the city. The usual price for towing is, I +think, about one dollar _per_ ton. Hence the expense is very great for +vessels of large burthen; and rather than incur it, many ships, after +being towed over the bar, which, at this season, cannot be crossed +otherwise, work their own way up to town, which, with a fair wind, may +be effected in twenty-four hours, the distance being but one hundred and +five miles; but it not unfrequently takes them ten or fifteen days. Our +captain informs me that he once lay thirty-six days in the river before +he could reach New-Orleans--but fortunately, owing to the state of the +market, on his arrival, he realized two hundred per cent. more on his +cargo than he would have done had he arrived a month earlier. + +The jolly-boat from the steamer was now along side, and the officer in +the stern sheets tossed a small package on our quarter-deck; and then, +with the velocity of an uncaged bird, his little green cockle-shell +darted away from us like a dolphin. The next moment he stood upon the +low deck of the steamer. + +"Go ahead!" loudly was borne over the water, and with a plunge and a +struggle, away she dashed from us with her loud, regular _boom_, _boom_, +_boom_! throwing the spray around her head, like the huge gambolling +monster from which she derives her name. With her went our hopes of +speedy deliverance from our present durance. With faces whose +complicated, whimsically-woful expression Lavater himself could not have +analyzed, and as though moved by one spirit, we turned simultaneously +toward the captain, who leaned against the capstan, reading one of the +letters from the package just received. There was a cloud upon his brow +which portended no good to our hopes, and which, by a sympathetic +feeling, was attracted to, and heavily settled upon our own. We turned +simultaneously to the tow-boat: she was rapidly receding in the +distance. We turned again to watch our probable fate in the captain's +face. It spoke as plainly as face could speak, "gentlemen, _no_ +tow-boat." We gazed upon each other like school-boys hatching a +conspiracy. Mutual glances of chagrin and dissatisfaction were bandied +about the decks. After so long a passage, with our port almost in sight, +and our voyage nearly ended, to be compelled to remain longer in our +close prison, and creep like a + + "Wounded snake, dragging its slow length along," + +winding, day after day, through the sinuosities of this sluggish +Mississippi, was enough to make us ship-wearied wretches verily, + + "To weep our spirits from our eyes." + +It was a consummation we had never wished. There was evidently a +rebellion in embryo. The storm was rapidly gathering, and the thunders +had already begun "to utter their voices." The whole scene was +infinitely amusing. There could not have been more _feeling_ exhibited, +had an order come down for the ship to ride a Gibraltar quarantine. + +The captain, having quietly finished the perusal of his letters, now +changed at once the complexion of affairs. + +"I have just received advices, gentlemen, from my consignees in the +city, that the market will be more favourable for my cargo fifteen days +hence, than now; therefore, as I have so much leisure before me, I shall +decline taking the tow-boat, and sail up to New-Orleans. I will, +however, send my boat aboard the brig off our starboard quarter, which +will take steam, and try to engage passage for those who wish to leave +the ship." + +There was no alternative, and we cheerfully sacrificed our individual +wishes to the interests of Captain Callighan, whose urbanity, kindness +and gentlemanly deportment, during the whole passage out, had not only +contributed to our comfort and happiness, but won for him our cordial +esteem and good feelings.[2] + +In a few minutes one of our quarter-boats was alongside, bobbing up and +down on the short seas, with the buoyancy of a cork-float. The first +officer, myself, and another passenger, leaped into her; and a few dozen +long and nervous strokes from the muscular arms of our men, soon ran us +aboard the brig, whose anchor was already "apeak," in readiness for the +Whale. As we approached her, I was struck with her admirable symmetry +and fine proportions--she was a perfect model of naval architecture. +Though rather long for her breadth of beam, the sharp construction of +her bows, and the easy, elliptical curve of her sides, gave her a +peculiarly light and graceful appearance, which, united with her taunt, +slightly raking taper masts, and the precision of her rigging, presented +to our view a nautical _ensemble_, surpassing in elegance any thing of +the kind I had ever before beheld. + +We were politely received at the gangway by the captain, a gentlemanly, +sailor-like looking young man, with whom, after introducing ourselves, +we descended into the cabin. I had time, however, to notice that the +interior of this very handsome vessel corresponded with the exterior. +The capstan, the quarter-rail stanchions, the edge of the companion-way, +and the taffrail, were all ornamented and strengthened with massive +brass plates, polished like a mirror. The binnacle case was of ebony, +enriched with inlaying and carved work. A dazzling array of steel-headed +boarding pikes formed a glittering crescent half around the main-mast. +Her decks evinced the free use of the "holy-stone," and in snowy +whiteness, would have put to the blush the unsoiled floors of the most +fastidious Yankee housewife. Her rigging was not hung on pins, but run +and coiled "man-o'-war fashion," upon her decks. Her long boat, +amidships, was rather an ornament than an excrescence, as in most +merchantmen. Forward, the "men" were gathered around the windlass, which +was abaft the foremast, all neatly dressed in white trousers and shirts, +even to the sable "Doctor" and his "sub," whose double banks of ivories +were wonderingly illuminative, as they grinned at the strangers who had +so unceremoniously boarded the brig. + +As I descended the mahogany stair-case, supported by a highly polished +balustrade cast in brass, my curiosity began to be roused, and I found +myself wondering into what pleasure-yacht I had intruded. She was +evidently American; for the "stars and stripes" were floating over our +heads. Independent of this evidence of her nation, her bright, golden +sides, and peculiar American _expression_ (for I contend that there is a +national and an individual expression to every vessel, as strongly +marked and as easily defined as the expression of every human +countenance,) unhesitatingly indicated her country. + +My curiosity was increased on entering the roomy, richly wrought, and +tastefully furnished cabin. The fairest lady in England's halls might +have coveted it for her _boudoir_. Here were every luxury and comfort, +that wealth and taste combined could procure. A piano, on which lay +music books, a flute, clarionet, and a guitar of curious workmanship, +occupied one side of the cabin; on the other stood a sofa, most +temptingly inviting a loll, and a centre table was strewed with +pamphlets, novels, periodicals, poetry, and a hundred little unwritten +elegancies. The transom was ingeniously constructed, so as to form a +superb sideboard, richly covered with plate, but more richly _lined_, as +we subsequently had an opportunity of knowing, to our hearts' content. +Three doors with mirrored panelling gave egress from the cabin, +forward, to two state rooms and a dining-room, furnished in the same +style of magnificence. + +My companions shared equally in my surprise, at the novelty of every +thing around us. I felt a disposition to return to our ship, fearing +that our proposition to take passage in the brig might be unacceptable. +But before I had come to a decision, Mr. F., our first officer, with +true sailor-like bluntness, had communicated our situation and wishes. +"Certainly," replied the captain, "but I regret that my state-rooms will +not accommodate more than five or six; the others will have to swing +hammocks between decks; if they will do this, they are welcome." +Although this compliance with our request was given with the utmost +cheerfulness and alacrity, I felt that our taking passage with him would +be inconvenient and a gross intrusion; and would have declined saying, +that some other vessel would answer our purpose equally well. He would +not listen to me but in so urgent a manner requested us to take passage +with him, that we reluctantly consented, and immediately returned to our +ship to relate our success, and transfer our baggage to the brig. +Fortunately, but five of our party, including two ladies, were anxious +to leave the ship; the remainder choosing rather to remain on board, and +go up to town in her, as the captain flattered them with the promise of +an early arrival should the wind hold fair. + +In less than ten minutes we had bidden farewell, and wished a speedy +passage to our fellow-passengers, who had so rashly refused to "give up +the ship" and were on our way with "bag and baggage" to the brig, which +now and then rose proudly upon a long sea, and then slowly and +gracefully settled into its yielding bosom. + +We had been on board but a short time when the Whale, which had already +towed four ships and a brig, one at a time, over the bar, leaving each +half a league up the passage, came bearing down upon us. In an +incredibly short time she brought to ahead of us, and in less than five +minutes had our brig firmly secured to her by two hawsers, with about +fifty fathoms play. + +In the course of half an hour, we arrived where the five other vessels, +which were to accompany us in tow, were anchored. More than two hours +were consumed in properly securing the vessels to the tow-boat. Our brig +was lashed to her larboard, and the huge British Indiaman, mentioned in +my last letter, to her starboard side. Two ships sociably followed, +about a cable's length astern, and a Spanish brig and a French ship, +about one hundred yards astern of these, brought up the rear. + +These arrangements completed, the command to "go ahead" was given, and +slowly, one after the other, the captive fleet yielded to the immense +power of the high-pressure engine. Gradually our motion through the +water became more and more rapid, till we moved along at the rate of +seven knots an hour. The appearance our convoy presented, was novel and +sublime. It was like a triumph! The wind though light, was fair, and +every vessel was covered with clouds of snowy canvass. The loud, deep, +incessant booming from the tow-boat--the black and dense masses of smoke +rolling up and curling and wreathing around the lofty white sails, then +shooting off horizontally through the air, leaving a long cloudy galaxy +astern, contributed greatly to the novelty of this extraordinary scene. +We are now within twenty miles of the city of Frenchmen and garlic +soups, steamboats and yellow fever, negroes and quadroons, hells and +convents, soldiers and slaves, and things, and people of every language +and kindred, nation and tribe upon the face of the earth. From this +place you will receive my next letter, wherein perchance you may find a +solution of the mystery thrown around our beautiful vessel. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Our ship was not a line-packet: they never delay. + + + + +VII. + + Louisiana--Arrival at New-Orleans--Land--Pilot stations + --Pilots--Anecdote--Fort--Forests--Levee--Crevasses--Alarms + --Accident--Espionage--A Louisianian palace--Grounds-- + Sugar-house--Quarters--An African governess--Sugar cane-- + St. Mary--"English Turn"--Cavalcade--Battle ground--Music + --Sounds of the distant city--Land in New-Orleans--An + _amateur_ sailor. + + +We are at last in New-Orleans, the queen of the South-west--the American +Waterloo, whose Wellington, "General Jackson"--according to the elegant +ballad I believe still extant in the "Boston picture-books," + + ---- "quick did go + With Yankee(?) troops to meet the foe; + We met them near to New-Orleans + And made their blood to flow in streams." + +New-Orleans! the play-thing of monarchs. "Swapped," as boys swap their +penknives. Discovered and lost by the French--possessed by the +gold-hunting Spaniard--again ceded to the French--exchanged for a +kingdom with the man who traded in empires, and sold by him, for a +"plum" to our government! + +We arrived between eight and nine last evening, after a very pleasant +run of twenty-eight hours from the Balize, charmed and delighted of +course with every thing. If we had landed at the entrance of Vulcan's +smithy from so long a sea-passage, it would have been precisely the +same--all would have appeared "_couleur de rose_." To be _on land_, even +were it a sand bank, is all that is requisite to render it in the eyes +of the new landed passenger, a Paradise. + +During the first part of our sail up the river, there was nothing +sufficiently interesting in the way of incident or variety of scenery, +to merit the trouble either of narration or perusal. Till we arrived +within forty-five or fifty miles of New-Orleans, the shores of the river +presented the same flat, marshy appearance previously described. With +the exception of two or three "pilot stations," near its mouth, I do not +recollect that we passed any dwelling. These "stations" are situated +within a few miles of the mouth of the river, and are the residences of +the pilots. The one on the left bank of the river, which I had an +opportunity of visiting, contained about sixteen or eighteen houses, +built upon piles, in the midst of the morass, which is the only apology +for land within twenty leagues. One third of these are dwelling houses, +connected with each other for the purpose of intercourse, by raised +walks or bridges, laid upon the surface of the mud, and constructed of +timber, logs, and wrecks of vessels. Were a hapless wight to lose his +footing, he would descend as easily and gracefully into the bosom of the +yielding loam, as into a barrel of soft soap. The intercourse with the +shore, near which this miserable, isolated congregation of shanties is +imbedded, is also kept up by a causeway of similar construction and +materials. + +The pilots, of whom there are from twelve to twenty at each station, are +a hardy, rugged class of men. Most of them have been mates of +merchantmen, or held some inferior official station in the navy. The +majority of them, I believe, are English, though Americans, Frenchmen +and Spaniards, are not wanting among their number. The moral character +of this class of men, generally, does not stand very high, though there +are numerous instances of individuals among them, whose nautical skill +and gentlemanly deportment reflect honour upon their profession. + +It is by no means an unusual circumstance for the commander of a ship, +on entering a harbour, to resign, _pro tem._, the charge of his vessel +to a pilot, whom a few years before, while a petty officer under his +command, he may have publicly disgraced and dismissed from his ship for +some misdemeanor. + +In eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, when off Maldonado, ascending the +La Plata, a Spanish pilot came on board a ship of war; and as he stalked +aft from the gangway, with the assumed hauteur of littleness in power, +the penetrating eye of one of the lieutenants was fixed upon his +countenance with a close and scrutinizing gaze. The eye of the pilot +fell beneath its stern expression for a moment; but he again raised it, +and stealing a quick, furtive, and apparently recognising glance at the +officer, his dark brown face changed suddenly to the hue of death, and +with a fearful cry, he sprang with the activity of a cat into the mizen +rigging; but before he could leap over the quarter, the officer had +seized a musket from a marine, and fired: the ball struck him near the +elbow the instant he had cleared the rigging. A heavy splash was heard +in the water, and as those on deck flew to the stern, a dark spot of +blood upon the water was the only evidence that a human being had sunk +beneath. While they were engaged in looking upon the spot where he had +plunged, and wondering, without knowing the cause, at this summary +method of proceeding on the part of the lieutenant, a cry, "there he +is," was heard and repeated by fifty voices, naval discipline to the +contrary notwithstanding, and about twenty fathoms astern, the black +head of the pilot was seen emerging from the waves--but the next +instant, with a horrible Spanish curse, he dived from their sight, and +in a few minutes, appeared more than a hundred yards astern. + +It appeared that during the well-known piratical depredations, a few +years previous, in the vicinity of Key West and Cape St. Antonio, this +officer had the command of a shore expedition against the pirates. +During the excursion he attacked a large band of them in their retreats, +and, after a long and warmly contested conflict, either slew or took the +whole party prisoners. Among those was the redoubtable pilot, who held +the goodly office of second in command among those worthy gentlemen. But +as they proceeded to their schooner, which lay half a league from the +shore, the rover, not liking the prospect which his skill in "second +sight" presented to his fancy, suddenly, with a powerful effort, threw +off the two men between whom he was seated, and leaping, with both arms +pinioned behind him, over the head of the astonished bow oarsman, +disappeared "instanter;" and while a score of muskets and pistols were +levelled in various directions, made his appearance, in a few minutes, +about a furlong astern, and out of reach of shot. It was thought useless +to pursue him in a heavy barge, and he effected his escape. This said +swimmer was recognised by the lieutenant in the person of the pilot; and +as the recognition was mutual, the scene I have narrated followed. + +At sunrise, the morning after leaving the Balize, we passed the ruins, +or rather the former location, (for the traces are scarcely perceptible) +of the old Spanish fort Plaquemine, where, while this country was under +Spanish government, all vessels were obliged to heave to, and produce +their passports for the inspection of the sage, big-whiskered Dons, who +were there whilom domesticated. + +Toward noon, the perpetual sameness of the shores, (they cannot be +termed _banks_) of the river, were relieved by clumps of cypress and +other trees, which gradually, as we advanced, increased into forests, +extending back to a level horizon, as viewed from the mast-head, and +overhanging both sides of the river. Though so late in the season, they +still retained the green freshness of summer, and afforded an agreeable +contrast to the dry and leafless forests which we had just left at the +north. At a distance, we beheld the first plantation to be seen on +ascending the river. As we approached it, we discovered from the deck +the commencement of the embankment or "Levee," which extends, on both +sides of the river, to more than one hundred and fifty miles above +New-Orleans. This _levee_ is properly a dike, thrown up on the verge of +the river, from twenty-five to thirty feet in breadth, and two feet +higher than high-water mark; leaving a ditch, or fosse, on the inner +side, of equal breadth, from which the earth to form the levee is taken. +Consequently, as the land bordering on the river is a dead level, and, +without the security of the levee, overflowed at half tides, when the +river is full, or within twenty inches, as it often is, of the top of +the embankment, the surface of the river will be _four feet higher_ than +the surface of the country; the altitude of the inner side of the levee +being usually six feet above the general surface of the surrounding +land. + +This is a startling truth; and at first leads to reflections by no means +favorable in their results, to the safety, either of the lives or +property of the inhabitants of the lowlands of Louisiana. But closer +observation affords the assurance that however threatening a mass of +water four feet in height, two thousand five hundred in breadth, and of +infinite length, may be in appearance, experience has not shown to any +great extent, that the residents on the borders of this river have in +reality, more to apprehend from an inundation, so firm and efficacious +is their levee, than those who reside in more apparent security, upon +the elevated banks of our flooding rivers of the north. It cannot be +denied that there have been instances where "crevasses" as they are +termed here, have been gradually worn through the levee, by the +attrition of the waters, when, suddenly starting through in a wiry +stream, they rapidly enlarge to torrents which, with the force, and +noise, and rushing of a mill-race, shoot away over the plantations, +inundating the sugar fields, and losing themselves in the boundless +marshes in the rear. But on such occasions, which however are not +frequent, the alarm is given and communicated by the plantation bells, +and before half an hour elapses, several hundred negroes, with their +masters, (who all turn out on these occasions, as at a fire,) will have +gathered to the spot, and at the expiration of another half-hour, the +breach will be stopped, the danger past, and the "Monarch of rivers," +subdued by the hand of man, will be seen again moving, submissively +obedient, within his prescribed limits, sullenly, yet majestically to +the ocean. + +During the afternoon, we passed successively many sugar plantations, in +the highest state of cultivation. Owing to the elevation of the levee, +and the low situation of the lands, we could see from the deck only the +upper story of the planters' residences upon the shore; but from the +main top, we had an uninterrupted view of every plantation which we +passed. As they very much resemble each other in their general features, +a description of one of them will be with a little variation applicable +to all. Fortunately for me, a slight accident to our machinery, which +delayed us fifteen or twenty minutes, in front of one of the finest +plantations below New-Orleans, enabled me to put in practice a short +system of _espionage_ upon the premises, from the main top, with my +spy-glass, that introduced me into the very _sanctum_ of the enchanting +ornamental gardens, in which the palace-like edifice was half-embowered. + +The house was quadrangular, with a high steep Dutch roof, immensely +large, and two stories in height; the basement or lower story being +constructed of brick, with a massive colonnade of the same materials on +all sides of the building. This basement was raised to a level with the +summit of the levee, and formed the ground-work or basis of the edifice, +which was built of wood, painted white, with Venetian blinds, and +latticed verandas, supported by slender and graceful pillars, running +round every side of the dwelling. Along the whole western front, +festooned in massive folds, hung a dark-green curtain, which is dropped +along the whole length of the balcony in a summer's afternoon, not only +excluding the burning rays of the sun, but inviting the inmates to a +cool and refreshing _siesta_, in some one of the half dozen network +hammocks, which we discovered suspended in the veranda. The basement +seemed wholly unoccupied, and probably was no more than an over-ground +cellar. At each extremity of the piazza was a broad and spacious flight +of steps, descending into the garden which enclosed the dwelling on +every side. + +Situated about two hundred yards back from the river, the approach to it +was by a lofty massive gateway which entered upon a wide gravelled walk, +bordered by dark foliaged orange trees, loaded with their golden fruit. +Pomegranate, fig, and lemon trees, shrubs, plants and exotics of every +clime and variety, were dispersed in profusion over this charming +_parterre_. Double palisades of lemon and orange trees surrounded the +spot, forming one of the loveliest and most elegant rural retirements, +that imagination could create or romantic ambition desire. About half a +mile in the rear of the dwelling, I observed a large brick building with +lofty chimneys resembling towers. This was the sugar-house, wherein the +cane undergoes its several transmutations, till that state of +_perfection_ is obtained, which renders it marketable. + +On the left and diagonally from the dwelling house we noticed a very +neat, pretty village, containing about forty small snow-white cottages, +all precisely alike, built around a pleasant square, in the centre of +which, was a grove or cluster of magnificent sycamores. Near by, +suspended from a belfry, was the bell which called the slaves to and +from their work and meals. This village was their residence, and under +the shade of the trees in the centre of the square, we could discern +troops of little ebony urchins from the age of eight years downward, all +too young to work in the field, at their play--under the charge of an +old, crippled _gouvernante_, who, being past "field service," was thus +promoted in the "home department." + +This plantation was about one mile and a half in depth from the river, +terminating, like all in lower Louisiana, in an impenetrable cypress +swamp; and about two miles in breadth by the levee. About one half was +waving with the rich long-leafed cane, and agreeably variegated, +exhibiting every delicate shade from the brightest yellow to the darkest +green. A small portion of the remainder was in corn, which grows +luxuriantly in this country, though but little cultivated; and the rest +lay in fallow, into which a portion of every plantation is thrown, +alternately, every two years. + +By the time I had completed my observations, spying the richness, rather +than "the nakedness" of the land, the engineer had arranged the +machinery and we were again in motion; passing rapidly by rich gardens, +spacious avenues, tasteful villas, and extensive fields of cane, bending +to the light breeze with the wavy motion of the sea. Just before sunset +we passed the site of the old fort St. Mary, and in half an hour after, +swept round into the magnificent curve denominated the "English +Turn."[3] As we sailed along, gay parties, probably returning from and +going to, the city, on horseback, in barouches and carriages, were +passing along the level road within the levee; their heads and shoulders +being only visible above it, gave to the whole cavalcade a singularly +ludicrous appearance--a strange bobbing of heads, hats and feathers, +suggesting the idea of a new genus of locomotives amusing themselves +upon the green sward. + +Much to our regret, we did not arrive opposite the "battle ground" till +some time after sunset. But we were in some measure remunerated for our +disappointment, by gazing down upon the scene of the conflict from +aloft, while as bright and clear a moon as ever shed its mellow radiance +over a southern landscape, poured its full flood of light upon the now +quiet battle field. I could distinguish that it was under cultivation, +and that princely dwellings were near and around it; and my ear told me +as we sailed swiftly by, that where shouts of conflict and carnage once +broke fiercely upon the air, now floated the lively notes of cheerful +music, which were wafted over the waters to the ship, falling pleasantly +upon the ear. + +The lights and habitations along the shore now became more frequent. +Luggers, manned by negroes, light skiffs, with a solitary occupant in +each, and now and then a dark hulled vessel, her lofty sails, reflecting +the bright moon light, appearing like snowy clouds in the clear blue +sky, were rapidly and in increasing numbers, continually gliding by us. +By these certain indications we knew that we were not far from the goal +so long the object of our wishes. + +We had been anticipating during the morning an early arrival, when the +panorama of the crescent city should burst upon our view enriched, by +the mellow rays of a southern sun, with every variety of light and shade +that could add to the beauty or novelty of the scene. But our sanguine +anticipations were not to be realized. The shades of night had long +fallen over the town, when, as we swiftly moved forward, anxiously +trying to penetrate the obscurity, an interminable line of lights +gradually opened in quick succession upon our view; and a low hum, like +the far off roaring of the sea, with the heavy and irregular tolling of +a deep mouthed bell, was borne over the waves upon the evening breeze, +mingling at intervals with loud calls far away on the shore, and fainter +replies still more distant. The fierce and incessant baying of dogs, and +as we approached nearer, the sound of many voices, as in a tumult;--and +anon, the wild, clear, startling notes of a bugle, waking the slumbering +echoes on the opposite shore, succeeded by the solitary voice of some +lonely singer, blended with the thrumming notes of a guitar, falling +with melancholy cadence upon the ear--all gave indications that we were +rapidly approaching the termination of our voyage. + +In a few minutes, as we still shot onward, we could trace a thousand +masts, penciled distinctly with all their network rigging upon the clear +evening sky. We moved swiftly in among them; and gradually checking her +speed, the tow-boat soon came nearly to a full stop, and casting off the +ship astern, rounded to and left us along side of a Salem ship, which +lay outside of a tier "six deep." When the bustle and confusion of +making fast had subsided, we began our preparations to go on shore. So +anxious were we once more to tread "terra firma," that we determined not +to wait for a messenger to go half a mile for a carriage, but to walk +through the gayly lighted streets to our hotel in Canal-street, more +than a mile distant. So after much trouble in laying planks, for the +surer footing of the ladies, from gangway to gangway, we safely reached, +after crossing half a dozen ships, the firm, immoveable Levee. I will +now briefly relate the little history of our truly elegant brig, as I +partially promised to do in my last, and conclude this long, long +letter. + +Her commander was formerly an officer of the United States navy. He is a +graduate of Harvard University, and presents in his person the +admirable union of the polished gentleman, finished scholar, and +practical seaman. Inheriting a princely fortune from a bachelor uncle, +he returned to Massachusetts, his native state, and built according to +his own taste the beautiful vessel he now commands. He has made in her +one voyage to India, and two up the Mediterranean, and is now at this +port to purchase a cargo of cotton for the European market. His officers +are gentlemen of education and nautical science; his equals and +companions in the cabin, though his subordinates on the deck. + +If the imagination of the lonely sailor, as he mechanically paces his +midnight watch, creates an Utopia in the wide ocean of futurity, if +there be a limit to the enjoyment of a refined seaman's wishes, or a "ne +plus ultra," to his ambition, they must all be realized and achieved, by +the sole command and control of a vessel so correctly beautiful as the +D----; so ably officered and manned, so opulent with every luxury, +comfort, and convenience, and free as the winds to go and come over the +"dark blue sea," obedient alone to the uncontrolled will and submissive +to the lightest pleasure of her absolute commander. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Tradition saith, that some British vessels of war pursuing some +American vessels up the river, on arriving at this place gave up the +pursuit as useless, and _turned_ back to the Balize. + +Another tradition saith that John Bull chasing some American ships up +the river, thought, in his wisdom, when he arrived at this bend, that +this was but another of the numerous outlets of the hydra-headed +Mississippi, and supposing the Yankee ships were taking advantage of it +to escape to the sea--he _turned_ about and followed his way back; +again, determined, as school boys say, to "head them!" + + + + +VIII. + + Bachelor's comforts--A valuable valet--Disembarked at the + Levee--A fair Castilian--Canaille--The Crescent city-- + Reminiscence of school days--French cabarets--Cathedral-- + Exchange--Cornhill--A chain of light--A fracas--Gens d'Armes + --An affair of honour--Arrive at our hotel. + + +How delightfully comfortable one feels, and how luxuriantly disposed to +quiet,--after having been tossed, and bruised, and tumbled about, _sans +ceremonie_, like a bale of goods, or a printer's devil, for many long +weary days and nights upon the slumberless sea--to be once more cosily +established in a smiling, elegant little parlour, carpeted, curtained, +and furnished with every tasteful convenience that a comfort loving, +home-made bachelor could covet. In such a pleasant sitting-room am I now +most enviably domesticated, and every thing around me contributes to the +happiness of my situation. A cheerful coal-fire burns in the grate--(for +the day is cloudy, misty, drizzly, foggy, and chilly, which is the best +definition I can give you, as yet, of a wet December's day in +New-Orleans,)--diffusing an agreeable temperature throughout the room, +and adding, by contrast with the dark gloomy streets, seen indistinctly +through the moist glass, to the enjoyment of my comforts. I am now +seated by my writing-desk at a table, drawn at an agreeable distance +from the fire-place--and fully convinced that a man never feels so +comfortably, as when ensconced in a snug parlour on a rainy day. + +A statue of dazzling ebony, by name Antoine, to which the slightest look +or word will give instant animation, stands in the centre of the room, +contrasting beautifully in colour with the buff paper-hangings and +crimson curtains. He is a slave--about seventeen years of age, and a +bright, intelligent, active boy, nevertheless--placed at my disposal as +_valet_ while I remain here, by the kind attention of my obliging +hostess, Madame H----. He serves me in a thousand capacities, as +post-boy, cicerone, &c. and is on the whole, an extremely useful and +efficient attache. + +Our party having safely landed on the Levee, nearly opposite Rue +Marigny, we commenced our long, yet in anticipation, delightful walk to +our hotel. We had disembarked about a quarter of a league below the +cathedral, from the front of which, just after we landed, the loud +report of the evening gun broke over the city, rattling and +reverberating through the long massively built streets, like the echoing +of distant thunder along mountain ravines. On a firm, smooth, gravelled +walk elevated about four feet, by a gradual ascent from the street--one +side open to the river, and the other lined with the "Pride of China," +or India tree, we pursued our way to Chartres-street, the "Broadway" of +New-Orleans. The moon shone with uncommon brilliancy, and thousands, +even in this lower faubourg, were abroad, enjoying the beauty and +richness of the scene. Now, a trio of lively young Frenchmen would pass +us, laughing and conversing gayly upon some merry subject, followed by a +slow moving and stately figure, whose haughty tread, and dark +_roquelaure_ gathered with classic elegance around his form in graceful +folds, yet so arranged as to conceal every feature beneath his slouched +_sombrero_, except a burning, black, penetrating eye,--denoted the +exiled Spaniard. + +We passed on--and soon the lively sounds of the French language, uttered +by soft voices, were heard nearer and nearer, and the next moment, two +or three duenna-like old ladies, remarkable for their "embonpoint" +dimensions, preceded a bevy of fair girls, without that most hideous of +all excrescences, with which women see fit to disfigure their heads, +denominated a "bonnet"--their brown, raven or auburn hair floating in +ringlets behind them. + +There was one--a dark-locked girl--a superb creature, over whose head +and shoulders, secured above her forehead by a brilliant which in the +clear moon burned like a star, waved the folds of a snow-white veil in +the gentle breeze, created by her motion as she glided gracefully along. +She was a Castilian; and the mellow tones of her native land gave +richness to the light elegance of the French, as she breathed it like +music from her lips. + +As we passed on, the number of promenaders increased, but scarcely a +lady was now to be seen. Every other gentleman we met was enveloped in a +cloud, not of bacchanalian, but tobacconalian incense, which gave a +peculiar atmosphere to the Levee. + +Every, or nearly every gentleman carried a sword cane, apparently, and +occasionally the bright hilt of a Spanish knife, or dirk, would gleam +for an instant in the moon-beams from the open bosom of its possessor, +as, with the lowering brow, and active tread of wary suspicion, he moved +rapidly by us, his roundabout thrown over the left shoulder and secured +by the sleeves in a knot under the arm, which was thrust into his +breast, while the other arm was at liberty to attend to his segar, or +engage in any mischief to which its owner might be inclined. This class +of men are very numerous here. They are easily distinguished by their +shabby appearance, language, and foreign way of wearing their apparel. +In groups--promenading, lounging, and sleeping upon the seats along the +Levee--we passed several hundred of this _canaille_ of Orleans, before +we arrived at the "Parade," the public square in front of the cathedral. +They are mostly Spaniards and Portuguese, though there are among them +representatives from all the unlucky families which, at the building of +Babel, were dispersed over the earth. As to their mode and means of +existence, I have not as yet informed myself; but I venture to presume +that they resort to no means beneath the dignity of "caballeros!" + +After passing the market on our right, a massive colonnade, about two +hundred and fifty feet in length, we left the Levee, and its endless +tier of shipping which had bordered one side of our walk all the way, +and passing under the China-trees, that still preserved their unbroken +line along the river, we crossed Levee-street, a broad, spacious +esplanade, running along the front of the main body or block of the +city, separating it from the Levee, and forming a magnificent +thoroughfare along the whole extensive river-line. From this high-way +streets shoot off at right angles, till they terminate in the swamp +somewhat less than a league back from the river. I have termed +New-Orleans the crescent city in one of my letters, from its being built +around the segment of a circle formed by a graceful curve of the river +at this place. Though the water, or shore-line, is very nearly +semi-circular, the Levee-street, above mentioned, does not closely +follow the shore, but is broken into two angles, from which the streets +diverge as before mentioned. These streets are again intersected by +others running parallel with the Levee-street, dividing the city into +squares, except where the perpendicular streets meet the angles, where +necessarily the "squares" are lessened in breadth at the extremity +nearest the river, and occasionally form pentagons and parallelograms, +with _oblique_ sides, if I may so express it. + +After crossing Levee-street, we entered Rue St. Pierre, which issues +from it south of the grand square. This square is an open green, +surrounded by a lofty iron railing, within which troops of boys, whose +sports carried my thoughts away to "home, sweet home," were playing, +shouting and merry making, precisely as we used to do in days long past, +when the harvest-moon would invite us from our dwellings to the village +green, where many and many a joyful night we have played till the magic +voice of our good old Scotch preceptor was heard from the door of his +little cottage under the elms, "Laads, laads, it's unco time ye were in +bed, laads," warning us to our sleepy pillows. The front of this +extensive square was open to the river, bordered with its dark line of +ships; on each side were blocks of rusty looking brick buildings of +Spanish and French construction, with projecting balconies, heavy +cornices, and lofty jalousies or barricaded windows. The lower stories +of these buildings were occupied by retailers of fancy wares, vintners, +segar manufacturers, dried fruit sellers, and all the other members of +the innumerable occupations, to which the volatile, ever ready Frenchman +can always turn himself and a _sous_ into the bargain. As we passed +along, these shops were all lighted up, and the happy faces, merry +songs, and gay dances therein, occasionally contrasted with the shrill +tone of feminine anger in a foreign tongue, and the loud, fierce, rapid +voices of men mingling in dispute, added to the novelty and amusement of +our walk. I enumerated ten, out of seventeen successive shops or +_cabarets_, upon the shelves of which I could discover nothing but +myriads of claret and Madeira bottles, tier upon tier to the ceiling; +and from this fact I came to the conclusion, that some of the worthy +citizens of New-Orleans must be most unconscionable "wine-bibbers," if +not "publicans and sinners," as subsequent observation has led me to +surmise. + +On the remaining side of this square stood the cathedral, its dark +moorish-looking towers flinging their vast shadows far over the water. +The whole front of the large edifice was thrown into deep shade, so that +when we approached, it presented one black mingled mass, frowning in +stern and majestic silence upon the surrounding scene. + +Leaving this venerable building at the right, we turned into +Chartres-street, the second parallel with the Levee, and the most +fashionable, as well as greatest business street in the city. As we +proceeded, _cafes_, confectioners, fancy stores, millineries, +parfumeurs, &c. &c., were passed in rapid succession; each one of them +presenting something new, and always something to strike the attention +of strangers, like ourselves, for the first time in the only "foreign" +city in the United States. + +At the corner of one of the streets intersecting Chartres-street--Rue +St. Louis I believe--we passed a large building, the lofty basement +story of which was lighted with a glare brighter than that of noon. In +the back ground, over the heads of two or three hundred loud-talking, +noisy gentlemen, who were promenading and vehemently gesticulating, in +all directions, through the spacious room--I discovered a bar, with its +peculiar dazzling array of glasses and decanters containing +"spirits"--not of "the vasty deep" certainly, but of whose potent spells +many were apparently trying the power, by frequent libations. This +building--of which and its uses more anon--I was informed, was the +"French" or "New Exchange." After passing Rue Toulouse, the streets +began to assume a new character; the buildings were loftier and more +modern--the signs over the doors bore English names, and the +characteristic arrangements of a northern dry goods store were +perceived, as we peered in at the now closing doors of many stores by +which we passed. We had now attained the upper part of Chartres-street, +which is occupied almost exclusively by retail and wholesale dry goods +dealers, jewellers, booksellers, &c., from the northern states, and I +could almost realize that I was taking an evening promenade in Cornhill, +so great was the resemblance. + +As we successively crossed Rues Conti, Bienville and Douane, and looked +down these long straight avenues, the endless row of lamps, suspended in +the middle of these streets, as well as in all others in New-Orleans, by +chains or ropes, extended from house to house across, had a fine and +brilliant effect, which we delayed for a moment on the flag-stone to +admire, endeavouring to reach with our eyes the almost invisible +extremity of this line of flame. Just before we reached the head of +Chartres-street, near Bienville, in the immediate vicinity of which is +the boarding house of Madame H----, where we intended to take rooms, our +way was impeded by a party of gentlemen in violent altercation in +English and French, who completely blocked up the "trottoir." "Sir," +said one of the party--a handsome, resolute-looking young man--in a calm +deliberate voice, which was heard above every other, and listened to as +well--"Sir, you have grossly insulted me, and I shall expect from you, +immediately--before we separate--an acknowledgment, adequate to the +injury." "Monsieur," replied a young Frenchman whom he had addressed, +in French, "Monsieur, I never did insult you--a gentleman never insults! +you have misunderstood me, and refuse to listen to a candid +explanation." "The explanation you have given sir," reiterated the first +speaker, "is not sufficient--it is a subterfuge;" here many voices +mingled in loud confusion, and a renewed and more violent altercation +ensued which prevented our hearing distinctly; and as we had already +crossed to the opposite side of the street, having ladies under escort, +we rapidly passed on our way, but had not gained half a square before +the clamour increased to an uproar--steel struck steel--one, then +another pistol was discharged in rapid succession--"guards!" "gens +d'armes, _gens d'armes_," "guards! guards!" resounded along the streets, +and we arrived at our hotel, just in time to escape being run down, or +run through at their option probably, by half a dozen gens d'armes in +plain blue uniforms, who were rushing with drawn swords in their hands +to the scene of contest, perfectly well assured in our own minds, that +we had most certainly arrived at NEW-ORLEANS! + +Though affairs of the kind just described are no uncommon thing here, +and are seldom noticed in the papers of the day--yet the following +allusion to the event of last evening may not be uninteresting to you, +and I will therefore copy it, and terminate my letter with the extract. + +"An affray occurred last night in the vicinity of Bienville-street, in +which one young gentleman was severely wounded by the discharge of a +pistol, and another slightly injured by a dirk. An "_affaire d'honneur_" +originated from this, and the parties met this morning. Dr. ---- of +New-York, one of the principals, was mortally wounded by his antagonist +M. Le---- of this city." + + + + +IX. + + Sensations on seeing a city for the first time--Capt. Kidd + --Boston--Fresh feelings--An appreciated luxury--A human + medley--School for physiognomists--A morning scene in New- + Orleans--Canal-street--Levee--French and English stores-- + Parisian and Louisianian pronunciation--Scenes in the market + --Shipping--A disguised rover--Mississippi fleets--Ohio + river arks--Slave laws. + + +I know of no sensation so truly delightful and exciting as that +experienced by a traveller, when he makes his _debut_ in a strange and +interesting city. These feelings have attended me before, in many other +and more beautiful places; but when I sallied out the morning after my +arrival, to survey this "Key of the Great Valley," I enjoyed them again +with almost as much zest, as when, a novice to cities and castellated +piles, I first gazed in silent wonder upon the immense dome which crowns +Beacon Hill, and lingered to survey with a fascinated eye the princely +edifices that surround it. + +I shall ever remember, with the liveliest emotions, my first visit to +Boston--the first "CITY," (what a charm to a country lad in the +appellation) I had ever seen. It was a delightful summer's morning, +when, urged forward by a gentle wind, our little, green-painted, +coasting packet entered the magnificent harbour, which, broken and +diversified with its beautiful islands, lay outspread before us like a +chain of lakes sleeping among hills. With what romantic and youthful +associations did I then gaze upon the lonely sea-washed monument, as we +sailed rapidly by it, where the famous pirate, "Nick," murdered his +mate; and a little farther on, upon a pleasant green island, where the +bloody "Robert Kidd" buried treasures that no man could number, or +find!--With what patriotism, almost kindled into a religion, did I gaze +upon the noble heights of Dorchester as they lifted their twin summits +to the skies on our left, and upon the proud eminence far to the right, +where Warren expired and liberty was born! + +I well remember with what wild enthusiasm I bounded on shore ere the +vessel had quite reached it, and with juvenile elasticity, ran, rather +than walked, up through the hurry and bustle that always attend Long +Wharf. With what veneration I looked upon the spot, in State-street, +where the first American blood was shed by British soldiers! With what +reverence I paced "Old Cornhill"--and with what deep respect I gazed +upon the venerable "Old South," the scene of many a revolutionary +incident! The site of the "Liberty Tree"--the "KING'S" Chapel, +where LIONEL LINCOLN was married--the wharf, from which the tea +was poured into the dock by the disguised citizens, and a hundred other +scenes and places of interesting associations were visited, and gave me +a pleasure that I fear can never so perfectly be felt again. For then, +my feelings were young, fresh and buoyant, and my curiosity, as in after +life, had never been glutted and satiated by the varieties and novelties +of our variegated world. Even the "cannon-ball" embedded in the tower of +Brattle-street church, was an object of curiosity; the building in which +Franklin worked when an apprentice, was not passed by, unvisited; and +the ancient residence of "Job Pray" was gazed upon with a kind of +superstitious reverence. I do not pretend to compare my present feelings +with those of that happy period. Although my curiosity may not be so +eager as then, it is full as persevering; and though I may not +experience the same lively gratification, in viewing strange and novel +scenes, that I felt in boyhood, I certainly do as much rational and +intellectual pleasure; and obtain more valuable and correct information +than I could possibly gain, were I still guided by the more volatile +curiosity of youth. + +In spite of our fatigue of the preceding evening, and the luxury of a +soft, firm bed, wherein one could sleep without danger of being capsized +by a lee-lurch--a blessing we had not enjoyed for many a long and weary +night--we were up with the sun and prepared for a stroll about the city. +Our first place of destination was the market-house, a place which in +almost every commercial city is always worthy the early notice of a +stranger, as it is a kind of "House of Representatives" of the city to +which it belongs, where, during the morning, delegates from almost every +family are found studying the interests of their constituents by +judicious negotiations for comestibles. If the market at New-Orleans +represents that city, so truly does New-Orleans represent every other +city and nation upon earth. I know of none where is congregated so great +a variety of the human species, of every language and colour. Not only +natives of the well known European and Asiatic countries are here to be +met with, but occasionally Persians, Turks, Lascars, Maltese, Indian +sailors from South America and the Islands of the sea, Hottentots, +Laplanders, and, for aught I know to the contrary, Symmezonians. + +Now should any philanthropic individual, anxious for the advancement of +the noble science of physiognomy, wish to survey the motley countenances +of these goodly personages, let him on some bright and sunny morning +bend his steps toward the market-house; for there, in all their variety +and shades of colouring they may be seen, and _heard_. If a painting +could affect the sense of hearing as well as that of sight, this market +multitude would afford the artist an inimitable original for the +representation upon his canvass of the "confusion of tongues." + +As we sallied from our hotel to commence our first tour of sight seeing, +the vast city was just waking into life. Our sleepy servants were +opening the shutters, and up and down the street a hundred of their +drowsy brethren were at the same enlightening occupation. Black women, +with huge baskets of rusks, rolls and other appurtenances of the +breakfast table, were crying, in loud shrill French, their "stock in +trade," followed by milk-criers, and butter-criers and criers of every +thing but tears: for they all seemed as merry as the morning, saluting +each other gayly as they met, "Bo' shoo Mumdsal"--"Moshoo! adieu," &c. +&c., and shooting their rude shafts of African wit at each other with +much vivacity and humor. + +We turned down Canal-street--the broadest in New-Orleans, and destined +to be the most magnificent. Its breadth I do not know, correctly, but it +is certainly one half wider than Broadway opposite the Park.--Through +its centre runs a double row of young trees, which, when they arrive at +maturity, will form the finest mall in the United States, unless the +_esplanade_--a beautiful mall at the south part of the city, should +excel it. + +From the head of Canal-street we entered Levee-street, leaving the +custom house, a large, plain, yellow stuccoed building upon our right, +near which is a huge, dark coloured, unshapely pile of brick, originally +erected for a _Bethel church_ for seamen, but never finished, and seldom +occupied, except by itinerant showmen, with their wonders. Levee-street +had already begun to assume a bustling, commerce-like appearance. The +horse-drays were trundling rapidly by, sometimes four abreast, racing to +different parts of the Levee for their loads--and upon each was mounted +a ragged negro, who, as Jehu-like he drove along, standing upright and +unsupported, resembled "Phaeton in the suds"--rather than "Phaeton the +god-like." + +The stores on our left were all open, and nearly every one of them, for +the first two squares, was occupied as a clothing or hat store, and kept +by Americans; that is to say, Anglo Americans as distinguished from the +Louisianian French, who very properly, and proudly too, assume the +national appellation, which we of the English tongue have so haughtily +arrogated to ourselves. As we approached the market, French stores began +to predominate, till one could readily imagine himself, aided by the +sound of the French language, French faces and French goods on all +sides, to be traversing a street in Havre or Marseilles. Though I do not +pretend to be a critical connoisseur in French, yet I could discover a +marked and striking difference between the language I heard spoken every +where and by all classes, in the streets, and the Parisian, or +trans-Atlantic French. The principal difference seems to be in their +method of contracting or clipping their words, and consequently varying, +more or less, the pronunciation of every termination susceptible of +change. The vowels _o_ and _e_ are more open, and the _a_ is flatter +than in the genuine French, and often loses altogether its emphatic +fulness; while _u_, corrupted from its difficult, but peculiarly soft +sound, is almost universally pronounced as full and plain as _oo_ in +moon. This difference is of course only in pronunciation; the same +literature, and consequently the same words and orthography, being +common both to the creole and European. The sun had already risen, when +I arrived, after a delightful walk, at the "marche."--This is a fine +building consisting of a long, lofty roof, supported by rows of columns +on every side. It is constructed of brick, and stuccoed; and, either by +intention or an effect of the humid atmosphere of this climate, is of a +dingy cream colour. + +A broad passage runs through the whole length of the structure, each +side of which is lined with stalls, where some one, of no particular +colour, presides; and before every pillar, the shining face of a blackee +may be seen glistening from among his vegetables. As I moved on through +a dense mass of negroes, mulattoes, and non-descripts of every shade, +from "sunny hue to sooty," all balancing their baskets skilfully upon +their heads, my ears were assailed with sounds stranger and more +complicated than I ever imagined could be rung upon that marvellous +instrument the human tongue. The "langue des halles"--the true +"Billingsgate" was not only here perfected but improved upon; the gods +and goddesses of the London mart might even take lessons from these +daughters of Afric, who, enthroned upon a keg, or three-legged stool, +each morning hold their _levee_, and dispense their esculent blessings +to the famishing citizens. During the half hour I remained in the +market, I did not see one white person to fifty blacks. It appears that +here servants do all the marketing, and that gentlemen and ladies do +not, as in Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, visit the market-places +themselves, and select their own provision for their tables. The +market-place in Philadelphia is quite a general resort and promenade for +early-rising gentlemen, and it is certainly well worth one's while to +visit it more than once, not only for the gratification of the palate +and the eye, by the inviting display of epicurean delicacies, but to +become more particularly acquainted with the general habits and manners +of the country people, who always constitute the greater portion of the +multitude at a market. Among them are individuals from every little +hamlet and village for ten or fifteen miles around the city, and by +studying these people, a tolerably good idea may be formed by a stranger +of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, (that is, the farming +class) of the vicinity. + +But here, there is no temptation of the kind to induce one to visit the +market in the city more than once. He will see nothing to gratify the +spirit of inquiry or observation, in the ignorant, careless-hearted +slaves, whose character presents neither variety nor interest. However +well they may represent their brethren in the city and on the +neighbouring sugar plantations, they cannot be ranked among the class of +their fellow-beings denominated citizens, and consequently, are not to +be estimated by a stranger in judging of this community. + +So far as regards the intrinsic importance of this market, it is +undoubtedly equal to any other in America. Vegetables and fruits of all +climates are displayed in bountiful profusion in the vegetable stalls, +while the beef and fish-market is abundantly supplied, though +necessarily without that endless variety to be found in Atlantic cities. + +In front, upon the water, were double lines of market and fish-boats, +secured to the Levee, forming a small connecting link of the long chain +of shipping and steamboats that extend for a league in front of the +city. At the lower part of the town lie generally those ships, which +having their cargoes on board, have dropped down the river to await +their turn to be towed to sea. Fronting this station are no stores, but +several elegant private dwellings, constructed after the combined French +and Spanish style of architecture, almost embowered in dark, evergreen +foliage, and surrounded by parterres. The next station above, and +immediately adjoining this, is usually occupied by vessels, which, just +arrived, have not yet obtained a berth where they can discharge their +cargoes; though not unfrequently ships here discharge and receive their +freight, stretching along some distance up the Levee to the link of +market-boats just mentioned. + +From the market to the vicinity of Bienville-street, lies an extensive +tier of shipping, often "six deep," discharging and receiving cargo, or +waiting for freight. The next link of the huge chain is usually occupied +by Spanish and French coasting vessels,--traders to Mexico, Texas, +Florida, &c. These are usually polaccas, schooners, and other small +craft--and particularly black, rakish craft, some of them are in +appearance. It would require but little exercise of the imagination, +while surveying these truculent looking clippers, to fancy any one of +them, clothed in canvass and bounding away upon the broad sea, the +"_Black flag_" flying aloft, the now gunless deck bristling with five +eighteens to a side; and her indolent, smoking, dark faced crew +exchanging their jack-knives for sabres and pistols. There was an +instance of recent occurrence, where a ship was boarded and plundered by +a well-armed and strongly manned schooner, in company with which, under +the peaceful guise of a merchantman she had been towed down the river +six days previous. + +Next to this station (for as you will perceive, the whole Levee is +divided into _stations_ appropriated to peculiar classes of shipping,) +commences the range of steamboats, or steamers, as they are usually +termed here, rivaling in magnitude the extensive line of ships below. +The appearance of so large a collection of steamboats is truly novel, +and must always strike a stranger with peculiar interest. + +The next station, though it presents a more humble appearance than the +others, is not the least interesting. Here are congregated the primitive +navies of Indiana, Ohio, and the adjoining states, manned (I have not +understood whether they are _officered_ or not) by "real +Kentucks"--"Buck eyes"--"Hooshers"--and "Snorters." There were about two +hundred of these craft without masts, consisting of "flat-boats," (which +resemble, only being much shorter, the "Down East" gundalow, (gondola) +so common on the rivers of Maine,) and "keel-boats," which are one +remove from the flat-boat, having some pretensions to a keel; they +somewhat resemble freighting canal-boats. Besides these are "arks," +most appropriately named, their _contents_ having probably some +influence with their god-fathers in selecting an appellation, and other +non-descript-craft. These are filled with produce of all kinds, brought +from the "Upper country," (as the north western states are termed here) +by the very farmers themselves who have raised it;--also, horses, +cattle, hogs, poultry, mules, and every other thing raiseable and +saleable are piled into these huge flats, which an old farmer and half a +dozen Goliaths of sons can begin and complete in less than a week, from +the felling of the first tree to the driving of the last pin. + +When one of these arks is completed, and "every beast that is good for +food" by sevens and scores, male and female, and every fowl of the air +by sevens and fifties, are entered into the ark,--then entereth in the +old man with his family by "males" only, and the boat is committed to +the current, and after the space of many days arriveth and resteth at +this Ararat of all "Up country" Noahs. + +These boats, on arriving here, are taken to pieces and sold as lumber, +while their former owners with well-lined purses return home as deck +passengers on board steamboats. An immense quantity of whiskey from +Pittsburg and Cincinnati, besides, is brought down in these boats, and +not unfrequently, they are crowded with slaves for the southern market. + +The late excellent laws relative to the introduction of slaves, however, +have checked, in a great measure, this traffic here, and the +Mississippi market at Natchez has consequently become inundated, by +having poured into it, in addition to its usual stock, the Louisianian +supply. I understand that the legislature of this rich and enterprising +state is about to pass a law similar to the one above mentioned, which +certainly will be incalculably to her advantage. + +The line of flats may be considered the last link of the great chain of +shipping in front of New-Orleans, unless we consider as attached to it a +kind of dock adjoining, where ships and steamers often lie, either worn +out or undergoing repairs. From this place to the first station I have +mentioned, runs along the Levee, fronting the shipping, an uninterrupted +block of stores, (except where they are intersected by streets,) some of +which are lofty and elegant, while others are clumsy piles of French and +Spanish construction, browned and blackened by age. + + + + +X. + + First impressions--A hero of the "Three Days"--Children's + ball--Life in New-Orleans--A French supper--Omnibuses-- + Chartres-street at twilight--Calaboose--Guard-house--The + vicinage of a theatre--French cafes--Scenes in the interior + of a cafe--Dominos--Tobacco-smokers--New-Orleans society. + + +The last three days I have spent in perambulating the city, hearing, +seeing, and visiting every thing worthy the notice of a Yankee, (and +consequently an inquisitive) tourist. + +As I shall again have occasion to introduce you among the strange and +motley groups, and interesting scenes of the Levee, I will not now +resume the thread of my narrative, broken by the conclusion of my last +letter, but take you at once into the "terra incognita" of this city of +contrarieties. + +The evening of my visit to the market, through the politeness of +Monsieur D., a young Frenchman who distinguished himself in the great +"Three Days" at Paris, and to whom I had a letter of introduction, was +passed amid the gayety and brilliancy of a French assembly-room. The +building in which this ball was held, is adjacent to the Theatre +d'Orleans, and devoted, I believe, exclusively to public parties, which +are held here during the winter months, or more properly, "the season," +almost every night. The occasion on which I attended, was one of +peculiar interest. It was termed the "Children's ball;" and it is given +at regular intervals throughout the gay months. I have not learned the +precise object of this ball, or how it is conducted; but these are +unimportant. I merely wish to introduce to you the dazzling crowd +gathered there, so that you may form some conception of the manner and +appearance of the lively citizens of this lively city, who seem disposed +to remunerate themselves for the funereal and appalling silence of the +long and gloomy season, when "pestilence walketh abroad at noon-day," by +giving way to the full current of life and spirits. Adopting, literally, +"Dum vivimus vivamus," for their motto and their "rule of faith and +practice," they manage during the winter not only to make up for the +privations of summer, but to execute about as much dancing, music, +laughing, and dissipation, as would serve any reasonably disposed, +staid, and sober citizens, for three or four years, giving them withal +from January to January for the perpetration thereof. + +After taking a light supper at _home_, as I already call my hotel, which +consisted of claret, macaroni, cranberries, peaches, little plates of +fresh grapes, several kinds of cakes and other bonbons, spread out upon +a long polished mahogany table, resembling altogether more the display +upon a confectioner's counter than the _table d'hote_ of a hotel, in +company with Monsieur D. I prepared to walk to the scene of the +evening's amusement. But on gaining the street we observed the +"omnibus" still at its stand at the intersection of Canal and Chartres +streets. The driver, already upon his elevated station, with his bugle +at his lips, was sounding his "signal to make sail," as we should say of +a ship; and thereupon, being suddenly impressed with the advantages the +sixteen legs of his team had over our four, in accomplishing the mile +before us, we without farther reflection, sprang forthwith into the +invitingly open door at the end of the vehicle, and the next instant +found ourselves comfortably seated, with about a dozen others, "in +omnibus." + +There are two of these carriages which run from Canal-street through the +whole length of Chartres-street, by the public square, and along the +noble esplanade between the Levee and the main body of the city, as far +as the rail-road; the whole distance being about two miles. The two +vehicles start simultaneously from either place, every half-hour, and +consequently change stands with each other alternately throughout the +day. They commence running early in the morning, and are always on the +move and crowded with passengers till sun-down. For a "bit" +(twelve-and-a-half cents) as it is denominated here, one can ride the +whole distance, or if he choose, but a hundred yards--it is all the same +to the knight of the whip, who mounted on the box in front, guides his +"four-in-hand" with the skill of a professor. + +As we drove through the long, narrow and dusky street, the wholesale +mercantile houses were "being" closed, while the retail stores and fancy +shops, were "being" brilliantly lighted up. Carriages, horsemen, and +noisy drays, with their noisier draymen, were rapidly moving in all +directions, while every individual upon the "trottoirs" was hurrying, as +though some important business of the day had been forgotten, or not yet +completed. All around presented the peculiar noise and bustle which +always prevail throughout the streets of a commercial city at the close +of the day. + +Leaving our omniferous vehicle with its omnifarious cargo--among whom, +fore and aft, the chattering of half a dozen languages had all at once, +as we rode along, unceasingly assailed our ears--at the head of Rue St. +Pierre, we proceeded toward Orleans-street. Directly on quitting the +omnibus we passed the famous Calaboos, or Calabozo, the city prison, so +celebrated by all seamen who have made the voyage to New-Orleans, and +who, in their "long yarns" upon the forecastle, in their weary watches, +fail not to clothe it with every horror of which the Calcutta black +hole, or the Dartmoor prison--two horrible bugbears to sailors--could +boast. Its external appearance, however, did not strike me as very +appealing. It is a long, plain, plastered, blackened building, with +grated windows, looking gloomy enough, but not more so than a common +country jail. It is built close upon the street, and had not my +companion observed as we passed along, "That is the Calaboos," I should +not probably have remarked it. On the corner above, and fronting the +"square," is the guard-house, or quarters of the gens d'armes. Several +of them in their plain blue uniforms and side arms, were lounging about +the corner as we passed, mingling and conversing with persons in +citizens' dress. A glance _en passant_ through an open door, disclosed +an apparently well-filled armory. A few minutes walk through an obscure +and miserably lighted part of Rues St. Pierre and Royale, brought us +into Orleans-street, immediately in the vicinity of its theatre. This +street for some distance on either side of the assembly-room, was +lighted with the brightness of noon-day; not, indeed, by the solitary +lamps which, "few and far between," were suspended across the streets, +but by the glare of reflectors and chandeliers from coffee-houses, +restaurateurs, confectionaries and fancy stores, which were clustered +around that nucleus of pleasure, the French theatre. + +We were in the French part of the city; but there was no apparent +indication that we were not really in France. Not an American ("Anglo") +building was to be seen, in the vicinity, nor scarcely an American face +or voice discoverable among the numerous, loud-talking, chattering crowd +of every grade and colour, congregated before the doors of the ball-room +and cafes adjoining. Before ascending to the magnificent hall where the +gay dancers were assembled, we repaired to an adjoining cafe, _a la +mode_ New-Orleans, with a pair of Monsieur D.'s friends--whom we +encountered in the lobby while negotiating for tickets--to overhaul the +evening papers, and if need there should be, recruit our spirits. A +French coffee-house is a place well worth visiting by a stranger, more +especially a Yankee stranger. I will therefore detain you a little +longer from the brilliant congregation of beauty and gallantry in the +assembly room, and introduce you for a moment into this cafe and to its +inmates. As the coffee houses here do not differ materially from each +other except in size and richness of decoration, though some of them +certainly are more fashionable resorts than others, the description of +one of them will enable you perhaps to form some idea of other similar +establishments in this city. Though their usual denomination is +"coffee-house," they have no earthly, whatever may be their spiritual, +right to such a distinction; it is merely a "_nomme de profession_," +assumed, I know not for what object. We entered from the street, after +passing round a large Venetian screen within the door, into a spacious +room, lighted by numerous lamps, at the extremity of which stood an +extensive bar, arranged, in addition to the usual array of glass ware, +with innumerable French decorations. There were several attendants, some +of whom spoke English, as one of the requirements of their station. This +is the case of all _employes_ throughout New-Orleans; nearly every store +and place of public resort being provided with individuals in attendance +who speak both languages. Around the room were suspended splendid +engravings and fine paintings, most of them of the most licentious +description, and though many of their subjects were classical, of a +voluptuous and luxurious character. This is French taste however. There +are suspended in the Exchange in Chartres-street--one of the most +magnificent and public rooms in the city--paintings which, did they +occupy an equally conspicuous situation in Merchant's Hall, in Boston, +would be instantly defaced by the populace. + +Around the room, beneath the paintings, were arranged many small tables, +at most of which three or four individuals were seated, some alternately +sipping negus and puffing their segars, which are as indispensable +necessaries to a Creole at all times, as his right hand, eye-brows, and +left shoulder in conversation. Others were reading newspapers, and +occasionally assisting their comprehension of abstruse paragraphs, by +hot "coffee," alias warm punch and slings, with which, on little +japanned salvers, the active attendants were flying in all directions +through the spacious room, at the beck and call of customers. The large +circular bar was surrounded by a score of noisy applicants for the +liquid treasures which held out to them such strong temptations. Trios, +couples and units of gentlemen were promenading the well sanded floor, +talking in loud tones, and gesticulating with the peculiar vehemence and +rapidity of Frenchmen. Others, and by far the majority, were gathered by +twos and by fours around the little tables, deeply engaged in playing +that most intricate, scientific, and mathematical of games termed +"Domino." This is the most common game resorted to by the Creoles. In +every cafe and cabaret, from early in the morning, when the luxurious +mint-julep has thawed out their intellects and expanded their organ of +combativeness, till late at night, devotees to this childish amusement +will be found clustered around the tables, with a tonic, often renewed +and properly sangareed, at their elbows. Enveloped in dense clouds of +tobacco-smoke issuing from their eternal segars--those inspirers of +pleasant thoughts,--to whose density, with commendable perseverance and +apparent good will, all in the cafe contribute,--they manoeuvre their +little dotted, black and white parallelograms with wonderful pertinacity +and skill. The whole scene forcibly reminds one, if perchance their fame +hath reached him, of a brace of couplets from a celebrated poem (a +choral ode I believe) composed upon the ship-wreck of its author. The +lines are strikingly applicable to the present subject by merely +substituting "cafe" for "cabin," and negus-drinkers for "hogsheads and +barrels." + + "The cafe filled with thickest smoke, + Threat'ning every soul to choke: + Negus-drinkers crowding in, + Make a most infernal din." + +There are certainly one hundred coffee-houses in this city--how many +more, I know not,--and they have, throughout the day, a constant ingress +and egress of thirsty, time-killing, news-seeking visiters. As custom +authorises this frequenting of these popular places of resort, the +citizens of New-Orleans do not, like those of Boston, attach any +disapprobation to the houses or their visiters. And as there is, in +New-Orleans, from the renewal of one half of its inhabitants every few +years, and the constant influx of strangers, strictly speaking no +exclusive _clique_ or aristocracy, to give a tone to society and +establish a standard of propriety and respectability, as among the +worthy Bostonians, one cannot say to another, "It is not genteel to +resort here--it will injure your reputation to be seen entering this or +that cafe." The inhabitants have no fixed criterion of what is and what +is not "respectable," in the northern acceptation of the term. They are +neither guided nor restrained from following their own inclinations, by +any laws of long established society, regulating their movements, and +saying "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." Consequently, every man +minds his own affairs, pursues his own business or amusement, and lets +his neighbours and fellow-citizens do the same; without the fear of the +moral lash (not law) before his eyes, or expulsion from "caste" for +doing that "in which his soul delighteth." + +Thus you see that society here is a perfect democracy, presenting +variety and novelty enough to a stranger, who chooses to mingle in it +freely, and feels a disposition impartially to study character. But a +truce to this subject for the present, as I wish to introduce you into +the presence of the fair democrats, whose fame for beauty is so well +established. + +Forcing our way through the press around the door, we entered the lobby, +from which a broad flight of steps conducted us to a first, and then a +second platform, through piles of black servants in attendance upon +their masters and mistresses in the ball-room. At the second landing our +tickets were received, and we toiled on with difficulty toward the hall +door, with our hats (which the regulations forbid our wearing even in +the entrance) elevated in the air, for if placed under the arm they +would have been flattened in the squeeze to the very respectable +similitude of a platter, as one unlucky gentleman near me had an +opportunity of testing, to his full conviction. We were soon drawn +within the current setting into the ball-room, and were borne onward by +the human stream over which a score or two of chapeaux waved aloft like +signals of distress.--But I have already spun out my letter to a +sufficient length, and lest you should cry "hold, Macduff," I will defer +your introduction to the _beau monde_ of New-Orleans till my next. + + + + +XI. + + Interior of a ball-room--Creole ladies--Infantile dancers + --French children--American children--A singular division-- + New-Orleans ladies--Northern and southern beauty--An + agreeable custom--Leave the assembly-room--An olio of + languages--The Exchange--Confusion of tongues--Temples of + Fortune. + + +I have endeavoured to give you, in my hastily written letters, some +notion of this city--its streets, buildings, inhabitants and various +novelties, as they first struck my eye; and I apprehend that I have +expanded my descriptions, by minuteness of detail, to a greater length +than was necessary or desirable. But the scenes, individuals, and +circumstances I meet with in my erranting expeditions through the city, +are such as would attract, from their novelty, the attention of a +traveller from the North, and, consequently, a description of them is +neither unworthy a place in his letters, nor too inconsiderable to +detain the attention of an inquisitive northern reader, vegetating "at +home." + +On entering, from the dimly lighted lobby, the spacious and brilliant +hall, illuminated with glittering chandeliers, where the beauty, and +fashion, and gallantry of this merry city were assembled, I was struck +with the spirit, life, and splendour of the scene. From alcoves on every +side of the vast hall, raised a few steps from the floor, and separated +from the area for dancing by an estrade of slender columns which formed +a broad promenade quite around the room, bright eyes were glancing over +the lively scene, rivalling in brilliancy the glittering gems that +sparkled on brow and bosom. + +There were at least five hundred persons in the hall, two-thirds of whom +were spectators. On double rows of settees arranged around the room, and +bordering the area, were about one hundred ladies, exclusive of half as +many, seated in the alcoves. In addition to an almost impenetrable body +of gentlemen standing in the vicinity of the grand entrance, the +promenade above alluded to was filled with them, as they lounged along, +gazing and remarking upon the beautiful faces of the dark-eyed +Creoles,[4] as their expressive and lovely features were lighted up and +instinct with the animation of the moment; while others, more enviable, +were clustered around the alcoves--most of which were literally and +truly "bowers of beauty,"--gayly conversing with their fair occupants, +as they gracefully leaned over the balustrade. There were several +cotillions upon the floor, and the dancers were young masters and +misses--I beg their pardon--young gentlemen and ladies, from four years +old and upward--who were bounding away to the lively music, as +completely happy as innocence and enjoyment could make them. I never +beheld a more pleasing sight. The carriage of the infantile gentlemen +was graceful and easy: and they wound through the mazes of the dance +with an air of manliness and elegance truly French. But the tiny +demoiselles moved with the lightness and grace of fairies. Their +diminutive feet, as they glided through the figure, scarcely touched the +floor, and as they sprang flying away to the livelier measures of the +band, they were scarcely visible, fluttering indistinctly like humming +birds' wings. They were dressed with great taste in white frocks, but +their hair was so arranged as completely to disfigure their heads. Some +of them, not more than eight years of age, had it dressed in the extreme +Parisian fashion; and the little martyrs' natural deficiency of long +hair was amply remedied by that sovereign mender of the defects of +nature, Monsieur le friseur. The young gentlemen were dressed also in +the French mode; that is, in elaborately embroidered coatees, and richly +wrought frills. Their hair, however, was suffered to grow long, and fall +in graceful waves or ringlets (French children always have beautiful +hair) upon their shoulders; very much as boys are represented in old +fashioned prints. This is certainly more becoming than the uncouth +round-head custom now prevalent in the United States, of clipping the +hair short, as though boys, like sheep, needed a periodical sheering; +and it cannot be denied that they both--sheep and boys--are _equally_ +improved in appearance by the operation. + +Turning from the bright and happy faces of the children, we met on every +side the delighted looks of their parents and guardians, or elder +brothers and sisters, who formed a large portion of the spectators. + +As I promenaded arm in arm with Monsieur D. through the room, I noticed +that at one end of the hall many of the young misses (or their +guardians) were so unpardonably unfashionable as to suffer their hair to +float free in wild luxuriance over their necks, waving and undulating at +every motion like clouds; and many of the cheerful joyous faces I gazed +upon, forcibly reminded me of those which are to be met with, trudging +to and from school, every day at home. + +"These are the American children," observed my companion; "one half of +the hall is appropriated to them, the other to the French." "What!" I +exclaimed, "is there such a spirit of rivalry, jealousy, or prejudice, +existing between the French and American residents here, that they +cannot meet even in a ball-room without resorting to so singular a +method of expressing their uncongeniality of feeling, as that of +separating themselves from each other by a line of demarcation?" + +"By no means," he replied; "far from it. There is, I believe, a +universal unanimity of feeling among the parties. There is now no other +distinction, whatever may have existed in former days, either known or +admitted, than the irremediable one of language. This distinction +necessarily exists, and I am of opinion ever will exist in this city in +a greater or less degree. It is this which occasions the separation you +behold; for, from their ignorance of each other's language,--an +ignorance too prevalent here, and both inexcusable and remarkable, when +we consider the advantages mutually enjoyed for their acquisition,--were +they indiscriminately mingled, the result would be a confusion like that +of Babel, or a constrained stiffness and reserve, the natural +consequence of mutual inability to converse,--instead of that regularity +and cheerful harmony which now reign throughout the crowded hall." + +During our promenade through the room I had an opportunity of taking my +first survey of the gay world of this city, and of viewing at my leisure +the dark-eyed fascinating Creoles, whose peculiar cast of beauty and +superb figures are everywhere celebrated. Of the large assembly of +ladies present,--and there were nearly two hundred, "maid, wife, and +widow,"--there were many very pretty, if coal-black hair, regular +features, pale, clear complexions, intelligent faces, lighted up by + + "Eyes that flash and burn + Beneath dark arched brows," + +and graceful figures, all of which are characteristic of the Creole, +come under this definition. There were others who would be called +"handsome" anywhere, except in the Green Mountains, where a pretty face +and a red apple, a homely face and a lily, are pretty much synonymous +terms. A few were eminently beautiful; but there was one figure, which, +as my eye wandered over the brilliant assembly, fixed it in a moment. I +soon learned that she was the most celebrated belle of New-Orleans. + +I have certainly beheld far more beauty among the same number of ladies +in a northern ball-room, than I discovered here. Almost every young lady +in New-England appears pretty, with her rosy cheeks, intelligent face, +and social manners. The style of beauty at the south is of a more +passive kind, and excitement is requisite to make it speak to the eye; +but when the possessor is animated, then the whole face, which but a few +moments before was passionless and quiet, becomes radiant and +illuminated with fire and intelligence; and the indolent repose of the +features becomes broken by fascinating smiles, and brilliant flashes +from fine dark eyes. Till this change is produced, the face of the +southern lady appears plain and unattractive; and the promenader through +a New-Orleans assembly-room, where there was no excitement, if such +could be the case, would pronounce the majority of the ladies decidedly +wanting in beauty; but let him approach and enter into conversation with +one of them, and he would be delighted and surprised at the magical +transformation, + + "From grave to gay, from apathy to fire." + +It is certain, that beauty of features and form is more general in +New-England; though in grace and expression, the south has the +superiority. + +The difference is usually attributed to climate; but this never has been +demonstrated, and the cause is still inexplicable. You are probably +aware that the human form, more particularly the female, is here matured +three or four years sooner than at the north. At the age of thirteen or +fourteen, before their minds are properly developed, their habits +formed, or their passions modified, the features of young girls become +regular, their complexions delicate, and their figures attain that +_tournure_ and womanly grace, though "beautifully less" in their +persons, found only in northern ladies, at the age of seventeen or +eighteen. The beauty of the latter, though longer in coming to maturity, +and less perfect, is more permanent and interesting than the infantile +and bewitching loveliness of the former. In consequence of this early +approach to womanhood, the duration of their personal loveliness is of +proportional limitation. Being young ladies at an age that would entitle +them to the appellation of children in colder climates, they must +naturally retire much sooner than these from the ranks of beauty. So +when northern ladies are reigning in the full pride and loveliness of +their sex--every feature expanding into grace and expression--southern +ladies, of equal age, are changing their premature beauty for the faded +hues of premature old age. + +The joyous troops of youthful dancers, before ten o'clock arrived, +surrendered the floor to the gentlemen and ladies, who, till now, had +been merely spectators of the scene, and being resigned into the hands +of their nurses and servants in waiting, were carried home, while the +assembly-room, now converted into a regular ball-room, rang till long +past the "noon of night" with the enlivening music, confusion, and +revelry of a complete and crowded rout. Introductions for a partner in +the dance were not the "order of the day," or rather of the night. A +gentleman had only to single out some lady among the brilliant +assemblage, and though a total stranger, solicit the honour of dancing +with her. Such self-introductions are of course merely _pro tem._, and, +like fashionable intimacies formed at Saratoga, never after recognised. +Still, to a stranger, such absence of all formality is peculiarly +pleasant, and, though every face may be new to him, he has the grateful +satisfaction of knowing that he can make himself perfectly at home, and +form innumerable delightful acquaintances for the evening, provided he +chooses to be sociable, and make the most of the enjoyments around him. +We left the hall at an early hour on our return to the hotel. + +Crowds of mulatto, French and English hack-drivers were besieging the +door, shouting in bad French, worse Spanish, and broken English-- + +"Coachee, massas! jontilhomme ridee!" "Caballeros, voulez vous tomer me +carriage?" "Wooly woo querie to ride sir?" "Fiacre Messieurs!" "By St. +Patrick jintilmen--honie, mounseers, woulee voo my asy riding +coach?"--et cetera, mingled with execrations, heavy blows, exchanged in +the way of friendship, laughter, yells and Indian whoops, composing a +"concord of sweet sounds" to be fully appreciated only by those who have +heard similar concerts. We, however, effected our escape from these +pupils of Jehu, who, ignorant of our country, in a city where all the +nations of the earth are represented, wisely addressed us in a Babelic +medley of languages, till we were out of hearing. + +Returning, as we came through Rues Royale and St. Pierre, past the +quarter of the "gens d'armes," we entered Chartres-street, which was now +nearly deserted. Proceeding through this dark, narrow street on our way +home, meeting now and then an individual pursuing his hasty and solitary +way along the echoing pave, we arrived at the new Exchange alluded to in +my first letter, which served the double purpose of gentlemen's public +assembly-room and _cafe_. As we entered from the dimly lighted street, +attracted by the lively crowd dispersed throughout the spacious room, +our eyes were dazzled by the noon-day brightness shed from innumerable +chandeliers. Having lounged through the room, filled with smokers, +newspaper-readers, promenaders, drinkers, &c. &c., till we were stunned +by the noise of the multitude, who were talking in an endless variety of +languages, clattering upon the ear at once, and making "confusion worse +confounded," my polite friend suggested that we should ascend to "the +rooms," as they are termed. As I wished to see every thing in +New-Orleans interesting or novel to a northerner, I readily embraced the +opportunity of an introduction into the penetralium of one of the +far-famed temples which the goddess of fortune has erected in this, her +favourite city. We ascended a broad flight of steps, one side of which +exhibited many lofty double doors, thrown wide open, discovering to our +view an extensive hall, in which stood several billiard tables, +surrounded by their "mace and cue" devotees. + +But as my letter is now of rather an uncharitable length, I will defer +till my next, farther description of the deeds and mysteries and +unhallowed sacrifices connected with these altars of dissipation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] There is at the North a general misconception of the term "CREOLE." +A friend of mine who had visited Louisiana for his health, after a +residence of a few months gained the affections of a very lovely girl, +and married her. He wrote to his uncle in Massachusetts, to whose large +estate he was heir-expectant, communicating the event, saying that he +"had just been united to an amiable _Creole_, whom he anticipated the +pleasure of introducing to him in the Spring." The old gentleman, on +receiving the letter, stamped, raved, and swore; and on the same evening +replied to his nephew, saying, that as he had disgraced his family by +marrying a _Mulatto_, he might remain where he was, as he wished to have +nothing to do with him, or any of his woolly-headed, yellow skinned +brats, that might be, henceforward. My friend, however, ventured home, +and when the old gentleman beheld his lovely bride, he exclaimed, "The +d--l, nephew, if you call this little angel a _Creole_, what likely +chaps the real ebony Congos must be in that country." The old gentleman +is not alone in his conception of a _Creole_. Where there is one +individual in New England correctly informed, there are one hundred who, +like him, know no distinction between the terms _Creole_ and _Mulatto_. +"Creole" is simply a synonym for "native." It has, however, only a +local, whereas "native" has a general application. To say "He is a +_Creole_ of Louisiana," is to say "He is a _native_ of Louisiana." +Contrary to the general opinion at the North, it is seldom applied to +coloured persons, _Creole_ is sometimes, though not frequently, applied +to Mississippians; but with the exception of the West-India Islands, it +is usually confined to Louisiana. + + + + +XII. + + The Goddess of fortune--Billiard-rooms--A professor-- + Hells--A respectable banking company--"Black-legs"-- + Faro described--Dealers--Bank--A novel mode of franking + --Roulette-table--A supper in Orcus--Pockets to let-- + Dimly lighted streets--Some things not so bad as they + are represented. + + +My last letter left me on my way up to "the rooms" over the Exchange, +where the goddess of fortune sits enthroned, with a "cue" for her +sceptre, and a card pack for her "magna charta," dispensing alternate +happiness and misery to the infatuated votaries who crowd in multitudes +around her altars. Proceeding along the corridor, we left the +billiard-room on our left, in which no sound was heard (though every +richly-carved, green-covered table was surrounded by players, while +numerous spectators reclined on sofas or settees around the room) save +the sharp _teck! teck!_ of the balls as they came in contact with each +other, and the rattling occasioned by the "markers" as they noted the +progress of the game on the large parti-coloured "rosaries" extended +over the centre of the tables. Lingering here but a moment, we turned an +angle of the gallery, and at the farther extremity came to a glass door +curtained on the inner side, so as effectually to prevent all +observation of the interior. Entering this,--for New-Orleans,--so +carefully guarded room, we beheld a scene, which, to an uninitiated, +ultra city-bred northerner, would be both novel and interesting. + +The first noise which struck our ears on entering, was the clear ringing +and clinking of silver, mingled with the technical cries of the +gamblers, of "all set"--"seven red"--"few cards"--"ten black," &c.--the +eager exclamations of joy or disappointment by the players, and the +incessant clattering of the little ivory ball racing its endless round +in the roulette-table. On one side of the room was a faro-table, and on +the opposite side a roulette. We approached the former, which was +thronged on three sides with players, while on the other, toward the +wall, was seated the dealer of the game--the "gentleman professeur." He +was a portly, respectable looking, jolly-faced Frenchman, with so little +of the "black-leg" character stamped upon his physiognomy, that one +would be far from suspecting him to be a gambler by profession. This is +a profession difficult to be conceived as the permanent and only pursuit +of an individual. Your conception of it has probably been taken, as in +my own case, from the fashionable novels of the day; and perhaps you +have regarded the character as merely the creation of an author's brain, +and "the profession" _as_ a profession, existing nowhere in the various +scenes and circumstances of life. + +There are in this city a very great number of these _infernos_, +(_anglice_ "hells") all of which--with the exception of a few private +ones, resorted to by those gentlemen who may have some regard for +appearances--are open from twelve at noon till two in the morning, and +thronged by all classes, from the lowest blackguard upward. They are +situated in the most public streets, and in the most conspicuous +locations. Each house has a bank, as the amount of funds owned by it is +termed. Some of the houses have on hand twenty thousand dollars in +specie; and when likely to be hard run by heavy losses, can draw for +three or four times that amount upon the directors of the "bank +company." The establishing of one of these banks is effected much as +that of any other. Shares are sold, and many respectable moneyed men, I +am informed, become stockholders; though not ambitious, I believe, to +have their names made public. It is some of the best stock in the city, +often returning an enormous dividend. They are regularly licensed, and +pay into the state or city treasury, I forget which, annually more than +sixty thousand dollars. From six to twelve well-dressed, genteel looking +individuals, are always to be found in attendance, to whom salaries are +regularly paid by the directors; and to this salary, and this +occupation, they look for as permanent a support through life as do +members of any other profession. It is this class of men who are +emphatically denominated "gamblers and black legs." The majority of +them are Frenchmen, though they usually speak both French and English. +Individuals, allured by the hope of winning, are constantly passing in +and out of these houses, in "broad noon," with the same indifference to +what is termed "public opinion," as they would feel were they going into +or out of a store. + +Those places which are situated in the vicinity of Canal-street and +along the Levee, are generally of a lower order, and thronged with the +_canaille_ of the city, sailors, Kentucky boatmen, crews of steamboats, +and poor Gallic gentlemen, in threadbare long-skirted coats and huge +whiskers. The room we were now visiting was of a somewhat higher order, +though not exclusively devoted to the more genteel adventurers, as, in +the very nature of the thing, such an exclusion would be impossible. But +if unruly persons intrude, and are disposed to be obstreperous, the +conductors of the rooms, of course, have the power of expelling them at +pleasure. + +Being merely spectators of the game, we managed to obtain an +advantageous position for viewing it, from a vacant settee placed by the +side of the portly dealer, who occupied, as his exclusive right, one +side of the large table. Before him were placed in two rows thirteen +cards; the odd thirteenth capping the double file, like a militia +captain at the head of his company, when marching "two by two;" the +files of cards, however, unlike these martial files of men, are +_straight_. You will readily see by the number, that these cards +represent every variety in a pack. The dealer, in addition, has a +complete pack, fitting closely in a silver box, from which, by the +action of a sliding lid, he adroitly and accurately turns off the cards +in dealing. The players, or "betters," as they are termed, place their +money in various positions as it respects the thirteen cards upon the +table, putting it either on a single card or between two, as their +skill, judgment, or fancy may dictate. + +As I took my station near the faro-board, the dealer was just shuffling +the cards for a new game. There were eleven persons clustered around the +table, and as the game was about to commence, arm after arm was reached +forth to the prostrate cards, depositing one, five, ten, twenty, or +fifty dollars, according to the faith or depth of purse of their owners. +On, around, and between the cards, dollars were strewed singly or in +piles, while the eyes of every better were fixed immoveably, and, as the +game went on, with a painful intensity, upon his own deposit, perhaps +his last stake. When the stakes were all laid, the dealer announced it +by drawling out in bad English, "all saat." Then, damping his forefinger +and thumb, by a summary process--not quite so elegant as common--he +began drawing off the cards in succession. The card taken off does not +count in the game; the betters all looking to the one turned up in the +box to read the fate of their stakes. As the cards are turned, the +winners are paid, the money won by the bank swept off with a long wand +into the reservoir by the side of the banker, and down go new stakes, +doubled or lessened according to the success of the winners--again is +drawled out the mechanical "all set," and the same routine is repeated +until long past midnight, while the dealers are relieved every two or +three hours by their fellow-partners in the house. + +At the right hand of the dealer, upon the table, is placed what is +denominated "the bank," though it is merely its representative. This is +a shallow, yet heavy metal box, about twenty inches long, half as many +wide, and two deep, with a strong network of wire, so constructed as to +cover the box like a lid, and be secured by a lock. Casting my eye into +this receptacle through its latticed top, I noticed several layers of +U.S. bank notes, from five to five hundred dollars, which were kept down +by pieces of gold laid upon each pile. About one-fifth of the case was +parted off from the rest, in which were a very large number of gold +ounces and rouleaus of guineas. The whole amount contained in it, so far +as I could judge, was about six thousand dollars, while there was more +than three thousand dollars in silver, piled openly and most temptingly +upon the table around the case, in dollars, halves, and quarters, ready +for immediate use. From policy, five franc pieces are substituted for +dollars in playing; but the winner of any number of them can, when he +ceases playing, immediately exchange them at the bank for an equal +number of dollars. It often happens that players, either from ignorance +or carelessness, leave the rooms with the five franc pieces; but should +they, five minutes afterward, discover their neglect and return to +exchange them, the dealer exclaims with an air of surprise-- + +"Saar! it will be one mistake, saar. I nevair look you in de fas before, +saar!" Thousands of dollars are got off annually in this manner, and a +very pretty interest the banks derive from their ingenious method of +_franking_. + +Having seen some thousands of dollars change hands in the course of an +hour, and, with feelings somewhat allied to pity, marked the expression +of despair, darkening the features of the unfortunate loser, as he +rushed from the room with clenched hands and bent brow, muttering +indistinctly within his teeth fierce curses upon his luck; and observed, +with no sympathizing sensations of pleasure, the satisfaction with which +the winners hugged within their arms their piles of silver, we turned +from the faro, and crossed the room to the roulette table. These two +tables are as inseparable as the shark and the pilot fish, being always +found together in every gambling room, ready to make prey of all who +come within their influence. At faro there is no betting less than a +dollar; here, stakes as low as a quarter are permitted. The players were +more numerous at this table than at the former, and generally less +genteel in their appearance. The roulette table is a large, long, +green-covered board or platform, in the centre of which, placed +horizontally upon a pivot, is a richly plated round mahogany table, or +wheel, often inlaid with ivory and pearl, and elaborately carved, about +two feet in diameter, with the bottom closed like an inverted box cover. +Around this wheel, on the inner border, on alternate little black and +red squares, are marked numbers as high as thirty-six, with two squares +additional, in one a single cipher, in the other two ciphers; while on +the green cloth-covered board, the same numbers are marked in squares. +The dealer, who occupies one side of the table, with his metal, latticed +case of bank notes and gold at his right hand, and piles of silver +before him, sets the wheel revolving rapidly, and adroitly spins into it +from the end of his thumb, as a boy would snap a marble, an ivory ball, +one quarter the size of a billiard ball. The betters, at the same +instant, place their money upon such one of the figures drawn upon the +cloth as they fancy the most likely to favour them, and intently watch +the ball as it races round within the revolving wheel. When the wheel +stops, the ball necessarily rests upon some one of the figures in the +wheel, and the fortunate player, whose stake is upon the corresponding +number on the cloth, is immediately paid his winning, while the stakes +of the losers are coolly transferred by the dealer to the constantly +accumulating heap before him; again the wheel is set revolving, the +little ball rattles around it, and purses are again made lighter and the +bank increased. + +As we were about to depart, I noticed in an interior room a table spread +for nearly a dozen persons, and loaded with all the substantials for a +hearty supper. The dealers, or conductors of the bank, are almost all +bachelors, I believe, or ought to be, and keep "hall" accordingly, in +the same building where lies their theatre of action, in the most +independent and uproarious style. After the rooms are closed, which is +at about two in the morning, they retire to their supper table, inviting +all the betters, both winners and losers, who are present when the +playing breaks up, to partake with them. The invitations are generally +accepted; and those poor devils who in the course of the evening have +been so unfortunate as to have "pockets to let," have at least the +satisfaction of enjoying a good repast, _gratis_, before they go home +and hang themselves.[5] + +Having satisfied our curiosity with a visit to this notable place, we +descended into the Exchange, which was now nearly deserted; a few +gentlemen only were taking their "night caps" at the bar, and here and +there, through the vast room, a solitary individual was pacing backward +and forward with echoing footsteps. + +Leaving the now deserted hall, which at an earlier hour had resounded +with the loud and confused murmur of a hundred tongues, and the tramping +of a busy multitude, we proceeded to our hotel through the silent and +dimly lighted streets,[6] without being assassinated, robbed, seized by +the "_gens d'armes_," and locked up in the guard-house, or meeting any +other adventure or misadventure whatever; whereat we were almost tempted +to be surprised, remembering the frightful descriptions given by +veracious letter-writers, of this "terrible city" of New-Orleans. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Exertions have been made from time to time by the citizens of +Louisiana for the suppression of gambling, but their efforts have until +recently, been unavailing. During the last session of the legislature of +Louisiana, however, a bill to suppress gambling-houses in New-Orleans, +passed both houses, and has become a law. One of the enactments provides +that the owners or occupants of houses in which gambling is detected, +are liable to the penalties of the law. For the first offence, a fine of +from one to five thousand dollars; for the second, from ten to fifteen +thousand, and confinement in the penitentiary from one to five years, at +the discretion of the court. Fines are also imposed for playing at any +public gaming table, or any banking game. The owners of houses where +gaming tables are kept, are liable for the penalty, if not collected of +the keeper; unless they are able to show that the crime was committed so +privately that the owner could not know of it. It also provides for the +recovery of any sums of money lost by gaming. + +To make up the deficiency in the revenue arising from the abolition of +gaming-houses, a bill has been introduced into the legislature providing +for the imposition of a tax on all passengers arriving at, or leaving +New-Orleans, by ships or steamboats. + +[6] Since the above paragraph was penned, the huge swinging lamps have +been superseded by gas lights, which now brilliantly illuminate all the +principal streets of the city. + + + + +XIII. + + A sleepy porter--Cry of fire--Noises in the streets--A wild + scene at midnight--A splendid illumination--Steamers wrapped + in flames--A river on fire--Firemen--A lively scene--Floating + cotton--Boatmen--An ancient Portuguese Charon--A boat race-- + Pugilists--A hero. + + +At the commendable hour of one in the morning, as was hinted in my last +letter, we safely arrived at our hotel, and roused the slumbering porter +from his elysian dreams by the tinkling of a little bell pendant over +the private door for "single gentlemen,--_belated_;" and ascended +through dark passages and darker stairways to our rooms, lighted by the +glimmer of a solitary candle fluttering and flickering by his motion, in +the fingers of the drowsy "guardian of doors," who preceded us. + +We had finished our late supper, and, toasting our bootless feet upon +the burnished fender, were quietly enjoying the agreeable warmth of the +glowing coals, and relishing, with that peculiar zest which none but a +smoker knows, a real Habana,--when we were suddenly startled from our +enjoyment by the thrilling, fearful cry, of "Fire! fire!" which, heard +in the silence of midnight, makes a man's heart leap into his throat, +while he springs from his couch, as if the cry "To arms--to arms!" had +broken suddenly upon his slumbers. "Fire! fire! fire!" rang in loud +notes through the long halls and corridors of the spacious hotel, +startling the affrighted sleepers from their beds, and at the same +instant a fierce, red glare flashed through our curtained windows. The +alarm was borne loudly and wildly along the streets--the rapid +clattering of footsteps, as some individual hastened by to the scene of +the disaster, followed by another, and another, was in a few seconds +succeeded by the loud, confused, and hurried tramping of many men, as +they rushed along shouting with hoarse voices the quick note of alarm. +We had already sprung to the balcony upon which the window of our room +opened. For a moment our eyes were dazzled by the fearful splendour of +the scene which burst upon us. The whole street,--lofty buildings, +towers, and cupolas--reflected a wild, red glare, flashed upon them from +a stupendous body of flame, as it rushed and roared, and flung itself +toward the skies, which, black, lowering, and gloomy, hung threateningly +above. Two of those mammoth steamers which float upon the mighty +Mississippi, were, with nearly two thousand bales of cotton on board, +wrapped in sheets of fire. They lay directly at the foot of +Canal-street; and as the flames shot now and then high in the air, +leaping from their decks as though instinct with life, this broad street +to its remotest extremity in the distant forests, became lurid with a +fitful reddish glare, which disclosed every object with the clearness of +day. The balconies, galleries, and windows, were filled with interested +spectators; and every street and avenue poured forth its hundreds, who +thundered by toward the scene of conflagration. I have a mania for going +to fires. I love their blood-stirring excitement; and, as in an +engagement, the greater the tumult and danger, the greater is the +enjoyment. I do not, however, carry my "incendiary passion" so far as to +be vexed because an alarm that turns me out of a warm bed proves to be +only a "false alarm," but when a fire does come in my way, I heartily +enjoy the excitement necessarily attendant upon the exertions made to +extinguish it. You will not be surprised, then, that although I had not +had "sleep to my eyes, nor slumber to my eyelids," I should be unwilling +to remain a passive and distant spectator of a scene so full of +interest. Our hotel was a quarter of a mile from the fire, and yet the +heat was sensibly felt at that distance. Leaving my companion to take +his rest, I descended to the street, and falling into the tumultuous +current setting toward the burning vessels, a few moments brought me to +the spacious platform, or wharf, in front of the Levee, which was +crowded with human beings, gazing passively upon the fire; while the +ruddy glare reflected from their faces, gave them the appearance, so far +as complexion was concerned, of so many red men of the forest. As I +elbowed my way through this dense mass of people, who were shivering, +notwithstanding their proximity to the fire, in the chilly morning air, +with one side half roasted, and the other half chilled--the +ejaculations-- + +"Sacre diable!" "Carramba!" "Marie, mon Dieu!" "Mine Got vat a fire!" +"By dad, an its mighty waarm"--"Well now the way that ar' cotton goes, +is a sin to Crockett!"--fell upon the ear, with a hundred more, in +almost every _patois_ and dialect, whereof the chronicles of grammar +have made light or honourable mention. + +As I gained the front of this mass of human beings, that activity which +most men possess, who are not modelled after "fat Jack," enabled me to +gain an elevation whence I had an unobstructed view of the whole scene +of conflagration. The steamers were lying side by side at the Levee, and +one of them was enveloped in wreaths of flame, bursting from a thousand +cotton bales, which were piled, tier above tier, upon her decks. The +inside boat, though having no cotton on board, was rapidly consuming, as +the huge streams of fire lapped and twined around her. The night was +perfectly calm, but a strong whirlwind had been created by the action of +the heat upon the atmosphere, and now and then it swept down in its +invisible power, with the "noise of a rushing mighty wind," and as the +huge serpentine flames darted upward, the solid cotton bales would be +borne round the tremendous vortex like feathers, and then--hurled away +into the air, blazing like giant meteors--would descend heavily and +rapidly into the dark bosom of the river. The next moment they would +rise and float upon the surface, black unshapely masses of tinder. As +tier after tier, bursting with fire, fell in upon the burning decks, the +sweltering flames, for a moment smothered, preceded by a volcanic +discharge of ashes, which fell in showers upon the gaping spectators, +would break from their confinement, and darting upward with +multitudinous large wads of cotton, shoot them away through the air, +filling the sky for a moment with a host of flaming balls. Some of them +were borne a great distance through the air, and falling lightly upon +the surface of the water, floated, from their buoyancy, a long time +unextinguished. The river became studded with fire, and as far as the +eye could reach below the city, it presented one of the most +magnificent, yet awful spectacles, I had ever beheld or imagined. +Literally spangled with flame, those burning fragments in the distance +being diminished to specks of light, it had the appearance, though far +more dazzling and brilliant, of the starry firmament. There were but two +miserable engines to play with this gambolling monster, which, one +moment lifting itself to a great height in the air, in huge spiral +wreaths, like some immense snake, at the next would contract itself +within its glowing furnace, or coil and dart along the decks like troops +of fiery serpents, and with the roaring noise of a volcano. + +There are but few "fires" in New-Orleans, compared with the great number +that annually occur in northern cities. This is owing, not wholly to the +universally prevalent style of building with brick, but in a great +measure to the very few fires requisite for a dwelling house in a +climate so warm as this. Consequently there is much less interest taken +by the citizens in providing against accidents of this kind, than would +be felt were conflagrations more frequent. The miserably manned engines +now acting at intervals upon the fire, presented a very true +exemplification of the general apathy. To a New-Yorker or Bostonian, +accustomed to the activity, energy, and military precision of their +deservedly celebrated fire companies, the mob-like disorder of those who +pretended to work the engines at this fire, would create a smile, and +suggest something like the idea of a caricature. + +After an hour's toil by the undisciplined firemen, assisted by those who +felt disposed to aid in extinguishing the flame, the fire was got under, +but not before one of the boats was wholly consumed, with its valuable +cargo. The inner boat was saved from total destruction by the great +exertions of some few individuals, "who fought on their own hook." + +The next morning I visited the scene of the disaster. Thousands were +gathered around, looking as steadily and curiously upon the smouldering +ruins as if they had possessed some very peculiar and interesting +attraction. The river presented a most lively scene. A hundred skiffs, +wherries, punts, dug-outs, and other non-descript craft, with equally +euphonic denominations, were darting about in all directions, each +propelled by one or two individuals, who were gathering up the half +saturated masses of cotton, that whitened the surface of the river as +far as the eye could reach. Several unlucky wights, in their ambitious +eagerness to obtain the largest piles of this "snow-drift," would lose +their equilibrium, and tumble headlong with their wealth of cotton into +the water. None of them, however, were drowned, their mishaps rather +exciting the merriment of their companions and of the crowds of amused +spectators on shore, than creating any apprehensions for their safety. + +The misfortune of one shrivelled-up old Portuguese, who had been very +active in securing a due proportion of the cotton, occasioned no little +laughter among the crowd on the Levee. After much fighting, quarreling, +and snarling, he had filled his little boat so completely, that his +thin, black, hatchet-face, could only be seen protruding above the snowy +mass in which he was imbedded. Seizing his oars in his long bony hands, +he began to pull for the shore with his prize, when a light wreath of +blue smoke rose from the cotton and curled very ominously over his head. +All unconscious, he rowed on, and before he gained the shore, the fire +burst in a dozen places at once from his combustible cargo, and +instantly enveloped the little man and his boat in a bright sheet of +flame; with a terrific yell he threw himself into the water, and in a +few moments emerged close by the Levee, where he was picked up, with no +other personal detriment than the loss of the little forelock of gray +hair which time had charitably spared him. + +In one instance, two skiffs, with a single individual in each, attracted +attention by racing for a large tempting float of cotton, which drifted +along at some distance in the stream. Shouts of encouragement rose from +the multitude as they watched the competitors, with the interest similar +to that felt upon a race-course. The light boats flew over the water +like arrows on the wing. They arrived at the same instant at the object +of contest, one on either side, and the occupants, seizing it +simultaneously, and without checking the speed of their boats, bore the +mass of cotton through the water between them, ploughing and tossing the +spray in showers over their heads. Gradually the boats stopped, and a +contest of another kind began. Neither would resign his prize. After +they had remained leaning over the sides of their boats for a moment, +grasping it and fiercely eyeing each other, some words were apparently +exchanged between them, for they mutually released their hold upon the +cotton, brought their boats together and secured them; then, stripping +off their roundabouts, placed themselves on the thwarts of their boats +in a pugilistic attitude, and prepared to decide the ownership of the +prize, by an appeal to the "law of _arms_." The other cotton-hunters +desisted from their employment, and seizing their oars, pulled with +shouts to the scene of contest. Before they reached it, the case had +been decided, and the foremost of the approaching boatmen had the merit +of picking from the water the conquered hero, who, after gallantly +giving and taking a dozen fine rounds, received an unlucky "settler" +under the left ear, whereupon he tumbled over the side, and was fast +sinking, when he was taken out, amid the shouts of the gratified +spectators, with his hot blood effectually cooled, though not otherwise +injured. The more fortunate victor deliberately lifted the prize into +the boat, and fixing a portion on the extremity of an oar, set it +upright, and rowed to shore amid the cheers and congratulations of his +fellows, who now assembling in a fleet around him, escorted him in +triumph. + + + + +XIV. + + Canal-street--Octagonal church--Government house--Future + prospects of New-Orleans--Roman chapel--Mass for the dead + --Interior of the chapel--Mourners--Funeral--Cemeteries-- + Neglect of the dead--English and American grave yards-- + Regard of European nations for their dead--Roman Catholic + cemetery in New-Orleans--Funeral procession--Tombs--Burying + in water--Protestant grave-yard. + + +Canal-street, as I have in a former letter observed, with its triple row +of young sycamores, extending throughout the whole length, is one of the +most spacious, and destined at no distant period, to be one of the first +and handsomest streets in the city. Every building in the street is of +modern construction, and some blocks of its brick edifices will vie in +tasteful elegance with the boasted granite piles of Boston. + +Yesterday, after a late dinner, the afternoon being very fine, I left my +hotel, and without any definite object in view, strolled up this street. +The first object which struck me as worthy of notice was a small brick +octagon church, enclosed by a white paling, on the corner of +Bourbon-street. The entrance was overgrown with long grass, and the +footsteps of a worshipper seemed not to have pressed its threshold for +many an unheeded Sunday. In its lonely and neglected appearance, there +was a silent but forcible comment upon that censurable neglect of the +Sabbath, which, it has been said, prevails too generally among the +citizens of New-Orleans. In front of this church, which is owned, I +believe, by the Episcopalians, stands a white marble monument, +surmounted by an urn, erected in memory of the late Governor Claiborne. +With this solitary exception, there are no public monuments in this +city. For a city so ancient, (that is, with reference to cis-Atlantic +antiquity) as New-Orleans, and so French in its tastes and habits, I am +surprised at this; as the French themselves have as great a mania for +triumphal arches, statues, and public monuments, as had the ancient +Romans. But this fancy they seem not to have imported among their other +nationalities; or, perhaps, they have not found occasions for its +frequent exercise. + +The government house, situated diagonally opposite to the church, and +retired from the street, next attracted my attention. It was formerly a +hospital, but its lofty and spacious rooms are now convened into public +offices. Its snow-white front, though plain, is very imposing; and the +whole structure, with its handsome, detached wings, and large green, +thickly covered with shrubbery in front, luxuriant with orange and lemon +trees, presents, decidedly, one of the finest views to be met with in +the city. These two buildings, with the exception of some elegant +private residences, are all that are worth remarking in this street, +which, less than a mile from the river, terminates in the swampy +commons, every where surrounding New-Orleans, except on the river side. + +Not far beyond the government house, the Mall, which ornaments the +centre of Canal-street, forms a right angle, and extends down +Rampart-street to Esplanade-street, and there making another right +angle, extends back again to the river, nearly surrounding the "city +proper" with a triple row of sycamores, which, in the course of a +quarter of a century, for grandeur, beauty, and convenience, will be +without a parallel. The city of New-Orleans is planned on a magnificent +scale, happily and judiciously combining ornament and convenience. Let +the same spirit which foresaw and provided for its present greatness, +animate those who will hereafter direct its public improvements, and +New-Orleans, in spite of its bug-bear character and its unhealthy +location, will eventually be the handsomest, if not the largest city in +the United States. + +Following the turning of the Mall, I entered Rampart-street, which, with +its French and Spanish buildings, presented quite a contrast to the +New-England-like appearance of that I had just quitted. There are some +fine buildings at the entrance of this street, which is not less broad +than the former. On the right I passed a small edifice, much resembling +a Methodist meeting-house, such as are seen in northern villages, which +a passing Frenchman, lank and tall, in answer to my inquiry, informed me +was "L'eglise Evangelique, Monsieur," with a touch of his chapeau, and +a wondrous evolution of his attenuated person. This little church was as +neglected, and apparently unvisited as its episcopalian neighbour. A +decayed, once-white paling surrounded it; but the narrow gate, in front +of the edifice, probably constructed to be opened and shut by devout +hands, was now secured by a nail, whose red coat of rust indicated long +and peaceable possession of its present station over the latch. Comment +again, thought I, as I passed on down the street, to where I had +observed, not far distant, a crowd gathered around the door of a large +white-stuccoed building, burthened by a clumsy hunch-backed kind of +tower, surmounted by a huge wooden cross. + +On approaching nearer, I discovered many carriages extended in a long +line up the street, and a hearse with tall black plumes, before the door +of the building, which, I was informed, was the Catholic chapel. Passing +through the crowd around the entrance, I gained the portico, where I had +a full view of the interior, and the ceremony then in progress. In the +centre of the chapel, in which was neither pew nor seat, elevated upon a +high frame or altar, over which was thrown a black velvet pall, was +placed a coffin, covered also with black velvet. A dozen huge wax +candles, nearly as long and as large as a ship's royal-mast, standing in +candlesticks five feet high, burned around the corpse, mingled with +innumerable candles of the ordinary size, which were thickly sprinkled +among them, like lesser stars, amid the twilight gloom of the chapel. +The mourners formed a lane from the altar to the door, each holding a +long, unlighted, wax taper, tipped at the larger end with red, and +ornamented with fanciful paper cuttings. Around the door, and along the +sides of the chapel, stood casual spectators, strangers, and negro +servants without number. As I entered, several priests and singing-boys, +in the black and white robes of their order, were chanting the service +for the dead. The effect was solemn and impressive. In a few moments the +ceremony was completed, and four gentlemen, dressed in deep mourning, +each with a long white scarf, extending from one shoulder across the +breast, and nearly to the feet, advanced, and taking the coffin from its +station, bore it through the line of mourners, who fell in, two and two +behind them, to the hearse, which immediately moved on to the grave-yard +with its burthen, followed by the carriages, as in succession they drove +up to the chapel, and received the mourners. The last carriage had not +left the door, when a man, followed by two little girls, entered from +the back of the chapel, and commenced extinguishing the lights:--he, +with an extinguisher, much resembling in size and shape an ordinary +funnel, affixed to the extremity of a rod ten feet long, attacking the +larger ones, while his youthful coadjutors operated with the forefinger +and thumb upon the others. In a few moments every light, except two or +three, was extinguished, and the "Chapel of the Dead" became silent and +deserted. + +To this chapel the Roman Catholic dead are usually brought before +burial, to receive the last holy office, which, saving the rite of +sepulture, the living can perform for the dead. These chapels are the +last resting-places of their bodies, before they are consigned for ever +to the repose of the grave. To every Catholic then, among all temples of +worship, these chapels--his _last home_ among the dwelling-places of +men--must be objects of peculiar sanctity and veneration. + +Burial-grounds, even in the humblest villages, are always interesting to +a stranger. They are marble chronicles of the past; where, after +studying the lively characters around him, he can retire, and over a +page that knows no flattery, hold communion with the dead. + +The proposition that "care for the dead keeps pace with civilization" +is, generally, true.--The more refined and cultivated are a people, the +more attention they pay to the performance of the last offices for the +departed. The citizens of the United States will not certainly +acknowledge themselves second to any nation in point of refinement. But +look at their cemeteries. Most of them crown some bleak hill, or occupy +the ill-fenced corners of some barren and treeless common, overrun by +cattle, whose preference for the long luxuriant grass, suffered to grow +there by a kind of prescriptive right, is matter of general observation. +Our neglect of the dead is both a reproach and a proverb. Look at +England; every village there has its rural burying-ground, which on +Sundays is filled with the well-dressed citizens and villagers, who walk +among the green graves of parents, children, or friends, deriving from +their reflections the most solemn and impressive lesson the human heart +can learn. In America, on the contrary, the footsteps of a solitary +individual, the slow and heavy tramp of a funeral procession, or the +sacrilegious intrusion of idle school-boys--who approach a grave but to +deface its marble--are the only disturbers of the graveyard's +loneliness. + +But even England is behind France. There every tomb-stone is crowned +with a chaplet of roses, and every grave is a variegated bed of flowers. +Spain, dark and gloomy Spain! is behind all. Whoever has rambled among +her gloomy cemeteries, or gazed with feelings of disgust and horror, +upon the pyramids of human sculls, bleaching in those Golgothas, the +_Campos santos_ of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and South America +generally, need not be reminded how little they venerate what once +moved--the image of God! The Italians singularly unite the indifference +of the Spaniards with the affection of the French in their respect for +the dead. Compare the "dead vaults" of Italia's cities, with the +pleasant cemeteries in her green vales! Without individualising the +European nations, I will advert to the Turks, who, though not the most +refined, are a sensitive and reflecting people, and pay great honours to +their departed friends, as the mighty "City of the Dead" which +encompasses Constantinople evinces. But the cause of this respect is to +be traced, rather to their Moslem creed, than to the intellectual +character, or refinement of the people. + +To what is to be attributed the universal indifference of Americans to +honouring the dead, by those little mementos and marks of affection and +respect which are interwoven with the very religion of other countries? +There are not fifty burial-grounds throughout the whole extent of the +Union, which can be termed beautiful, rural, or even neat. The +Bostonians, in the possession of their lonely and romantic Mount Auburn, +have redeemed their character from the almost universal charge of apathy +and indifference manifested by their fellow countrymen upon this +subject. Next to Mount Auburn, the cemetery in New-Haven is the most +beautifully picturesque of any in this country. In Maine there is but +one, the burial-place in Brunswick, deserving of notice. Its snow-white +monuments glance here and there in bold relief among the dark melancholy +pines which overshadow it, casting a funereal gloom among its deep +recesses, particularly appropriate to the sacred character of the spot. + +I intended to devote this letter to a description of my visit to the +Roman Catholic burying-ground of this city, the contemplation of which +has given occasion to the preceding remarks, and from which I have just +returned; but I have rambled so far and so long in my digression, that I +shall have scarcely time or room to express all I intended in this +sheet. But that I need not encroach with the subject upon my next, I +will complete my remarks here, even at the risk of subjecting myself +to--with _me_--the unusual charge of _brevity_. + +Leaving the chapel, I followed the procession which I have described, +for at least three quarters of a mile down a long street or road at +right angles with Rampart-street, to the place of interment. The priests +and boys, who in their black and white robes had performed the service +for the dead, leaving the chapel by a private door in the rear of the +building, made their appearance in the street leading to the cemetery, +as the funeral train passed down, each with a black mitred cap upon his +head, and there forming into a procession upon the side walk, they moved +off in a course opposite to the one taken by the funeral train, and soon +disappeared in the direction of the cathedral. Two priests, however, +remained with the procession, and with it, after passing on the left +hand the "old Catholic cemetery," which being full, to repletion is +closed and sealed for the "Great Day," arrived at the new burial-place. +Here the mourners alighted from their carriages, and proceeded on foot +to the tomb. The priests, bare-headed and solemn, were the last who +entered, except myself and a few other strangers attracted by curiosity. + +This cemetery is quite out of the city; there being no dwelling or +enclosure of any kind beyond it. On approaching it, the front on the +street presents the appearance of a lofty brick wall of very great +length, with a spacious gateway in the centre. This gateway is about ten +feet deep; and one passing through it, would imagine the wall of the +same solid thickness. This however is only apparent. The wall which +surrounds, or is to surround the four sides of the burial-ground, (for +it is yet uncompleted,) is about twelve feet in height, and ten in +thickness. The external appearance on the street is similar to that of +any other high wall, while to a beholder within, the cemetery exhibits +three stories of oven-like tombs, constructed _in_ the wall, and +extending on every side of the grave-yard. Each of these tombs is +designed to admit only a single coffin, which is enclosed in the vault +with masonry, and designated by a small marble slab fastened in the face +of the wall at the head of the coffin, stating the name, age, and sex of +the deceased. By a casual estimate I judged there were about eighteen +hundred apertures in this vast pile of tombs. This method, resorted to +here from necessity, on account of the nature of the soil, might serve +as a hint to city land-economists. + +When I entered the gateway, I was struck with surprise and admiration. +Though destitute of trees, the cemetery is certainly more deserving, +from its peculiarly novel and unique appearance, of the attention of +strangers, than (with the exception of that at New-Haven, and Mount +Auburn,) any other in the United States. From the entrance to the +opposite side through the centre of the grave-yard, a broad avenue or +street extends nearly an eighth of a mile in length; and on either side +of this are innumerable isolated tombs, of all sizes, shapes, and +descriptions, built above ground. The idea of a Lilliputian city was at +first suggested to my mind on looking down this extensive avenue. The +tombs in their various and fantastic styles of architecture--if I may +apply the term to these tiny edifices--resembled cathedrals with towers, +Moorish dwellings, temples, chapels, palaces, _mosques_--substituting +the cross for the crescent--and structures of almost every kind. The +idea was ludicrous enough; but as I passed down the avenue, I could not +but indulge the fancy that I was striding down the Broadway of the +capital of the Lilliputians. I mention this, not irreverently, but to +give you the best idea I can of the cemetery, from my own impressions. +Many of the tombs were constructed like, and several were, indeed, +miniature Grecian temples; while others resembled French, or Spanish +edifices, like those found in "old Castile." Many of them, otherwise +plain, were surmounted by a tower supporting a cross. All were perfectly +white, arranged with the most perfect regularity, and distant little +more than a foot from each other. At the distance of every ten rods the +main avenue was intersected by others of less width, crossing it at +right angles, down which tombs were ranged in the same novel and regular +manner. The whole cemetery was divided into squares, formed by these +narrow streets intersecting the principal avenue. It was in reality a +"City of the Dead." But it was a city composed of miniature palaces, and +still more diminutive villas. + +The procession, after passing two-thirds of the way up the spacious +walk, turned down one of the narrower alleys, where a new tomb, built on +a line with the others, gaped wide to receive its destined inmate. The +procession stopped. The coffin was let down from the shoulders of the +bearers, and rolled on wooden cylinders into the tomb. The mourners +silently gathered around; every head was bared; and amid the deep +silence that succeeded, the calm, clear, melancholy voice of the priest +suddenly swelled upon the still evening air, in the plaintive chant of +the last service for the dead. "Requiescat in pace!" was slowly chanted +by the priest,--repeated in subdued voices by the mourners, and echoing +among the tombs, died away in the remotest recesses of the cemetery. + +The dead was surrendered to the companionship of the dead--the priest +and mourners moved slowly away from the spot, and the silence of the +still evening was only broken by the clinking of the careless mason, as +he proceeded to wall up the aperture in the tomb. + +As night was fast approaching, I hastened to leave the place; and, +taking a shorter route than by the principal avenue, I came suddenly +upon a desolate area, without a tomb to relieve its dank and muddy +surface, dotted with countless mounds, where the bones of the moneyless, +friendless stranger lay buried. There was no stone to record their names +or country. Fragments of coffins were scattered around, and new-made +graves, half filled with water, yawned on every side awaiting their +unknown occupants; who, perchance, may now be "laying up store for many +years" of anticipated happiness. Such is the nature of the soil here, +that it is impossible to dig two feet below the surface without coming +to water. The whole land seems to be only a thin crust of earth, of not +more than three feet in thickness, floating upon the surface of the +water. Consequently, every grave will have two feet or more of water in +it, and when a coffin is placed therein, some of the assistants have to +stand upon it, and keep it down till the grave is re-filled with the mud +which was originally thrown from it, or it would float. The citizens, +therefore, having a very natural repugnance to being drowned, after +having died a natural death upon their beds, choose to have their last +resting-place a dry one; and hence the great number of tombs, and the +peculiar features of this burial-place. + +Returning, I glanced into the old Catholic cemetery, in the rear of the +chapel before alluded to. It was crowded with tombs, though without +displaying the systematic arrangement observed in the one I had just +left. There is another burying-place, in the upper faubourg, called the +Protestant cemetery. Here, as its appellation indicates, are buried all +who are not of "Holy Church." There are in it some fine monuments, and +many familiar names are recorded upon the tomb-stones. Here moulder the +remains of thousands, who, leaving their distant homes, buoyant with all +the hopes and visions of youth, have been suddenly cut down under a +foreign sun, and in the spring time of life. When present enjoyment +seemed prophetic of future happiness, they have found here--a stranger's +unmarbled grave! A northerner cannot visit this cemetery, and read the +familiar names of the multitudes who have ended their lives in this +pestilential climate, without experiencing emotions of the most +affecting nature. Here the most promising of our northern young men +have found an untimely grave: and, as she long has been, so New-Orleans +continues, and will long continue to be, the charnel-house of the pride +and nobleness of New-England. + + + + +XV. + + An old friend--Variety in the styles of building--Love for + flowers--The basin--Congo square--The African bon-ton of + New-Orleans--City canals--Effects of the cholera--Barracks + --Guard-houses--The ancient convent of the Ursulines--The + school for boys--A venerable edifice--Principal--Recitations + --Mode of instruction--Primary department--Infantry tactics + --Education in general in New-Orleans. + + +A quondam fellow-student, who has been some months a resident of this +city, surprised and gratified me this morning with a call. With what +strong--more than brotherly affection, we grasp the hand of an old +friend and fellow-toiler in academic groves! No two men ever meet like +old classmates a year from college! + +After exchanging congratulations, he kindly offered to devote the day to +the gratification of my curiosity, and accompany me to all those places +invested with interest and novelty in the eye of a stranger, which I had +not yet visited. + +On my replying in the negative to his inquiry, "If I had visited the +rail-way?" we decided on making that the first object of our attention. +Though more than a mile distant, we concluded, as the morning was +uncommonly fine, to proceed thither on foot, that we might, on the way, +visit the venerable convent of the Ursulines, the old Spanish barracks, +and one or two other places of minor interest. + +Sallying from our hotel, we crossed to the head of Chartres-street, and +threaded our way among the busy multitude, who, moving in all +directions, on business or pleasure, thronged its well-paved side-walks. +On both sides of the way, for several squares, the buildings were +chiefly occupied by wholesale and retail dry goods dealers, who are +mostly northerners; so that a Yankee stranger feels himself quite at +home among them; but before he reaches the end of the long, narrow +street, he might imagine himself again a stranger, in a city of France. +The variety of the streets, here, is almost as great as the diversity of +character among the people. New-Orleans seems to have been built by a +universal subscription, to which every European nation has contributed a +street, as it certainly has citizens. From one, which to a Bostonian +looks like an old acquaintance, you turn suddenly into another that +reminds you of Marseilles. Here a street lined with long, narrow, grated +windows, in dingy, massive buildings, surrounded by Moorish turrets, +urns, grotesque ornaments of grayish stone and motley arabesque, would +bring back to the exiled Castilian the memory of his beloved Madrid. In +traversing the next, a Parisian might forget that the broad Atlantic +rolled between him and the boasted city of his nativity. Here is one +that seems to have been transplanted from the very midst of Naples; +while its interesting neighbour reminds one of the quaker-like plainness +of Philadelphia. There are not, it is true, many which possess decidedly +an individual character; for some of them contain such a heterogeneous +congregation of buildings, that one cannot but imagine their occupants, +in emigrating from every land under heaven, to have brought their own +houses with them. The most usual style of building at present, is after +the Boston school--if I may so term the fashion of the plain, solid, +handsome brick and granite edifices, which are in progress here, as well +as in every other city in the union; a style of architecture which owes +its origin to the substantial good taste of the citizens of the goodly +"city of notions." The majority of structures in the old, or French +section of New-Orleans, are after the Spanish and French orders. This +style of building is not only permanent and handsome, but peculiarly +adapted, with its cool, paved courts, lofty ceilings, and spacious +windows, to this sultry climate; and I regret that it is going rapidly +out of fashion. Dwellings of this construction have, running through +their centre, a broad, high-arched passage, with huge folding-doors, or +gates, leading from the street to a paved court in the rear, which is +usually surrounded by the sleeping-rooms and offices, communicating with +each other by galleries running down the whole square. In the centre of +this court usually stands a cistern, and placed around it, in large +vases, are flowers and plants of every description. In their love for +flowers, the Creoles are truly and especially French. The glimpses one +has now and then, in passing through the streets, and by the ever-open +doors of the Creoles' residences, of brilliant flowers and luxuriantly +blooming exotics, are delightfully refreshing, and almost sufficient to +tempt one to a "petit larceny." You may know the residence of a Creole +here, even if he resides in a Yankee building, by his mosaic-paved +court-yard, filled with vases of flowers. + +On arriving at Toulouse-street, which is the fifth intersecting +Chartres-street, we turned into it, and pursued our way to the basin, in +the rear of the city, which I was anxious to visit. A spectator in this +street, on looking toward either extremity, can discover shipping. To +the east, the dense forest of masts, bristling on the Mississippi, +bounds his view; while, at the west, his eye falls upon the humbler +craft, which traverse the sluggish waters of Lake Pontchartrain. This +basin will contain about thirty small vessels. There were lying along +the pier, when we arrived, five or six miserable-looking sloops and +schooners, compared to which, our "down easters" are packet ships. These +ply regularly between New-Orleans and Mobile, and by lading and +discharging at this point, have given to this retired part of the city +quite a business-like and sea-port air. The basin communicates with the +lake, four miles distant, by means of a good canal. A mile below the +basin, a rail-way has been lately constructed from the Mississippi to +the lake, and has already nearly superseded the canal; but of this more +anon. + +Leaving the basin, we passed a treeless green, which, we were informed +by a passer-by, was dignified by the classical appellation of "Congo +Square." Here, our obliging informant gave us to understand, the +coloured "ladies and gentlemen" are accustomed to assemble on gala and +saints' days, and to the time of outlandish music, dance, not the +"Romaika," alas! but the "Fandango;" or, wandering in pairs, tell their +dusky loves, within the dark shadows, not of jungles or palm groves, but +of their own sable countenances. As the Congoese _elite_ had not yet +left their kitchens, we, of course, had not the pleasure of seeing them +move in the mystic dance, upon the "dark fantastic toe," to the dulcet +melody of a Congo _banjo_. + +From the centre of this square, a fine view of the rear of the Cathedral +is obtained, nearly a mile distant, at the head of Orleans-street, which +terminates opposite the square. In this part of the town the houses were +less compact, most of them of but one story, with steep projecting +roofs, and graced by _parterres_; while many of the dwellings were half +embowered with the rich green foliage of the fragrant orange and lemon +trees. At the corner of rues St. Claude and St. Anne, we passed a very +pretty buff-coloured, stuccoed edifice, retired from the street, which +we were informed was the Masonic lodge. There are several others, I +understand, in various parts of the city. A little farther, on rue St. +Claude, in a lonely field, is a small plain building, denominated the +College of Orleans, which has yet obtained no literary celebrity. +Opposite to this edifice is the foot of Ursuline-street, up which we +turned, in our ramble over the city, and proceeded toward the river. It +may appear odd to you, that we should _ascend_ to the river; but such is +the case here. You are aware, from the descriptions in one of my former +letters, that the surface of the Mississippi, at its highest tide, is +several feet higher than the surrounding country; and that it is +restrained from wholly inundating it, only by banks, or _levees_, +constructed at low stages of the water. Nowhere is this fact so evident +as in New-Orleans. For the purpose of cleansing the city, water is let +in at the heads of all those streets which terminate upon the river, by +aqueducts constructed through the base of the Levee, and this artificial +torrent rushes _from_ the river down the gutters, on each side of the +streets, with as much velocity as, in other places, it would display in +seeking to mingle with the stream. Sometimes the impetus is sufficient +to carry the dirty torrents quite across the city into the swamps +beyond. But when this is not the case, it must remain in the deep drains +and gutters along the side-walks, impregnated with the quintessence of +all the filth encountered in its Augean progress, exhaling its noisome +effluvia, and poisoning the surrounding atmosphere. All the streets in +the back part of the city are bordered on either side with a canal of an +inky-coloured, filthy liquid, (water it cannot be termed) from which +arises an odour or incense by no means acceptable to the olfactory +sensibilities. The streets running parallel with the river, having no +inclination either way, are, as a natural consequence of their +situation, redolent of these Stygian exhalations. Why New-Orleans is +not depopulated to a man, when once the yellow fever breaks out in it, +is a miracle. From the peculiarity of its location, and a combination of +circumstances, it must always be more or less unhealthy. But were the +police, which is at present rather of a military than a civil character, +regulated more with a view to promote the comfort and health of the +community, the evil might be in a great measure remedied, and many +hundred lives annually preserved. + +On ascending Ursuline-street, we remarked what I had previously noticed +in several other streets, upon the doors of unoccupied dwellings, +innumerable placards of "Chambre garnie," "Maison a louer," "Appartement +a louer," &c. On inquiry, I ascertained that their former occupants had +been swept away by the cholera and yellow fever, which have but a few +weeks ceased their ravages. Four out of five houses, which we had seen +advertised to let, in different parts of the city, were French, from +which I should judge that the majority of the victims were Creoles. The +effects of the awful reign of the pestilence over this devoted city, +have not yet disappeared. The terrific spirit has passed by, but his +lingering shadow still casts a funereal gloom over the theatre of his +power. The citizens generally are apparelled in mourning; and the public +places of amusement have long been closed. + +The old Ursuline convent stands between Ursuline and Hospital streets, +and opposite to the barracks, usually denominated the "Old Spanish +Barracks." Crossing rue Royale, we first visited those on the south +side of Hospital-street. On inquiring of an old, gray-headed soldier, +standing in front of a kind of guard-house, if the long, massive pile of +brick, which extended from the street more than two hundred feet to the +rear, "were the barracks?" he replied, with genuine Irish brogue, "Which +barracks, jintlemen?" Ignorant of more than one place of the kind, we +repeated the question with emphasis. "Why yes, yer 'onours, its thim +same they are, an' bad luck to the likes o' them." We inquired "if the +regiment was quartered here?" "The rigiment is it, jintlemen! och, but +it's not here at all, at all; divil a rigiment has been in it (the city +meaning) this many a month. The sogers, what's come back, is quarthered, +ivery mother's son o' them, in the private hoose of a jintleman jist +by." + +"Why did they leave the city?" + +"For fear o' the cholery, sure. But there's a rigiment ixpicted soon, +and they'll quarther here, jintlemen; and we're repeerin' the barracks +to contain thim, till the new ones is ericted; 'cause these is not the +illigant barracks what's goin' to be ericted, sure." + +Finding our Milesian so communicative, we questioned him farther, and +obtained much interesting information. From the street, the barracks, +which are now unoccupied, present the appearance of a huge arcade, +formed by a colonnade of massive brick pillars, running along its whole +length. Some portion of the front was stuccoed, giving a handsome +appearance to that part of the building. The whole is to be finished in +the same manner, and when completed, the structure will be a striking +ornament to New-Orleans: probably a rival of the "splendid new edifice" +about to be erected in a lower part of the city. Though called the +"Spanish Barracks," I am informed that they were erected by the Duke of +Orleans, when he governed this portion of the French possessions. +Immediately opposite to the barracks, in the convent yard, are two very +ancient wooden guard-houses, blackened and decayed with age, about +thirty feet in height, looking very much like armless windmills, or +mammoth pigeon-houses. + +The convent next invited our notice. It has, till within a few years, +been very celebrated for its school for young ladies, who were sent here +from all the southern part of the Union, and even from Europe. A few +years since, a new convent was erected two miles below the city, whither +the Ursuline ladies have removed; and where they still keep a +boarding-school for young ladies, which is highly and justly celebrated. +The old building is now occupied by the public schools. Desirous of +visiting so fine a specimen of cis-Atlantic antiquity, and at the same +time to make some observation of the system of education pursued in this +city, we proceeded toward the old gateway of the convent, to apply for +admittance. + +We might have belaboured the rickety gate till doomsday, without gaining +admittance, had not an unlucky, or rather, lucky stroke which we decided +should be our last, brought the old wicket rattling about our ears, +enveloping us in clouds of dust, as it fell with a tremendous crash +upon the pavement. At this very alarming _contre temps_, we had not time +to make up our minds whether to beat a retreat, or encounter the assault +of an ominously sounding tongue, which thundered "mutterings dire," as +with anger in her eye, and wonder in her mien, the owner rushed from a +little porter's lodge, which stood on the right hand within the gate, + + "To see what could in nature be the matter, + To crack her lugs with such a ponderous clatter." + +We succeeded in appeasing the ire of the offended janitress, and +proceeded across a deserted court covered with short grass, to the +principal entrance of the convent, which stands about seventy feet back +from the street. + +This edifice presents nothing remarkable, except its size, it being +about one hundred feet in front, by forty deep. Its aspect is venerable, +but extremely plain, the front being entirely destitute of ornament or +architectural taste. It is stuccoed, and apparently was once white, but +it is now gray with rust and age. It may be called either a French or +Spanish building, for it equally evinces both styles of architecture; +presenting that anomaly, characteristic of those old structures which +give a fine antiquated air to that part of the city. Massive pilasters +with heavy cornices, tall, deep windows, huge doorways, and flat roofs, +are the distinguishing features of this style of building. Never more +than two, the dwellings are usually but one very lofty story in height, +and covered with a light yellow stucco, in imitation of dingy-white, +rough hewn marble. In internal arrangement and decorations, and external +appearance, they differ but little from each other. As we passed under +the old, sunken portal, the confused muttering of some hundred treble +tongues, mingled, now and then, with a deep bass grumble of authority, +burst upon our ears, and intimated our proximity to the place where +"young ideas are taught to shoot." Wishing to gratify our curiosity by +rambling through the convent's deserted halls and galleries, before we +entered the rooms whence the noise proceeded, we ascended a spacious +winding stairway; but there was nothing to be seen in the second story, +except deserted rooms, and we ascended yet another stair-case to a low +room in the attic, formerly the dormitory of the nunnery. While on our +return to the first floor, a gentleman, M. Priever, who was, as we +afterward ascertained, principal of the public schools of the city, +encountered us on the stairs, and politely invited us to visit the +different school-rooms within the building. We first accompanied him to +the extremity of a long gallery, where he ushered us into a pleasant +room, in which a dozen boys were sitting round a table, translating +Latin exercises into French. This class, he informed us, he had just +taken from the primary school below stairs, to instruct in the +elementary classics. From this gentleman we ascertained that there were +in the city two primary schools, one within the convent walls, and the +other a mile distant, in the northern faubourg. From these two schools, +when properly qualified, the pupils are removed into the high, or +classic school, kept within the convent. He observed that he had the +supervision of these three schools--the high, and two primary--though +each had its own particular teacher. The principals of the two convent +schools are gentlemen distinguished both for urbanity and literary +endowments. In the classical school, pupils can obtain almost every +advantage which a collegiate course would confer upon them. The French +and Spanish languages form a necessary part of their education; and but +few young men resort to northern colleges from New-Orleans. It is the +duty of the principal often to visit the primary schools--select from +their most promising pupils, those qualified to enter the high +school--form them into classes by daily recitations in his own room, (in +which employment he was engaged when we entered,) and then pass them +over to the teacher of the school they are prepared to enter. + +With Mons. P. we visited the classical school, where fifty or sixty +young gentlemen were pursuing the higher branches of study. The +instructer was a Frenchman, as are all the other teachers. In this, and +the other departments, the greater portion of the students also are of +French descent; and probably about one-third, in all the schools, are of +American parentage. Mons. P. informed me that the latter usually +acquired, after being in the school six weeks, or two months, sufficient +French for all colloquial purposes. He observed that the majority of the +scholars, in all the departments, spoke both languages (French and +English,) with great fluency. After hearing two or three classes +translate Greek and Latin authors into French, and one or two embryo +mathematicians demonstrate Euclid, in the same tongue, we proceeded to +the opposite wing of the building, and were ushered into the rattle, +clangor, and confusion of the primary department. We were politely +received by Mons. Bigot, a Parisian, a fine scholar, and an estimable +man. You have visited infant schools for boys, I believe; recall to mind +the novel and amusing scenes you there beheld, and you will have an idea +of this primary school. The only difference would be, that here the +pupils are rough, tearing boys, from fifteen years of age to three. +Here, as in the former, they marched and counter-marched, clapped their +hands, stamped hard upon the floor, and performed various evolutions for +the purpose of circulating the blood, which by sitting too long is apt +to stagnate, and render them, particularly in this climate, dull and +sleepy. We listened to some of their recitations, which were in the +lowest elementary branches, and took our leave under infinite +obligations to the politeness and attention of the gentlemanly +superintendents. + +Besides these, there are private schools for both sexes. The majority of +the young ladies are educated by the Ursulines at the convent, in the +lower faubourg. Some of the public schools are exclusively for English, +and others exclusively for French children. Many pupils are also +instructed by private tutors, particularly in the suburbs. + + + + +XVI. + + Rail-road--A new avenue to commerce--Advantages of the + rail-way--Ride to the lake--The forest--Village at the + lake--Pier--Fishers--Swimmers--Mail-boat--Cafes--Return + --An unfortunate cow--New-Orleans streets. + + +In a preceding letter, I have alluded to an intended visit to the +rail-way; near which, on my way thither, my last letter left me, in +company with B., after having paid a visit to the Ursuline convent. On +leaving Ursuline-street, which terminates at the river, we proceeded a +short distance, to the rail-road, along the Levee, which was lined with +ships, bearing the flags of nearly all the nations of the earth. The +length of this rail-way is about five miles, terminating at Lake +Pontchartrain. Its advantages to New-Orleans are incalculable. It has +been to the city literally "an avenue of wealth" already. The trade +carried on through this medium, bears no mean proportion to the river +commerce. Ports, heretofore unknown to Orleans, as associated with +traffic, carry on, now, a regular and important branch of trade with +her. By it, a great trade is carried on with Mobile and other places +along the Florida coast, and by the same means, the mails are +transported with safety and rapidity. The country between New-Orleans +and the nearest shore of the lake, is low, flat, marshy, and covered +with a half-drowned and stunted forest. The lake, though near the city, +formerly was inaccessible. Vessels laden with their valuable cargoes +might arrive at the termination of the lake within sight of the city, +but the broad marsh extending between them and the far-off towers of the +wished-for mart, might as well have been the cloud-capped Jura, for any +means of communication it could afford. But the rail-way has overcome +this obstacle: coasting vessels, which traverse the lake in great +numbers, can now receive and discharge their cargoes at the foot of the +rail-way, upon a long pier extending far out into the lake. The +discharged cargoes are piled upon the cars and in twenty minutes are +added to the thousand shiploads, heaped upon the Levee; or, placed upon +drays, are trundling to every part of the city. + +When we arrived at the rail-way, the cars for passengers, eight or ten +in number, were standing in a line under a long roof, which covers the +end of the rail-way. A long train of baggage or cargo-cars were in the +rear of these, all heavily laden. The steam-car, puffing and blowing +like a bustling little man in a crowd, seemed impatient to dart forward +upon the track. We perceived that all was ready for a start; and barely +had time to hasten to the ticket-office, throw down our six "bits" for +two tickets, and spring into the only vacant seats in one of the cars, +before the first bell rang out the signal for starting. + +All the cars were full; including two or three behind, appropriated to +coloured gentlemen and ladies. Again the bell gave the final signal; and +obedient thereto, our fiery leader moved forward, smoking like a +race-horse, slowly and steadily at first--then, faster and faster, till +we flew along the track with breathless rapidity. The rail-road, +commencing at the Levee, runs for the first half mile through the centre +of a broad street, with low detached houses on either side. A mile from +the Levee we had left the city and all dwellings behind us, and were +flying through the fenceless, uninhabited marshes, where nothing meets +the eye but dwarf trees, rank, luxuriant undergrowth, tall, coarse +grass, and vines, twisting and winding their long, serpentine folds +around the trunks of the trees like huge, loathsome water-snakes. By the +watch, we passed a mile-stone every three minutes and a half; and in +less than nineteen minutes, arrived at the lake. Here, quite a village +of handsome, white-painted hotels, cafes, dwellings, store-houses, and +bathing rooms, burst at once upon our view; running past them, we +gradually lessened our speed, and finally came to a full stop on the +pier, where the rail-road terminates. Here we left the cars, which came +thumping against each other successively, as they stopped; but the +points of contact being padded, prevented any very violent shock to the +occupants. The pier, constructed of piles and firmly planked over, was +lined with sloops and schooners, which were taking in and discharging +cargo, giving quite a bustling, business-like air to this infant port. +Boys, ragged negroes, and gentlemen amateurs, were fishing in great +numbers farther out in the lake; others were engaged in the delicate +amusement of cray-fishing, while on the right the water was alive with +bathers, who, disdaining the confined limits enclosed by the long white +bathing-houses, which stretched along the south side of the pier, and +yielding to the promptings of a watery ambition, were boldly striking +out into the sluggish depths. To the east, the waters of the lake and +sky met, presenting an ocean horizon to the untravelled citizens, who +can have no other conception of the reality without taking a trip to the +Balize. Light craft were skimming its waveless surface, under the +influence of a gentle breeze, in all directions. A steamer, bearing the +United States mail from Mobile, was seen in the distance, rolling out +clouds of black smoke, and ploughing and dashing on her rapid way to the +pier. + +Retracing our steps to the head of the pier, we entered a very handsome +_cafe_, or hotel, crowded with men. The eternal dominos were rattling on +every table, glasses were ringing against glasses, and voices were +heard, in high-toned conversation, in all languages, with mingled oaths +and laughter; the noise and confusion were sufficient, without a +miracle, to make a deaf man hear. All these persons, probably, were from +the city, and had come down to the lake to amuse themselves, or kill an +hour. The opposite _cafe_ was equally crowded; while the billiard-rooms +adjoining were filled with spectators and players. Clouds of +tobacco-smoke enveloped the multitude, and the rooms rung with "Sacre +bleu!" "Mon Dieu!" "Diable!" and blunt English oaths of equal force and +import. + +The first bell for the return had rung, and the passengers rushed to the +cars, which were soon filled; the signal for starting was given, and the +locomotive again led the van, with as much apparent importance as that +with which the redoubtable and twice immortal Major Downing might be +supposed to precede his gallant "rigiment of down easters." We had +passed two-thirds of the distance when we were alarmed by a sudden and +tremendous shouting from the forward car. The cry was echoed +involuntarily along the whole train, and every head was instantly darted +from the windows. The cause of the alarm was instantly perceptible. Less +than a quarter of a mile ahead, a cow was lying very quietly and +composedly, directly in the track of the flying cars. The shouts of the +frightened passengers on discovering her, either petrified her with +utter fear--for such yellings and whoopings were never heard before on +this side Hades--or did not reach her, for she kept her position with +the most complacent _nonchalance_. The engineer instantly stopped the +locomotive, but though our momentum was diminished, it was too late to +effect his object; in thirty seconds from the first discovery of the +cow, the engine passed over the now terrified animal, with a +jump--jump--and a grinding crash, and with so violent a shock as nearly +to throw the car from the track; the next, and the next car +followed--and the poor animal, the next instant, was left far behind, so +completely severed, that the rear cars passed over her without any +perceptible shock. + +In a few minutes afterward, we arrived at the city, having been one +minute longer in returning than in going to the lake. The rail-way has +become, if not a very fashionable, at least a very general resort, for a +great portion of the inhabitants of New-Orleans, particularly on +Sabbaths and holydays. Lake Pontchartrain, the destination of all who +visit the rail road for an excursion of pleasure, is, to New-Orleans, +what Gray's Ferry was in the olden time to the good citizens of +Philadelphia; or Jamaica pond is, at present, to the most worthy +citizens of the emporium of notions; or what "Broad's" is to the gay +citizens of Portland.[7] When we alighted from the car, the omnibus was +at its stand at the head of the rail-way; so, jumping into it, with +twenty others, the horn was blown with an emphasis, the whip was cracked +with a series of inimitable flourishes, and in fifteen minutes after +leaving the car, we were safely deposited near our hotel. If our jolting +ride home, through the rough, deep-guttered streets, did not increase +our appetite for the good things awaiting us at the _table d'hote_, it +at least demonstrated to us the superiority of rail-ways over unpaved +streets, which every now and then are intersected, for the sake of +variety, with a gutter of no particular width, and a foot and a half +deep, more or less, by the "lead." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] The following sketch of the scenery and resources of Lake +Pontchartrain is extracted from one of the New-Orleans papers, and is +valuable for its general observations, and the correctness of its +description of this theatre of summer amusement for the pleasure-seeking +Orleanese:-- + +"Seven years ago there was but one steamboat plying the lakes in the +vicinity of New-Orleans. There are now nine constantly departing from, +and arriving at, the foot of the rail-road. They are generally crowded +with passengers going to, and returning from the numerous villages which +have sprung up in the woods that skirt the shores of Lake Borgne and +Lake Pontchartrain, happy in the enjoyment of such facilities of escape +from the heat and insalubrity of the city, and the anxious cares of +business. + +"This is the season for relaxation everywhere. It is, and should be, +especially in New-Orleans, where the business of a year, by +circumstances, is forced to be crowded into a few months, and where the +people, during the season of business, are distinguished beyond any +other for a devoted and untiring application to their affairs. If we may +not here set apart a little time, and a little money, for amusement in +summer, we know not where a claim for recreation and refreshment may be +put forth. The fare on board the steam packets is extremely moderate, +the accommodations good and convenient, the passages very agreeable, and +the accommodations at the various public houses which line the shores, +though not equalling the luxury and sumptuousness of the city houses, +are sufficient for health and comfort. The moderate sums demanded from +the passengers, and low price of board at the houses, enable young men +to spend a month of leisure, at little, if any more cost, than the +expenses of a month's residence in the city. The treat which they +provide, in fish, fresh from the water, and in oysters from their banks, +more than compensates for any difference in the meats of the market. +Among the best houses on the borders of the lakes, are those, we +believe, at Madisonville and Pascagoula, the first the nearest to, and +the latter the farthest from the city; but in beauty of situation and +scenery, all other spots are surpassed by that of the village at the bay +of Beloxi, where, as yet, no house of public accommodation has been +established. The curve of the bay is the line of beauty, the waves of +old Ocean wash its margin, and his refreshing and invigorating airs +whistle through the woods. There is a quiet and repose in the scene, not +witnessed anywhere else along the voyage across the lakes. The neat, but +scattering cottages lie seemingly imbedded among the rich and dark +foliage of the back ground, and you fancy the inhabitants may be taking +a Rip Van Winkle nap, of twenty years, a nap filled with dreams of the +sweetest and most agreeable nature. We understand that there is yet +land, fronting on the bay, which may be entered at the minimum price +affixed by the government. In addition to the poetical attractions of +the bay of Beloxi, we might add the substantial ones of--milk in +abundance at a bit a quart--fish and wild fowl, (the latter just +beginning to appear) plenty and cheap--and oysters at a bit a hundred. + +"We are informed that the citizens of Mobile contemplate the erection of +a splendid hotel on Dauphin Island, at the entrance of Mobile bay, +immediately by which the steamboats pass on their way between Mobile bay +and New-Orleans; and as the Mobilians seldom seriously contemplate any +thing without carrying it into execution, we expect that in another year +a common ground will be furnished, where the citizens of the two cities +of the south-west may meet for their common amusement. The situation is +healthful and agreeable, and we _hope_, as well as expect, that the +project will be consummated." + + + + +XVII. + + The legislature--Senators and representatives--Tenney-- + Gurley--Ripley--Good feeling among members--Translated + speeches--Ludicrous situations--Slave law--Bishop's hotel + --Tower--View from its summit--Bachelor establishments-- + Peculiar state of society. + + +During my accustomed peregrinations around the city yesterday, I dropped +into the hall of the legislature, which was in session in the government +house,--that large, handsome edifice, erected on Canal-street, alluded +to in a former letter. The senate and house of representatives were +literally _both_ upper houses, being convened on the second floor of the +building. + +The rooms are large and sufficiently comfortable, though devoid of any +architectural display. The number of senators is seventeen; of +representatives, fifty. The majority, in both houses, are Creoles: +there being, as I was informed, nine, out of the seventeen senators, +French, and a small French majority in the house. The residue are +_citizenized_ northerners, and individuals from other states, who embody +no mean portion of the political talents and statesman-like qualities of +the legislature. Among many, to whom I had the pleasure of an +introduction, and whose public characters are well and honourably known, +I will mention Mr. Tenney, a native of New-Hampshire, and an alumnus of +Dartmouth college. He has, like many other able and enterprising sons of +New-England, struggled with no little distinction through all the +vicissitudes of a young lawyer's career, till the suffrages of his +adopted fellow-citizens have elevated him to the honourable station of +senator, in the legislature of the state which he has chosen for his +home. There are other northerners also, who, though in different +stations, have arrived at distinction here. Their catalogue is not +large, but it is brilliant with genius. The honourable career of the +accomplished and lamented Gurley is well known to you. He was a man +eminently distinguished, both for his public and social virtues; and in +his death his adopted state has lost one of the brightest stars of her +political constellation. And Ripley too, though shining in a southern +sky, sheds a distinguished lustre over the "land of the north"--the +country of his birth. + +There is generally a large amount of business brought before this +legislature, and its sessions seldom terminate before March or April. In +their transactions, as a legislative body, there is a total absence of +those little, though natural prejudices, which might be presumed to +exist among members, so different from each other in education, +language, and peculiarity of thought. If a bill is introduced by an +American, the French members do not feel a disposition to oppose its +passage on that account; nor, when it is brought in by a Frenchman, do +they support it more eagerly or unanimously for that reason. A spirit of +mutual cordiality, as great as can be looked for in a political +assembly, pervades their whole body, to the entire exclusion of local +prejudices. Neither is there an exclusive language used in their +legislative proceedings. It is not necessary that the American members +should speak French, or _vice versa_, though it would be certainly more +agreeable were it universally understood by them; as all speeches made +by Frenchmen, are immediately translated into English, while those made +by the Americans are repeated again, by the translator, to the French +part of the house, in their own language. This method not only +necessarily consumes a great deal of time, and becomes excessively +tedious to all parties, but diminishes, as do all translations, the +strength, eloquence, and force of a speech; and, of course, lessens the +impression. It is not a little amusing, to study the whimsical +contortions of a Frenchman, while, with shrugging shoulders and restless +eyes, he listens to, and watches the countenance of, some American party +opponent, who may have the floor. The latter thunders out his torrent of +eloquence, wherein the nicest epithets are not, perhaps, the most +carefully chosen, in his zeal to express his political gall against his +Gallic opponent; while monsieur fidgets about in happy ignorance, till +the honourable member concludes,--when he jumps up, runs his open hand, +chin, and nose, almost in the face of the interpreter, "_arrectis +auribus_," and chafing like a lion; and before the last sentence is +hurriedly completed, flings down his gantlet,--throws his whole soul +into a rush of warm eloquence, beneath the edifying sound of which, his +American antagonist feels that it is now his time to look foolish, which +he does with a most commendable expression of mock _sang froid_, upon +his twitching, try-to-be philosophic features. + +The president of the senate and speaker of the house are Frenchmen: it +is expected, however, that gentlemen filling these stations will readily +speak French and English. By an act of a former legislature, slaves from +other states could not be sold in this state, nor even those belonging +to Louisiana, unless they were owned here previous to the passage of the +law. The penalties for a violation of this law were fine and +imprisonment to the vender, and the forfeiture of the slave, or his +value. The law occasioned greater inconvenience to the citizens of the +state, than its framers had foreseen. It again became a subject-matter +for legislation, and a large portion of the members advocated its +repeal. This was the subject of discussion when I was present, and the +question of repeal was ably and warmly supported by Mr. Tenney, who is +one of the state senators. Though he is doubtful whether the repeal +will be effected this session, he is sanguine that it will be carried +during the next annual assembly of the legislature.[8] + +Leaving the government house, with its assembled wisdom, I repaired to +my hotel, where I was to await the arrival of a friend, who had invited +me to accompany him in a ride a few miles below the city on the banks of +the river. I believe, in all my letters, I have yet been silent +respecting this hotel; I will, however, while waiting for my equestrian +friend, remedy that deficiency; for true to your wish, I will write of +all and every thing worthy of notice; and I am half of your mind, that +whatever is worthy the attention of a tourist, merits the passing record +of his pen. "Bishop's hotel," so designated from its landlord, has been +recently constructed, and is one of the largest in the Union. The +Tremont possesses more architectural elegance; and Barnum's, the pride +of Baltimore, is a handsomer structure. In the appearance of Bishop's, +there is nothing imposing, but its height. It has two fronts, one on +Camp, the other on Common-street. It is uniformly, with the exception of +an angular tower, five stories in height; its bar-room is more than one +hundred feet in length, and universally allowed to be the most splendid +in America. The dining room, immediately over it, on the second floor, +is of the same size; in which from two hundred and fifty to three +hundred dine daily, of whom, probably, not twenty are French. The table +is burthened with every luxury which can be procured in this luxurious +climate. The servants are numerous, and with but two or three +exceptions, slaves. They are willing, active, and intelligent. In this +important point, Bishop's hotel is every way superior to the Tremont. +There "pampered menials," whose every look and manner speak as plainly +as anything but the tongue can speak, "if you desire anything of us, +sir, be mighty civil, or you may whistle for it, for be assured, sir, +that _we_ are every whit as good as _you_." The insolence of these +servants is already proverbial. But white servants, any where, and under +any circumstances, are far from agreeable. In this point, and it is by +no means an unimportant one, Bishop's is unequivocally superior to the +Boston palace. With the coloured servant it is in verity, "Go, and he +goeth--Come, and he cometh--Do this, and he doeth it." + +The sleeping apartments are elegantly furnished, and carpeted, and well +ventilated. There are two spacious drawing-rooms, contiguous to the +magnificent dining hall, where lounging gentlemen can feel quite at +home; and one of these contains a piano for the musical. From the top of +the tower, which is one of the most elevated stations in the city, there +is, to repay the fatigue of climbing the "weary, winding way," to the +summit--a fine panoramic view of the whole city, with its sombre towers, +flat roofs, long, dark, narrow streets, distant marshes, and the +majestic Mississippi, sweeping proudly away to the north, and to the +south, alive with dashing steamers, and glancing with white sails. The +horizon, on every side, presents the same low, level, unrelieved line, +that for ever meets the eye, which way soever it turns in the lower +regions of the Mississippi. A day or two after I arrived here, I +ascended to the top of this tower. The morning was brilliant, and the +atmosphere was so pure, that distant objects seemed to be viewed through +the purest crystalline medium. I would recommend every stranger, on his +arrival at New-Orleans, to receive his first general impression of the +city, from this eminence. He will regret, however, equally with others, +that the pleasure he derives from the prospect cannot be enhanced by the +aid of a good telescope, or even a common ship's spy-glass in either of +which articles, the "lookout" is singularly deficient; but the +enterprise, good taste, and obliging manner of Mr. Bishop have +contributed in all else, throughout his extensive establishment, to the +comfort, content, and amusement, of his numerous guests. A peculiarity +in this hotel, and in one or two others here, is the exclusion of ladies +from among the number of boarders; it is, properly, a bachelor +establishment. There are, however, hotels of high rank in the city, +where ladies and families are accommodated. They are kept by ladies, and +often agreeably unite, with the public character of a hotel, the +pleasures and advantages of social society. The boarding-house of Madame +Wilkinson, widow of the late Gen. Wilkinson, a lady distinguished for +her talents and accomplishments; that of Madame Herries, the widow of a +titled foreigner, I believe, in Canal-street, and one or two others +kept in good style, in Chartres-street, are the principal in the city. + +Richardson's, a large hotel on Conti-street, is a bachelor +establishment, where the up-country merchants usually put up, when they +arrive in the city to purchase goods; though many of them, from choice +or economy, remain as boarders or lodgers on board the steamers which +bring them to New-Orleans, and on which, with their goods, they return +to their homes. Young unmarried men here, usually have single furnished +rooms, where they lodge, breakfast, and sup, dining at some hotel. There +are, in some of the streets, long blocks of one story houses, with but +one or two rooms in each, built purposely to be let out to bachelors. +Indeed, there are neither hotels nor boarding-houses enough to +accommodate one-tenth part of this class of forlorn bipeds. This +independent way of living, in practice among so large a portion of the +citizens and sojourners, in this city of anomalies, necessarily produces +a peculiarity of character and habits among its observers, which has its +natural and deteriorating effect upon the general state of society. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] The law has recently been repealed. + + + + +XVIII. + + Saddle horses and accoutrements--Banks--Granite--Church- + members--French mode of dressing--Quadroons--Gay scene and + groups in the streets--Sabbath evening--Duelling ground--An + extensive cotton-press--A literary germ--A mysterious + institution--Scenery in the suburbs--Convent--Catholic + education. + + +I intended in my last letter, to give you some account of an equestrian +excursion along the banks of the river, and of a visit to the new +Ursuline convent, two miles below the city; but a long digression about +hotels and bachelors brought me to the end of my letter before I could +even mention the subject. I will now fulfil my intention, in this +letter, which will probably be the last you will receive from me, dated +at New-Orleans. + +Mounting our horses, at the door of the hotel, which were accoutred with +clinking curbs, flashing martingales, and high-pummelled Spanish +saddles, covered with blue broadcloth, the covering and housings being +of one piece, as is the fashion here, we proceeded by a circuitous route +to avoid the crowded front streets, toward the lower faubourg. In our +ride, we passed the banks of the city, most of which are in +Bienville-street or its vicinity. With but one exception, there is +nothing in their external appearance to distinguish them from the other +ordinary buildings, by which they are surrounded. The one referred to, +whose denomination I do not recollect, is decidedly one of the +handsomest structures in the south. It is lofty and extensive, with an +imposing front and handsome columns, and stuccoed, so as to resemble the +finest granite. And so perfect is the resemblance, that one can only +assure himself that it is a deception, by reflecting that this beautiful +material is used here little except in ornamental work; it being +imported in small quantities from a great distance, by water, and its +transportation being attended with too much expense to admit of its +general adoption, as a material for building. The episcopal and +presbyterian churches we also passed; both are plain buildings. Under +the latter, an infant school is kept, which has been but lately +organized, and is already very flourishing. It is under the care of +northerners, as are most schools in this place, which are not French. + +Of the permanent population of this city--which does not exceed +fifty-one or two thousand, of whom thirty thousand are coloured--between +fifteen and sixteen thousand are Catholics, and nearly six thousand +Protestants; among whom are about seven hundred communicants. The +Catholic communicants number about six thousand and five hundred. There +are ten Protestant churches, over which preside but seven or eight +clergymen. Though the number of the former so much exceeds that of the +latter, there are in this city in all, but six churches and chapels of +the Catholic denomination, in which about twenty-five priests regularly +officiate. There is here but one church to every three thousand and two +hundred inhabitants, the estimate, for the most religious nations, being +a church and clergyman for about every one thousand of the population. + +As we rode along, I was struck with the appearance of the peculiar dress +worn by the French inhabitants. The gentlemen, almost without exception, +wear pantaloons of blue cottonade, coarse and unsightly in its +appearance, but which many exquisites have recently taken a fancy to +adopt. Their coats are seldom well fashioned; narrow, low collars, large +flat buttons, hardly within hail of each other, and long, narrow skirts +being the _bon-ton_. Their hats are all oddly shaped, and between the +extremity of their pantaloons and their ill-shaped shoes, half a yard of +blue striped yarn stocking shocks the fastidious eye. The ladies dress +with taste, but it is French taste; with too much of the gew-gaw to +please the plain republican, and, "by the same token," correct taste of +a northerner. Many fine women, with brunette complexions, are to be seen +walking the streets with the air of donnas. They wear no bonnets, but as +a substitute, fasten a veil to the head; which, as they move, floats +gracefully around them. These are termed "quadroons," one quarter of +their blood being tinged with African. I have heard it remarked, that +some of the finest looking women in New-Orleans are "quadroons." I know +not how true this may be, but they certainly have large fine eyes, good +features, magnificent forms, and elegantly shaped feet. + +If a stranger should feel disposed to judge, whether the British +watch-word, "Beauty and Booty," was based on a sufficient consideration, +let him promenade the streets at twilight, and he will be convinced of +the propriety of its first item. Then, windows, balconies, and doors, +are alive with bright eyes, glancing scarfs, gay, bonnetless girls, +playing children, and happy groups of every age. Street after street, +square after square, will still present to him the same delightful scene +of happy faces, and merry voices. The whole fair population seem to have +abandoned their houses for the open air. How the bachelors of +New-Orleans thread their way at sunset, through these brilliant groups +of dark, sparkling eyes, without being burned to a cinder, passeth my +comprehension. Every Sunday evening there is an extra turn out, when the +whole city may be found promenading the noble Levee. This is an +opportunity, which no stranger should omit, to observe the citizens +under a new aspect. A ramble through the various streets, a few +twilights successively, and a promenade on the Levee, on a Sabbath +evening, will bring all the fair Creoles of the city, in review before +him, and if that will not repay him for his trouble, let him go play +"dominos!" + +In our ride, we passed the commercial library. Its collection is +valuable but not large. By the politeness of Monsieur D. I received a +card for admittance during my stay; and I have found it an agreeable +_oasis_ of rest, after rambling for hours about the city. Its advantages +in a place like this, where there are no circulating libraries, are very +great. Passing the rail-way, in the vicinity of which is the Gentilly +road, the famous duelling ground, we arrived at the "cotton press," a +short distance below, on the left, fronting the river. It is a very +extensive brick building with wings, having a yard in the rear, capable +of containing fifty thousand bales of cotton. There is a rail-way, +extending from the river to the press, on which the cotton is conveyed +from the steamers, passing under a lofty arched way through the centre +of the building, to the yard. All the cotton brought down the river, in +addition to its original compression by hand, as it is baled up on the +plantations, is again compressed by steam here, which diminishes the +bale cubically, nearly one third. A ship can consequently take many more +bales, than if the cotton were not thus compressed. There are, also, one +or two more steam cotton-presses in the upper part of the city, which I +have not had an opportunity of visiting. After passing this last +building we overtook a cart loaded with negroes, proceeding to the +country. To our inquiry, one of them answered,--while the others +exhibited ivory enough to sheathe a ship's bottom, "We Wirginny niggurs, +Massas: new massa, he juss buy us, and we be gwine to he plantation. +Plenty sugar dere, massa!" They all appeared contented and happy, and +highly elated at their sweet anticipations. Say not that the slavery of +the Louisiana negroes is a _bitter_ draught. + +An old, plain, unassuming, and apparently deserted building, a little +retired from the road and half-hidden in shrubbery, next attracted our +attention. Over its front was a sign informing us that it was the +"Lyceum pour les jeunes gens." We could not learn whether it had teacher +or pupil, but from appearances we inferred that it was minus both. A +padre, in the awkward black gown peculiar to his order, which is seldom +laid aside out of doors, passed just at this time; and to our inquiries +respecting the lyceum, though framed, _me judice_, in very respectable +_lingua Franca_, he deigned us no other reply than a pleasant smile, and +a low-toned, sonorous "Benedicite." With others, we were equally +unsuccessful. One, of whom we inquired, and who appeared as though he +might find an amber-stone among a heap of pebbles, if he were previously +informed that it was the colour of whiskey--replied, "Why, I dont +cozactly know, stranngers, seeing I aint used to readin', overmuch, but +to my eye, it looks consarnedly like a tavern-sign." + +"Why do you think so, my man?" + +"Why, you see, I can't, somehow, make out the first part; but the last +word spells gin, as slick as a tallow whistle--I say, strannger, ye +haint got nothin o' no small-sized piccaiune about ye, have ye?"--We +threw our intelligent informant, who was no doubt some stray prodigal +son from old Kentuck or down east--though his ignorance of the art of +reading belied his country--the required fee for his information, and +continued our ride. We were now quite out of the city; the noble +Mississippi rolled proudly toward the sea on our right, its banks +unrelieved by a single vessel:--while on our left, embowered in +shrubbery, public and private buildings lined the road, which wound +pleasantly along the level borders of the river. + +Shortly after leaving the Lyceum, we noticed on our left, at some +distance from the road, a large building, of more respectable appearance +and dimensions than the last. A sign here too informed us, whatever our +ingenious literary sign-reader might have rendered it, that _there_ was +the "College Washington." Our information respecting this institution +was in every respect as satisfactory as that which we had obtained +concerning the Lyceum. Not an individual urchin, or grave instructer, +was to be seen at the windows, or within the precincts. Its halls were +silent and deserted. I have made inquiries, since I returned, of old +residents, respecting it. No one knows any thing of it. Some may have +heard there was such a college. Some may even have seen the sign, in +passing: but the majority learned for the first time, from my inquiries, +that there was such an institution in existence. So we are all equally +wise respecting it. Passing beautiful cottages, partially hidden in +foliage, tasteful villas, and deserted mansions, alternately, our +attention was attracted by a pretty residence, far from the road, at the +extremity of an extensive grass-plat, void of shrub or any token of +horticultural taste. Had the grounds been ornamented, like all others +in the vicinity, with shrubbery, it would have been one of the loveliest +residences on the road; but, as it was, its aspect was dreary. We were +informed that it was the residence of the British consul; but he seems +to have left his national passion for ornamental gardening, shrubbery +walks, and park-like grounds, at home; denying himself their luxurious +shade and agreeable beauty, in a climate where, alone, they are really +necessary for comfort--where the cool covert of a thickly foliaged tree +is as great a luxury to a northerner, as a welling fountain in the +desert to the fainting Arab. + +In a short ride from the residence of the consul, we arrived opposite to +the Ursuline convent, a very large and handsome two-story edifice, with +a high Spanish roof, heavy cornices, deep windows, half concealed by the +foliage of orange and lemon trees, and stuccoed, in imitation of rough +white marble. Three other buildings, of the same size, extended at the +rear of this main building, forming three sides of the court of the +convent, of which area this formed the fourth, each building fronting +within upon the court, as well as without. There are about seventy young +ladies pursuing a course of education here--some as boarders, and others +as day scholars. The boarders are kept very rigidly. They are permitted +to leave the convent, to visit friends in the city, if by permission of +parents, but once a month. None are allowed to see them, unless they +first obtain written permission, from the parents or guardians of the +young ladies. + +As my friend had an errand at the convent, we called. Proceeding down a +long avenue to the portal on the right side of the grounds, we entered, +and applied our riding whips to the door for admission. We were +questioned by an unseen querist, as to our business there, as are all +visiters. The voice issued from a tin plate, perforated with innumerable +little holes, and resembling a colander fixed in the wall, on one side +of the entrance. If the visiters give a good account of themselves, and +can show good cause why they should speak with any of the young ladies, +they are told to open the door at the left; whereupon, they find +themselves in a long, dimly-lighted apartment, without any article of +furniture, except a backless form. Three sides of this room are like any +other--but, the fourth is open to the inner court, and latticed from the +ceiling to the floor, like a summer-house. Approaching the lattice, the +visiter, by placing his eye to the apertures, has a full view of the +interior, and the three inner fronts of the convent. A double cloister +extends above and below, and around the whole court; where the young +ladies may be seen walking, studying, or amusing themselves. She, for +whom the visiter has inquired, now approaches the grate demurely by the +side of one of the elderly ladies of the sisterhood; and the visiter, +placing his lips to an aperture, as to the mouth of a speaking trumpet, +must address her, and thus carry on his conversation; while the elder +nun stands within earshot, that peradventure she may thereby be edified. + +The young ladies are here well and thoroughly educated;--even dancing +is not prohibited, and is taught by a professor from the city. The +religious exercises of the convent are of course Roman Catholic; but no +farther than the daily routine of formal religious services, are the +tenets of their faith inculcated upon the minds of the pupils. Some +Protestant young ladies, allured by the romantic and imposing character +of the Catholic religion, embrace it: but a few years after leaving the +convent, are generally sufficient to efface their new faith and bring +them back to the religion of their childhood. But the instances are very +rare in which a Protestant becomes a _religieuse_, or leaves the convent +a Catholic: though a great portion of the young ladies under the charge +of the Ursuline sisterhood are of Protestant parentage. + +The remainder of our ride was past orange gardens and French villas, so +like all we had passed nearer the city, that they presented no variety; +after riding a mile below the convent, we turned our horses' heads back +to the city, and in less than an hour arrived at our hotel just in time +to sit down to one of Bishop's sumptuous dinners. + + + + +XIX. + + Battle-ground--Scenery on the road--A peaceful scene-- + American and British quarters--View of the field of battle + --Breastworks--Oaks--Packenham--A Tennessee rifleman-- + Anecdote--A gallant British officer--Grape-shot--Young + traders--A relic--Leave the ground--A last view of it from + the Levee. + + +I have just returned from a visit to the scene of American resolution +and individual renown--the battle-ground of New-Orleans. The Aceldama, +where one warrior-chief drove his triumphal car over the grave of +another--the field of "fame and of glory" from which the "hero of two +wars" plucked the chaplet which encircles his brow, and the _eclat_ +which has elevated him to a throne!-- + +The field of battle lies between five and six miles below the city, on +the left bank, on the New-Orleans side of the river. The road conducting +us to it, wound pleasantly along the Levee; its unvarying level relieved +by delightful gardens, and pleasant country seats--(one of which, +constructed like a Chinese villa, struck me as eminently tasteful and +picturesque)--skirting it upon one side, and by the noble, lake-like +Mississippi on the other, which, beating upon its waveless bosom a +hundred white sails, and a solitary tow-boat leading, like a conqueror, +a fleet in her train--rolled silently and majestically past to the +ocean. When, in our own estimation, and, no doubt, in that of our +horses, we had accomplished the prescribed two leagues, we reined up at +a steam saw-mill, erected and in full operation on the road-side, and +inquired for some directions to the spot--not discerning in the peaceful +plantations before us, any indications of the scene of so fierce a +struggle as that which took place, when England and America met in proud +array, and the military standards of each gallantly waved to the "battle +and the breeze." Although, on ascending the river in the ship, I +obtained a moonlight glance of the spot, I received no impression of its +_locale_ sufficiently accurate to enable me to recognise it under +different circumstances. An extensive, level field was spread out before +us, apparently the peaceful domain of some planter, who probably resided +in a little piazza-girted cottage which stood on the banks of the river. +But this field, we at once decided, could not be the battle-field--so +quiet and farm-like it reposed. "There," was our reflection, "armies can +never have met! there, warriors can never have stalked in the pride of +victory with + + "---- garments rolled in blood!" + +Yet peaceful as it slumbered there, that domain had once rung with the +clangor of war. It _was_ the battle-field! But silence now reigned + + "---- where the free blood gushed + When England came arrayed-- + So many a voice had there been hushed; + So many a footstep stayed." + +In reply to our inquiries, made of one apparently superintending the +steam-works, we received simply the tacit "Follow me gentlemen!" We +gladly accommodated the paces of our spirited horses to those of our +obliging and very practical informant, who alertly preceded us, blessing +the stars which had given us so unexpectedly a cicerone, who, from his +vicinity to the spot must be _au fait_ in all the interesting minutiae of +so celebrated a place. Following our guide a few hundred yards farther +down the river-road, we passed on the left hand a one story wooden +dwelling-house situated at a short distance back from the road, having a +gallery, or portico in front, and elevated upon a basement story of +brick, like most other houses built immediately on the river. This, our +guide informed us, was "the house occupied by General Jackson as +head-quarters: and there," he continued, pointing to a planter's +residence two or three miles farther down the river, "is the +mansion-house of General, (late governor, Villere) which was occupied by +Sir Edward Packenham as the head-quarters of the British army." + +"But the battle-ground--where is that sir?" we inquired, as he silently +continued his rapid walk in advance of us. + +"There it is," he replied after walking on a minute or two longer in +silence, and turning the corner of a narrow, fenced lane which extended +from the river to the forest-covered marshes--"there it is, +gentlemen,"--and at the same time extended his arm in the direction of +the peaceful plain, which we had before observed,--spread out like a +carpet, it was so very level--till it terminated in the distant forests, +by which and the river it was nearly enclosed. Riding a quarter of a +mile down the lane we dismounted, and leaving our horses in the road, +sprang over a fence, and in a few seconds stood upon the American +breast-works! + +"When," said a mercurial friend lately, in describing his feelings on +first standing upon the same spot--"when I leaped upon the embankment, +my first impulse was to give vent to my excited feelings by a shout that +might have awakened the mailed sleepers from their sleep of death." Our +emotions--for strong and strange emotions will be irresistibly excited +in the breast of every one, "to war's dark scenes unused," on first +beholding the scene of a sanguinary conflict, between man and man, +whether it be grisly with carnage, pleasantly waving with the yellow +harvest, or carpeted with green--our emotions, though perhaps equally +deep, exhibited themselves very differently. For some moments, after +gaining our position, we stood wrapped in silence. The wild and terrible +scenes of which the ground we trod had been the theatre, passed vividly +before my mind with almost the distinctness of reality, impressing it +with reflections of a deep and solemn character. I stood upon the graves +of the fallen! Every footfall disturbed human ashes! Human dust gathered +upon our shoes as the dust of the plain! My thoughts were too full for +utterance. "On the very spot where I stand"--thought I, "some gallant +fellow poured out the best blood of his heart! Here, past me, and +around me, flowed the sanguinary tide of death!--The fierce +battle-cry--the bray of trumpets--the ringing of steel on steel--the +roar of artillery hurling leaden and iron hail against human +breasts--the rattling of musketry--the shouts of the victor, and the +groans of the wounded, were here mingled--a whirlwind of noise and +death!" + +"Under those two oaks, which you see about half a mile over the field, +Sir Edward was borne, by his retreating soldiers, to die"--said our +guide, suddenly interrupting my momentary reverie. I looked in the +direction indicated by his finger, and my eyes rested upon a venerable +oak, towering in solitary grandeur over the field, and overshadowing the +graves of the slain, who, in great numbers, had been sepultured beneath +its shadow. How many eyes were fixed, with the fond recollection of +their village homes amid clustering oaks in distant England, upon this +noble tree--which, in a few moments, amid the howl of war, were closed +for ever in the sleep of the dead! Of how many last looks were its +branches the repositories! How many manly sighs were wafted toward its +waving summit from the breast of many a brave man, who was never more to +behold the wave of a green tree upon the pleasant earth! + +It has been stated that Sir Edward Packenham fell, and was buried under +this oak, or these oaks, (for I believe there are two,) but I have been +informed, since my return from the field, by a gentleman who was +commander of a troop of horse in the action, that when the British +retreated, he saw from the parapet the body of General Packenham lying +alone upon the ground, surrounded by the dead and wounded, readily +distinguishable by its uniform; and, that during the armistice for the +burial of the dead, he saw his body borne from the field by the British +soldiers, who afterward conveyed it with them in their retreat to their +fleet. + +The rampart of earth upon which we stood, presented very little the +appearance of having ever been a defence for three thousand breasts; +resembling rather one of the numerous dikes constructed on the +plantations near the river, to drain the very marshy soil which abounds +in this region, than the military defences of a field of battle. It was +a grassy embankment, extending, with the exception of an angle near the +forest--about a mile in a straight line from the river to the cypress +swamps in the rear; four feet high, and five or six feet broad. At the +time of the battle it was the height of a man, and somewhat broader than +at present, and along the whole front ran a _fosse_, containing five +feet of water, and of the same breadth as the parapet. This was now +nearly filled with earth, and could easily be leaped over at any point. +The embankment throughout the whole extent is much worn, indented and, +occasionally, levelled with the surface of the plain. Upon the top of +it, before the battle, eight batteries were erected, with embrasures of +cotton bales, piled transversely. Under cover of this friendly +embankment, the Americans lay _perdus_, but not idle, during the +greater portion of the battle. + +A daring Tennessean, with a blanket tied round him, and a hat with a +brim of enormous breadth, who seemed to be fighting "on his own hook," +disdaining to raise his rifle over the bank of earth and fire, in safety +to his person, like his more wary fellow soldiers, chose to spring, +every time he fired, upon the breastwork, where, balancing himself, he +would bring his rifle to his cheek, throw back his broad brim, take +sight and fire, while the enemy were advancing to the attack, as +deliberately as though shooting at a herd of deer; then leaping down on +the inner side, he would reload, mount the works, cock his beaver, take +aim, and crack again. "This he did," said an English officer, who was +taken prisoner by him, and who laughingly related it as a good anecdote +to Captain D----, my informant above alluded to--"five times in rapid +succession, as I advanced at the head of my company, and though the +grape whistled through the air over our heads, for the life of me I +could not help smiling at his grotesque demi-savage, demi-quaker figure, +as he threw back the broad flap of his castor to obtain a fair +sight--deliberately raised his rifle--shut his left eye, and blazed away +at us. I verily believe he brought down one of my men at every shot." + +As the British resolutely advanced, though columns fell like the tall +grain before the sickle at the fire of the Americans, this same officer +approached at the head of his brave grenadiers amid the rolling fire of +musketry from the lines of his unseen foes, undaunted and untouched. +"Advance, my men!" he shouted as he reached the edge of the +_fosse_--"follow me!" and sword in hand he leaped the ditch, and turning +amidst the roar and flame of a hundred muskets to encourage his men, +beheld to his surprise but a single man of his company upon his +feet--more than fifty brave fellows, whom he had so gallantly led on to +the attack, had been shot down. As he was about to leap back from his +dangerous situation, his sword was shivered in his grasp by a rifle +ball, and at the same instant the daring Tennessean sprang upon the +parapet and levelled his deadly weapon at his breast, calmly observing, +"Surrender, strannger--or, I may perforate ye!" "Chagrined," said the +officer, at the close of his recital, "I was compelled to deliver to the +bold fellow my mutilated sword, and pass over into the American lines." + +"Here," said our guide and cicerone, advancing a few paces up the +embankment, and placing his foot emphatically upon the ground, "_here_ +fell Renie." + +This gallant man, with the calf of his leg shot away by a cannon-ball, +leaped upon the breast-works with a shout of exultation, and was +immediately shot through the heart, by an American private. Packenham, +the favourite _eleve_ of Wellington, and the "beau ideal" of a British +soldier, after receiving a second wound, while attempting to rally his +broken columns, fell directly in front of our position, not far from +where Renie received his death-wound. In the disorder and panic of the +first retreat of the British, he was left bleeding and forsaken among +the dead and dying. Not far from this melancholy spot, Gibbes received +his mortal wound; and near the place where this gallant officer fell, +one of the staff of the English general was also shot down. The whole +field was fruitful with scenes of thrilling interest. I should weary you +by individualizing them. There was scarcely a spot on which I could cast +my eyes, where a soldier had not poured out his life-blood. "As I stood +upon the breast-works," said Captain Dunbar, "after the action, the +field of battle before me was so thickly strewn with dead bodies, that I +could have walked fifty yards over them without placing my foot upon the +ground." How revolting the sight of a field thus sown must be to human +nature! Man must indeed be humbled at such a spectacle. + +We walked slowly over the ground, which annually waves with undulating +harvests of the rich cane. Our guide was intelligent and sufficiently +communicative without being garrulous. He was familiar with every +interesting fact associated with the spot, and by his correct +information rendered our visit both more satisfactory and agreeable than +it otherwise would have been. + +"Here gentilhommes, j'ai finde some bullet for you to buy," shouted a +little French mulatto at the top of his voice, who, among other boys of +various hues, had followed us to the field, "me, j'ai trop--too much;" +and on reaching us, this double-tongued urchin turned his pockets inside +out and discharged upon the ground a load of rusty grape shot, bullets, +and fragments of lead--his little stock in trade, some, if not all of +which, I surmised, had been manufactured for the occasion. + +"Did you find them on the battle-ground, garcon?" + +"Iss--oui, Messieurs, me did, de long-temps." + +I was about to charge him with having prepared his pockets before +leaving home, when Mr. C. exhibited a grape shot that he had picked from +the dark soil in which it was half buried. I bought for a piccaiune,[9] +the smallest currency of the country, the "load of grape," and we +pursued our walk over the field, listening with much interest to the +communications of our guide, conjuring up the past scenes of strife and +searching for balls; which by and by began to thicken upon us so fast, +that we were disposed to attribute a generative principle to grape-shot. +We were told by our cicerone that they were found in great numbers by +the ploughmen, and disposed of to curious visiters. On inquiring of him +if false ones were not imposed upon the unsuspecting, he replied +"No--there is no need of that--there is an abundance of those which are +genuine." + +"I'm got half a peck on um to hum, mysef, I'se found," exclaimed a +little negro in a voice that sounded like the creaking of a shoe, +bolting off at the same time for the treasure, like one of his own +cannon-balls. What appalling evidence is this abundance of leaden and +iron hail strewed over the field, of the terrible character of that +war-storm which swept so fearfully over it. Flattened and round balls, +grape of various sizes, and non-descript bits of iron were the principal +objects picked up in our stroll over the ground. + +The night was rapidly approaching--for we had lingered long on this +interesting spot--and precluded our visit to the oaks, to which it had +been our intention to extend our walk; and as we turned to retrace our +steps with our pockets heavy with metal, something rang to the touch of +my foot, which, on lifting and cleansing it from the loam, we discovered +to be the butt-piece of a musket. As this was the most valuable relic +which the field afforded, C. was invested with it, for the purpose of +placing it in the museum or Codman's amateur collection, for the benefit +of the curious, when he returns to that land of curious bipeds, where +such kind of mementos are duly estimated. Twilight had already +commenced, as, advancing over the same ground across which the gallant +Packenham led his veteran army, we fearlessly leaped the fosse and, +unresisted, ascended the parapet. Hastening to free our impatient horses +from their thraldom, we mounted them, and--not forgetting a suitable +douceur, by way of "a consideration" to our obliging cicerone--spurred +for the city. As we arrived at the head of the lane and emerged again +upon the high-way, I paused for an instant upon the summit of the Levee +to take a last view of the battle-ground which lay in calm repose under +the gathering twilight--challenging the strongest exercise of the +imagination to believe it ever to have borne other than its present +rural character, or echoed to other sounds than the whistle of the +careless slave as he cut the luxuriant cane, the gun of the sportsman, +or the melancholy song of the plough-boy. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Properly, _piccaillon_, but pronounced as in the text. Called in New +England a "four pence half penny," in New-York a "sixpence," and in +Philadelphia a "fip." + + + + +XX. + + Scenes in a bar-room--Affaires d'honneur--A Sabbath morning + --Host--Public square--Military parades--Scenes in the + interior of a cathedral--Mass--A sanctified family--Crucifix + --Different ways of doing the same thing--Altar--Paintings-- + The Virgin--Female devotees. + + +The spacious bar-room of our magnificent hotel, as I descended to it on +Sabbath morning, resounded to the footsteps of a hundred gentlemen, some +promenading and in earnest conversation--some hastening to, or lounging +about the bar, that magnet of attraction to thirsty spirits, on which +was displayed a row of rapidly disappearing glasses, containing the +tempting, green-leaved, mint-julep--while, along the sides of the large +room, or clustered around the tall, black columns, which extended +through the centre of the hall, were others, some _tete a tete_, and +others again smoking, and sipping in quiet their morning potation. A +few, with legs _a la Trollope_, upon the tables, were reading stray +papers, and at the farther extremity of the hall, standing around a +lofty desk, were ranks of merchants similarly engaged. My northern +friend, with whom I had planned a visit to the cathedral, met me at the +door of the hotel, around which, upon the side-walk, was gathered a knot +of fashionably dressed, cane-wearing young men, talking, all together, +of a duel that had taken place, or was about to "come off," we could not +ascertain exactly which, from the few words heard in passing to the +street. This, by the by, is a frequent theme of conversation here, and +too often based upon facts to be one of light moment.[10] + +The morning was cloudless and beautiful. The air was mild, and for the +city, elastic and exhilarating. The sun shone down warm and cheerfully, +enlivening the spirits, and making all things glad with its brightness. +The whole city had come forth into the streets to enjoy it; and as we +passed from Camp-street across Canal, into Chartres-street, all the gay +inhabitants, one would verily believe, had turned out as to a gala. The +long, narrow streets were thronged with moving multitudes, and flashing +with scarfs, ribbons, and feathers. Children, with large expressive +eyes, and clustering locks, their heads surmounted with tasselled caps +and fancy hats, arrayed in their "brightest and best," bounded along +behind their more soberly arrayed, but not less gay parents, followed by +gaudily dressed slaves, who chattered incessantly with half-suppressed +laughter to their acquaintances on the opposite trottoir. Clerks, just +such looking young men as you will meet on Sabbath mornings in Broadway, +or Cornhill--released from their six days' confinement--lounged by us +arm in arm, as fine as the tailor and hair-dresser could make them. +Crowds, or gangs of American and English sailors, mingling most +companionably, on a cruise through the city, rolled jollily along--the +same careless independent fellows that they are all the world over. I +have observed that in foreign ports, the seamen of these once hostile +nations link together like brothers. This is as it should be. The good +feeling existing generally among all classes of Americans toward the +mother country, must be gratifying both to reflecting Americans and to +Englishmen. These sons of Neptune were all dressed nearly alike in blue +jackets, and full white trowsers, with black silk handkerchiefs knotted +carelessly around their necks, and confined by some nautical breast-pin, +in the shape of a foul anchor, a ship under her three top-sails, or +plain gold hearts, pierced by arrows. Sailors are very sentimental +fellows on shore! In direct contrast to these frank-looking, open-browed +tars, who yawed along the side-walk, as a landsman would walk on a +ship's deck at sea, we passed, near the head of Bienville-street, a +straggling crew of some Spanish trader, clothed in tarry pantaloons and +woollen shirts, and girt about with red and blue sashes, bucanier +fashion, with filthy black whiskers, and stealthy glowing eyes, who +glided warily along with lowering brows. The unsailor-like French +sailor--the half horse and half alligator Kentucky boatman--the +gentlemanly, carelessly-dressed cotton planter--the pale valetudinarian, +from the north, whose deep sunken eye told of suicidal vigils over the +midnight lamp--a noble looking foreigner, and a wretched beggar--a troop +of Swiss emigrants, from the grand sire to the infant, and a gang of +Erin's toil-worn exiles--all mingled _en masse_--swept along in this +living current; while, gazing down upon the moving multitude from lofty +balconies, were clusters of bright eyes, and sunny faces flashed from +every window. + +As we approached the cathedral, a dark-hued and finely moulded quadroon, +with only a flowing veil upon her head, glided majestically past us. The +elegant olive-browned Louisianese--the rosy-cheeked maiden from _La +belle riviere_--the Parisian gentilhomme--a dignified, light-mustachoed +palsgrave, and a portly sea-captain--the haughty Englishman and prouder +southerner--a blanketed Choctaw, and a negro in uniform--slaves and +freed-men of every shade, elbowed each other very familiarly as they +traversed in various directions the crowded side-walks. + +Crossing rue St. Louis, we came in collision with a party of gens +d'armes with drawn swords in their hands, which they used as walking +canes, leading an unlucky culprit to the calaboose--that "black-hole" of +the city. Soldiers in splendid uniforms, with clashing and jingling +accoutrements, were continually hurrying past us to parade. At the +corner of Toulouse-street we met a straggling procession of bare-headed, +sturdy-looking priests, in soiled black surplices and fashionable boots, +preceded by half a dozen white-robed boys, bare-legged and dirty. By +this dignified procession, among which the crowd promiscuously mingled +as they passed along, and whose august approach is usually notified by +the jingling of the "sacring bell," was borne the sacred "host." They +hastily passed us, shoved and jostled by the crowd, who scarcely gave +way to them as they hastened on their ghostly message. These things are +done differently in Buenos Ayres or Rio Janeiro, where such a procession +is escorted by an armed guard, and a bayonet thrust, or a night in a +Spanish prison, is the penalty for neglecting to genuflect, or uncover +the heretical head. As we issued from Chartres-street--where all +"nations and kingdoms and tongues" seemed to have united to form its +pageant of life--upon the esplanade in front of the cathedral, we were +surprised by the sound of martial music pealing clearly above the +confusion of tongues, the tramp of feet, and the rattling of carriages. +On and around the noble green, soldiers in various uniforms, some of +them of a gorgeous and splendid description, were assembling for +parade. Members of the creole regiment--the finest body of military men +I ever beheld, with the exception of a Brazilian regiment of +blacks--were rapidly marshalling in the square. And mounted hussars, +with lofty caps and in glittering mail, were thundering in from the +various streets, their spurs, chains and sabres, ringing and jingling +warlike music, as they dashed up to the rendezvous. + +At the head of this noble square, so variegated and tumultuous with its +dazzling mimicry of war, rose in solemn and imposing grandeur the +venerable cathedral, lifting its heavy towers high above the emmet-crowd +beneath. Its doors, in front of which was extended a line of carriages, +were thronged with a motley crowd, whose attention was equally divided +between the religious ceremonies within the temple and the military +display without. We forced our way through the mass, which was composed +of strangers like ourselves--casual spectators--servants--hack-drivers +--fruit sellers, and some few, who, like the publican, worshipped "afar +off." + +It was the celebration of the Eucharist. Within, crowds were kneeling +upon the pavement under the corridor and along the aisles--some in +attitudes of the profoundest humility and awe. Others were kneeling, as +nominal Protestants stand in prayer, without intention or feeling of +humility; but merely assuming the posture as a matter of form. Among +these last were many young Frenchmen, whose pantaloons were kept from +soiling by white handkerchiefs as they kneeled, playing with their +watch-guards, twirling their narrow-brimmed silk hats, or gazing idly +about over the prostrate multitude. Here and there kneeled a fine female +figure; and dark eyes from artfully arranged veils wandered every where +but over the missal, clasped in unconscious fingers. At the base of a +massive column two fair girls, kneeling side by side, were laughingly +whispering together. But there were also venerable sires with locks of +snow, and aged matrons, and manly forms of men, and graceful women, +maidens and children, who bowed with their faces to the ground in deep +devotion. As we entered, the solemn peal of an organ, mingled with the +deep toned voices of the priests chanting the imposing mass, rolled over +the prostrate assembly; at the same moment the host was elevated and the +multitude, bowing their foreheads to the pavement, profoundly adored +this Roman _schechinah_, or _visible_ presence of the Saviour. + +Having, with some difficulty, worked our way through the worshippers, +who, after the solemn service of the consecration of the bread and wine +was finished, arose from their knees, we gained an eligible situation by +one of the pillars which support the vaulted roof, and there took our +post of observation. A marble font of holy water stood near us on our +right hand, into which all true Catholics who entered or departed from +the church, dipped the tip of a finger, with the greatest possible +veneration; and therewith--the while moving their lips with a brief, +indistinctly-heard prayer--crossed themselves upon both the forehead and +the breast. This ceremony was also performed by proxy. A very handsome +French lady entered the church, while we leaned against the column, and +advancing directly to the font, dipped her ungloved finger into the +consecrated laver, made the sign of the cross first upon her own fine +forehead, and then turning, stooped down and crossed affectionately and +prayerfully the pure, olive brows of two beautiful little girls who +followed her, and the forehead of an infant borne in the arms of a +slave; who, dipping her tawny fingers in the water, blessed her own +black forehead; and then all passed up the aisle toward the altar--a +sanctified family! How like infant baptism, this beautiful and affecting +little scene of a mother thus blessing in the sincerity of her heart, +her innocent offspring! White, black, and yellow--the rich and the poor, +the freeman and slave, all dipped in the same font--were all blessed by +the same water. A beautiful emblem of the undistinguishing blood of the +Saviour of the world! + +Not far from this holy vessel, behind a table or temporary altar, sat a +man with a scowling brow and a superstitious eye, coarsely dressed, +without vest or cravat. Before him lay a large salver strewed in great +profusion with pieces of silver coin from a _bit_ to a dollar. On the +centre, and only part of the waiter not piled with money, lay a silver +crucifix. At the moment this display caught our eyes, and before we had +time to form any conjectures as to its object, a mulatress gave us the +desired explanation. Crossing from the broad aisle of the church, she +reverently approached the spot and kneeling before the altar, added a +quarter of a dollar to the glittering pile, and bending over, kissed +first the feet, then the knees, hands, and wounded side of the image, +while real tears flowed down her saffron cheeks. Elevating her prostrate +form, she passed to the font, dipped her finger in the holy water and +disappeared amid the crowd at the door. A gay demoiselle tripping +lightly past us, bent on one knee before the waiter, threw down upon it +a heavy piece of silver, and, less humble than the one who had preceded +her, imprinted a kiss upon the metal lips of the image and glided from +the cathedral. She was followed by a lame negro, darker than Othello, +uglier and more clumsy than Caliban, who for a piccaiune, which tinkled +upon the salver, had the privilege of saluting the senseless image from +head to foot in the most devotional and lavish manner. A little child, +led by its nurse, followed, and timidly, at the direction of its +coloured governess, kissed the calm and expansive forehead of the +sculptured idol. During the half hour we remained, there was a continual +flow of the current of devotees to this spot, in their way to and from +the high altar. But I observed that ten blacks approached the crucifix +for every white! + +This altar with its enriched salver is merely a Roman Catholic +"contribution-box,"--a new way of doing an old thing. Some of the +Protestant churches resound with a sacred hymn, or the voice of the +clergyman reading a portion of the liturgy or discipline, calculated to +inspire charitable feelings, while the contribution-box or bag makes its +begging tour among the pews. In the cathedral the same feelings are +excited by an appeal to the senses through the silent exhibition of the +sufferings of the Redeemer. With one, the ear is the road to the heart, +with the other, the eye; but if it is only reached, it were useless to +quibble about the medium of application. + +I lingered long after the great body of the congregation had departed. +Here and there, before a favourite shrine--the tutelary guardian of the +devotee--kneeled only a solitary individual. Close by my side, before +the pictured representation of a martyrdom, bent a female form enveloped +in mourning robes, her features concealed in the folds of a rich black +veil. Far off, before the distant shrine of the Virgin Mother, knelt a +very old man engaged in inaudible prayer, with his head pressed upon the +cold stone pavement. Slowly and reflectingly I paced the deserted aisles +toward the high altar, which stood in the midst of a splendid and +dazzling creation of gold and silver, rich colouring, architectural +finery, and gorgeous decorations, burning tapers, and candlesticks like +silver pillars; the whole extending from the pavement to the ceiling, +and all so mingled and confused in the religious gloom of the church, +that I was unable to analyse or form any distinct idea of it. But the +_coup d'oeil_ was unrivalled by any display I had ever seen in an +American temple. + +At the lower termination of the side aisles of the cathedral, stood dark +mahogany confessionals, with blinds at the sides--reminding one of +sentry boxes. These, however, were deserted and apparently seldom +occupied. Sins must be diminished here, or penitents have grown more +discreet than in former times! In a little while the cathedral, save by +a poor woman kneeling devoutly before a wretched picture, which I took +to be a representation of the martyrdom of saint Peter, became silent +and deserted. While gazing upon the image of the Virgin Mary, arrayed +like a prima donna, and profusely decorated with finery, standing +pensively within an isolated niche, to the left of the grand altar, a +slight noise, and the simultaneous agitation of a curtain, drew my +attention to the entrance of a trio of young ladies, through a side door +hitherto concealed behind the arras, preceded by an elderly +brown-complexioned lady, of the most duenna-like physiognomy and +bearing. Without noticing the presence of a stranger and a heretic--for +I was gazing most undevoutly and heretically upon the jewelled image +before me as they entered--they dipped the tips of their fingers in a +font of holy water which stood by the entrance--passed into the centre +aisle in front of the great crucifix, and kneeling in a cluster upon a +rich carpet, spread upon the pavement over the crypts of the +distinguished dead, by a female slave who attended them, were at once +engaged in the most absorbing devotion. After a short period they +arose--bowed sweepingly to the crucifix, genuflected most gracefully +with a sort of familiar nod of recognition before the shrine of the +Virgin, and moistening the ends of their fingers again in the marble +basin, quietly disappeared. + +I was now alone in the vast building. Though the current of human life +flowed around its walls, with a great tumult of mingled sounds, yet only +a noise, like the faintly heard murmuring of distant surf, penetrated +its massive walls, and broke a silence like that of the grave which +reigned within. The illustrious dead slept beneath the hollow pavement, +which echoed to my footfall like a vaulted sepulchre. The ghastly images +of slaughtered men looked down upon me from the walls, with agony +depicted on their pale and unearthly countenances, seen indistinctly +through the dim twilight of the place. The melancholy tapers burned +faintly before the deserted shrines, increasing, rather than +illuminating the gloom of the venerable temple. Gradually, under the +combined influence of these gloomy objects, I felt a solemnity stealing +over me, awed and depressed by the tomb-like repose that reigned around. +Suddenly the clear light of noon-day flashed in through the drawn +curtain, and another worshipper entered. Turning to take a last glance +at the interior of this imposing fabric, so well calculated to excite +the religious feelings of even a descendant of the Puritans, I drew +aside the curtain, and the next moment was involved in the life, bustle, +and tumult of the streets of a large city, whose noise, confusion, and +bright sunshine contrasted strangely with the perfect stillness and "dim +religious light" of the cathedral. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The rage for duelling is at such a pitch, that a jest or smart +repartee is sufficient excuse for a challenge, in which powder and ball +are the arguments. The Court of honour has proved unsuccessful in its +operation, and no person, it is said, has yet dared to stem the current +of popular opinion. The accuracy of the Creoles, with the pistol, is +said to be astonishing, and no youngster springing into life, is +considered entitled to the claims of manhood, until made the mark of an +adversary's bullet. In their shooting galleries, the test of their aim +is firing at a button at ten or twelve paces distance, suspended by a +wire, which, when struck, touches a spring that discloses a flag. There +are but few who miss more than once in three times. An appointment for a +duel is talked of with the _nonchalance_ of an invitation to a dinner or +supper party. + + + + +XXI. + + Sabbath in New-Orleans--Theatre--Interior--A New-Orleans + audience--Performance--Checks--Theatre d'Orleans--Interior + --Boxes--Audience--Play--Actors and actresses--Institutions + --M. Poydras--Liberality of the Orleanese--Extracts from + Flint upon New-Orleans. + + +"Do you attend the _Theatre d'Orleans_ to night?" inquired a young +Bostonian, forgetful of his orthodox habits--last Sabbath evening, +twirling while he spoke a ticket in his fingers--"you know the +maxim--when one is in Rome"-- + +"I have not been here quite long enough yet to apply the rule," said I; +"is not the theatre open on other evenings of the week?" "Very seldom," +he replied, "unless in the gayest part of the season--though I believe +there is to be a performance some night this week; I will ascertain when +and accompany you." + +You are aware that the rituals, or established forms of the Roman +church, do not prohibit amusements on this sacred day. The Sabbath, +consequently, in a city, the majority of whose inhabitants are +Catholics, is not observed as in the estimation of New-Englanders, or +Protestants it should be. The lively Orleanese defend the custom of +crowding their theatres, attending military parades, assembling in +ball-rooms, and mingling in the dangerous masquerade on this day, by +wielding the scriptural weapon--"the Sabbath was made for man--not man +for the Sabbath;" and then making their own inductions, they argue that +the Sabbath is, literally, as the term imports, a day of rest, and not a +day of religious labour. They farther argue, that religion was bestowed +upon man, not to lessen, but to augment his happiness--and that it ought +therefore to infuse a spirit of cheerfulness and hilarity into the +mind--for cheerfulness is the twin-sister of religion. + +Last evening, as I entered my room, after a visit to two noble packet +ships just arrived from New-York, which as nearly resemble "floating +palaces" as any thing not described in the Arabian tales well can--I +discovered, lying upon my table, a ticket for the American or +Camp-street theatre, folded in a narrow slip of a play-bill, which +informed me that the laughable entertainment of the "Three Hunchbacks," +with the interesting play of "Cinderella," was to constitute the +performance of the night: Cinderella, that tale which, with Blue Beard, +the Forty Thieves, and some others, has such charms for children, and +which, represented on the stage, has the power to lead stern man, with +softened feelings, back to infancy. In a few moments afterward my Boston +friend, who had left the ticket in my room, came in with another for the +French theatre, giving me a choice between the two. I decided upon +attending both, dividing the evening between them. After tea we sallied +out, in company with half of those who were at the supper-table, on our +way to the theatre. The street and adjacent buildings shone brilliantly, +with the glare of many lamps suspended from the theatre and coffee +houses in the vicinity. A noisy crowd was gathered around the +ticket-office--the side-walks were filled with boys and negroes--and the +curb-stone was lined with coloured females, each surrounded by bonbons, +fruit, nuts, cakes, pies, gingerbread, and all the other et cetera of a +"cake-woman's commodity." Entering the theatre, which is a plain +handsome edifice, with a stuccoed front, and ascending a broad flight of +steps, we passed across the first lobby, down a narrow aisle, opened +through the centre of the boxes into the pit or _parquette_, as it is +here termed, which is considered the most eligible and fashionable part +of the house. This is rather reversing the order of things as found with +us at the north. The pews, or slips--for the internal arrangement, were +precisely like those of a church--were cushioned with crimson materials, +and filled with bonnetless ladies, with their heads dressed _a la +Madonna_. We seated ourselves near the orchestra. The large green +curtain still concealed the mimic world behind it; and I embraced the +few moments of delay previous to its rising, to gaze upon this Thespian +temple of the south, and a New Orleans audience. + +The "parquette" was brilliant with bright eyes and pretty faces; and +upon the bending galaxy of ladies which glittered in the front of the +boxes around it, I seemed to gaze through the medium of a rainbow. There +were, it must be confessed, some plain enough faces among them; but, at +the first glance of the eye, one might verily have believed himself +encircled by a gallery of houris. The general character of their faces +was decidedly American; exactly such as one gazes upon at the Tremont or +Park theatre; and I will henceforward eschew physiognomy, if "I guess" +would not have dropped more naturally from the lips of one half who were +before me, while conversing, than "I reckon." There were but few French +faces among the females; but, with two or three exceptions, these were +extremely pretty. Most of the delicately-reared Creoles, or Louisianian +ladies, are eminently beautiful. A Psyche-like fascination slumbers in +their dark, eloquent eyes, whose richly fringed lids droop timidly over +them--softening but not diminishing their brilliance. Their style of +beauty is _unique_, and not easily classed. It is neither French nor +English, but a combination of both, mellowed and enriched under a +southern sky.--They are just such creatures as Vesta and Venus would +have moulded, had they united to form a faultless woman. + +The interior of the house was richly decorated; and the panelling in the +interior of the boxes was composed of massive mirror-plates, multiplying +the audience with a fine effect. The stage was lofty, extensive, and so +constructed, either intentionally or accidentally, as to reflect the +voice with unusual precision and distinctness. The scenery was in +general well executed: one of the forest scenes struck me as remarkably +true to nature, both in colouring and design. While surveying the gaudy +interior, variegated with gilding, colouring, and mirrors, the usual cry +of "Down, down?--Hats off," warned us to be seated. The performance was +good for the pieces represented. The company, with the indefatigable +Caldwell at its head, is strong and of a respectable character. When the +second act was concluded we left the house; and passing through a +parti-coloured mob, gathered around the entrance, and elbowing a gens +d'armes or two, stationed in the lobby _in terrorem_ to the turbulent-- +we gained the street, amidst a shouting of "Your check, sir! your check! +--Give me your check--Please give me your check!--check!--check!--check!" +from a host of boys, who knocked one another about unmercifully in their +exertions to secure the prizes, which, to escape a mobbing, we threw +into the midst of them; and jumping into a carriage in waiting, drove +off to the French theatre, leaving them embroiled in a _pele mele_, in +which the sciences of phlebotomy and phrenology were "being" tested by +very practical applications. + +After a drive of half a league or more through long and narrow streets, +dimly lighted by swinging lamps, we were set down at the door of the +Theatre d'Orleans, around which a crowd was assembled of as different a +character, from that we had just escaped, as would have met our eyes had +we been deposited before the _Theatre Royale_ in Paris. The street was +illuminated from the brilliantly lighted cafes and cabarets, clustered +around this "nucleus" of gayety and amusement. As we crossed the broad +_pave_ into the vestibule of the theatre, the rapidly enunciated, nasal +sounds of the French language assailed our ears from every side. +Ascending the stairs and entering the boxes, I was struck with the +liveliness and brilliancy of the scene, which the interior exhibited to +the eye. "Magnificent!" was upon my lips--but a moment's observation +convinced me that its brilliancy was an illusion, created by numerous +lights, and an artful arrangement and lavish display of gilding and +colouring. The whole of the interior, including the stage decorations +and scenic effect, was much inferior to that of the house we had just +quitted. The boxes--if caverns resembling the interior of a ship's +long-boat, with one end elevated three feet, and equally convenient, can +be so called--were cheerless and uncomfortable. There were but few +females in the house, and none of these were in the pit, as at the other +theatre. Among them I saw but two or three pretty faces; and evidently +none were of the first class of French society in this city. The house +was thinly attended, presenting, wherever I turned my eyes, a "beggarly +account of empty boxes." I found that I had chosen a night, of all +others, the least calculated to give me a good idea of a French +audience, in a cis-Atlantic French theatre. After remaining half an +hour, wearied with a tiresome _ritornello_ of a popular French +air--listening with the devotion of a "Polytechnique" to the +blood-stirring Marseillaise hymn--amused at the closing scene of a +laughable comedie, and edified by the first of a pantomime, and +observing, that with but one lovely exception, the Mesdames _du scene_ +were very plain, and the Messieurs very handsome, we left the theatre +and returned to our hotel, whose deserted bar-room, containing here and +there a straggler, presented a striking contrast to the noise and bustle +of the multitude by which it was thronged at noon-day. In general, +strangers consider the _tout ensemble_ of this theatre on Sabbath +evenings, and on others when the elite of the New-Orleans society is +collected there, decidedly superior to that of any other in the United +States. + +Beside the theatres there are other public buildings in this city, +deserving the attention of a stranger, whose institution generally +reflects the highest eulogium upon individuals, and the public. The +effects of the benevolence of the generous M. Poydras, will for ever +remain monuments of his piety and of the nobleness of his nature. +Generation after generation will rise up from the bosom of this great +city and "call him blessed." The charitable institutions of this city +are lights which redeem the darker shades of its moral picture. Regarded +as originators of benevolence, carried out into efficient operation, the +Orleanese possess a moral beauty in their character as citizens and men, +infinitely transcending that of many other cities ostensibly living +under a higher code of morals. In the male and female orphan asylums, +which are distinct institutions, endowed by the donations of M. +Poydras--in a library for the use of young men, and in her hospitals and +various charitable institutions, mostly sustained by Roman Catholic +influence and patronage, whose doors are ever open to the stranger and +the moneyless--the poor and the lame--the halt and the blind--and +unceasingly send forth, during the fearful scourges which lay waste this +ill-fated city, angels of mercy in human forms to heal the sick--comfort +the dying--bind up the broken-hearted--feed the hungry, and clothe the +naked--in these institutions--the ever living monuments of her +humanity--New-Orleans, reviled as she has been abroad, holds a high rank +among the cities of Christendom. + +An original and able writer, with one or two extracts from whom I will +conclude this letter, in allusion to this city says--"the French here, +as elsewhere, display their characteristic urbanity and politeness, and +are the same gay, dancing, spectacle-loving people, that they are found +to be in every other place. There is, no doubt, much gambling and +dissipation practised here, and different licensed gambling houses pay a +large tax for their licenses. Much has been said abroad about the +profligacy of manners and morals here. Amidst such a multitude, composed +in a great measure of the low people of all nations, there must of +course be much debauchery and low vice. But all the disgusting forms of +vice, debauchery and drunkenness, are assorted together in their own +place. Each man has an elective attraction to men of his own standing +and order. + +"This city necessarily exercises a very great influence over all the +western country. There is no distinguished merchant, or planter, or +farmer, in the Mississippi valley, who has not made at least one trip +to this place. Here they see acting at the French and American theatres. +Here they go to see at least, if not to take a part in, the pursuits of +the "roulette and temple of Fortune." Here they come from the remote and +isolated points of the west to behold the "city lions," and learn the +ways of men in great towns; and they necessarily carry back an +impression, from what they have seen, and heard. It is of inconceivable +importance to the western country, that New-Orleans should be +enlightened, moral, and religious. It has a numerous and respectable +corps of professional men, and issues a considerable number of well +edited papers. + +"The police of the city is at once mild and energetic. Notwithstanding +the multifarious character of the people, collected from every country +and every climate, notwithstanding the multitude of boatmen and sailors, +notwithstanding the mass of the people that rushes along the streets is +of the most incongruous materials, there are fewer broils and quarrels +here than in almost any other city. The municipal and the criminal +courts are prompt in administering justice, and larcenies and broils are +effectually punished without any just grounds of complaint about the +"law's delay." On the whole we conclude, that the morals of those +people, who profess to have any degree of self-respect, are not behind +those of the other cities of the Union. + +"Much has been said abroad, in regard to the unhealthiness of this city; +and the danger of a residence here for an unacclimated person has been +exaggerated. This circumstance, more than all others, has retarded its +increase. The chance of an unacclimated young man from the north, for +surviving the first summer, is by some considered only as one to two. +Unhappily, when the dog-star is in the sky, there is but too much +probability that the epidemic will sweep the place with the besom of +destruction. Hundreds of the unacclimated poor from the north, and more +than half from Ireland, fall victims to it. But the city is now +furnished with noble water works; and is in this way supplied with the +healthy and excellent water of the river. Very great improvements have +been recently made and are constantly making, in paving the city, in +removing the wooden sewers, and replacing them by those of stone. The +low places, where the waters used to stagnate, are drained, or filled +up. Tracts of swamp about the town are also draining, or filling up; and +this work, constantly pursued, will probably contribute more to the +salubrity of the city, than all the other efforts to this end united." + + + + +XXII. + + A drive into the country--Pleasant road--Charming villa + --Children at play--Governess--Diversities of society-- + Education in Louisiana--Visit to a sugar-house--Description + of sugar-making, &c.--A plantation scene--A planter's + grounds--Children--Trumpeter--Pointer--Return to the city. + + +This is the last day of my sojourn in the great emporium of the +south-west. To-morrow will find me threading the majestic sinuosities of +the Mississippi, the prisoner of one of its mammoth steamers, on my way +to the state whose broad fields and undulating hills are annually +whitened with the fleece-like cotton, and whose majestic forests glitter +with the magnificent and silvery magnolia--where the men are chivalrous, +generous, and social, and the women so lovely, + + ---- "that the same lips and eyes + They wear on earth will serve in Paradise." + +A gentleman to whom I brought a letter of introduction called +yesterday--a strange thing for men so honoured to do--and invited me to +ride with him to his plantation, a few miles from the city. He drove his +own phaeton, which was drawn by two beautiful long-tailed bays. After a +drive of a mile and a half, we cleared the limits of the straggling, and +apparently interminable faubourgs, and, emerging through a long narrow +street upon the river road, bounded swiftly over its level surface, +which was as smooth as a bowling-green--saving a mud-hole now and then, +where a crevasse had let in upon it a portion of the Mississippi. An +hour's drive, after clearing the suburbs, past a succession of isolated +villas, encircled by slender columns and airy galleries, and surrounded +by richly foliaged gardens, whose fences were bursting with the +luxuriance which they could scarcely confine, brought us in front of a +charming residence situated at the head of a broad, gravelled avenue, +bordered by lemon and orange trees, forming in the heat of summer, by +arching naturally overhead, a cool and shady promenade. We drew up at +the massive gateway and alighted. As we entered the avenue, three or +four children were playing at its farther extremity, with noise enough +for Christmas holidays; two of them were trundling hoops in a race, and +a third sat astride of a non-locomotive wooden horse, waving a tin +sword, and charging at half a dozen young slaves, who were testifying +their bellicose feelings by dancing and shouting around him with the +noisiest merriment. + +"Pa! pa!" shouted the hoop-drivers as they discovered our approach--"Oh, +there's pa!" re-echoed the pantalette dragoon, dismounting from his dull +steed, and making use of his own chubby legs as the most speedy way of +advancing, "oh, my papa!"--and, sword and hoops in hand, down they all +came upon the run to meet us, followed helter-skelter by their ebony +troop, who scattered the gravel around them like hail as they raced, +turning summersets over each other, without much diminution of their +speed. They came down upon us altogether with such momentum, that we +were like to be carried from our feet by this novel charge of _infantry_ +and laid _hors du combat_, upon the ground. The playful and affectionate +congratulations over between the noble little fellows and their parent, +we walked toward the house, preceded by our trundlers, with the young +soldier hand-in-hand between us, followed close behind by the little +Africans, whose round shining eyes glistened wishfully--speaking as +plainly as eyes could speak the strong desire, with which their +half-naked limbs evidently sympathized by their restless motions, to +bound ahead, contrary to decorum, "wid de young massas!" + +Around the semi-circular flight of steps, ascending to the piazza of the +dwelling,--the columns of which were festooned with the golden jasmine +and luxuriant multiflora,--stood, in large green vases, a variety of +flowers, among which I observed the tiny flowerets of the diamond +myrtle, sparkling like crystals of snow, scattered upon rich green +leaves--the dark foliaged Arabian jasmine silvered with its +opulently-leaved flowers redolent of the sweetest perfume,--and the +rose-geranium, breathing gales of fragrance upon the air. From this +point the main avenue branches to the right and left, into narrower, yet +not less beautiful walks, which, lined with evergreen and flowering +shrubs, completely encircled the cottage. At the head of the flight of +steps which led from this Hesperean spot to the portico, we were met by +a little golden-haired fairy, as light in her motion as a zephyr, and +with a cheek--not alabaster, indeed, for that is an exotic in the +south--but like a lily, shaded by a rose leaf, and an eye of the purest +hue, melting in its own light. With an exclamation of delight she sprang +into her father's arms. I was soon seated upon one of the settees in the +piazza,--whose front and sides were festooned by the folds of a green +curtain--in a high frolic with the trundlers, the dismounted dragoon and +my little winged zephyr. You know my _penchant_ for children's society. +I am seldom happier than when watching a group of intelligent and +beautiful little ones at play. For those who can in after life enter +_con amore_, into the sports of children, tumble with and be tumbled +about by them, it is like living their childhood over again. Every romp +with them is death to a score of gray hairs. Their games, moreover, +present such a contrast to the rougher contests of bearded children in +the game of life, where money, power, and ambition are the stake, that +it is refreshing to look at them and mingle with them, even were it only +to realize that human nature yet retains something of its divine +original. + +The proprietor of the delightful spot which lay spread out around me--a +lake of foliage--fringed by majestic forest trees, and diversified with +labyrinthyne walks,--had, the preceding summer, consigned to the tomb +the mother of his "beautiful ones." They were under the care of a +dignified lady, his sister, and the widow of a gentleman formerly +distinguished as a lawyer in New-England. But like many other northern +ladies, whose names confer honour upon our literature, and whose talents +elevate and enrich our female seminaries of education, she had +independence enough to rise superior to her widowed indigence; and had +prepared to open a boarding school at the north, when the death of his +wife led her wealthier brother to invite her to supply a mother's place +to his children, to whom she was now both mother and governess. The +history of this lady is that of hundreds of her country-women. There +are, I am informed, many instances in the south-west, of New-England's +daughters having sought, with the genuine spirit of independence, thus +to repair their broken fortunes. The intelligent and very agreeable lady +of the late President H., of Lexington, resides in the capacity of +governess in a distinguished Louisianian family, not far from the city. +Mrs. Thayer, formerly an admired poet and an interesting writer of +fiction, is at the head of a seminary in an adjoining state. And in the +same, the widow of the late president of its college is a private +instructress in the family of a planter. And these are instances, to +which I can add many others, in a country where the occupation of +instructing, whether invested in the president of a college or in the +teacher of a country school, is degraded to a secondary rank. In +New-England, on the contrary, the lady of a living collegiate president +is of the elite, decidedly, if not at the head, of what is there termed +"good society." Here, the same lady, whether a visiter for the winter, +or a settled resident, must yield in rank--as the laws of southern +society have laid it down--to the lady of the planter. The southerners, +however, when they can secure one of our well-educated northern ladies +in their families, know well how to appreciate their good fortune. +Inmates of the family, they are treated with politeness and kindness; +but in the soiree, dinner party, or levee, the governess is thrown more +into the back-ground than she would be in a gentleman's family, even in +aristocratic England; and her title to an equality with the gay, and +fashionable, and wealthy circle by whom she is surrounded, and her +challenge to the right of _caste_, is less readily admitted. But this +illiberal jealousy is the natural consequence of the crude state of +American society, where the line of demarcation between its rapidly +forming classes is yet so uncertainly defined, that each individual who +is anxious to be, or even to be thought, of the better file, has to walk +circumspectly, lest he should inadvertently be found mingling with the +_canaille_. The more uncertain any individual is of his own true +standing, the more haughtily and suspiciously will he stand aloof, and +measure with his eye every stranger who advances within the limits of +the prescribed circle. + +Education in this state has been and is still very much neglected. +Appropriations have been made for public schools; but, from the fund +established for the purpose, not much has as yet been effected. Many of +the males, after leaving the city-schools, or the care of tutors, are +sent, if destined for a professional career, to the northern colleges; +others to the Catholic institutions at St. Louis and Bardstown, and a +few of the wealthier young gentlemen to France. The females are +educated, either by governesses, at the convents, or at northern +boarding-schools. Many of them are sent to Paris when very young, and +there remain until they have completed their education. The majority of +the higher classes of the French population are brought up there. This +custom of foreign education--like that in the Atlantic states, under the +old regime, when, to be educated a gentleman, it was considered +necessary for American youth to enter at Eton, and graduate from Oxford +or Cambridge--must have a very natural tendency to preserve and cherish +an attachment for France, seriously detrimental to genuine +patriotism.--But all this is a digression. + +After a kind of bachelor's dinner, in a hall open on two sides for +ventilation, even at this season of the year--sumptuous enough for +Epicurus, and served by two or three young slaves, who were drilled to a +glance of the eye--crowned by a luxurious dessert of fruits and +sweet-meats, and graced with wine, not of the _chasse-cousin vintage_, +so common in New England, but of the pure _outre-mer_--we proceeded to +the sugar-house or _sucrerie_, through a lawn which nearly surrounded +the ornamental grounds about the house, studded here and there with +lofty trees, which the good taste of the original proprietor of the +domain had left standing in their forest majesty. From this rich green +sward, on which two or three fine saddle-horses were grazing, we passed +through a turn-stile into a less lovely, but more domestic enclosure, +alive with young negroes, sheep, turkeys, hogs, and every variety of +domestic animal that could be attached to a plantation. From this +diversified collection, which afforded a tolerable idea of the interior +of Noah's ark, we entered the long street of a village of white +cottages, arranged on either side of it with great regularity. They were +all exactly alike, and separated by equal spaces; and to every one was +attached an enclosed piece of ground, apparently for a vegetable garden; +around the doors decrepit and superannuated negroes were basking in the +evening sun--mothers were nursing their naked babies, and one or two old +and blind negresses were spinning in their doors. In the centre of the +street, which was a hundred yards in width, rose to the height of fifty +feet a framed belfry, from whose summit was suspended a bell, to +regulate the hours of labour. At the foot of this tower, scattered over +the grass, lay half a score of black children, _in puris naturalibus_, +frolicking or sleeping in the warm sun, under the surveillance of an old +African matron, who sat knitting upon a camp-stool in the midst of them. + +We soon arrived at the boiling-house, which was an extensive brick +building with tower-like chimneys, numerous flues, and a high, steep +roof, reminding me of a New England distillery. As we entered, after +scaling a barrier of sugar-casks with which the building was surrounded, +the slaves, who were dressed in coarse trowsers, some with and others +without shirts, were engaged in the several departments of their sweet +employment; whose fatigues some African Orpheus was lightening with a +loud chorus, which was instantly hushed, or rather modified, on our +entrance, to a half-assured whistling. A white man, with a very +unpleasing physiognomy, carelessly leaned against one of the brick +pillars, who raised his hat very respectfully as we passed, but did not +change his position. This was the overseer. He held in his hand a +short-handled whip, loaded in the butt, which had a lash four or five +times the length of the staff. Without noticing us, except when +addressed by his employer, he remained watching the motions of the +toiling slaves, quickening the steps of a loiterer by a word, or +threatening with his whip, those who, tempted by curiosity, turned to +gaze after us, as we walked through the building. + +The process of sugar-making has been so often described by others, that +I can offer nothing new or interesting upon the subject. But since my +visit to this plantation, I have fallen in with an ultra-montane tourist +or sketcher, a fellow-townsman and successful practitioner of medicine +in Louisiana, who has kindly presented me with the sheet of an +unpublished MS. which I take pleasure in transcribing, for the very +graphic and accurate description it conveys of this interesting process. + +"The season of sugar-making," says Dr. P. "is termed, by the planters of +the south, the 'rolling season;' and a merry and pleasant time it is +too--for verily, as Paulding says, the making of sugar and the making of +love are two of the sweetest occupations in this world. It +commences--the making of sugar I mean--about the middle or last of +October, and continues from three weeks to as many months, according to +the season and other circumstances; but more especially the force upon +the plantation, and the amount of sugar to be made. As the season +approaches, every thing assumes a new and more cheerful aspect. The +negroes are more animated, as their winter clothing is distributed, +their little crops are harvested, and their wood and other comforts +secured for that season; which, to them, if not the freest, is certainly +the gayest and happiest portion of the year. As soon as the corn crop +and fodder are harvested, every thing is put in motion for the grinding. +The horses and oxen are increased in number and better groomed; the +carts and other necessary utensils are overhauled and repaired, and some +hundred or thousand cords of wood are cut and ready piled for the +manufacture of the sugar. The _sucrerie_, or boiling house, is swept and +garnished--the mill and engine are polished--the kettles scoured--the +coolers caulked, and the _purgerie_, or draining-house, cleaned and put +in order, where the casks are arranged to receive the sugar. + +The first labour in anticipation of grinding, is that of providing +plants for the coming year; and this is done by cutting the cane, and +putting it in _matelas_, or mattressing it, as it is commonly called. +The cane is cut and thrown into parcels in different parts of the field, +in quantities sufficient to plant several acres, and so arranged that +the tops of one layer may completely cover and protect the stalks of +another. After the quantity required is thus secured, the whole +plantation force, nearly, is employed in cutting cane, and conveying it +to the mill. The cane is divested of its tops, which are thrown aside, +unless they are needed for plants, which is often the case, when they +are thrown together in rows, and carefully protected from the +inclemencies of the weather. The stalks are then cut as near as may be +to the ground, and thrown into separate parcels or rows, to be taken to +the mill in carts, and expressed as soon as possible. The cane is +sometimes bound together in bundles, in the field, which facilitates its +transportation, and saves both time and trouble. As soon as it is +harvested, it is placed upon a cane-carrier, so called, which conveys it +to the mill, where it is twice expressed between iron rollers, and made +perfectly dry. The juice passes into vats, or receivers, and the +_baggasse_ or cane-trash, (called in the West Indies _migass_,) is +received into carts and conveyed to a distance from the sugar-house to +be burnt as soon as may be. Immediately after the juice is expressed, it +is distributed to the boilers, generally four in succession, ranged in +solid masonry along the sides of the boiling-room, where it is properly +tempered, and its purification and evaporation are progressively +advanced. The French have commonly five boilers, distinguished by the +fanciful names of _grande_--_propre_--_flambeau_--_sirop_, and +_batterie_. + +In the first an alkali is generally put to temper the juice; lime is +commonly used, and the quantity is determined by the good judgment and +experience of the sugar-maker. In the last kettle--the _teach_ as it is +termed--the sugar is concentrated to the granulating point, and then +conveyed into coolers, which hold from two to three hogsheads. After +remaining here for twenty-four hours or more, it is removed to the +_purgerie_, or draining-house, and placed in hogsheads, which is +technically called _potting_. Here it undergoes the process of draining +for a few days or weeks, and is then ready for the market. The molasses +is received beneath in cisterns, and when they become filled, it is +taken out and conveyed into barrels or hogsheads and shipped. When all +the molasses is removed from the cistern, an inferior kind of sugar is +re-manufactured, which is called _cistern-sugar_, and sold at a lower +price. When the grinding has once commenced, there is no cessation of +labour till it is completed. From beginning to end, a busy and cheerful +scene continues. The negroes + + "---- Whose sore task + Does not divide the Sunday from the week," + +work from eighteen to twenty hours, + + "And make the night joint-labourer with the day." + +Though to lighten the burden as much as possible, the gang is divided +into two watches, one taking the first, and the other the last part of +the night; and notwithstanding this continued labour, the negroes +improve in condition, and appear fat and flourishing. "They drink freely +of cane-juice, and the sickly among them revive and become robust and +healthy." After the grinding is finished, the negroes have several +holidays, when they are quite at liberty to dance and frolic as much as +they please; and the cane-song--which is improvised by one of the gang, +the rest all joining in a prolonged and unintelligible chorus--now +breaks night and day upon the ear, in notes "most musical, most +melancholy." This over, planting recommences, and the same routine of +labour is continued, with an intermission--except during the boiling +season, as above stated--upon most, if not all plantations, of twelve +hours in twenty-four, and of one day in seven throughout the year. + +Leaving the sugar-house, after having examined some of the most +interesting parts of the process so well described by Dr. P., I returned +with my polite entertainer to the house. Lingering for a moment on the +gallery in the rear of the dwelling-house, I dwelt with pleasure upon +the scene which the domain presented. + +The lawn, terminated by a snow-white paling, and ornamented here and +there by a venerable survivor of the aboriginal forest, was rolled out +before me like a carpet, and dotted with sleek cows, and fine horses, +peacefully grazing, or indolently reclining upon the thick grass, +chewing the cud of contentment. Beyond the lawn, and extending farther +into the plantation, lay a pasture containing a great number of horses +and cattle, playing together, reposing, feeding, or standing in social +clusters around a shaded pool. Beyond, the interminable cane-field, or +plantation proper, spread away without fence or swell, till lost in the +distant forests which bounded the horizon. On my left, a few hundred +yards from the house, and adjoining the pasture, stood the stables and +other plantation appurtenances, constituting a village in +themselves--for planters always have a separate building for everything. +To the right stood the humble yet picturesque village or "quarter" of +the slaves, embowered in trees, beyond which, farther toward the +interior of the plantation, arose the lofty walls and turreted chimneys +of the sugar-house, which, combined with the bell-tower, presented the +appearance of a country village with its church-tower and the walls of +some public edifice, lifting themselves above the trees. Some of the +sugar-houses are very lofty and extensive, with noble wings and handsome +fronts, resembling--aside from their lack of windows--college edifices. +I have seen two which bore a striking resemblance, as seen from the +river, to the Insane Hospital near Boston. It requires almost a fortune +to construct one. The whole scene before me was extremely animated. +Human figures were moving in all directions over the place. Some +labouring in the distant field, others driving the slow-moving oxen, +with a long, drawling cry--half naked negro boys shouting and yelling, +were galloping horses as wild as themselves--negresses of all sizes, +from one able to carry a tub to the minikin who could "tote" but a +pint-dipper, laughing and chattering as they went, were conveying water +from a spring to the wash-house, in vessels adroitly balanced upon their +heads. Slaves sinking under pieces of machinery, and other burdens, +were passing and repassing from the boiling-house and negro quarter. +Some were calling to others afar off, and the merry shouts of the black +children at their sports in their village, reminding me of a school just +let out, mingled with the lowing of cows, the cackling of geese, the +bleating of lambs, the loud and unmusical clamour of the guinea-hen, +agreeably varied by the barking of dogs, and the roaring of some young +African rebel under maternal castigation. + +Passing from this plantation scene through the airy hall of the +dwelling, which opened from piazza to piazza through the house, to the +front gallery, whose light columns were wreathed with the delicately +leaved Cape-jasmine, rambling woodbine and honeysuckle, a lovelier and +more agreeable scene met my eye. I stood almost embowered in the foliage +of exotics and native plants, which stood upon the gallery in handsome +vases of marble and China-ware. The main avenue opened a vista to the +river through a paradise of althea, orange, lemon, and olive trees, and +groves and lawns extended on both sides of this lovely spot, + + "Where Flora's brightest broidery shone," + +terminating at the villas of adjoining plantations. The +Mississippi--always majestic and lake-like in its breadth--rolled past +her turbid flood, dotted here and there by a market-lugger, with its +black crew and clumsy sails. By the Levee, on the opposite shore, lay a +brig, taking in a cargo of sugar from the plantation, whose noble +colonnaded mansion rose like a palace above its low, grove-lined +margin, and an English argosy of great size, with black spars and hull, +was moving under full sail down the middle of the river. As I was under +the necessity of returning to the city the same evening, I took leave of +the youthful family of my polite host, who clustered around us as we +walked along the avenue to the gateway, endeavouring to detain us till +the next morning. The young rogue of a dragoon, who was now +metamorphosed into a trumpeter--what a singular propensity little chubby +boys have for the weapons and apparel of war!--a most mischievous little +cupidon of but two or three summers' growth, was very desirous of +accompanying us to town, on seeing us seated in the carriage; but +finding that his eloquent appeals were unheeded, he took a fancy to a +noble pointer, spotted like a leopard, which accompanied me, and +clinging around the neck of the majestic and docile creature, as we +drove from the gate, said in a half playful, half pettish tone, "Me ride +dis pretty dog-horse, den." The sensible animal stood like a statue till +the little fellow relaxed his embrace, when he darted after the +carriage, then a quarter of a mile from the gate, bounding like a stag. +The cries of "Pa, bring me this," and "Pa, bring me that," were soon +lost in the distance, and rolling like the wind over the level road +along the banks of the river, we arrived in the city and alighted at +Bishop's a few minutes after seven. + + + + +XXIII. + + Leave New-Orleans--The Mississippi--Scenery--Evening on + the water--Scenes on the deck of a steamer--Passengers-- + Plantations--Farm-houses--Catholic college--Convent of + the Sacred Heart--Caged birds--Donaldsonville--The first + highland--Baton Rouge--Its appearance--Barracks--Scenery + --Squatters--Fort Adams--Way passengers--Steamer. + + +Once more I am floating upon the "Father of rivers." New-Orleans, with +its crowd of "mingled nations", is seen indistinctly in the distance. We +are now doubling a noble bend in the river, which will soon hide the +city from our sight; but scenes of rural enchantment are opening before +us as we advance, which will amply and delightfully repay us for its +absence. + +What a splendid panorama of opulence and beauty is now spread out around +us! Sublimity is wanting to make the painting perfect--but its +picturesque effect is unrivalled. + +Below us a few miles, indistinctly seen through the haze, a dense forest +of masts, and here and there a tower, designate the emporium of +commerce--the key of the mighty west. The banks are lined and ornamented +with elegant mansions, displaying, in their richly adorned grounds, the +wealth and taste of their possessors; while the river, now moving +onward like a golden flood, reflecting the mellow rays of the setting +sun, is full of life. Vessels of every size are gliding in all +directions over its waveless bosom, while graceful skiffs dart merrily +about like white-winged birds. Huge steamers are dashing and thundering +by, leaving long trains of wreathing smoke in their rear. Carriages +filled with ladies and attended by gallant horsemen, enliven the smooth +road along the Levee; while the green banks of the Levee itself are +covered with gay promenaders. A glimpse through the trees now and then, +as we move rapidly past the numerous villas, detects the piazzas, filled +with the young, beautiful, and aged of the family, enjoying the rich +beauty of the evening, and of the objects upon which my own eyes rest +with admiration. + +The scene has changed. The moon rides high in the east, while the +western star hangs trembling in the path of the sun. Innumerable lights +twinkle along the shores, or flash out from some vessel as we glide +rapidly past. How exhilarating to be upon the water by moonlight! But a +snow-white sail, a graceful barque, and a woodland lake--with a calm, +clear, moonlight, sleeping upon it like a blessing--must be marshalled +for poetical effect. There is nothing of that here. Quiet and romance +are lost in sublimity, if not in grandeur. The great noise of rushing +waters--the deep-toned booming of the steamer--the fearful rapidity with +which we are borne past the half-obscured objects on shore and in the +stream--the huge columns of black smoke rolling from the mouths of the +gigantic chimneys, and spangled with showers of sparks, flying like +trains of meteors shooting through the air; while a proud consciousness +of the power of the dark hull beneath your feet, which plunges, +thundering onward--a thing of majesty and life--adds to the majesty and +wonder of the time. + +The passengers have descended to the cabin; some to turn in, a few to +read, but more to play at the ever-ready card-table. The pilot (as the +helmsman is here termed) stands in his lonely wheel-house, comfortably +enveloped in his blanket-coat--the hurricane deck is deserted, and the +hands are gathered in the bows, listening to the narration of some +ludicrous adventure of recent transaction in the city of hair-breadth +escapes. Now and then a laugh from the merry auditors, or a loud roar +from some ebony-cheeked fireman, as he pitches his wood into the gaping +furnace, breaks upon the stillness of night, startling the echoes along +the shores. What beings of habit we are! How readily do we accustom +ourselves to circumstances! The deep trombone of the steam-pipe--the +regular splash of the paddles--and the incessant rippling of the water +eddying away astern, as our noble vessel flings it from her sides, no +longer affect the senses, unless it may be to lull them into a repose +well meant for contemplation. They are now no longer auxiliaries to the +scene--habit has made them a part of it: and I can pace the deck with my +mind as free and undisturbed as though I were in a lonely boat, upon +"the dark blue sea", with no sound but the beating of my own heart, to +break the silence. A few short hours have passed, and the grander +characters of the scene are mellowed down, by their familiarity with my +senses, into calm and quiet loneliness. + +Having secured a berth in one corner of the spacious cabin, where I +could draw the rich crimsoned curtains around me, and with book or pen +pass my time somewhat removed from the bustle, and undisturbed by the +constant passing of the restless passengers, I began this morning to +look about me upon my fellow-travellers, seeking familiar faces, or +scanning strange ones, by Lavater's doubtful rules. + +Our passengers are a strange medley, not only representing every state +and territory washed by this great river, but nearly every Atlantic and +trans-Atlantic state and nation. In the cabin are the merchants and +planters of the "up country;" and on deck, emigrants, return-boatmen, +&c. &c. I may say something more of them hereafter, but not at present, +as the scenery through which we are passing is too attractive to keep me +longer below. So, to the deck. We are now about sixty miles above +New-Orleans, and the shores have presented, the whole distance, one +continued line of noble mansions, some of them princely and magnificent, +intermingled, at intervals, with humbler farm-houses. + +I think I have remarked, in a former letter, that the plantations along +the river extend from the Levee to the swamps in the rear; the distance +across the belt of land being, from the irregular encroachment of the +marshes, from one to two or three miles. These plantations have been, +for a very long period, under cultivation for the production of sugar +crops. As the early possessor of large tracts of land had sons to +settle, they portioned off parallelograms to each; which, to combine the +advantages of exportation and wood, extended from the river to the +flooded forest in the rear. These, in time, portioned off to their +children, while every occupant of a tract erected his dwelling at the +head of his domain, one or two hundred yards from the river. Other +plantations retain their original dimensions, crowned, on the borders of +the river, with noble mansions, embowered in the evergreen foliage of +the dark-leaved orange and lemon trees. The shores, consequently, +present, from the lofty deck of a steamer,--from which can be had an +extensive prospect of the level country--a very singular appearance. + +Farm-houses thickly set, or now and then separated by a prouder +structure, line the shores with tasteful parterres and shady trees +around them; while parallel lines of fence, commencing at these +cottages, frequently but a few rods apart, extend away into the +distance, till the numerous lines dwindle apparently to a point, and +present the appearance of radii diverging from one common centre. A +planter thus may have a plantation a league in length, though not a +furlong in breadth. The regularity of these lines, the flatness of the +country, and the _fac simile_ farm-houses, render the scenery in general +rather monotonous; though some charming spots, that might have been +stolen from Paradise, fully atone for the wearisome character of the +rest. We have passed several Catholic churches, prettily situated, +surrounded by the white monuments of the dead. On our right, the lofty +walls of a huge edifice, just completed, and intended for a university, +rear themselves in the midst of a vast plain, once an extensive sugar +plantation. This embryo institution is under state patronage. It is a +noble brick building, advantageously situated for health, beauty, and +convenience; and calculated, from its vast size, to accommodate a large +number of students. It is to be of a sectarian character, devoted, I +understand, to the interest of the Roman church. + +A mile above, the towers and crosses of a pile of buildings, half hidden +by a majestic grove of noble forest trees, attract the attention of the +traveller. They are the convent du Sacre Coeur,--the nursery of the +fair daughters of Louisiana. There are two large buildings, exclusive of +the chapel and the residence of the officiating priest. The site is +eminently beautiful, and, compared with the general tameness of the +scenery in this region, romantic. A padre, in his long black gown, is +promenading the Levee, and the windows of the convent are relieved by +the presence of figures, which, the spy-glass informs us, are those of +the fair prisoners; who, perhaps with many a sigh, are watching the +rapid motion of our boat, with its busy, bustling scene on board, +contrasting it with their incarcerated state, probably inducing +reflections of a melancholy cast, with ardent aspirations for the "wings +of a dove." + +The education of females is well attended to in this state; though the +peculiar doctrines of the Roman Catholic church are inculcated with +their tasks. + +The villages of Plaquemine and Donaldsonville, the latter formerly the +seat of government, are pleasant, quiet, and rural. The latter is +distinguished by a dilapidated state-house, which lifts itself above the +humbler dwellings around it, and adds much to the importance and beauty +of the town in the eye of the traveller as he sails past. But the +streets of the village are solitary; and closed stores and deserted +taverns add to their loneliness. Between New-Orleans and Baton Rouge, a +distance of one hundred and seventeen miles, the few villages upon the +river all partake, more or less, of this humble and dilapidated +character. Baton Rouge is now in sight, a few miles above. As we +approach it the character of the scene changes. Hills once more relieve +the eye, so long wearied with gazing upon a flat yet beautiful country. +These are the first hills that gladden the sight of the traveller as he +ascends the river. They are to the northerner like oases in a desert. +How vividly and how agreeably does the sight of their green slopes, and +graceful undulations, conjure up the loved and heart-cherished scenes of +home! + +We are now nearly opposite the town, which is pleasantly situated upon +the declivity of the hill, retreating over its brow and spreading out on +a plain in the rear, where the private dwellings are placed, shaded and +half embowered in the rich foliage of that loveliest of all shade-trees, +"the pride of China." The stores and other places of business are upon +the front street, which runs parallel with the river. The site of the +town is about forty feet above the highest flood, and rises by an easy +and gentle swell from the water. The barracks, a short distance from the +village, are handsome and commodious, constructed around a pentagonal +area--four noble buildings forming four sides, while the fifth is open, +fronting upon the river. The buildings are brick, with lofty colonnades +and double galleries running along the whole front. The columns are +yellow-stuccoed, striking the eye with a more pleasing effect, than the +red glare of brick. The view of these noble structures from the river, +as we passed, was very fine. From the esplanade there is an extensive +and commanding prospect of the inland country--the extended shores, +stretching out north and south, dotted with elegant villas, and richly +enamelled by their high state of cultivation. The officers are +gentlemanly men, and form a valuable acquisition to the society of the +neighbourhood. This station must be to them an agreeable sinecure. The +town, from the hasty survey which I was enabled to make of it, must be a +delightful residence. It is neat and well built; the French and Spanish +style of architecture prevails. The view of the town from the deck of +the steamer is highly beautiful. The rich, green swells rising gradually +from the water--its pleasant streets, bordered with the umbrageous +China tree--its colonnaded dwellings--its mingled town and rural +scenery, and its pleasant suburbs, give it an air of quiet and novel +beauty, such as one loves to gaze upon in old landscapes which the +imagination fills with ideal images of its own. + +The scenery now partakes of another character. The rich plantations, +waving with green and golden crops of cane, are succeeded here and there +by a cotton plantation, but more generally by untrodden forests, hanging +over the banks, which are now for a hundred miles of one uniform +character and height--being about twenty feet above the highest floods. +Now and then a "squatter's" hut, instead of relieving, adds to the wild +and dreary character of the scene. This class of men with their +families, are usually in a most wretched and squalid condition. As they +live exposed to the fatal, poisonous miasma of the swamp, their +complexions are cadaverous, and their persons wasted by disease. They +sell wood to the steamboats for a means of subsistence--seldom +cultivating what little cleared land there may be around them. There are +exceptions to this, however. Many become eventually purchasers of the +tracts on which they are settled, and lay foundations for fine estates +and future independence. + +Loftus's height, a striking eminence crowned by Fort Adams, appears in +the distance. It is a cluster of cliffs and hills nearly two hundred +feet in height. The old fort can just be discerned with a glass, +surmounting a natural platform, half way up the side of the most +prominent hill. The works present the appearance of a few green mounds, +and though defaced by time, still bear evidence of having been a +military post. The position is highly commanding and romantic. The +scenery around would be termed striking, even in Maine, that romantic +land of rocks, and cliffs, and mountains. A small village is at the base +of the hills, containing a few stores. Cotton is exported hence, and +steamers are now at the landing taking it in. + +As we were passing the place on our way up the river, a white signal was +displayed from a pole held by some one standing on the shore. In a few +moments we came abreast of the fort, and in obedience to the fluttering +signal, our steamer rounded gracefully to, and put her jolly boat off +for the expected passengers. The boat had scarcely touched the bank, +before the boatmen at one leap gained the baggage which lay piled upon +the Levee, and tumbling it helter-skelter into the bottom of the boat, +as though for life and death, called out, so as to be heard far above +the deafening noise of the rushing steam as it hissed from the pipe, +"Come gentlemen, come, the boat's a-waiting." The new passengers had +barely time to pass into the boat and balance themselves erect upon the +thwarts, before, impelled by the nervous arms of the boatmen, she was +cutting her way through the turbid waves to the steamer, which had been +kept in her position against the strong current of the river, by an +occasional revolution of her wheels. The instant she struck her side the +boat was cleared immediately of "bag and baggage," at the "risk of the +owners" truly--and the hurrying passengers had hardly gained a footing +upon the guard, before the loud, brief command, "go ahead," was heard, +followed by the tinkling of the engineer's bell, the dull groaning of +the ponderous, labouring engine, and the heavy dash of the water, as +strongly beaten by the vast fins of this huge "river monster." + + + + +APPENDIX + + +NOTE A--_Page 73._ + +The following STATISTICAL TABLES, exhibiting Louisiana in a +variety of comparative views, have been compiled principally from the +elaborate tables of that valuable periodical--the American Almanac and +Repository of Useful Knowledge--for the year 1835. + + +LOUISIANA. + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + Latitude of New-Orleans, 29 deg. 57' 45" North. + Longitude in degrees, 90 60 49 West. + _h. m. s._ + " in time, 6 0 27.3 + Distance from Washington, 1203 miles. + -----------------------------------+---------------------------------- + Relative size of Louisiana, 5. | Extent in square miles, 45,220. + -----------------------------------+---------------------------------- + + NUMBER OF INHABITANTS TO A SQUARE MILE. + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + In 1810. | In 1820. | In 1830. + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + 1.6 | 3.2 | 4.4 + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + + RELATIVE POPULATION. + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + In 1810. | In 1820. | In 1830. + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + Free | Slave | Total | Free | Slave | Total | Free | Slave | Total + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + 18 | 8 | 17 | 19 | 8 | 17 | 21 | 8 | 19 + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + + RATE OF INCREASE OF FREE AND SLAVE POPULATION. + + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + From 1800 to 1810. | From 1810 to 1820. | From 1820 to 1830. + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + Free | Slave | Total | Free | Slave | Total | Free | Slave | Total + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + | | | | |_p.ct._| | | + | | | 373 | 2193.7| 636 | 25.8| 58.7 | 40.6 + -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------- + + + POPULATION OF LOUISIANA IN 1810. + + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + Free | Slaves | No. of free to 1 slave | Total + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + 41,896 | 34,660 | 1.20 | 76,556 + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + + + In 1820. + + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + 84,343 | 69,064 | 1.22 | 153,407 + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + + + In 1830. + + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + 106,151 | 109,588 | .96 | 215,739 + -------------+--------------+---------------------------+------------- + + + VALUE OF IMPORTS IN THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1833. + + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + In American vessels | In foreign vessels | Total + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + $ 6,658,916 | $ 2,931,589 | $ 9,590,505 + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + + + VALUE OF EXPORTS IN THE SAME YEAR. + + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + | | Total of Domestic + Domestic Produce | Foreign Produce | and Foreign Produce + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + $16,133,457 | $2,807,916 | $18,941,373 + -----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------- + Tonnage, 1st January, 1834--61,171 Tons. + ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +GOVERNMENT. + + _Salary._ + EDWARD D. WHITE, Governor (elect); Jan. 1835 + to Jan. 1839 $ 7,500 + GEORGE EUSTIS, Secretary of State 2,500 + F. GARDERE, Treasurer; 4 per cent. on all + moneys received. + LOUIS BRINGIER, Surveyor General 800 + CLAUDIUS CROZET, Civil Engineer 5,000 + F. GAIENNIE, Adjutant and Inspector General 2,000 + E. MAZUREAU, Attorney General 2,000 + +Senate, 17 members, elected for two years. C. DERBIGNY, President. + +House of Representatives, 50 members, elected for two years. A. +Labranche, Speaker. + + +JUDICIARY. + +Judges of the Supreme Court.--GEORGE MATTHEWS, FRANCIS X. +MARTIN, and HENRY A. BULLARD. Salary of each, $5,000. + +Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New-Orleans.--JOHN F. +CANONGE. + +Judges of the District Courts.--Salary of each $2,000. + + CHARLES WATTS, 1st district. + BENJAMIN WINCHESTER, 2d do. + CHARLES BUSHNELL, 3d do. + R. N. OGDEN, 4th do. + SETH LEWIS, 5th do. + J. H. JOHNSON, 6th do. + J. H. OVERTON, 7th do. + CLARK WOODRUFF, 8th do. + +The Supreme Court sits in the city of New-Orleans, for the Eastern +district of the state during the months of November, December, January, +February, March, April, May, June, and July; and for the Northern +district, at Opelousas and Attakapas, during the months of August, +September, and October; and at Baton Rouge, commencing the 1st Monday in +August. The district courts, with the exception of the courts in the +first district, hold, in each parish, two sessions during the year, to +try causes originally instituted before them, and appeals from the +parish courts. The parish courts hold their regular sessions in each +parish on the first Monday in each month. The courts in the first +district, composed of the district, parish, and criminal courts, and +courts of probate, are in session during the whole year, excepting the +months of July, August, September, and October, in which they hold +special courts when necessary. + + +BANKS. + +State of the banks, January 7, 1834, as given in a document laid before +Congress, June 21, 1834. + + -----------------------------+---------------+------------+------------- + NAME. | Capital | Bills in | Specie + | stock paid |circulation.| and specie + | in. | | funds. + -----------------------------+---------------+------------+------------- + Canal and Banking Company | 3,998,200 | 951,780 | 297,451 21 + City Bank | 2,000,000 | 380,670 | 335,288 88 + Commercial Bank | 817,835 | 145,000 | 135,903 73 + Union bank of Louisiana | 5,500,000 | 1,281,000 | 291,587 87 + Louisiana State Bank | 1,248,720 | 428,470 | 546,125 34 + Consolidated Association Bank| 2,500,000 | 84,300 | 61,936 43 + | ----------- | --------- |------------ + | $16,064,755 | 3,271,230 |1,568,293 46 + Estimated situation of the | | | + following banks.--no returns.| | | + Bank of Louisiana | 4,000,000 } | | + Bank of Orleans | 600,000 } | | + Citizens' Bank of Louisiana | 1,000,000 } | 1,522,500 | 650,000 00 + Mechanics' and Traders' Bank | 2,000,000 } | | + | ---------- | ---------- |------------ + Total | $23,664,755 | 4,793,730 |2,218,293 46 + -----------------------------+---------------+------------+------------- + +The Union Bank of Louisiana has branches at the following places, viz. +Thiboudeauville, Covington, Marshville, Vermillionville, St. +Martinsville, Plaquemine, Natchitoches, and Clinton. + +Interest. "Legal interest is 5 per cent. Conventional interest, as high +as 10 per cent., is legal. Of our banks, none can charge higher than 9 +per cent., and some of them not higher than 8. But if I lend $100, and +the borrower gives me his note for $110, $120, $130, $140, or even $150, +or more, with 10 per cent. interest from date, the law legalizes the +transaction, and will not set aside any part of the claim on the plea of +usury. In fact, money is considered here like any other article in the +market, and the holder may ask what price he pleases for it." + + +INSURANCE COMPANIES. + + Merchants' Insurance Company of New-Orleans $1,000,000 + Phoenix Fire Insurance Co. of London--agent at New Orleans 1,000,000 + Louisiana Slate Marine and File Insurance Co. 400,000 + Western Marine and Fire Insurance Company 300,000 + Louisiana Insurance Company 300,000 + Mississippi Marine and Fire Insurance Company 300,000 + New-Orleans Insurance Company 200,000 + Pontchartrain Rail-road Company 250,000 + Orleans Navigation Company 200,000 + Barataria and Lafourche Canal Company 150,000 + + +NEWSPAPERS. + +Louisiana was originally settled by the French; in 1762, it was ceded by +France to Spain; near the end of the 18th century it was restored to +France; in 1803, it was purchased by the United States; in 1804, the +country now forming the state of Louisiana was formed into a territorial +government under the name of the Territory of Orleans; and in 1812, it +was admitted into the Union as a state. + +Mr. Thomas, in his "History of Printing," remarks "that several +printing-houses were opened at New-Orleans, and several newspapers were +immediately published there, after the country came under the government +of the United States." + +The first paper published in New-Orleans was the "Moniteur de la +Louisiana," a French paper, and edited by M. Fontaine. This was a +government paper, issued at irregular intervals and at the discretion of +the Spanish government. It was rather a vehicle of ordinances and public +documents than a newspaper. + +In the year 1803 an enterprising New-Englander named Lyons--a son of the +celebrated Mathew Lyons--who had been sent to New-Orleans with +despatches from government, on arriving there, and ascertaining that +there was no regular press in the city, applied to General Wilkinson for +patronage to establish a weekly paper. Herein he was successful; but, +except himself, there was not another printer in New-Orleans, journeyman +or "devil." + +By some means, however, he learned that there were three young men[11] +from the only printing office in Natchez, then belonging to the army, +quartered in the city. He obtained their furlough from General +Wilkinson--and obtaining the office of the "Moniteur," in a few weeks +issued the first number of a paper entitled the "Union." To this in a +few weeks succeeded the "Louisiana Courier," which, established in +1806, now holds a high rank in the army of periodicals, and is the +oldest paper in the state. + +The number of newspapers in the Territory of Orleans in 1810, was 10, +(two of them daily;) all in the city of New-Orleans. + +The number in Louisiana in 1828, was only nine. New-Orleans is the great +centre of business and of publishing in this state. There are now +published in New-Orleans seven daily papers, and 31 altogether in +Louisiana. + + +SUMMARY. + +The Governor of Louisiana is elected by the people. Term begins January, +1835, and expires January 1839. Duration of the term, four years. Salary +$7,500. + +Senators, 17. Term of years, four. Representatives, 50. Term of years, +two. Total--Senators and Representatives, 67. Pay per day, $4. Electors +of president and vice president are chosen by general ticket. + +Seat of government--New-Orleans. Time of holding elections--first Monday +in July. Time of meeting of the legislature--first Monday in January. + +Louisiana admitted into the Union in 1812. + + +NOTE B--_Page 178._ + +"The State senators of Louisiana are elected for four years, one fourth +vacating their seats annually. They must possess an estate of a thousand +dollars in the parish, for which they are chosen. The representatives +have a biennial term, and must possess 500 dollars' worth of property in +the parish to be eligible. The governor is chosen for four years; and is +ineligible for the succeeding term. His duties are the same, as in the +other states, and his salary is 7,000 dollars a year. The judiciary +powers are vested in a supreme and circuit court, together with a +municipal court called the parish court.--The salaries are ample. The +elective franchise belongs to every free white man of twenty-one years, +and upward, who has had a residence of six months in the parish, and who +has paid taxes. + +The code of laws, adopted by this state, is not what is called the +"common law," which is the rule of judicial proceedings in all the other +states, but the _civil law_, adopted, with some modifications, from the +judicial canons of France and Spain. So much of the common law is +interwoven with it, as has been adopted by express deep stain upon the +moral character to be generally reputed a cruel master. In many +plantations no punishment is inflicted except after a trial by a jury, +composed of the fellow-servants of the party accused. Festivals, prizes, +and rewards are instituted, as stimulants to exertion, and compensations +for superior accomplishment of labour. They are generally well fed and +clothed, and that not by an arbitrary award, which might vary with the +feelings of the master; but by periodical apportionment, like the +distributed rations of soldiers, of what has been ascertained to be +amply sufficient to render them comfortable. + +Nor are they destitute, as has been supposed, of any legal protection, +coming between them and the possible cupidity and cruelty of the +masters. The '_code noir_' of Louisiana is a curious collection of +statutes, drawn partly from French and Spanish law and usage, and partly +from the customs of the islands, and usages, which have grown out of the +peculiar circumstances of Louisiana while a colony. It has the aspect, +it must be admitted, of being formed rather for the advantage of the +master, than for the servant, for it prescribes an unlimited homage and +obedience to the latter. But at the same time, it defines crimes, which +the master can commit in relation to the slave, and prescribes the mode +of trial, and the kind and degree of punishment. It constitutes +unnecessary correction, maiming, and murder, punishable offences in a +master. It is very minute in prescribing the number of hours, which the +master may lawfully exact to be employed in labour, and the number of +hours, which he must allow his slave for meal-time and for rest. It +prescribes the time and extent of his holidays. In short, it settles +with minuteness and detail the whole circle of relations between master +and slave, defining, and prescribing what the former may, and may not +exact from the latter. + +That the slave is, also, in the general circumstances of his condition, +as happy as this relation will admit of his being, is an unquestionable +fact. That he seldom performs as much labour, or performs it as well as +a free man, says all upon the subject of the motives which freedom only +can supply, that can be alleged. In all the better managed plantations, +the mode of building the quarters is fixed. The arrangement of the +little village has a fashion by which it is settled. Interest, if not +humanity, has defined the amount of food and rest, necessary for their +health; and there is, in a large and respectable plantation, as much +precision in the rules, as much exactness in the times of going to +sleep, awaking, going to labour, and resting before and after meals, as +in a garrison under military discipline, or in a ship of war. A bell +gives all the signals; every slave, at the assigned hour in the morning, +is forthcoming to his labour, or his case is reported, either as one of +idleness, obstinacy, or sickness, in which case he is sent to the +hospital, and there is attended by a physician, who, for the most part, +has a yearly salary for attending to all the sick of the plantation. The +union of physical force, directed by one will, is now well understood to +have a much greater effect upon the amount of labour, which a number of +hands, so managed, can bring about, than the same force directed by as +many wills as there are hands. Hence it happens that while one free man, +circumstances being the same, will perform more labour than one slave, a +hundred slaves will accomplish more on one plantation, than so many +hired free men, acting at their own discretion. Hence, too, it is, that +such a prodigious quantity of cotton and sugar is made here, in +proportion to the number of labouring hands. All the processes of +agriculture are managed by system. Everything goes straight forward. +There is no pulling down to-day the scheme of yesterday, and the whole +amount of force is directed by the teaching of experience to the best +result. _Flint's Miss. Val. Art. Louisiana_, vol. i. p. 527. + + +NOTE D.--_Page 196._ + +"The borderers universally took an active part in the war, and were +eminently useful in repelling the incursions of the Indians. Not even +the most lawless but was found ready to pour out his life-blood for the +republic. + +A curious instance of the strange mixture of magnanimity and ferocity +often found among the demi-savages of the borders was afforded by the +Louisianian Lafitte. This desperado had placed himself at the head of a +band of outlaws from all nations under heaven, and fixed his abode upon +the top of an impregnable rock, to the south-west of the mouth of the +Mississippi. Under the colours of the South American patriots, they +pirated at pleasure every vessel that came in their way, and smuggled +their booty up the secret creeks of the Mississippi, with a dexterity +that baffled all the efforts of justice. The depredations of these +outlaws, or, as they styled themselves, _Barritarians_, (from Barrita, +their island,) becoming at length intolerable, the United States' +government despatched an armed force against their little Tripoli. The +establishment was broken up, and the pirates dispersed. But Lafitte +again collected his outlaws, and took possession of his rock. The +attention of the congress being now diverted by the war, he scoured the +gulf at his pleasure, and so tormented the coasting traders, that +Governor Claiborne of Louisiana set a price on his head. + +This daring outlaw, thus confronted with the American government, +appeared likely to promote the designs of its enemies. He was known to +possess the clue to all the secret windings and entrances of the +many-mouthed Mississippi; and in the projected attack upon New-Orleans +it was deemed expedient to secure his assistance. + +The British officer then heading the forces landed at Pensacola for the +invasion of Louisiana, opened a treaty with the Barritarian, to whom he +offered such rewards as were best calculated to tempt his cupidity and +flatter his ambition. The outlaw affected to relish the proposal; but +having artfully drawn from Colonel N---- the plan of his intended +attack, he spurned his offers with the most contemptuous disdain, and +instantly despatched one of his most trusty corsairs to the governor who +had set a price for his life, advising him of the intentions of the +enemy, and volunteering the aid of his little band, on the single +condition that an amnesty should be granted for their past offences. +Governor Claiborne, though touched by this proof of magnanimity, +hesitated to close with the offer. The corsair kept himself in readiness +for the expected summons, and continued to spy and report the motions of +the enemy. As danger became more urgent, and the steady generosity of +the outlaw more assured, Governor Claiborne granted to him and his +followers life and pardon, and called them to the defence of the city. +They obeyed with alacrity, and served with a valour, fidelity, and good +conduct, not surpassed by the best volunteers of the republic." +--_Flint's Miss. Valley._ + + +NOTE E.--_Page 204._ + +The following extract from a narrative of the British attack on +New-Orleans by Capt. Cooke, late of the British army, will, perhaps, not +be without interest to many of my readers. + + +CAMP BEFORE NEW-ORLEANS. + +"I do not remember ever looking for the first signs of day-break with +more intense anxiety than on this eventful morning; every now and then I +thought I heard the distant hum of voices, then again something like the +doleful rustling of the wind before the coming storm, among the leaves +of the foliage. But no; it was only the effect of the momentary buzzing +in my ears; all was silent--the dew lay on the damp sod, and the +soldiers were carefully putting aside their entrenching tools, and +laying hold of their arms to be up and answer the first war-call at a +moment's warning. How can I convey a thought of the intense anxiety of +the mind, when a sombre silence is broken by the intonations of the +cannon, and when the work of death begins? Now the veil of night was +less obscured, and its murky mantle dissolved on all sides, and the mist +sweeping off the face of the earth; yet it was not day, and no object +was very visible beyond the extent of a few yards. The morn was +chilly--I augured not of victory, an evil foreboding crossed my mind, +and I meditated in solitary reflection. All was tranquil as the grave, +and no camp-fires glimmered from either friends or foes. + +Soon after this, two light companies of the seventh and ninety-third +regiments came up without knapsacks, the highlanders with their blankets +rolled and slung around their backs, and merely wearing the shell of +their bonnets, the sable plumes of real ostrich feathers brought by them +from the Cape of Good Hope, having been left in England. One company of +the forty-third light infantry also followed, marching up rapidly. These +three companies formed a compact little column of two hundred and forty +soldiers, near the battery on the high road to New-Orleans. They were to +attack the crescent battery near the river, and if possible to silence +its fire under the muzzles of twenty pieces of cannon; at a point, too, +where the bulk of the British force had hesitated when first they +landed, and had recoiled from its fire on the twenty-eighth of last +December, and on the first of January. I asked Lieut. Duncan Campbell +where they were going, when he replied, "I'll be hanged if I know:" +"then," said I, "you have got into what I call a good thing; a far-famed +American battery is in front of you at a short range, and on the left of +this spot is flanked, at 800 yards, by their batteries on the opposite +bank of the river." At this piece of information he laughed heartily, +and I told him to take off his blue pelisse-coat to be like the rest of +the men. "No," he said gayly, "I will never peel for an American--come, +Jack, embrace me." He was a fine young officer of twenty years of age, +and had fought in many bloody encounters in Spain and France, but this +was to be his last, as well as that of many more brave men. The mist was +slowly clearing off, but objects could only be discerned at two or three +hundred yards distance, as the morning was rather hazy; we had only +quitted the battery two minutes, when a Congreve rocket was thrown up, +whether from the enemy or not we could not tell; for some seconds it +whizzed backward and forward in such a zigzag way, that we all looked up +to see whether it was coming down upon our heads. The troops +simultaneously halted, but all smiled at some sailors dragging a +two-wheeled car a hundred yards to our left, which had brought up +ammunition to the battery, who, by common consent, as it were, let go +the shaft, and left it the instant the rocket was let off.--(This +rocket, although we did not know it, proved to be the signal of attack.) +All eyes were cast upward, like those of so many astronomers, to descry, +if possible, what could be the upshot of this noisy harbinger, breaking +in upon the solemn silence that reigned around. During all my military +services I do not remember seeing a small body of troops thrown into +such a strange configuration, having formed themselves into a circle, +and halted, both officers and men, without any previous word of command, +each man looking earnestly, as if by instinct of his imagination, to see +in what particular quarter the anticipated firing would begin. + +The Mississippi was not visible, its waters likewise being covered over +with the fog; nor was there a single soldier, save our little phalanx, +to be seen, or the tramp of a horse or a single footstep to be heard, by +way of announcing that the battle-scene was about to begin, before the +vapoury curtain was lifted or cleared away for the opposing forces to +get a glimpse one of the other. So that we were completely lost, not +knowing which way to bend our footsteps, and the only words which now +escaped the officers were "steady, men," these precautionary warnings +being quite unnecessary, as every soldier was, as it were, motionless +like fox-hunters, waiting with breathless expectation, and casting +significant looks one at the other before Reynard breaks cover. + +All eyes seemed anxious to dive through the mist; and all ears attentive +to the coming moment, as it was impossible to tell whether the blazing +would begin from the troops who were supposed to have already crossed +the river, or from the great battery of the Americans on the right bank +of the Mississippi, or from the main lines. From all these points we +were equidistant, and within point-blank range; and were left, besides, +totally without orders, and without knowing how to act or where to find +our own corps, just as if we had formed no part or parcel of the army. + +The rocket had fallen probably in the Mississippi, all was silent, nor +did a single officer or soldier attempt to shift his foot-hold, so +anxiously were we all employed in listening for the first roar of the +cannon to guide our footsteps, or as it were to pronounce with loud +peals where was the point of our destination, well knowing that to go +farther to the rear was not the way to find our regiment. This silence +and suspense had not lasted more than two minutes, when the most +vehement firing from the British artillery began opposite the left of +the American lines, and before they could even see what objects they +were firing at, or before the intended attacking column of the British +were probably formed to go on to the assault. The American artillery +soon responded, and thus it was that the gunners of the English and the +Americans were firing through the mist at random; or in the supposed +direction whence came their respective balls through the fog. And the +first objects we saw, enclosed as it were in this little world of mist, +were the cannon-balls tearing up the ground and crossing one another, +and bounding along like so many cricket-balls through the air, coming on +our left flank from the American batteries on the right bank of the +river, and also from their lines in front. + +At this momentous crisis a droll occurrence took place; a company of +blacks emerged out of the mist, carrying ladders, which were intended +for the three light companies for the left attack, but these Ethiopians +were so confounded at the multiplicity of noises, that without farther +ado, they dropped the ladders and fell flat on their faces, and without +doubt, had their claws been of sufficient length, they would have +scratched holes and buried themselves from such an unpleasant admixture +of sounds and concatenation of iron projectiles, which seemed at war +with one another, coming from two opposite directions at one and the +same time. + +If these blacks were only intended to carry the ladders to the three +light companies on the left, they were too late. The great bulk of them +were cut to pieces before the ladders were within reach of them; even if +the best troops in the world had been carrying them, they would not have +been up in time. This was very odd, and more than odd; it looked as if +folly stalked abroad in the English camp. One or two officers went to +the front in search of some responsible person to obtain orders _ad +interim_; finding myself the senior officer, I at once, making a double +as it were, or, as Napoleon recommended, marched to the spot where the +heaviest firing was going on; at a run we neared the American line. The +mist was now rapidly clearing away, but, owing to the dense smoke, we +could not at first distinguish the attacking columns of the British +troops to our right. + +We now also caught a view of the seventh and the forty-third regiments +in _echelon_ on our right, near the wood, the royal fusileers being +within about 300 yards of the enemy's lines, and the forty-third +deploying into line 200 yards in _echelon_ behind the fusileers. These +two regiments were every now and then almost enveloped by the clouds of +smoke that hung over their heads, and floated on their flanks, and the +echo from the cannonade and musketry was so tremendous in the forests, +that the vibration seemed as if the earth were cracking and tumbling to +pieces, or as if the heavens were rent asunder by the most terrific +peals of thunder that ever rumbled; it was the most awful and the +grandest mixture of sounds to be conceived; the woods seemed to crack to +an interminable distance, each cannon report was answered one hundred +fold, and produced an intermingled roar surpassing strange. And this +phenomenon can neither be fancied nor described, save by those who can +bear evidence of the fact. And the flashes of fire looked as if coming +out of the bowels of the earth, so little above its surface were the +batteries of the Americans. + +We had run the gauntlet, from the left to the centre in front of the +American lines, under a cross fire, in hopes of joining in the assault, +and had a fine view of the sparkling of the musketry, and the liquid +flashes of the cannon. And melancholy to relate, all at once many +soldiers were met wildly rushing out of the dense clouds of smoke, +lighted up by a sparkling sheet of fire, which hovered over the +ensanguined field. Regiments were shattered and dispersed--all order was +at an end. And the dismal spectacle was seen of the dark shadows of men, +like skirmishers, breaking out of the clouds of smoke, which +majestically rolled along the even surface of the field. And so +astonished was I at such a panic, that I said to a retiring soldier, +"have we or the Americans attacked?" for I had never seen troops in such +a hurry without being followed. "No," replied the man, with the +countenance of despair, and out of breath, as he ran along, "we +attacked, sir." For still the reverberation was so intense toward the +great wood, that any one would have thought the great fighting was going +on there instead of immediately in front. + +Lieut. Duncan Campbell, of our regiment, was seen to our left running +about in circles, first staggering one way, then another, and at length +fell upon the sod helplessly on his face, and again tumbled, and when he +was picked up, he was found to be blind from the effect of grape-shot, +which had torn open his forehead, giving him a slight wound in the leg, +and also ripped the scabbard from his side, and knocked the cap from his +head. While being borne insensible to the rear, he still clenched the +hilt of his sword with a convulsive grasp, the blade thereof being +broken off close at the hilt with grape-shot, and in a state of delirium +and suffering he lived for a few days. + +The first officer we met was Lieutenant-Colonel Stovin, of the staff, +who was unhorsed, without his hat, and bleeding down the left side of +his face. He at first thought the two hundred were the whole regiment, +and he said, "Forty-third, for God's sake save the day!" +Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of the rifles, and one of Packenham's staff, +then rode up at full gallop from the right, (he had a few months before +brought to England the despatches of the capture of Washington) and said +to me, "Did you ever see such a scene?--There is nothing left but the +seventh and forty third! just draw up here for a few minutes, to show +front, that the repulsed troops may re-form." For the chances now were, +as the greater portion of the actually attacking corps were stricken +down, and the remainder dispersed, that the Americans would become the +assailants. The ill-fated rocket was discharged before the British +troops moved on; the consequence was, that every American gun was warned +by such a silly signal to be laid on the parapets, ready to be +discharged with the fullest effect. + +The misty field of battle was now inundated with wounded officers and +soldiers, who were going to the rear from the right, left, and centre; +in fact, little more than one thousand soldiers were left unscathed out +of the three thousand who attacked the American lines, and they fell +like the very blades of grass beneath the scythe of the mower. Packenham +was killed; Gibbes was mortally wounded; his brigade dispersed like the +dust before the whirlwind, and Keane was wounded. The command of his +Majesty's forces at this critical juncture now fell to Major-general +Lambert, the only general left, and he was in reserve with his fine +brigade. + +The rifle corps individually took post to resist any forward movements +of the enemy, but the ground already named being under a cross fire of +at least twenty pieces of artillery, the advantage was all on the side +of the Americans, who in a crowd might have completely run down a few +scattered troops, exposed to such an overpowering force of artillery. +The black troops behaved in the most shameful manner to a man, and, +although hardly exposed to fire, were in abominable consternation, lying +down in all directions. One broad beaver, with the ample folds of the +coarse blanket, thrown across the shoulders of the Americans, was as +terrible in their eyes as a panther might be while springing among a +timid multitude. These black corps, it is said, had behaved well at some +West India islands, where the thermometer was more congenial to their +feelings. Lieut. Hill (now Capt. Hill) said, in his shrewd manner, "Look +at the seventh and the forty-third, like seventy-fours becalmed!" As +soon as the action was over, and some troops were formed in our rear, we +then, under a smart fire of grape and round shot, moved to the right, +and joined our own corps, which had been ordered to lie down at the edge +of the ditch; and some of the old soldiers, with rage depicted on their +countenances, were demanding why they were not led on to the assault. +The fire of the Americans, from behind their barricades, had been indeed +so murderous, and had caused so sudden a repulse, that it was difficult +to persuade ourselves that such an event had happened--the whole affair +being more like a dream, or some scene of enchantment, than reality. + +And thus it was: on the left bank of the river, three generals, seven +colonels, and seventy five officers, making a total of seventeen hundred +and eighty-one officers and soldiers, had fallen in a few minutes. + +The royal fusileers and the Monmouthshire light infantry, from the +beginning to the end of the battle, were astounded at the ill success of +the combat; and while formed within grape range, were lost in amazement +at not being led on to the attack, being kept as quiet spectators of the +onslaught. + +About an hour and a half after the principal attack had failed, we heard +a rapid discharge of fire-arms, and a few hurried sounds of cannon on +the right bank of the river, when all was again silent, until three +distinct rounds of British cheers gladdened our ears from that +direction, although at least one mile and a quarter from where we were +stationed. They were Colonel Thornton's gallant troops, who were +successful in the assault on the American works in that quarter, the +details of which, for a brief space, I must postpone. + +For _five_ hours the enemy plied us with grape and round shot; some of +the wounded lying in the mud or on wet grass, managed to crawl away; but +every now and then some unfortunate man was lifted off the ground by +round shot, and lay killed or mangled.--During the tedious hours we +remained in front, it was necessary to lie on the ground, to cover +ourselves from the projectiles. An officer of our regiment was in a +reclining posture, when a grape-shot passed through both his knees; at +first he sank back faintly, but at length opening his eyes, and looking +at his wounds, he said, "Carry me away. I am _chilled to death_;" and as +he was hoisted on the men's shoulders, more round and grape shot passed +his head; taking off his hat, he waved it; and after many narrow +escapes, got out of range, suffered amputation of both legs, and died of +his wounds on ship-board, after enduring all the pain of the surgical +operation, and passing down the lake in an open boat. + +A wounded soldier, who was lying among the slain, two hundred yards +behind us, continued, without any cessation, for two hours, to raise his +arm up and down with a convulsive motion, which excited the most painful +sensations among us; and as the enemy's balls now and then killed or +maimed some soldiers, we could not help casting our eyes toward the +moving arm, which really was a dreadful magnet of attraction; it even +caught the attention of the enemy, who, without seeing the body, fired +several round shot at it. A black soldier lay near us, who had received +a blow from a cannon-ball, which had obliterated all his features; and +although blind, and suffering the most terrible anguish, he was +employing himself in scratching a hole to put his money into. A tree, +about two feet in diameter and fifteen in height, with a few scattered +branches at the top, was the only object to break the monotonous scene. +This tree was near the right of our regiment; the Americans, seeing some +persons clustering around it, fired a thirty-two pound shot, which +struck the tree exactly in the centre, and buried itself in the trunk +with a loud concussion. Curiosity prompted some of us to take a hasty +inspection of it, and I could clearly see the rusty ball within the +tree. I thrust my arm in a little above the elbow joint, and laid hold +of it; it was truly amazing, between the intervals of firing the cannon, +to see the risks continually run by the officers to take a peep at this +good shot. Owing to this circumstance, the vicinity of the tree became +rather a hot berth; but the American gunners failed to hit it a second +time, although some balls passed very near on each side, and for an hour +it was a source of excessive jocularity to us. In the middle of the day +a flag of truce was sent by Gen. Lambert to Gen. Jackson, to be allowed +to bury the dead, which was acceded to by the latter on certain +conditions." + + +NOTE F.--_Page 241._ + +To the politeness of Dr. William Dunbar, a planter of Mississippi, the +author is indebted for many important papers relating to this region, +formerly in the possession of his father--a gentleman well known to the +philosophic world as the author of several valuable scientific papers +upon the natural history and meteorology of this country. Among the +manuscripts of this gentleman in the author's possession, is the +following account of the manufacture of Indigo, written by himself, then +an extensive indigo planter, near New-Orleans. + +"The reservoir water in or near the field where the indigo plant is +cultivated, is prepared, in lower Louisiana, by digging a canal from +eighty to one hundred feet long, and 25 or 30 feet wide. The plant is in +its strength when in full blossom: it is then cut down, and disposed +regularly in a wooden or brick vault, about ten feet square, and three +feet deep; water is then poured or pumped over it until the plant is +covered; it is suffered to remain until it has undergone a fermentation, +analogous to the vinous fermentation. If it stands too long, a second +fermentation commences, bearing affinity to the acetous fermentation: +your liquor is then spoiled, and will yield you but little matter of a +bad quality--sometimes none at all. The great difficulty is to know this +proper point of fermentation, which cannot sometimes be ascertained to +any degree of certainty; when the plant is rich, and the weather warm, a +tolerable judgment may be formed by the ascent or swelling of the liquor +in the vat; at other times no alteration is observed. But to return; the +liquor is at length drawn off into another vat, called the beater; it +may remain in the first vat, called the steeper, from ten to fifteen +hours, and even twenty-four hours, in the cool weather of autumn. The +liquor is agitated in the beater in a manner similar to the churning of +butter; when first drawn off, it is of a pale straw colour, but +gradually turns to a pale green, from thence to a deeper green, and at +length to a deep blue. This is occasioned by the grains of indigo, at +first dissolved in the water, and afterward extricated by beating. The +indigo is now ready to fall to the bottom by its superior specific +gravity; but a precipitant is often used to cause a more hasty +decomposition, and consequent precipitation. This is effected most +powerfully by lime-water, but it may also be done by any mucilaginous +substance, as the juice of the wild mallows, purslain, leaves of the +elm-tree, and of many others indigenous in this country. The saliva +produces the same effects. A few hours after the precipitation, the +water standing above the indigo is drawn off by holes perforated for +that purpose; the indigo matter is then swept out and farther drained, +either by putting it in bags of Russia duck, or more commodiously in +wooden cases with a bottom of cloth; after which it is put in a wooden +frame, with a loose Osnaburg cloth between it and the frame, and +subjected to a considerable press--light at first, but heavy at the +last; and when solid enough, cut into squares, which shrink up in drying +to half their first bulk. After it appears to be dry, it is put up in +heaps to sweat and dry the second time; it is then fit for market. All +that has not been injured by missing the true point of fermentation, +sells here generally at a dollar a pound. The planter often, by mistake, +makes his indigo of a superior quality, so as to be equal to the +Guatemala indigo, and be worth from one dollar and a quarter to two +dollars. This happens from the indigo maker's drawing off his water from +the steeper too soon, before it has arrived at its due point of +fermentation. In this case the quantity is so much lessened, as by no +means to render the planter compensated by the superior quality. The +grand desideratum to bring the making of indigo to some degree of +certainty, is the discovery of some chymical test, that shall +demonstrate the passing of the liquor from the first to the second +fermentation. This test will probably be discovered in some saline body, +but which, or in what quantity, it is yet difficult to ascertain." + + +NOTE G.--_Page 245._ + +The following additional observations upon New-Orleans, its parish, and +neighbourhood, convey, at a glance, the general resources of this region +of country, besides containing much information not embodied in the +work:-- + +"The parish of Orleans includes the city. Chef Menteur, Rigolets, Bayou +Bienvenu, Bayou Gentilly, and Bayou St. Johns, are all in this parish, +and are famous in the history of the late war, Lake Pontchartrain, lake +Borgne, Barataria bay, gulf of Mexico, Caminda bay, lake Des Islets, +lake Rond, Little lake, and Quacha lake, are in the limits of this +parish. Sugar, and after that, cotton, are the staples. Along the coast +there are groves of orange-trees, and the fig is extensively raised. In +this parish are the greater part of the defences, that are intended to +fortify the city of New-Orleans against the attack of a foreign foe. The +chief fortifications are on those points, by which the British +approached toward the city during the late war. Extensive fortifications +of brick have been erected at Petits Coquilles, Chef Menteur, and Bayou +Bienvenu, the two former guarding the passes of the Rigolet, between +lake Borgne and lake Pontchartrain, and the latter the approach from +lake Borgne toward New-Orleans. A great work, to mount 120 cannon, is +erecting at Placquemine on the Mississippi. These works, when finished, +will not fall far short of the expense 2,000,000 dollars. Fort St. +Johns, at the entrance of the Bayou St. Johns into lake Pontchartrain, +is well situated for the defence of the pass. It is an ancient +establishment of the former regime. The guns are of vast calibre; but +they appear to be sealed, and the walls have a ruinous aspect. These +points of defence have been selected with great judgment, and have been +fortified with so much care, that it is supposed no enemy could ever +again approach the city by the same passes, through which it was +approached by the British in the past war. New-Orleans, the key of the +Mississippi valley, and the great depot of its agriculture and commerce, +is already a city of immense importance, and is every year becoming more +so. This city has strong natural defences, in its position and its +climate. It is now strongly defended by artificial fortifications. But, +after all, the best defence of this, and of all other cities, is the +vigilant and patriotic energy of the battalions of free men, who can +now, by steamboats, be brought down to its defence in a few days from +the remotest points of the west. It is not to be forgotten, that by the +same conveyance, an enemy might also be brought against it. + +Of the other parishes, we may remark, in general, that as far up the +Mississippi as the parish of Baton Rouge, on the east side, and Point +Coupee on the west, the cultivation of the sugar-cane is the chief +pursuit of the inhabitants. The same may be said of Placquemine, +Lafourche, and Attakapas. The staple article of the western parishes +beyond is cotton. + +The parishes north of lake Pontchartrain, which formerly made a part of +Florida, with the exception of some few tracts, and the alluvions of +Pearl river and Bogue Chitte, have a sterile soil. The inhabitants raise +large herds of cattle, and send great quantities of lumber to +New-Orleans, together with pitch, tar, turpentine and coal. They burn +great quantities of lime from the beds of shells, which cover large +tracts near the lakes; they also send sand from the beaches of the +lakes, for covering the pavements of New-Orleans. They have also, for +some years past, manufactured brick to a great amount, and have +transported them across the lake. They have a great number of schooners +that ply on the lakes, in this and other employments. The people engaged +in this extensive business, find the heavy tolls demanded on the canal a +great impediment in the way of the profit of this trade.[12] The country +generally is covered with open pine woods, and has small tracts of +second-rate land interspersed among these tracts. The country is +valuable from its inexhaustible supplies of timber and wood for the +New-Orleans market. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] These were George Cooper--Elijah W. Brown, now a wealthy planter in +Monroe, Washita, La. and I. K. Cook, for many years post a leading +editor in this state. + +[12] The rail-road is now the medium of conveyance for these articles of +produce to the city; the expense is thereby much lessened, and the +facilities for this trade increased. + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + +------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | Page vii phosporescence changed to phosphorescence | + | Page ix humam changed to human | + | Page 50 supended changed to suspended | + | Page 54 irridescence changed to iridescence | + | Page 56 Castillian changed to Castilian | + | Page 59 superceded changed to superseded | + | Page 64 Marquetti changed to Marquette | + | Page 67 Mississipi changed to Mississippi | + | Page 71 pannelling changed to panelling | + | Page 84 succssion changed to succession | + | Page 106 Goliahs changed to Goliaths | + | Page 106 Arrarat changed to Ararat | + | Page 109 appaling changed to appalling | + | Page 111 appaling changed to appealing | + | Page 112 negociating changed to negotiating | + | Page 123 faec changed to face | + | Page 129 mphatically changed to emphatically | + | Page 131 deposite changed to deposit | + | Page 149 tunnel changed to funnel | + | Page 164 Apartement changed to Appartement | + | Page 166 cis-atlantic changed cis-Atlantic | + | Page 208 steet changed to street | + | Page 211 callaboose changed to calaboose | + | Page 212 huzzars changed to hussars | + | Page 222 panneling changed to panelling | + | Page 224 pantomine changed to pantomime | + | Page 224 Marseilloise changed to Marseillaise | + | Page 230 smoth changed to smooth | + | Page 236 chimnies changed to chimneys | + | Page 236 turkies changed to turkeys | + | Page 238 freeest changed to freest | + | Page 238 matressing changed to mattressing | + | Page 243 ros changed to rose | + | Page 247 meet changed to meant | + | Page 274 circnmstance changed to circumstance | + | Page 275 mucillaginous changed to mucilaginous | + | Page 276 Guatimala changed to Guatemala | + | Page 277 Coup e changed to Coupee | + +------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The South-West, by Joseph Holt Ingraham + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOUTH-WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 35133.txt or 35133.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/3/35133/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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