THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS 

 
 SHEL 
 
 [Oct., 1883, 20,0( 
 
 BOSTOF 
 
 One volurr 
 card ; to be i 
 and Jove 1 "" 
 not to be 
 days, who 
 including f 
 borrower's 
 returned at. 
 
 Borrows 
 defaced, i. 
 lay in the 
 
 VNo o 
 any notic 
 
 Tie rect
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 ETC. 
 
 SDnring 1840 anb 1850. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 LADY EMMELINE STUART WORTLEY. 
 
 N E W Y O R K : 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 82 CLIFF STREET. 
 
 1851.
 
 
 
 is UnUmr is 
 
 TO THE 
 
 COUNTESS OF CHESTERFIELD, 
 
 BY 
 
 HER MOST AFFECTIONATE COUSIN, 
 
 THE AUTHORESS.
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 P R E F AC E. 
 
 I LEFT England fully determined against writing a book of 
 travels, nay, I would not even keep a Journal during our wan- 
 derings, lest I should be tempted to jot down, and ultimately to 
 publish, my impressions of the society and institutions in those 
 countries which it was our good fortune to visit ; but since our 
 return to England, friends, to whose better judgment I am bound 
 to defer, have pressed me so strongly to print the letters which I 
 had written during our excursion, that I have consented to do so, 
 after adding somewhat, to give them the usual narrative form, 
 and dividing them into chapters. This will account for the 
 familiar tone of the Work, and for occasional repetitions. 
 
 For the politician or philosopher these pages will, I fear, have 
 little or no interest ; written familiarly to relatives and friends at 
 home, their staple is the gossip of travel ; and if they amuse that 
 large class to whom gossip is welcome, and tend in any way to 
 strengthen kindly feelings in the breasts of my English readers 
 toward the people from whom their wandering countrywoman 
 received so much and such constant courtesy and hospitality, I 
 shall not regret giving to the world this Work. 
 
 BXLVOIR CASTLK, 1851.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Arrival at New York First View of Broadway Summer Costume of the 
 Ladies Description of New York Its Suburbs and Islands Its Fortifica- 
 tions Prepare to start for Niagara 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Detained at Albany Wreck of the "Empire" Steamer American Indiffer- 
 ence to human Life The theatrical Riot and Massacre caused by Mr. For- 
 rest's Jealousy of Macready Sympathy of the Lady for the Captain of the 
 " Empire" High-sounding Names of Towns The Hudson Hotels at Al- 
 bany Description of Albany 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Difficulty of conveying the Impression caused by a first View of the Falls of 
 Niagara An Attempt to do so The Falls described A Thunder-Storm 
 over the great Cataracts The Rainbow Kindness and Courtesy of the 
 Americans TheirSpirit of Enterprise Luxurious Appointments of Ameri- 
 can Steamers The Dimensions of the Falls Goat Island Quantity of 
 Water precipitated over the Falls Grand and Navy Islands 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Fort Talbot Canadian Carriages Vast Extent of American Woods The 
 Hotel at Port Stanley Lake Erie Mr. A and his Family Col. Tal- 
 bot, the " Last of the" Mohicans" Instance of the Memory of North Ameri- 
 can Indians Another Story of the same Kind A Recurrence to Niagara 
 A second Thunder-Storm American Forests Lake Erie by Sunset The 
 Maple, and the Sugar made from it Coldness of Canadian Winters 27 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Return to New York Courtesy and Hospitality of the Americans Butter- 
 flies and Humming birds Railroads through American Forests Rapid 
 progress of American Civilization Port Stanley Captain Bawbee De- 
 scription of BuS'alo Trading Facilities of that City The United States' 
 Military Academy Monument to Kosciusko His Garden West Point 
 The Traitor Arnold, and Major Andre Constitution Island Oppressive 
 Heat of the Weather 32 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Boston The Park The Tremont Hotel Its luxurious Appointments Mr. 
 and Mrs. Abbott Lawrence The " Book of the World" Description of 
 Boston; the Bridges Their immense Length The Western Avenue 
 Boston Harbor Anticipated Rejoicings on the Anniversary of American 
 Independence Boston Newspapers and Reviews Supply of Water to 
 the City Its Docks and Wharves Public Buildings The State House 
 The Custom House The Atheneeum The Exchange and Lowell Institute 
 The crowded Stores Constant Alarm of Fires 36 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Plans for the Future Musical Taste of the New Englanders Cholera in 
 New York Transparency of the American Atmosphere American News- 
 papers Their Personalities A signal Instance Mrs. S. M of Now 
 
 York, and her family Miss G of Boston The loud Talking ascribed 
 
 to American Ladies The Town of Gloucester Its Trade 42 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Return to Boston Fire Engines and their Horses The Cradle of American 
 Liberty Faneuil Hall Boston Prohibition of Street-smoking Statue of
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Washington in the State House Anecdote connected with it A Drum pre- 
 served in the State House Visit to Cambridge Mount Auburn Harvard 
 University Professors Pierce, Silliman, Guyon, Sparks, and Agassiz 
 Live Coral Insects preserved by Professor Agassiz Reflections suggested 
 by them Museum of Professor Agassiz 45 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Plymouth The Pilgrim Fathers Mrs. Warren, a Descendant of one of the 
 Pilgrims Visit from Mr. Prescott the Historian Graves of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers Visits from Daniel "Webster and from Mr. N. P. "Willis Samoset 
 the Indian Chief Energy of the Pilgrim Fathers Altered Face of their 
 Country - 50 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Green Harbor, the Seat of Daniel Webster His Guests Description of his 
 Mansion The Militia General Enterprise of American Lady- travelers 
 
 An Instance Mrs. C from China Great intellectual Powers of Mr. 
 
 Webster A Storm "My Kingdom for a Pin" Anecdote of Lady 
 
 The sole American with an aristocratic Title Extraordinary Popularity 
 of Mr. Webster in New England Anecdote of Mr. Webster That States- 
 man and Mr. Clay never Presidents of the United States A Cause assigned 
 Appointment of illiterate political Postmasters Mode of Living at Green 
 Harbor 53 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Visit to Mr. and Mrs. Prescott at Nahant Paucity of Trees there A mag- 
 nificent Water-Melon Beauty of Boston Harbor Poetical additional 
 Names given to American Cities New Bedford Its Population and Trade 
 Delicate Politeness of aDescendantof William Penn Martha's Vineyard 
 The Hostess, her Son and Daughter Woodsville Naushou Its Loveli- 
 ness The one Grave Reflection suggested by it An ancient Place of 
 Indian Sepulture Verses suggested by Naushon "60 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Blind Asylum at Boston and LanraBridgeman New Haven, " The City 
 of Elms" Yale College Its Objects of Science and Art Professor Silli- 
 man, Jun. Governor Yale His Epitaph His English Connections 
 Black domestic Servants Two Opinions of them A sable Count D'Orsay 
 The American Character Scenery about New Haven Katydids, Tree- 
 Frogs, and Crickets Connecticut Yankees 68 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Bridgeport The Irish Housemaid Ultra-Republicans even in America The 
 great Croton Aqueduct described Supply of Water to New York New 
 York Trotters Delmonico's Hotel Excursion with American Friends 
 Glorious Scenery of Staten Island Greenwood Cemetery Its Extent, 
 Scenery, and Monuments Miss Lynch the Poetess and Fredrika Bremer 73 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Philadelphia Incessant Uproar in that City Its Custom House and Ceme- 
 teries Baltimore Battle and Washington Monuments The Catholic Ca- 
 thedral The Merchants' Shot-tower Its Trade and Commerce Its In- 
 crease and Population Baltimore Clippers Barnum's Hotel Sensitive- 
 ness of Americans to cold The Deaf Gentleman and his Stentorian Friend 
 Anthracite Coal Fires 78 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The City of Washington Pennsylvania Avenue The "City of Magnificent 
 Distances" The Stentorian Gentleman and his Hogs The Capitol de- 
 scribed Monument to Washington The Navy Yard Georgetown A 
 Digression to Tunis Public Buildings The PostOffice The Patent Office 
 The Treasury The President's Mansion The "White House" Visit to 
 General Taylor, the late PresidentHis Daughter, Mrs. Bliss Appear- 
 ance of General .Taylor His Affability His Conversation Invitation to 
 ** Authoress Heat of the Weather in November... 89
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Discomforts of Traveling over die Alleghanies Mr. Clay Pittsburg as sable 
 as Sheffield Its Population Visit to a Glass Factory and Iron Foundry A 
 dingy Vehicle Factories and Foundries in Pittsburg The Ohio The new 
 Suspension Bridge at Wheeling Accidents to Steamers caused by it 
 Courtesy of the Captains and Clerks of Steamers Cincinnati German 
 and Irish Immigrants compared Verses addressed to Emigrants 88 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Description of Louisville Its Trade and Natural Productions Its Soil and 
 Rivers The Kentucky Caves A Visit to one Its Avenues, Domes, Cat- 
 aracts, Pits, and Rivers A Sea in it The vociferous Bats Echoes of the 
 Cave The Cave once the Residence of consumptive Patients The eye- 
 less Fish The narrow Path and the fat Englishman Vast Extent of the 
 Cave Verses suggested by it..- 93 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A Conversation in a Coach A loquacious Gentleman The other Passenger 
 His Appearance An American Argument touching the Potency of Money 
 to make a Gentleman An Exhibition of genuine Feeling A Kentuckian's 
 Notion of England The slight Value set on human Life in America The 
 Duel Pigs paramount in Louisville Herds of Swine on the Alleghanies 
 The Hotel-Keeper and the Kentucky Cave Danger attending a Visit 
 to the Caves 1 99 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Steamer from Louisville The Passengers The Lady in the Turban, 
 and her refractory Charges A Family of another Description The Lili- 
 putian Listen and his model Grandmamma The Sonnambnla of a Stew- 
 ardess St. Louis Ravages of the Cholera in that City Rapid Growth of 
 St. Louis Vast Number of German Immigrants Progress of American 
 Civilization Prairie Hunting Frequency of Steamboat Accidents on the 
 Mississippi 107 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Mississippi Its Impression upon the Author Its Banks The immense 
 Forests seen from it Its varied Scenery The Mississippi by Night Hosts 
 of floating Trees Steamer " snasreed" Visit to the late President's Cotton 
 Plantation His Slaves Interestin<; Negro Children Shanty of Mr. Tay- 
 lor, the President's Son An aged Slave His extreme Politeness The 
 black Valet of Mr. Taylor The immediate Slave Abolition Question In- 
 stances of Ill-treatment of Slaves Persecution of Musquitoes 113 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The St. Charles Hotel at New Orleans The Swedish Waiter and Jenny 
 Lind Oppressive Heat in December in New Orleans Vast Quantities 
 of Cotton The probable future Aspect of the Banks of the Mississippi 
 Commerce of New Orleans The City Its Port Its Inhabitants Its 
 Churches The City subject to Inundations Places of Sepulture above 
 Ground Wreck of the Louisiana Steamer Wonderful Capabilities of the 
 Valley of the Mississippi The Americans not extravagant when they de- 
 scribe the Resources of their Country Alligators The Red River The 
 artificial Embankments of the Mississippi at New Orleans Their In- 
 security 1C2 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Mobile Lake Poncnartrain An Indian Encampment The Indians and 
 their Squaws Chnmpa Girls Some Account of Mobile Its Harbor Fes- 
 tival of the New Year Rival musical Processions The Magnolia Grove 
 Manner of Life of the Indians Manifold Miseries attending waiting for 
 Steamers Madame L V Mr. Clay Preparing to start for Mex- 
 ico Madame L L V - s old black Slave Her Remembrance 
 
 of Washington Verges on Madams L V ' deceased Children ... 130
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Boston as a Commercial City. Its Wharves Its Shipping Its Trade The 
 India Wharf American Boys The Present and Future of America The 
 fashionable Quarter of Boston American Ladies and Gentlemen Young 
 America Boston the Metropolis of Railroads Gallantry and Patience of 
 American Travelers Fresh Pond Wenham Lake Ice Mr. Prescott's 
 Town House Libraries, and Literary and Philosophical Institutions in Bos- 
 ton Its Periodical Literature Its Charities Its Patronage of the Arts ' 
 Power's Sculptures Frequency of Fires in American Cities General 
 Appearance of Boston - - 137 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Bustle in the Streets of New York Trinity Church Wall-street The 
 Park The Shops in Broadway Traffic in Broadway Irish and German 
 Emigrants Wharves of New York Its Shipping The Astor House Ho- 
 tel The Exchange The Custom House Theatres The City Hall The 
 Chair of Washington Churches Benevolent, Literary, and Scientific In- 
 stitutions Squares, Mansions Foreigners in New York Sympathy be- 
 tween America and Russia Those two Nations Anecdote of an Ameri- 
 can in Russia Pearl-street Military Companies in New York The 
 Militia The Firemen The Electric Telegraph in America The Battery 
 The Halls of Justice The Bowery 146 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Vera Cruz by Moonlight The "Walker" Steamer The new Minister to 
 Mexico Lord Mark Kerr's exquisite Drawings Scenes on Deck Love 
 of Music of the Americans The Aspect of Vera Cruz Effects of a Norther 
 Sopilotes Their Functions and Appearance The Castle of St. Juan 
 d'Ulloa The Harbor of Vera Cruz Its Commerce Its Foundation The 
 German Housekeeper Her polyglot Stories The Alameda Vast Num- 
 ber of laden Mules Departures for Mexico Vera Cruzian Watchmen 
 Dresses of the Vera Cruzians 159 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The Mexicans Climate of Mexico Luxuriance of its Vegetation Beauty 
 of its Flowers and Birds Jalapa The Journey from Vera Cruz The 
 State of the Roads The Diligence A formidable-looking Passenger 
 Cornish Miners in Mexico The Inn at Perote English Hardware in 
 Mexico Hacienda of General Santa Anna General Scott and the Pas- 
 sage of the Chapparal Puente del Rey The Mountains of Mexico Ori- 
 zaba Its magnificent Height Cathedral of Puebla Mexican Spurs Rio 
 Frio Popocatepetl National Character of the Mexicans 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Mexico when first conquered Cortez and Montezvuna The musical Gentle- 
 man Mexican Plants and Flowers The Cathedral in the City of Mexico 
 Arrival of the Diligence at the Hotel The Passengers M. de Zurutuza 
 Appointments of the Hotel Mexican Pronunciamientos The Mexican 
 Lady and her Flowers The Form of Government best suited for Mexico 
 The Streets of Mexico The Passengers and Vehicles The Shops Re- 
 bosas and Serapes Picturesque Costume of the Mexicans 182 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Cathedral of Mexico The Grand Plaza The Palace The Importunity 
 of Beggars Site of the Cathedral once occupied by the grand Aztec Tem- 
 ple Description of the Temple by old Spanish Writers The Interior of 
 the Cathedral The Calendar Stone of the Aztecs The Stone of Sacrifices 
 The Aztec Priests and their Victims The Idol worshiped The National 
 Museum Colossal Statue of Charles IV. of Spain Armor of Cortez and 
 Pedro de Alvarado "El Salto de Alvarado" Ancient Map of Mexico 
 Beauty of the City The Shops and their Multiplicity of Articles Mexican 
 Horse- furniture Mexican Houses The Plaza del Toros... ,. 190
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Mexico The Viga The Chinampas Floating Gardens, Fields and Or- 
 chards of the Aztecs Abundance of Flowers in Mexico And of Fruits 
 The Fruit Stalls The Meat and Poultry Tortoises, Salamanders and 
 Frogs The Population of the City of Mexico Its numberless Vehicles Its 
 Environs on Fete Days Defective police Arrangements Frequent Rob- 
 beries in Consequence Mexican Chocolate Victoriana, the Waiting-maid 80 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 General Herrera, the President of Mexico, and the American Minister Cha- 
 pultepec assaulted and taken by General Scott .Enormous Cypresses in 
 the Garden of Montezuma Dona Mariana, the Aztec Wife of Cortez 
 View from the Summit of Chapnltepec Castle Impressions caused by it- 
 The Mountains Tacubaya and Toluca Tanks and Baths of Montezuma 
 The Opera House at Mexico The fat comic Actress and the brilliantly 
 dressed one Beauty of Mexican Ladies Madame Bishop Payments in 
 Kind for her Singine Beautiful Appearance of the Stars in Mexico View 
 of dusty Victims alighting from the Diligence The Brother of M. Arago 
 the Astronomer The Volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztacchihuatl Patio of 
 M. Arago 207 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Intention to cross the Isthmus of Panama The Carnival at Mexico Magnif- 
 icence of the Cathedral during that Festival Throngs of picturesque Peo- 
 ple in the Streets The Masks A grotesque Equestrian Carnival Quiz 
 on English and French Horsewomen The Mexican Riding-dress Mexi- 
 can Eyes High Pacing of Mexican Horses Mr. Parrott instrumental in 
 securing California to the Americans. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XXXH. 
 
 Departure for Vera Crnz Threatened Accident to the Diligence Last Look 
 at Mexico and its early Stirrers The Little Penon A magnificent View 
 Passengers by the Diligence Splendid Sombreros The Escort of Lan- 
 cers Mexican Robbers Of what Class composed Some of their Exploits 
 Escorts alleged to be sometimes Robbers Arrival at Rio Frio Mr. and 
 
 Mrs. G The Plain of Puebla Malinche The Pyramid of Cholula 
 
 Its early History its Height and Appearance Chamber discovered in the 
 Pyramid What it contained Arrival at Pnebla 224 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Departure from Puebla Acajete El Piual Alarm of Ladrones Discom- 
 forts of rough Roads exemplified Pulque Its Taste The Plant from 
 which it is extracted Mode of extracting it Monde de Pizano Arrival 
 at Perote Coldness of that Place in Winter 234 
 
 CHAPTER XXXFV. 
 
 Departure from Perote Magnificent View from the Heights Impressions 
 caused by them The Beauty of the Approach to Xalapa described The 
 Mirage Appearance of inverted Houses Hotel de Diligencias Visit to 
 a Church Negotiation with the Mozo touching the Sarape and the Ameri- 
 can Blanket Numbers of Friars and Nuns from Spain Arrival at Vert" 
 Cruz A curious Fact iti Relation to Dr. Gutzlaff, the Missionary to China 
 Arrival of the Steamer for the Havana 240 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Arrival at Havana Passengers on Board the Thames Affecting Story of 
 an American Merchant's unforeseen Calanlity An American Gnnlin Gib- 
 bons The enterprising political Organ-grinder First Glimpse of Havana 
 The Harbor The Morro Castle and the Puntal The Cabanas The City 
 of Havana Volantes The Paseo Ladies of Havana Their Dress The 
 Gentlemen Usages of Gallantry at Havana The Military Reviews and 
 Music Anxiety of Spain to retain Cuba Cathedral of Havana The Ashes 
 of Columbus His Bust How his Ashes have been removed from Place to 
 Place Worshipers in the Cathedral The Bishop's Garden Rare and
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 beautiful Trees and Flowers Hurricanes at Havana Volantes in uni- 
 versal Use Where bestowed sometimes Havana Houses How fur- 
 nished Social Customs in Havana Fruits 247 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Performance of a Military Band in the Grand Square The diversified Com- 
 pany Description of Havana Nights The Opera House The Singers 
 Exhortation to Spanish Ladies to preserve their National Dress An Exe- 
 cution Material Prosperity of Havana "Jesus del Monte" Dinner with 
 the Captain-General The Company Escort of the Conde Preparations 
 
 for the Isthmus Journey A Tertulia Miss M 's exquisite Playing and 
 
 Singing The Environs of Havana The Paseo of Ysabel Segunda Envi- 
 rons of Havana in the Evening " Guagiros" Description of their Houses 
 Customs and Dress of the "Guagiros" Chinese Laborers in Havana 
 Anecdote of Chinese Thieves Preparing to depart for Panama 260 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Arrival at Panama The " Georgia" Kindness and Attention of Lieutenant 
 Porter Deficiency of Fresh Water An Alarm on Board Its Cause Bus- 
 tle of preparation to land at Chagres The stout Lady and her Trunk 
 Arrival at Chagres Polished Manners of American Gentlemen The Bar 
 of Chagres Difficulty of landing and of procuring Lodgings Apartments 
 
 at Senor 's General aspect of Chagres The Castle of San Lorenzo 
 
 Its present Condition Population of Chagres Adventurers to California 
 Start for Gorgona 271 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 The River Chagres The Boat The Rowers Their peculiar and vociferous 
 Songs Gatun and MiHaflores Exquisite Beauty of the Scenery on the 
 Banks of the Chagres Innumerable Flowers and radiant Birds Strange 
 and Prodigal Intertexture of Parasitical Plants Enormous and brilliant 
 Butterflies Las dos Hermanas Accommodations at that place The 
 Hostess and her adopted Daughter Americans bound for California 
 Scenery during the Progress of the Voyage San Pablo An Accident The 
 Lady with her immense Coiffure Monte Carabali Arrival at Gorgona.. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Gorgona Immense Number of Americans at that place The Native Hotel 
 The Host and his Daughters A Fiesta The Women's Dresses The 
 truant Clerk in his Splendor His Glory checked Hunting for Mules A 
 projected Railroad through Gorgona " Sammy," the Servant at the Hotel 
 Some account of his Duties, and how they were performed His Appear- 
 ance Spread of Fever in Gorgona Mode of lading Mules Departure of 
 Friends for Panama Pedestrian Travelers to California Stanzas sug- 
 gested by seeing them 293 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Arrival at Panama Hospitality of Mr. His House Coral and Pearl 
 
 of the Pacific The "Espiritu Santo'' Departure from Gorgona described 
 A refractory Mule The Cerro Grande Alleged View from its Summit 
 A magnificent Forest described A Foreston Fire The American's Ad- 
 miration of the Trees The Flowers in the Forest Difficulty of proceed- 
 ing on the bad Roads Enormous Loads carried by the Natives of the - 
 Isthmus Attire of Travelers to California Female Inhabitants of the 
 Isthmus Their dislike of Americans A nival at the Half-way House 
 
 Mrs. H and her Child The. American Character exemplified The 
 
 Journey resumed Escapade of a Mule A Halt The Indian Hut Its 
 Inmates Noises in the Forest 304 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 The Journey to Panama resumed Beauty of the Moon-light The paved 
 Causeway First view of the Pacific The American's opinion of the old 
 Spaniards And of the present Natives of the Isthmus Arrival at Panama 
 The City The Grand Plaza The Bay The Cathedral Jesuit Church
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 and College Ruinous Condition of Panama Americans in Panama bound 
 for California The Climate of Panama Breezes from the Pacific Gen- 
 eral M Insects and Reptiles in Panama The Fire-beetle The 
 
 Family of Madame H A social Custom in Panama Half-starved 
 
 Horses and Mules Panama becoming Americanized The Carriages in 
 that City 318 
 
 CHAPTER XL1I. 
 
 Monarchy and Democracy England's Treatment of her Colonies The Great- 
 ness of America Her Tendency to Propagandism Anecdote of a Paroquet 
 The Pearl Fishery at Panama The Captain and his Crew General Ro- 
 sas Beautifully scented Woods in Panama The Rose Fever Theatri- 
 cals in Panama Hostility between Americans and the Natives of Panama 
 Fair Children in Panama The would-be Englishwoman . 327 
 
 CHAPTER XLJII. 
 
 Intention to go to Lima Dinner to Ex-cannibals Theatricals in Panama 
 Taboga The French Tailoress The " Happy Ship" Roman Catholic 
 Procession on Good Friday A mischievous Trick California thoroughly 
 Americanized Califoruian Adventurers and the Steamboat Agent The 
 dead Negro British Subjects buried in Panama Tone of American Papers 
 in Panama Spirit of Enterprise of the Americans Old Panama Reptiles 
 and Insects in Panama Morgan and bis Buccaneers The Pirates and the 
 Spanish Fleet Wealth said to have been buried by the Buccaneers 
 American Love of intellectual Progress . 339 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 The probable future of Panama South American Railroads projected Gold- 
 seekers in Panama Large Importation of Fruit-trees into California 
 American Improvements in Panama Alleged ill-treatment of Emigrants 
 by Ship-owners The Green Mountain Yankee The Indians and the 
 damp Gunpowder The Government of New Granada Its recent Policy 354 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Arrival at Lima announced Embark on the "Bolivia" View of Panama, 
 from the Sea Buenaventura The River and City of Guayaquil Horses' 
 Dread of Alligators Native Boats and their varied Freight Parrots, Ma- 
 caws, and Paroquets Ponchos The Guayaquil Ladies Grass Hats 
 The five Productions of Guayaquil Payta Its Population Its Salubrity 
 Its Market Scarcity of Water at Payta Former Wealth of that Place 360 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Cherimoyas Lambayeqne The Balsa Its Use Numerous Reptiles and 
 Insects at Lambayeque Curious Mound-tombs Sepulchral Curiosities 
 found in them Alleged Imitation of them in Birmingham Huanchaco 
 The peremptory Lady Description of Call ao Its Destruction a Century 
 ago The frozen Apple 369 
 
 CHAPTER XL VII. 
 
 Site of Old Callao The shouting Inquirer Approach to Lima Absence of 
 Rain at that City The graceful Peruvian Costume The Poncho Mala 
 and Female Equestrians Arrival at Lima The Aspect of the City 
 Miradors Multitude of Asses in Lima London and Lima Costumes of 
 Lima Ladies The Bridge over the Rimac Venders of Cigars the Cor- 
 dilleras .". 375 
 
 CHAPTER XLVHI. 
 
 The Great Plaza The Cathedral of Lima The Streets of that City The , 
 Silversmiths The Bells of Lima Charitable Institutions Churches and 
 Conventsr-Mandsome Houses Palaces of the Past Grotesque Paintings 
 Well-appointed Carriages The Limanian Beircar- woman Particular- 
 ities of Lima Ladies' Dress Their Shoes M. and Madame B Their 
 
 Daughter 384
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Signal Instance of the Heroism of a Lady The Procession of the Oration 
 A Lottery in the Grand Plaza How conducted Distinguished Visitors 
 Chorillos The Sale of " Almas," or Souls The Public Museum Portraits 
 of the Spanish Viceroys Mummies of Peruvian Incas Beautiful stuffed 
 Birds Manco Capac Who were the first Incas? The Children of the 
 Sun Progress in Civilization of Old Peru 389 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Manco Capac and his Wife Their Instruction *of the Peruvians Old Peru 
 vian Roads Bull-lights at Lima Mode of conducting them Spectators at 
 them Limanian Ladies Beautiful Specimens of Peruvian Art and Inge- 
 nuity Silver ornamented Fruits Lima Burial Places The Amancaes - 
 The Fiesta of St. John The Valley of Amancaes The Flower of that 
 name The Streets of Lima after the Fiesta Concerts given by a French 
 Lady Fruits of Lima The Grenadilla "Italia" -Custom of washing 
 Plates by the lower Orders in Lima The Gorgonian Servant "Huacos" 
 and other Curiosities found in Peruvian Sepulchres The " Senorita" A 
 Garden in the Suburbs Its numerous Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers Ener- 
 vating Climate of Lima - 398 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 About to leave Lima The Cathedral Fragile but enduring Buildings in 
 Lima The Reason why they are the latter The Tower of San Domingo 
 The Chorister of the Cathedral The Shrine of Santa Rosa The Inqui- 
 sition at Lima The Cemetery Cemeteries in the United States Lima 
 Mode of Sepulture Remains of the Temple of the Sun Peruvian Politics 
 Disheartening News from California Verses on Happiness Earth- 
 quakes at Lima The Shoes of the L adies 412 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 The Voyage from Peru to Panama Farewell to Lima Guanacos The Rio 
 Lady in the Omnibus The Railroad begun Arrival at Callao Rodil's 
 
 Defense of Callao described Polite Attention of Captain W The 
 
 Harbor of Callao The Beauty of the Pacific Handsome Appointments 
 of the Steamer The Musical Stewards Mr. Bcebe, the Hatter, for Cali- 
 fornia Arrival at Payta The British Consul there Description of Payta 
 Treatment of Peru by the Spanish Conquerors Insurrection of Tupac 
 Amaru The Indians beyond Peru 421 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 Peru Her Internal Communication Her Forts and Coast Peruvian Agri- 
 culture Manufactures of Inland Peru Commerce of Peru HerCommodi 
 ties Her Trade Her Government Her Religion Peruvian Fertility 
 Mineral Resources Animals Cattle The Face of the Country The 
 Andes Rivers and Lakes of Peru Her Coasts ._ 431 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 Departure from Pern On board the " New World" The nautical Ladies 
 Chimborazo and Cotopaxi The Volcanoes of the Cordillera Crater of 
 Cotopaxi A narrow Escape Arrival at Panama An Amateur Concert 
 Departure from Panama Scene occasioned by a dead Mule Badness of 
 the Roads Arrival at Cruccs 438 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 The Hotel at Graces A felonious Cat The New Granadian Gentlemen 
 Progress toward Chagres Lightning, Thunder, and Rain Arrival at 
 Chagres The dead American Quarrels between Americans and the 
 Natives of Panama Humboldt's Estimate of the Indians Incredulity of 
 Californian Emigrants Melancholy case of two returned Californians A 
 beautiful Sunset Arrival at Jamaica Kingston Descent .of General 
 Lopez on Cuba Strange Effect of it Reverses of Jamaica Planters The 
 Glories of Nature Creation's Praise, a Poem .. 445
 
 NARRATIVE 
 
 OP 
 
 TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Arrival at New York First View of Broadway Summer Costume of the 
 Ladies Description of New York Its Suburbs and Islands Its Forti- 
 fications Prepare to start for Niagara. 
 
 THE Bay of New York looked beautiful on the morning of our 
 arrival (May 16th, 1849). It*was a bright, warm, splendid 
 morning ; the sun shone gloriously, and the sky reminded me of 
 Italy. We took leave of Captain Judkins, the obliging and ex- 
 cellent captain of " The Canada ;'' but before we went on shore, 
 we witnessed the disembarkation of the mails it is quite an 
 interesting spectacle. There were about thirty thousand letters 
 w,hite-winged messengers of peace ! one could not but rejoice at 
 the sight. Those numerous letters of business, of friendship, of 
 mutual interest, seemed so many links uniting the two countries in 
 a concord not to be easily, if ever, broken. 
 
 One of the first things that struck us on arriving in the city 
 of New York the Empress City of the West was, of course, 
 Broadway. It is a noble street, and has a thoroughly bustling, 
 lively, and somewhat democratic air. New York is certainly 
 handsome, and yet there is something about it that gives one the 
 idea of a half-finished <-ily, and this even in Broadway itself; for 
 the street was literally littered with all imaginable rubbish which, 
 we should imagine from appearances, is usually shot in that 
 celebrated thoroughfare ; indeed it seems a sort of preserve for this 
 species of game. Piles of timber, mounds of bricks, mountains of 
 packing-casas, pyramids of stones, and stacks of goods, were ob- 
 servable on all sides. The New Yorkers themselves grumble 
 much at the inconvenience, and their newspapers often contain
 
 14 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 pathetic remonstrances with the authorities, for allowing such 
 obstructions to crowd the thoroughfare. 
 
 Besides this, it appears from their published complaints, that 
 their streets are very much too often torn up for sewage pur- 
 poses, &c., and, in short, that this tiresome performance is fre- 
 quently unnecessarily encored, without their consent, and certainly 
 to their manifest inconvenience. They ask if their time is to be 
 taken up (as their streets are) continually, by having to stop every 
 two or three steps, and sit down on the next door-step to take the 
 paving-stones out of their boots 1 Qart-loads of these same paving- 
 stones, adding to the confusion, were to be seen on all sides, and 
 sometimes felt, as our handsome, heavy, crimson-velvet-lined, hired 
 vehicle (rather a warm-looking lining for New York, near the 
 beginning of June), swayed from side to side, arid rolled and rattled 
 ponderously along. 
 
 We went to the Astor House, or rather Astor Town, for its 
 size is prodigious : there we had comfortable bedrooms, and a nice 
 sitting-room ; and we dined in private ; and I was glad to find 
 no objection was made to this arrangement. There is a perfect 
 colony of Irish at the Astor House ; but till the accent betrayed 
 them, I took the waiters, at first, for French or German, so 
 carefully had they followed the example of their American fellow- 
 citizens (of whom, be it remembered, I had as yet beheld next to 
 nothing), and were so be-bearded, imperialed, and, I believe, in 
 many instances, mustachioed too, that Paddy seemed quite trans- 
 mogrified into a " whiskered Pandour or a fierce hussar," which 
 seemed unnecessary for the peaceful occupation of laying knives 
 not without forks and handing cream-ices. 
 
 What a glorious sunny day it was ! We had a glimpse of busy 
 Broadway from our windows. We soon saw some evidence of the 
 warmth of a New York summer, in the profusion of light cool 
 bonnets furnished with broad and deeply-hanging curtains, shading 
 and covering the throat and part of the shoulders a very sensible 
 costume for hot weather. The fashion, or the custom, just now 
 seems to be for all the ladies to wear large white shawls. I 
 never beheld such a number of white shawls mustered before, I 
 think : the female part of the population seem all vouee au blanc. 
 It had rather too table-clothy an appearance, and from its fre- 
 quency, the snowy shawl became quite tiresome ; besides, they 
 made one think of " weird white women," sheeted spectres, and 
 Abd-el-Kader's scouring Arabs, in their " burnooses." This is, 1 
 dare say, however, only a temporary fancy ; and probably, when I 

 
 ' SITUATION OF NEW YORK. 15 
 
 return to New York, they (the shawls, not the wearers thereof) 
 will all have been swept away, like so many light fleecy clouds, to 
 the four winds of heaven. 
 
 I will say but little of New York itself now, as this is only a 
 flying visit, and I shall return, ere long merely observing, en 
 passant, that every thing around me betokens energy, industry, 
 and prosperity, and also the impetuous go-aheadiness, which will 
 hardly allow time for completing all that is begun, or for contriv- 
 ing that order and comfort which should keep pace with improve- 
 ment and innovation. 
 
 New York is situated on Manhattan Island, at the confluence 
 of the bright and beautiful Hudson, with the East River (or Strait 
 of Long Island). It is the centre of an imposing panorama, arid 
 is screened from the tumultuous ocean by an assemblage of inter- 
 vening, protecting islands. Its harbor is safe, easy of access, very 
 spacious, and is said to be capable of accommodating the combined 
 navies of the world. This noble harbor occupies a sweeping 
 circuit of twenty-five miles : on every side it is gracefully bounded 
 by ever-varying scenery, country seats, and scattered hamlets, 
 while the above-mentioned lovely islands shine like precious jewels 
 on its radiant bosom. 
 
 The busy metropolis of the United States has almost constant 
 communication, by steam and sailing-packets, with all the sea- 
 ports of America, Asia, Africa, Europe, the East and West Indies, 
 and the islands of the Pacific. Its progress in commerce, popula- 
 tion, and wealth is indeed astonishinsr. The population in 1800 
 was 60,489; in 1820, 123,706; in f840, 312.710 ; and in 1849, 
 400,000. 
 
 Manhattan Island is thirteen and a half miles long from north 
 to south, ranging from half a mile to somewhat more than two 
 miles in width the greatest width being at Eighty-eighth-street, 
 and it contains about twenty-two square miles. Incessant com- 
 munication is kept up between the city and its picturesque, pros- 
 perous, and rapidly increasing suburbs, by means of steam ferry- 
 boats, the Harlern Railroad, and omnibusses ; the fares being, 
 exceedingly reasonable, and the accommodations extremely good. 
 
 In approaching New York from " The Narrows," one can 
 hardly fail to be struck by the beauty of the bay : the scenery on 
 its shore, as I have already mentioned, is very striking. The 
 outer harbor, or bay, extends from the " Narrows" to Sandy 
 Hook, where is a light-house at the distance of eighteen miles 
 from the city. In. the harbor, adjoining the city, are Bedlow's,
 
 16 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. . 
 
 Governor's, and Ellis's islands, all of them strongly fortified. The 
 first, and most important, includes seventy acres of ground, and is 
 situated three thousand two hundred feet from the Battery. Fort 
 Columbus occupies its centre, and on the northeast point is Castle 
 William, a round tower six hundred feet in circumference and sixty 
 feet high, with three tiers of guns. There is a battery likewise, 
 on the northwest side, commanding the entrance through Butter- 
 milk Channel, a strait which separates it from Brooklyn, Long 
 Island. 
 
 In addition to these fortifications, New York harbor is well 
 defended by similar works on Bedlow's and Ellis's Islands ; at 
 the Narrows, on the Long Island shore, by Fort Hamilton and 
 Fort Lafayette (formerly Fort Diamond), which is built on a 
 reef of rocks about two hundred yards from the shore ; and on 
 Staten Island, opposite, by Fort Tompkins and Fort Hichrnond. 
 Here the "Narrows" is about two-thirds of a mile wide. The 
 entrance from the Sound, on the East Hiver, is defended by Fort 
 Schuyler, on Throg's Neck. 
 
 So much for the defenses of the great emporium and metropolis 
 of the United States, and so much for itself for the present for I 
 am off to the great Niagara. Every facility for our journey has 
 been afforded us by the kindness of the English Consul and Mrs. 
 Barclay, who have amiably given me all the necessary instruc- 
 tions, directions, &c. It may easily be guessed how eagerly I long 
 to hear and see the waters of Erie, Superior, Huron, and Michigan, 
 all thundering down one mighty steep in their awful greatness and 
 power !
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Detained at Albany Wreck of the "Empire" Steamer Ame-rican Indif- 
 ference to human Life The theatrical Riot and Massacre caused by Mr. 
 Forrest's Jealousy of Macready Sympathy of the Lady for the Captain 
 of the "Empire" High-sounding names of Towns The Hudson- 
 Hotels at Albany Description of Albany. 
 
 WE came to the handsome town of Albany in a fast and beau- 
 tifully-decorated steamer ; but we might almost as well have been 
 on board a slow one, as we find we can not go on till to-morrow to 
 Buffalo. The steamboats and railroads do not communicate as 
 conveniently as they might do for travelers, and I hear this is done 
 expressly to please the hotel-keepers, by forcing travelers to remain 
 a night at Albany. I was much disappointed ; and so full were 
 my thoughts of the great cataract, that I might well expect to 
 have a nightmare of Niagara to-night, which would not be a 
 pleasant introduction, or preface of an introduction to " the Falls." 
 
 The Hudson is a beauteous river ; but, in the midst of its love- 
 liness, it was very triste to come upon the wreck of the splendid 
 " Empire" steamer, which was lost two nights before we started. 
 I believe she ran foul of a large merchant vessel in the dark, and 
 went down very shortly afterward. Numbers of lives were lost ; 
 many dead bodies had been picked up, arid as soon as they can. 
 penetrate into her sleeping cabins they expect to find many more. 
 They were slowly attempting to raise the steamer when we 
 passed. 
 
 Then was I a second time struck by the American indifference 
 to human life, which 1 had before observed at New York. The 
 first time, it was on occasion of the frightful massacre of citizens 
 at the miserable theatrical row occasioned by Mr. Forrest's pro- 
 fessional jealousy of our Macready. It seemed to excite wonder- 
 fully little horror, indignation, or regret. One or two of the news- 
 papers kept up an agitation about the matter ; but I do not think 
 I have yet heard a single person stigmatize the shooting some 
 five-and-twenty citizens on such an occasion, as uncalled for or 
 severe. I have heard some say it was perfectly right ; and that 
 it was a pity so few had paid the penalty of their misconduct ; I 
 heard even harsher things said than that, but forbear to repeat 
 them, les't it should be thought that I exaggerate.
 
 18 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 After all, I believe most of those who suffered were merely idle 
 spectators, drawn there by curiosity, or mixed by chance in the 
 crowd. However, that is very often the case in less severe en- 
 counters between the mob and the preservers of order. When I 
 expressed my horror at such a frightful massacre in the streets of 
 a peaceful city, I found none to sympathize with such sentiments, 
 if I except the columns of the Herald. In the crowded steamer, 
 where one heard people talking over the topics of the day, I do 
 not remember to have once heard the subject alluded to, though 
 the affair had so recently happened. What a sensation would 
 such a slaughter have excited in London ! 
 
 When we passed the melancholy wreck of the ill-starred 
 " Empire," whose fate had caused the destruction of so many 
 lives, scarcely any one manifested any interest in the catastrophe. 
 They sauntered to that side of the vessel in crowds to look very 
 indifferently, it appeared to me, at the mournful spectacle, as they 
 might arid would have done at any other sight. Yet in addition 
 to the great number of corpses that had already been found, it was 
 almost certain that the still submerged cabins were so many 
 coffins ; and those who were prosecuting the melancholy search 
 were constantly, we were told, finding fresh bodies in different 
 parts of the vessel. 
 
 The only person who seemed to me at all to feel any commiser- 
 ation and regret was a lady who stood near me, and all hers was 
 reserved exclusively for the captain of the ill-fated steamer, who 
 was her cousin, and who, however, was alive and safe. But, she 
 said, some people blamed him, which was very hard, as it was no 
 fault of his; and he had been quite "sick," she assured me, ever 
 since, from the annoyance he had undergone. Thus the only one 
 who was pitied, it seemed, was one who survived. She added, 
 however, he was much shocked at all that had happened. It was 
 really consolatory to hear, that there was such a thing as compas- 
 sion, in this busy, go-ahead world of the West, for unfortunates, 
 who had been so suddenly and unexpectedly launched into eter- 
 jiity ; for one began, almost unconsciously, to lower even one's own 
 opinion of the value of existence, and to think life a very two- 
 penny-halfpenny possession, after all. I will not be sure, however, 
 but that what so shocked the captain, was the amount of property 
 lost ; but I would not too curiously inquire touching the point, 
 preferring to think the sorrow arose from more humane feelings. 
 
 Whence arises this indifference to human life in so flourishing 
 and prosperous a community ? One has always understood that
 
 HIGH-SOUNDING NAMES OF TOWNS. 19 
 
 existence is of little account in China, because the over-crowded, 
 half-starved, hard-worked, oppressed, and tyrannized-over popula- 
 tion, are so wretched in this world, that any change must, they 
 feel, be a beneficial one for them ; but how different is the case 
 here ? Yet true it is that they are tyrannized over by a very 
 despotic task-master, and a very exacting and spirit-grinding ruler 
 Mammon ; and I can well imagine that ceaseless toil in his 
 service, with all the cares and troubles incident to it, must make 
 a man find life somewhat of a wearisome burden. Indeed, money- 
 getting, which is certainly in most countries a great business, ap- 
 pears here to me almost a battle. It seems as if they must win, 
 do or die, and the dead on the field are trodden under loot by their 
 eager comrades and competitors, hurrying onward, and having no 
 time to stay, however they might be disposed. That they are a very 
 kind-hearted people, I fully believe ; but to make money seems a 
 sort of duty in America the great object of living ; and this para- 
 mount feeling, to a certain extent, like Aaron's rod, swallows up 
 all the rest. 
 
 On our road to Niagara, to-morrow, we shall come to a great 
 many very high-sounding places : Rome, Syracuse, Egypt, Athens, 
 Geneva, Utica, Amsterdam, Batavia, and Palmyra, among them, 
 I believe. A noble line of places indeed, and worthy of forming 
 the road to the great, glorious Niagara, if their actual state, cir- 
 cumstances, and proportion harmonized with their pretensions. 
 What a pity the Americans do not choose Indian names for their 
 rising towns and cities, which are generally as sonorous and noble- 
 sounding as they are impressive and poetical ! Setting aside the 
 inadequacy of the towns in general, for the present at, least, to do 
 justice to such splendid appellations, and the sometimes ridiculous 
 juxtaposition in which they are placed with regard to each other 
 (the most different, and distant, and hostile places in the Old 
 World being forced into a sort of happy-family brotherhood in the 
 New), in their immediate neighborhood are too often found other 
 flourishing villages and lowus rejoicing in the very homely desig- 
 nations of Smithsville, Brownsville, Onion, Jacksontown, &c. 
 In one place I see they have an infant Troy (not the one almost 
 close to this place, but some diminutive rival) then Highgate, 
 Canaan, Guildhall, Milton, Hyde Park, and Columbia, are all 
 tolerably near to one another ; but I believe this is nothing to the 
 greater incongruities which the West presents in its more out-of- 
 the-way districts. 
 
 We were quite charmed with the extreme beauty of the Hud-
 
 20 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 son and its banks, especially at West Point. I shall not go into 
 any particulars on the subject till my return, but only say the 
 river reminded me of the Rhine in many parts, minus the old 
 feudal castles. 
 
 When we arrived at Albany we first tried a very handsome- 
 looking hotel in a high situation, from whence I thought we 
 should have a fine view, which our driver recommended, the one 
 I had been advised to go to in New York being quite full. It 
 was closed, and this, I suppose, our cunning driver knew right 
 well, but it gave him the opportunity of asking about twice as 
 much more for our short but rather steep drive, as we had paid 
 for our passage the whole way from New York ; the one being 
 remarkably cheap, the other rather more remarkably dear. Of 
 course we soon ibund another hotel, for Albany abounds with 
 them. Here are some of their names Stanwix Hall, the Ameri- 
 can Hotel, the City, the Clinton,. Columbian, Congress Hall, 
 Delavan House, Temperance Hotel, Eastern Railroad Hotel, Frank- 
 lin House, Mansion House (where we are staying), United States 
 Hotel, and Washington Hall. 
 
 The proprietor and people here are extremely civil and obliging, 
 and we are very comfortable. The street in which our hotel is sit- 
 uation is particularly handsome ; it is exceedingly wide with excel- 
 lent and very broad trottoirs (which they call here side-walks). 
 
 This town was founded by the Dutch in 1623, and called Fort 
 Orange, and in 1686 it was chartered as a city. Next to James- 
 town in Virginia, it was the earliest European settlement within 
 the thirteen original States ; it has not, however, at all an ancient 
 air, at least as far as I have seen of it ; but, in fact, it was almost 
 entirely rebuilt not long ago ; I believe after one of the dreadful 
 fires so frequent in the United States. 
 
 When the English captured New York this town was named 
 Albany, a compliment to the Duke of York and Albany, after- 
 ward James the Second. Its position makes it necessarily a great 
 thoroughfare : it is placed near the head of tide navigation, and 
 on the direct line of communication from the east and : the south 
 with the River St. Lawrence, with the Saratoga Springs, and 
 with the country of the great Lakes. 
 
 The city has acquired great additional commercial importance 
 
 ' since the completion of the Erie and Champlain canals : this 
 
 has made it the entrepdt for a large proportion of the products of 
 
 the State destined to the New York markets. A fine basin is 
 
 constructed upon the river to accommodate this large trade: in
 
 DESCRIPTION OF ALBANY. 21 
 
 j&^ .^;-> 
 
 this all the boats employed on the northern and western canals 
 are received. This consists of part of the river included between 
 the shore and a noble pier, whose proportions are magnificent. 
 It is, indeed, a stupendous work, containing several acres, on 
 which large stores have been built, where enormous quantities of 
 " lumber," and other articles of trade are collected. Drawbridges 
 connect it with the city. 
 
 The public buildings here are said to be handsome : the popu- 
 lation is forty-five thousand, or thereabouts. The town appears 
 very clean, and is altogether a very striking-looking, bustling, 
 thriving, and admirably-situated place. The Capitol looks im- 
 posing at the head of State-street, one hundred and thirty feet 
 above the Hudson. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Difficulty of conveying the Impression caused by a first View of the Falls 
 of Niagara An Attempt to do so The Falls described A Thunder- 
 storm over the Great Cataracts The Rainbow Kindness and Courtesy 
 of the Americans Their Spirit of Enterprise Luxurious Appointments 
 of American Steamers The Dimensions of the Falls Goat Island 
 Quantity of Water precipitated over the Falls Grand and Navy Islands. 
 
 WE arrived at Niagara to-day from Buffalo, and put up at the 
 Clifton House. It will not be expected that I should tell what 
 my first feelings and impressions were on beholding this thrice- 
 glorious cataract, for I hardly am in the least conscious of what 
 they were myself. I only know this ; it scarcely seemed to me 
 at all like what any painting or any description had represented it 
 to be, except only in the shape of the great Canadian Fall. 
 
 When the train we were in stopped, the roar of the cataract 
 burst on our ears most majestically. It was a moment of intense 
 excitement, and on we hastened, and stood very shortly within a 
 few feet of the verge of the American Fall, and looking on to the 
 magnificent Horse Shoe. There we were in the audience-chamber 
 of the great Water King. If one saw the sun for the first time, 
 could one describe it ? Do not expect me yet to say any thing of 
 Niagara ; at least any thing to the purpose. The garrulous mood 
 will very likely come on me presently ; when, perhaps, I shall 
 quite tire the reader with my rhapsodies, so that he may have 
 cause to wish all rny powers of expression were still frozen up by
 
 22 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 awe and admiration, like the notes in the horn, as related of Baron 
 Munchauseij. 
 
 What a wonderful thing can water become ! One feels, on 
 looking at Niagara, as if one had never seen that element before. 
 Were I to try and tell what I felt at my second and third look at 
 the Mighty Wonder, I think it was still confusion and bewilder- 
 ment, mingled with a slight disappointment at the apparent height 
 of the cataract, and very much the reverse with regard to the 
 general features and breadth ; and now I can most truly say it is 
 far more magnificent than I had anticipated it to^be, though my 
 expectations were of the very highest order. 
 
 For the spray (I can already find courage to speak of that) it 
 is what enchants me the most in the whole stupendously magnifi- 
 cent scene. It is a very stormy windy day, carrying the huge 
 columns of that beauteous spray to an immense height, so it is 
 seen to the greatest advantage. I think it sometimes seems really 
 celestial ! it looks like something not of this world. This hotel is 
 very close to the Falls, and, as I write, I have only to look up, to 
 see them. The noise is extremely fine, like the stormy roaring of 
 a tempest-shaken sea, only the sound is more measured, and con- 
 veys an idea of a calm, kingly defiance, altogether inexpressibly 
 grand and solemn. 
 
 Besides feeling as if it were a presumption to attempt to write 
 about Niagara, thus in its overpowering presence, as it were, I 
 find it very difficult to write at all now, as I am drawn to the 
 window and balcony constantly (whence one sees both Falls fully), 
 by the irresistible fascination of this most wonderful water ; and the 
 changes that take place almost momentarily are a source of great 
 interest. At one time it looks enveloped and almost hidden in 
 spray ; an instant afterward, perhaps, it shines forth fully reveal- 
 ed ; now it seems covered with gloom, and looks black and frown- 
 ing, and full of wrath and terror ; and now the sun (which alone 
 appears worthy to be its comrade and compeer) breaks forth, and 
 makes it all one glory. 
 
 V is enchanted, and independently of the intense enjoy- 
 ment Niagara afibrds her, she is delighted to find herself once 
 more in the country, where all looks beautifully green and fresh. 
 Her bedroom window opens on the American Fall. I went there 
 just now, to have a view from that side, and I can not tell how 
 much one delights in the immense variety and diversified points 
 of view these matchless cataracts present. 
 
 Though I have been here so short a time, I think I have
 
 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 23 
 
 already seen them display a hundred different aspects. From 
 
 V 's window I saw a wonderfully beautiful rainbow on the 
 
 water ; one-half of the American Fall was in deep shadow, and 
 the other in dazzling sunlight. A small cloud was just passing 
 over the sun above it. 
 
 I must now the first overpowering impression having been 
 conquered try to speak a little of what I think arid feel about 
 this glorious Fall. But what language could ever do justice to 
 its more than magnificence 1 It seems to belong really to some 
 grander world, of more gigantic proportions and sublimer features 
 than our own. 
 
 Before I came here, I erroneously supposed that one should be 
 immensely struck, and overpowered, and enchanted at first, but 
 that afterward there would be a certain degree of monotony at- 
 tached to that unvarying sublimity, which I wrongly believed to 
 be the great characteristic of Niagara. But, how miserably did I 
 do it injustice! Perhaps the most peculiar and transcendent 
 attribute of this matchless cataract, is its almost endless variety. 
 The innumerable diversities of its appearance, the continual 
 'countless rapid alterations in its aspect; in short, the perpetually 
 varying phases which it displays, are indeed wondrous and truly 
 indescribable.* This is a great deal owing to the enormous volumes 
 of spray which are almost incessantly shifting and Changing their 
 forms like the clouds above. Niagara, indeed, has its own clouds, 
 and they not only give it the great charrn and interest of an ever- 
 beautiful and exquisite variety, but also environ it with a lovely 
 and bewildering atmosphere of mystery, which seems the very 
 crown of its manifold perfections and glories. 
 
 Niagara has its changes like the sea, and in its lesser space cir- 
 cumscribed, they seem fully as comprehensive and multitudinous. 
 I have dwelt long on this, because I do not remember to have 
 seen this mighty and transcendent feature of Niagara particularly 
 noticed in any of the descriptions I have ever read of it, and it has 
 most especially delighted. and astonished me. 
 
 We were so very fortunate as to have a tremendous thunder- 
 storm here on Tuesday night, and it may be guessed what a tre- 
 mendous thunder-storm must be here ! The heavens seemed 
 literally opening just over the great cataracts, and the intense- 
 ly vivid lightning, brighter than day, lit up the giant Falls, 
 and seemed mixed and mingling with the dazzling mountains of 
 spray, which then looked more beautiful and beatific than ever. 
 It was a wild wiitdy night, as if all the elements were revelling
 
 24 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 together in a stormy chaotic carnival, of their own, till it really 
 presented altogether a scene almost too awfully magnificent. 
 
 The deafening roar of the crashing thunder was yet louder than 
 the roar of the cataract, and completely appeared to djjcxwn it while 
 it lasted; but the moment the stormy roll of the thunder died 
 away, it was grand indeed to hear again the imposing, unceasing 
 sound of Niagara like the voice of a giant conqueror uttering a 
 stunning but stately cry of victory. Then soon the bellowing 
 thunder broke forth again, fiercer and louder than before; and oh, 
 the lightning ! it seemed like a white-winged sunbreak when it 
 blazed on the snowy glare of the ever- foaming cataracts. 
 
 I hardly ever saw before such dazzling lightning; and those 
 reverberating peals of Niagara-out-voicmg thunder were truly 
 terrific, and appeared quite close. Heaven and earth seemed 
 shouting to one another in those "sublime and stupendous voices ; 
 and what a glorious hymn they sang between them ! At first, 
 the lightning was only like summer flashes, and it kept glancing 
 round the maddened waters as if playing with them, and defying 
 them in sport ; but, after a little while, a fearful flash, updarted 
 really like a sudden sun, behind the great Horse Shoe Fall, and the 
 whole blazed out into almost unendurable light in a moment. 
 The storm continued during the whole night. 
 
 From our drawing-room windows we have a magnificent view 
 of the Horse Shoe Fall, and almost the whole of the American one 
 besides ; and what a sublime pomp and pageant of Nature it is ! 
 What a thrilling, soul-stirring sight ; and, ever new and ever 
 changing, and eternally suggesting fresh thoughts, fresh feelings 
 and emotions. Just now, a violent gust of wind drove a huge 
 cloud of spray quite OH our side of the Canadian Falls, and it was 
 hovering between the two glorious cataracts like a mighty, sus- 
 pended avalanche, till it dispersed. This transcendently beautiful 
 spray is generally most brilliantly white, like sunlit snow. We 
 saw a vast resplendent rainbow on the water itself on Tuesday 
 afternoon, of colors quite unimaginably bright, and we had a mar- 
 velously glorious sunset last evening. There were flaming, blood- 
 red reflections on the rocks, trees, and islands ; but the most deli- 
 cate suffusions only, of a rich soft rose color, rested on the fantastic 
 forms of the matchless spray as if it softened and refined every 
 thing that came near it, and made all that touched it as rare and 
 exquisite as its. own etherialized self. He who has not seen,.. can 
 have no idea of the absorbing nature of the admiration excited in one's 
 mind by this surpassing and astounding marvel of creation : I feel
 
 ENTERPRISE OF AMERICANS. 25 
 
 quite enthralled and fascinated by it, and time seems to fly by at 
 an electric-telegraph pace here, while 1 am watching it. 
 
 I feel so rooted and riveted to this spot by the unutterable en- 
 chantments of this master-piece of Nature, I can scarcely believe 
 that two days have passed since I first arrived. One becomes 
 here, indeed, utterly Niagarized ; and, the great cataract goes 
 sounding through all one's soul, and heart, and mind, commin- 
 gling with all one's ideas and impressions, and uniting itself with 
 all one's innermost feelings and fancies. The sounds of the Fall 
 vary nearly as much as their aspect : sometimes very hollow, at 
 other times solemn and full-toned, like an host of organs uttering 
 out their grand voices together ; and sometimes, as I heard it said, 
 the other day, with a rolling kettle-drum, gong-like sound, in ad- 
 dition as if it were a temporary and accidental accompaniment 
 to their majestic oceanic roar. 1 have come patriotically to the 
 British side, but not from any want of liking for the mighty neigh- 
 bors of the Canadians. 
 
 Great injustice has been done to the Americans, and we have 
 been accustomed too implicitly to believe the often unfair and un- 
 founded reports of prejudiced travelers. Instead of discourteous 
 and disobliging manners we find them all that is most civil and 
 obliging. Among the less educated, no doubt, occasionally, some 
 of the faults so unsparingly attributed to them, may be found ; 
 but they appear to me, as far as I have had any opportunity of 
 judging as yet, a thoroughly hospitable, kind-hearted, and gener- 
 ous-minded people. 
 
 And, then, what a noble, enterprising people they are ! What 
 miraculous progress and improvement is visible on every side in 
 the United States. One town we camo through, Bufialo, was, 
 not many years ago, I was told, a mere Indian village : it is now 
 a mighty city. Albany is also a magnificent town ; the streets are 
 strikingly broad and straight ; the trottoirs are about the width 
 of Dover street ! The steamers on the Hudson are perfect palaces, 
 and fairy palaces to boot ! being the most delicate and finished 
 creations of art, and fancy you can imagine ; larger than the far- 
 famed " Great Britain," and apparently lighter than the rainbow- 
 ed coracle of a nautical sylph : a floating island of painting, marble, 
 gilding, stained glass, velvet hangings, satin draperies, mirrors iu 
 richly-carved frames, and sculptured ornaments, with beautiful 
 vases of flowers, Chinese lamps of various indescribable fantastic 
 forms, arabesques, chandeliers in short, you might fancy yourself 
 in Haroun Alraschid's palace. 
 
 B
 
 28 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 It was very agreeable, steaming along in the Bucentaur-beating 
 vessel, and looking on the fine scenery of the lovely Hudson, in the 
 most charming, warm, soft, sunny weather. And now the po- 
 tent wondrous magnet, the mighty mystery that mortals call Ni- 
 agara, draws me to the windows, and I must go and watch that 
 world of wonders. By the way, what a fortunate thing it was 
 that the noble old Indian name was retained for this. How dis- 
 tracting it would have been, to have had it named Smith's Fall, 01 
 Patch's Plunge. 
 
 It rains a little now, and the vast black clouds hovering neat 
 the snowy spray, have a truly noble and striking effect ; like the 
 shadowy Angel, Death, about to bound on his pale courser ; but 
 every thing is noble and beauteous here ! there is scarcely a cloud in 
 the sky that does not pay its tribute, and fling its fresh fairy-gift 
 on these magical waters. I have, as yet seen nothing of moon- 
 light and star-light on them. 
 
 We see, constantly, a small steamer, called " The Maid of the 
 Mist," going almost close to the foot of the Falls. The River Ni- 
 agara forms the outlet of the waters of Lake Erie, and of all the 
 great Upper Lakes, which, together with Erie and Ontario, are 
 estimated to contain nearly one half the fresh water on the surface 
 of the globe ! At the distance of about three-fourths of a mile 
 above the Falls, the river begins a rapid descent, making, within 
 this distance, a constant succession of slopes equal to about fifty- 
 two feet on the American side, and fifty-seven on the Canadian. 
 It forms an impetuous current just above the Falls, and turns a 
 right angle to the northeast, and then its width becomes suddenly 
 contracted, from three miles to three-quarters of a mile. The 
 river's depth below the cataract exceeds three hundred feet. 
 Goat, or Iris Island (containing somewhere about seventy-five 
 acres) divides the gigantic cataract into two parts, but on the 
 western, or British side, is the principal channel. The channel 
 between Goat Island and the eastern shore is also divided by a 
 small island. 
 
 The noble river falls perpendicularly over the precipice from a 
 hundred and seventy to two hundred feet. The Horse Shoe, 01 
 Crescent Fall is so called from its shape : it looks to me like a 
 mighty scooped-out throne for some King of the oceans of a hun- 
 dred worlds. In the eastern channel, between Goat and Luna 
 Islands, the stream's breadth is only about ten yards : it forms a 
 lonely, separate cascade, and assists one to form a due estimate of 
 the enormous width of the awful cataracts thundering near it.
 
 HORSE SHOE FALL. 27 
 
 Between Luna Island and the shore, with a comparatively shal- 
 low stream, the descent of the Fall is said to be greater by several 
 feet than at the Horse-shoe Fall. An ingeniously constructed 
 bridge connects Goat Island with the shore, from whence you 
 have an excellent view of the rapids ; indeed the bridge crosses 
 the American branch of the river in the midst of them. You 
 look on your right hand, and there is the roaring American Fall, 
 almost close to you. 
 
 Goat Island is a gem of beauty, and its lovely foliage and bow- 
 ery walks seem to charm away a little of the overpowering awful- 
 ness from its tremendous neighbor. It is said that if, as is suppo- 
 sed, the cataract has backed all the way from Queenstown, it 
 must have taken about forty thousand years for it to recede to its 
 present situation. 
 
 The quantity of water precipitated over the Falls is estimated 
 by Professor Dwight to be 11,524,375 tons per hour ; by Darby 
 at 1,672,704,000 cubic feet per hour, and by Pickens at 113,510, 
 000, or 18,524,000 cubic feet a minute. 
 
 Among the islands which diversify the surface of the Niagara 
 River, is Grand Island, which contains 18,000 acres of good and 
 fertile soil, covered with rich forests. Navy Island is another, and 
 it terminates in a beautiful point about a mile and a half abovo 
 the Fall. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Port Talbot Canadian Carriages Vast Extent of American Woods The 
 
 Hotel at Port Stanley Lake Erie Mr. A and his Family Col. 
 
 Talbot, the " Last of the Mohicans" Instance of the Memory of North 
 American Indians Another Story of the same Kind A Recurrence to 
 Niagara A second Thunder-storm American Forests Lake Erie by 
 Sunset The Maple and the Sugar made from it Coldness of Canadian 
 Winters. 
 
 WE arrived at Port Talbot, Canada West, a day or two ago 
 from Niagara, where we staid a fortnight. This is a delightful 
 place. We went back to Buffalo, then crossed a part of Lake 
 Erie (we were a day and a night on board the steamer " London"), 
 and, landing at Port Stanley, we had some refreshments at the 
 little hotel there, where we were well taken care of, ty the partic-
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ularly attentive and obliging proprietors ; and then we carne on 
 in a hired carriage, through beautiful woods to this beautiful spot. 
 
 The road, however, was not equally beautiful, and we broke down, 
 which apparently not unforeseen accident our driver took very 
 unconcernedly and philosophically, and immediately set about re- 
 pairing the damage. A carriage breaking down is of little mo- 
 ment indeed in the woods of Canada, where they are usually of a 
 tough and rough kind, and where the charioteer (who, I believe, 
 is generally expected to be somewhat experienced in this way), 
 speedily rectifies the injury by cutting down the first likely tree 
 by the road-side, and adapting it to his purpose by some " rough 
 and ready" kind of craft. 
 
 In this instance I had little doubt but that our damaged vehi- 
 cle would come out of the hands of our Jehu nearly, if not quite, 
 as good as new ; for its " build" was such, that he might very 
 probably have been himself the coach-maker originally, as well as 
 coach-driver and coach-breaker. We were soon jolting and pitch- 
 ing along as merrily as ever, and arrived without any bones bro- 
 ken, as we flattered ourselves, at the hospitable door of Port Tal- 
 bot. Its kind and friendly proprietor, with Colonel and Mrs. 
 
 A , his nephew and niece, received us with the most amiable 
 
 cordiality, and we are quite enchanted with the place. 
 
 The house is beautifully situated on a high bank close to Lake 
 Erie, of which I have a magnificent view from my window. 
 Within view of the house (which has splendid groups of trees 
 close to it), stretch away mighty woods, which probably continue 
 without interruption, except from the lakes and the strides of 
 American civilization in Michigan and Wisconsin, to the very 
 shores of the Pacific. I could not have " realized" such enormous 
 worlds of woods as I have even already seen, without beholding 
 them with my own eyes. 
 
 On our way from Port Stanley here, we passed numbers of neat, 
 newly-erected wooden houses of emigrants, looking generally very 
 comfortable, and occasionally exceedingly pretty ; with the bright 
 cheerful-looking clearings about them, and the grandeur of the fine 
 sombre old forests stretching away around them, as if to shut out 
 
 the every-day ivorldly world. Colonel and Mrs. A have 
 
 made this house delightfully comfortable, and there is an air of 
 true English comfort and of that indescribable refinement, which 
 the gorgeously-furnished saloons and chambers of the hotels we 
 have lately been at in New York and other places, did not pos- 
 sess. Every thing is in the perfection of good taste. The draw-
 
 LAST OF THE MOHICANS." 
 
 ing-room is a most charming apartment, with large windows 
 reaching down to the ground, presenting a lovely view of that 
 fresh-water sea, Lake Erie. 
 
 My own room is really quite luxuriously appointed in some 
 particulars ; first and foremost with regard to some splendid deco- 
 rations and draperies of beautiful old Greek lace, which our fair 
 hostess brought with her from the Ionian Islands, where she had 
 resided for some time (what a change from such an ancient world 
 as grand old Greece, to this grand young one, Canada !) but there 
 is nothing gaudy, and nothing that looks out of place here or un- 
 suited to the general character of simplicity of the house, owing to 
 the exquisite arrangement of all the subordinate parts, and the 
 graceful tact with which every thing has been ordered and con- 
 trived. 
 
 The amiable lady of the house tells me she went through a 
 great deal of discomfort when they first established themselves 
 here, which I can readily believe ; but she seems to make a capital 
 and very contented emigrant now. Her charming children one 
 or more of whom are little Greeks, that is, born in Corfu seem 
 to have suffered nothing from the rigor of a Canadian winter, and 
 they appear thoroughly to enjoy a Canadian summer. Colonel 
 Talbot does not live in this house, but in a sort of shanty, which 
 agrees extremely with rny idea (probably a very imperfect one) of 
 an Indian wigwam, close by. He is going, almost immediately, 
 to rebuild it, and make a good-sized comfortable house of it. 
 
 His life has been replete with adventures, since he came out 
 here as a settler between forty and fifty years ago. He has per- 
 formed almost prodigies here, and possesses immense tracts of coun- 
 try in these wild regions. In former days he used to milk his 
 own cows, and drive them home from their pasturing places, for 
 many miles sometimes ; and besides, he did all the household work 
 in his establishment; cooked, churned butter, washed, &c. His 
 energy and perseverance were finally rewarded with great success ; 
 and he is lord of almost a principality here, and of a very flourish- 
 ing one, apparently, too. He tells me he is in reality " the last of 
 the Mohicans," having been adopted many years ago into this 
 gallant tribe, and called by them by an Indian name, which I will 
 not attempt to spell. He told me a remarkable instance of the 
 accurate memory of the North American Indians. It seems that, 
 having been away, and not having seen any of the tribe for a great 
 many years, one day, on his return, he met an Indian, whom he 
 did not in the least recognize, but who, the moment he saw him,
 
 30 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 repeated softly his Indian name in the usual, calm, impressive man- 
 ner of the red man. Another story, not of a Mohican, but of a 
 gentleman, apparently quite as cool in his proceedings, amused me 
 much. It appears, some years ago, the colonel called to his serv- 
 ant to bring him some warm water for shaving purposes. The 
 servant did not answer ; and after repeatedly calling in vain, Colonel 
 Talbot ascertained at length that the man had marched off, having, 
 I believe, spoken before of feeling discontented where he was, but 
 without giving any reason to think he would shake the dust of Port 
 Talbot from his shoes so suddenly. Some years afterward, Col- 
 onel Talbot one morning called for warm water, and in walked 
 the truant, most demurely, jug in hand, and proceeded to take upon 
 himself all his once repudiated valet duties, in the most quiet and 
 regular manner imaginable, as if he had never been absent from 
 his post for an hour. He alluded not to what had occurred ; nor 
 did Colonel Talbot. The Mohican could not easily surpass that, 
 I think, in coolness and self-possession, and Colonel Talbot, too, 
 was evidently not made one of the tribe for nothing. It reminds 
 me of a Yankee story of a man who sent his young son for a log 
 to put on the fire. The son brought a mere stick, and papa whip- 
 ped hirn ; so the young gentleman went out again for a large log, 
 and never returned ; at least not till twenty-five years after- 
 wards, when, one evening, the choleric, corporal-punishment-lov- 
 ing old gentlemen, was calling to one of his grandsons to bring in 
 a " large log for the fire," and in stalked son number 1, 2, or 3, as 
 the case might be, who had so unconscionably absented himself, 
 with a Brobdignagian log in his dexter hand. The old gentleman 
 looked quietly up, examined the log, threw it carelessly on the fire, 
 and then addressed his returned runaway : " This 'ere log '11 do ; 
 but you've been a darned long time a-fetching it." 
 
 Let me go back to Niagara. The reader may imagine our good 
 fortune ; we had a second thunder-storm there, far finer than the 
 first. It continued through the whole night, and the lightning 
 was unspeakably terrific, like a long succession of rising suns be- 
 hind the falls, dazzling, bewildering, almost blinding it was ; but 
 most inconceivably, incommunicably glorious. A church was 
 
 struck not far off^ and severely damaged. V is much afraid 
 
 generally, during a thunder-storm ; but we both fortunately hap- 
 pened to think it was sheet lightning (for till it cornes very near, 
 you can not hear the thunder for the chorus of the cataracts). 
 But for this I think she would have been much alarmed, for the 
 sight was awfully tremendous.
 
 CANADIAN WINTERS. 31 
 
 As it was she even ventured to look at it from the balcony. 
 How almost supernaturally sublime it looked ! Between all the 
 flashes, for a moment or two it was pitchy dark ; then, when out- 
 leaped the piercing lightning, the cataracts burst into full view, 
 instantaneously of course, in all their overwhelming majesty and 
 grandeur. V -^-exclaimed that it looked like Vesuvius in vast 
 eruption (which she saw last year), hovering and blazing over 
 Niagara ; and really it was a very fair simile, if you can imagine 
 an intermittent Vesuvian eruption. 
 
 I think, next to Niagara, I admire these enormous forests, with 
 their wild wondrous luxuriance of foliage, of every exquisite shade 
 of the most lustrous and resplendent green : they are sublime. 
 Lake Erie looked splendid in a very fine sunset the other evening. 
 It seemed almost paved with many-colored jewels, and long bars 
 of light, of divers and brilliant hues, crossed it. At another time, 
 it appeared strewn all over, from the horizon to the shore, with 
 myriads of all sorts and species of roses ! 
 
 Among the many beauteous trees here, I have admired much 
 the sugar maples. By the way, I tasted some of the sugar the 
 other day, and thought it excellent. In tea or cofiee I should not 
 know it from the cane sugar ; but alone, it tastes, I think, very 
 much like sugar-candy. The children had a little pic-nic in the 
 
 woods. V was superlatively happy, superintending various 
 
 cookings and contrivings. 
 
 Our charming hostess says this place is so cold in the winter, 
 that even with an enormous fire in her room, her ink has frozen 
 in the inkstand while she has been writing a letter. I suppose 
 this is owing to the isolated situation of the house, and to the im- 
 mense forests almost contiguous to it, for I believe no such inten- 
 sity of cold (or very rarely) is experienced in the cities and towns 
 of Canada.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Return to New York Courtesy and Hospitality of the Americans Butter- 
 flies and Humming-birds Railroads through American Forests Rapid 
 Progress of American Civilization Port Stanley Captain Bawbee De- 
 scription of Buffalo Trading Facilities of that City The United States' 
 Military Academy Monument to Kosciusko His Garden West Point 
 The Traitor Arnold and Major Andr6 Constitution Island Oppressive 
 Heat of the Weather. 
 
 WE again find ourselves, on the 25th June, in the busy, stirring, 
 populous, go-ahead State of New York. We have suffered much 
 from the heat : it was really intense during our journey. The 
 number of people who are said to have died from the effects of 
 coup de soleil here, is quite extraordinary. 
 
 I like the Americans more and more : either they have im- 
 proved wonderfully lately, or else the criticisms on them have 
 been cruelly exaggerated. They are particularly courteous and 
 obliging ; and seem, I think, amiably anxious that foreigners 
 should carry away a favorable impression of them. As for me, let 
 other travelers say what they please of them, I am determined 
 not t<> be prejudiced, but to judge of them exactly as I find them ; 
 and 1 phall most pertinaciously continue to praise them (if I see 
 no good cause to alter my present humble opinion), and most es- 
 pecially for their obliging civility and hospitable attention to 
 strangers, of which I have already seen several instances. 
 
 I have witnessed but very few isolated cases, as yet, of the 
 unrefined habits so usually ascribed to them ; and those cases 
 decidedly were not among the higher orders of people ; for there 
 seems just as much difference in America as any where else in 
 some respects. The superior classes here have almost always 
 excellent manners, and a great deal of real and natural, as well 
 as acquired refinement, and are often besides (which perhaps will 
 not be believed in fastidious England) extremely distinguished 
 looking. By the way, the captains of the steam-boats appear a 
 remarkably gentlemanlike race of men in general, particularly 
 courteous in their deportment, and very considerate and obliging to 
 the passengers. 
 
 I must not forget to mention the delight with which, at Port 
 Talbot, we beheld some beautiful humming-birds flying about in
 
 RAPID PROGRESS OF AMERICA. 33 
 
 the garden, and such gorgeous butterflies ; it was quite a pleasure 
 to look at them ! It seemed so strange to see these tropical-looking 
 humming-birds fluttering about amid the bowers and trees, that 
 we know are doomed to be stripped of all their beauty by the icy 
 terrors of the severe Canadian winter. But these little, delicate, 
 diminutive winged " flowers of loveliness" migrate. They leave 
 the winter behind them : those lovely, tiny, glittering wings bear 
 the little feathered miniatures to the sunny south, to revel among 
 magnolias and roses, when here all is snow or storm. 
 
 Though we had a v5ry hot journey from Buffalo to New York, 
 yet we had the advantage, for a considerable part of the way, of 
 going through charmingly shadowy forests. Railroads in the 
 United States are not like railroads in other countries, for they fly, 
 plunging through the deep umbrageous recesses of these vasty, 
 widely-spreading woods, whose sweeping verdure-loaded boughs, 
 go arching and branching about the " cars" in all directions, shed- 
 ding a deep, delicious, intensely-green light around, which bathes 
 every thing and every body in a sea of molten emerald, and is ex- 
 cessively refreshing to the passengers' eyes, though eminently un- 
 becoming to the said passengers' complexions ; for they all look 
 there exactly as if they were playing at " snap dragon," and the 
 very ruddiest, and most rubicund turn to a sort of livid, ghastly, 
 plague-struck looking green ; but this may serve to give you an 
 idea, peradventure (and, I assure you, not an exaggerated one), of 
 the cool, and verdant, and deeply-tinted reflections from these 
 overshadowing masses of forests. 
 
 Every thing in nature and art almost seems to flourish here. 
 Schools, universities, manufactories, societies, institutions, appear 
 spreading over the length and breath of the land, and all seem on. 
 such a gigantic scale here too ! Lakes, forests, rivers, electric 
 telegraphs, hotels, conflagrations, inundations, rows, roads, acci- 
 dents, tobacco, juleps, bowie knives, beards, pistols, &c. ! modera- 
 tion or littleness appear not to belong to America, where Nature 
 herself leads the way and seems to abhor both, showing an exam- 
 ple of leviathanism in every thing, which the people appear well 
 inclined to follow. 
 
 We were quite sorry to leave charming Fort Talbot. V 
 
 intensely regretted the poultry, the pic-nics, the sweet pickaninnies, 
 and the. ponies, besides divers other bewitching delights; and I 
 lamented over my beauteous bower of old Greek lace, my splendid 
 view of the lovely Lake Sea, and, above all, the kind friends who 
 had made our sojourn there so exceedingly enjoyable. 
 
 B*
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 We had an enchanting drive through the glorious forest on our 
 
 return to Port Stanley in Mrs. A 's carriage, Colonel A 
 
 driving us. It was very different from the bumping, thumping, 
 break-bone, and break-down vehicle we had made our last little 
 journey in through those noble woods. By the time we got to 
 Port Stanley the steamer was ready to start ; and after inquiring 
 concerning the health of our kind hostess at the hotel, we put 
 ourselves on board the "London," under Captain Bawbee's obliging 
 care. This singular name is pronounced Baby, which had a rather 
 curious effect when you heard it addressed to a very manly-looking 
 and tall person, which the captain of the good steamer " London" 
 happened to be. Our voyage over, we stopped at Buffalo, which 
 is situated at the northeast end of Lake Erie. It has altogether 
 a commanding position as a place of business, being at the western 
 extremity of the Erie Canal, and at the eastern termination of 
 the navigation of those mighty lakes, Erie, Huron, and Michigan. 
 The city is partly built on high ground, and commands extensive 
 views of the Lake, Niagara River, and the Canadian shore. Its 
 population is about forty thousand. Main-street is a very hand- 
 some street, more than two miles long, and 120 feet broad. 
 
 Buffalo has a court-house, a county clerk's office, a jail and 
 two markets, in the upper story of one of which is to be found the 
 common council chamber and city offices. There are about twenty 
 churches, several banks, a theatre, and numerous very excellent 
 and capacious hotels. The one we were at, the Western, was an 
 exceedingly good one, and we experienced there the greatest civility 
 and attention. 
 
 A pier, extending fifteen hundred feet, on the south side of the 
 mouth of Buffalo Creek (which creek forms the harbor of Buffalo), 
 constitutes a substantial breakwater for the protection of vessels 
 from the furious gales occasionally experienced there. There is a 
 handsome lighthouse, forty-six feet high, and twenty in diameter, 
 placed at the head of the pier, built of a yellow-tinged lime-stone. 
 
 Buffalo, from the trading facilities it enjoys by the canal and 
 railroad, in connection with the lake navigation, is a great com- 
 mercial mart, that lake navigation having an extent of some thou- 
 sands of miles. With Albany it has communication on the east 
 by canal, and thence by a regular chain of railroads five hundred 
 and twenty-five miles long, on with Boston. And on the north- 
 east it is also connected by railroad with the Niagara Falls and 
 Lewiston. What a mighty city will this most likely be twenty 
 years hence !
 
 CONSTITUTION ISLAND. 35 
 
 We came from Albany in a rapid and beautiful steamer called 
 the " Alida ;" the day was almost insufferably hot, and the quan- 
 tity of ice-water consumed by the passengers was truly prodigious. 
 We took up some very military-looking students at West Point, 
 from " the United States Military Academy" there. Their uni- 
 form was handsome, though very simple, and they were as upright 
 as Prussian soldiers. The academy was established in 1802. 
 There are, I understand, two stone barracks, a building for winter 
 exercises, two hundred and seventy-five feet long ; a Gothic building, 
 one hundred and fifty feet long, with three towers for astronomical 
 apparatus, and an observatory ; a chapel, an hospital, a mess-hall ; 
 seventeen separate dwellings for officers connected with the insti- 
 tution ; workshops, cavalry-stables, store-rooms, laboratory, and a 
 magazine, with various other buildings, including twenty-five dwell- 
 ings, for families belonging to the establishment. There is a mon- 
 ument on the grounds, erected to Kosciusko, by the cadets, at an 
 expense of five thousand dollars. On the river bank is " Kosciusko's 
 garden," whither the Polish chief was wont to retire for meditation. 
 or study. 
 
 West Point was one of the most important fortresses during the 
 great Revolutionary War : it was considered the key of the coun- 
 try, as it commanded the river, which admitted vessels of heavy 
 burden as far as Hudson, and hindered the English from holding 
 communication with Canada. The English commanders, on this 
 account, were very desirous of obtaining it, and its surrender was 
 to have been the first fruit of the treason of Arnold ; but in this 
 he was balked, by the arrest of the unfortunate Major Andre. 
 
 Oil the east shore, opposite to West Point, is " Constitution 
 Island," where are the ruined remains of a fort, erected during 
 the Revolution. A huge chain was extended from the island t* 
 West Point, to obstruct the passage of the river by the troops. 
 Part of this identical chain is said to be shown now at West 
 Point. 
 
 The scenery was extremely lovely all about there the Hudson 
 Highlands wearing all their sunny, summer beauty. One can 
 hardly imagine that blackest of all demons, Yv'ar, flinging his 
 hideous shadow over such a charming, smiling, lovely prospect ; 
 but what scene of beauty or gracefulness does he ever respect ? 
 
 A mile above West Point, is the " West Point Iron Foundry," 
 which claims to be the most extensive establishment of the kind 
 in the country. I think of going to Washington when this blaz- 
 ing weather moderates a little, taking, en route, Philadelphia and
 
 3 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 % f __. r ._ i m ^_. r . .... _ . L _ __ .__._ __j_ . 
 
 Baltimore. The thermometer here and in the neighborhood has 
 been 98 and 100, they say, in the shade, and people declare it 
 was never so hot in New York before at least not for many years. 
 At Albany we found the heat, if possible, more oppressive : not a 
 breath of air seemed stirring. Suddenly we hailed with delight a 
 gentle movement of the light muslin curtain round the window, 
 
 indicating a soft wind. V rushed to the window to inhale 
 
 it, but as speedily rushed back again, declaring it was as hot as the 
 air of ten furnaces. The present is a broiling morning : a sky 
 like a great turquoise roof on fire, a sun like a hundred suns, a 
 breathless clear atmosphere, without the least dream of any thing 
 that reminds you of air and there is a thundering salute going on 
 now (for what, I know not, unless they are saluting the sun, who 
 certainly seems victorious over every thing and every body just 
 now, striking down man and horse) which cruelly makes one think 
 of " villainous saltpetre, "and such hot compounds, when Wenham 
 Lake ice, and the expedition to the North Pole, are the only fit 
 and pleasant subjects for reflection at present. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Boston The Park The Tremont Hotel Its luxurious Appointments Mr. 
 and Mrs. Abbott Lawrence The " Book of the World" Description of 
 Boston; The Bridges Their Immense length The Western Avenue 
 Boston Harbor Anticipated Rejoicings on the Anniversary of American 
 Independence Boston Newspapers and Reviews Supply of Water to the 
 City Its Docks and Wharves Public Buildings The State House 
 The Custom House The Athenaeum The Exchange and Lowell Insti- 
 tute. The crowded Stores Constant Alarm of Fires. 
 
 ON July 3d we arrived at Boston, and took up our quarters at 
 the Tremont House. 
 
 Boston is a very handsome, very large, and very clean town, 
 apparently kept in admirable order : it has a pretty little park, 
 called by the modest name of "the Common," and a splendid 
 State House, magnificently situated on Beacon Hill ; this is a very 
 imposing looking structure, and crowns the height superbly. The 
 town reminds me of an English one in many respects, but yet more 
 of a Dutch one. 
 
 To-morrow they have a grand commemorative festival, in honor 
 of their independence, and we, poor English, must make up our
 
 COMMEMORATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 87 
 
 i . ____ . 1 
 
 minds to hear them " Yankee-doodling," and " Hail Columbia- 
 ing," all day long. I shall shut myself up pretty closely on the 
 occasion to save my feelings of nationality, especially as I have no 
 idea of seeing "the Crown of England" burnt in a fire-work and 
 consumed to ashes, as it is announced in a pompous advertisement 
 it is going to be, for the pleasing recreation of Brother Jonathan. 
 I hope, I must confess, that just at that moment it will rain in 
 torrents, and put out their very impertinent and presumptuous 
 pyrotechnics without loss of time : the English crown thus may 
 not be consumed to a cinder after all. 
 
 It will be suspected that I am exceedingly wroth against said 
 Brother Jonathan just now ! but it is a spite and anger confined 
 exclusively to the 4th of July ! and on the 5th I shall be quite 
 friends with him again ; nay, I almost think my fury may be 
 hushed before the 4th itself dawns ; though, if what I hear is cor- 
 rect of the immense and noisy excitement in general through the 
 whole night preceding "Independence day," the lullaby will be 
 of a rather rough description ! But our American cousins are 
 such a good-humored, kindly-dispositioned people, that I think one 
 could not well be sulky with them long. Apropos of noise I 
 believe, to keep our tempers a little, it would be a good plan to 
 stuff" our ears with cotton, and so be " independent" in our turn, 
 of their uncivil serenadings, salutings, drummings, trumpetings, 
 and fireworkings. 
 
 The Americans are very busy just now abusing the French for 
 their Roman war : they call them cowards, and all sorts of hard 
 names. As they are in this mood they might as well, for variety's 
 sake burn the Gallic liberty-cap to-morrow instead of the crown 
 of England. They are, evidently, very indignant at the anti- 
 republican turn affairs are taking in France. However, France 
 has become lately such a spinning, twisting-about, volcanic tee-to- 
 tum, that who can guess what news the next steamer may bring out 1 
 
 To-day is a beauteous day not too hot, yet sunny-bright, and 
 with a charming fresh breeze. We have comfortable, quiet, pri- 
 vate apartments in this huge hotel : our drawing-room is a very 
 nice one, and is quite away from all the bustle of visitors arriving 
 and departing. The master, or rather masters (for there are two, 
 if not more), are extremely civil ; and the attendance is very good. 
 Finger-posts are placed in some of the passages to direct bewilder- 
 ed and foot-sore wanderers to their own rooms. I think a few 
 light omnibuses might run on the different lines of passage with 
 much profit. Immense as the hotel is, our apartments are so
 
 38 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 secluded that we hear but little noise, and suffer no inconvenience 
 whatever from the house being very full. I have not yet dined 
 one day in public since my arrival in America it must be ex- 
 tremely unpleasant for ladies. 
 
 We have made acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Abbott Law- 
 rence (Mr. Bancroft was good enough to give me letters to them 
 
 at Lady J 's request, as I had not the pleasure of knowing 
 
 him) ; they leave America in October. They are most kind and 
 friendly ; he is one of the great merchant princes of this wonder- 
 ful land, and a very distinguished man ; and Mrs. Lawrence ap- 
 pears to be every thing that is amiable and kind. Mr. Lawrence 
 has just given me a very interesting book, called " The Book of 
 the World :" it is replete with information, and is written nearly 
 up to the present day, and it really seems to be almost what it 
 calls itself, which is a pretty " considerable deal." 
 
 This good city of Boston is connected with the surrounding 
 country by bridges and artificial avenues, being built upon a pen- 
 insula of nearly three miles in length, with an average breadth of 
 a mile, and with many elevations from fifty to one hundred and 
 ten feet above the sea, giving the city a remarkably noble appear- 
 ance, particularly, I am told when beheld from the sea, which 
 view of it I have not yet seen. The population is one hundred 
 and twenty-five thousand. Its Indian name was Shawmut, but 
 the first settlers called it Trimountain, from the three hills on 
 which it is built. 
 
 Boston communicates with East Boston (formerly Noddle's 
 Island) and Chelsea by means of steam ferry-boats, which ply 
 regularly during the day. Among the most peculiar curiosities of 
 the place are the bridges, which differ in their construction from 
 any thing of their kind elsewhere, and their immense length and 
 the lovely views they present, make them very interesting and 
 attractive, especially to foreigners. With Roxbury, Boston is 
 connected by the neck which forms the peninsula on which the 
 city is built. With Charlestown it is united by the Charles River, 
 or Old Charlestown Bridge, and by Warren Bridge. The former 
 is one thousand four hundred and three feet long, forty-two in 
 breadth, and cost more than fifty thousand dollars. Warren 
 Bridge is one thousand three hundred and ninety feet ; breadth, 
 forty-five. No toll is taken on these bridges : there was one for- 
 merly ; but on their becoming state property it was done away with. 
 
 West Boston Bridge, leading to Old Cambridge, rests on one 
 hundred and eighty piers, and, with causeway and abutments, is
 
 BOSTON BRIDGES AND HARBOR. S 
 
 six thousand one hundred and ninety feet long. Craigie's or 
 Canal Bridge, leading to Lechmere Point, in East Cambridge, is 
 two thousand seven hundred and ninety-six feet long and forty feet 
 broad : a branch extends from it to Prison Point, Charlestown, one 
 thousand eight hundred and twenty feet long, and thirty-five feet 
 wide. The western avenue or mill-dam reaches from the foot of 
 Beacon-street to SewelTs Point in Brookline. It is strongly con- 
 structed of stones and earth, and is a mile and a half long, and 
 from sixty to one hundred feet broad. 
 
 This incloses about six hundred acres of flats, over which for- 
 merly the tide flowed. This inclosure is divided by a cross dam, 
 which, aided by flood and ebb-gates, forms a receiving basin, pro- 
 ducing thereby a great extent of water-power at all periods. This 
 work cost about seven hundred thousand dollars. Boston Free 
 Bridge, to South Boston, is five hundred feet long, thirty-eight 
 wide. South Boston Bridge, leading from the " Neck" to South 
 Boston, is one thousand five hundred and fifty feet long ; width 
 forty feet.* They are all well lighted by lamps, and in addition 
 to them, numerous as they are, there are various railroad bridges 
 or viaducts over the river. Does not Boston deserve to be called 
 the City of Bridges ? 
 
 It possesses one of the best harbors in the United States. The 
 harbor extends from Nantasket to the city, and spreads from Na- 
 hant to Hingham, containing seventy-five square miles : it con- 
 tains many islands, among them some beautiful ones : it is safe 
 and spacious. The inner harbor has a depth of water sufficient 
 for five hundred vessels of the largest class to ride at anchor in 
 safety, with so narrow an entrance as scarcely to admit two ships 
 abreast. Boston consists of three parts : Boston on the Peninsula, 
 South Boston, and East Boston. The " Neck," or Isthmus, which 
 formerly constituted the only connection of the Peninsula with the 
 main land, still forms the main avenue to the city from the south. 
 Boston harbor is defended by forts Independence and Warren, the 
 latter of which is on Governor Island, and the former on Castle 
 Island. The outside harbor is protected by a strong fortress on. 
 George's Island. 
 
 Of course sight-seeing to-morrow is out of the question, and from 
 the moment when the sun rises on seas of sherry-cobblers and cata- 
 racts of mint-juleps, miles of flags, wildnernesses of crackers, pyramids 
 of edibles, mountains of lollypops, and monster-trains, and legions 
 
 * These figures are taken from " Appleton's Railway Companion."
 
 40 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 of little boys (and little girls, too, if my information be correct), who, 
 I hear, generally shoot with pistols at friend, or foe, or each other, 
 during the day, and frequently end by maiming themselves severe- 
 ly there will be no peace in Boston. But though I did not like 
 their promised entertainment of fireworks, yet, when I recollect 
 how abominably ill England behaved before she forced this country 
 into a revolution, I can nationality notwithstanding rejoice with 
 them a little in their joy at the return of the Anniversary of their 
 Independence, and feel a slight something of their exuberant exult- 
 ation, and, therefore, not only endure philosophically, but greet 
 cordially, their festive demonstrations -except the fireworks and 
 that thrice villainous and atrocious device. They stick in my 
 throat terribly. I wonder whether it will rain to-morrow evening ! 
 
 In my transatlantic travels, I do not feel so far away from home 
 as I thought I should ; the Cunard steamers are so regular and 
 rapid in. their passage, they are now generally here to the day they 
 are expected. What a fast age we live in ! 
 
 The American newspapers amuse me much ; they are so unlike 
 any thing else of their kind. There are thirty-six newspapers 
 published here, of which twelve are daily, the rest are semi-week- 
 ly and weekly. In addition to these, there are a good many reviews 
 and magazines. " The North American Review" is, I believe, 
 the most distinguished of the former. 
 
 Boston is capitally provided with water from Long Pond, now 
 named Cochituate Lake. This lake covers an area of six hund- 
 red and fifty-nine acres, and drains a surface of eleven thousand 
 four hundred acres. In some places it is seventy feet deep, and is 
 elevated one hundred and twenty-four feet above tide-water in 
 Boston harbor : the Boston reservoir, situated on Beacon-hill, 
 covers an area of forty thousand feet. The water is brought in an 
 oval aqueduct, in height six feet four inches, and five feet in width, 
 laid in brick (with the hydraulic cement), about fourteen miles and 
 a half from Cochituate Lake to Brookline, where it discharges 
 itself into a reservoir of thirty acres in extent. 
 
 The water from Brookline is forced by its own pressure through 
 pipes of thirty and thirty-five inches in diameter, to the two reser- 
 voirs in the city ; that on Mount Washington, at South-Boston, 
 which will contain a superficies of seventy thousand, and that on 
 Beacon Hill, of thirty-eight thousand feet. When full, the latter 
 will contain three millions of gallons. These reservoirs will de- 
 liver to the city of Boston ten millions of gallons a day of the 
 purest and best water. Wise Bostonians !
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF BOSTON. 41 
 
 The entire cost of the construction I have heard will probably 
 fall within three millions of dollars. Wise Bostonians ! I say 
 again : they will probably save that much in drugs and medicine 
 ere many years pass over their heads. The doctors must be the 
 only people who will suffer from this liberal supply of the pure 
 element. 
 
 The docks and wharves surrounding the city form one of its 
 distinctive features. There are about two hundred of them. 
 Long Wharf is one thousand eight hundred feet long, and two 
 hundred feet wide, and contains seventy-six spacious stores. There 
 are numbers of fine public buildings here. The State House is 
 among the finest : its foundation is one hundred and ten feet 
 above the level of the sea. From the dome there is a splendid 
 view of the city, the bay, with its lovely islands, and the wide ex- 
 panse of surrounding country : the Bostonians boast that it is one of 
 the finest views in the Union, if not in the world. The last is say- 
 ing too much. Here the State Legislature holds its annual session. 
 
 The new Custom House is handsome : it is in the form of a 
 cross, and has very superb porticoes. The Court House is a fine 
 building : the material is Quincy granite. The Athenaeum, in. 
 Beacon-street, has a library of about forty-five thousand volumes, 
 and a rich cabinet of coins, medals, &c. The Exchange is a fine 
 structure ; it was finished in 1842. The Lowell Institute was 
 founded by a Mr. Lowell, who died at Bombay, in 1836. He 
 bequeathed about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the 
 support of regular courses of popular and scientific lectures : by his 
 will he provides for the maintenance arid support of public lectures 
 on natural and revealed religion, physics, chemistry, with their 
 applications to the arts, geology, botany, and other useful and in- 
 teresting subjects. These lectures are all free ; they are delivered 
 from October to April, during which period four or five courses (of 
 twelve lectures each) are usually delivered. 
 
 This town has a multitude of stores teeming with goods of every 
 description, which are actually running over from their crammed 
 and loaded shelves and counters, and often blockade the foot-pave- 
 ments : they told us the people were so honest, that those unpro- 
 tected goods, literally thrown at their feet, were never carried off; 
 but I have seen complaints of the custom in the papers occasion- 
 ally accounts, not of shop-lifting exactly, but side- walk-lifting, with 
 observations as to the impropriety of thus almost tempting poor peo- 
 ple to be dishonest. I recollect when I first visited Genoa, think- 
 ing art and fancy seemed to overflow there from the very windows
 
 42 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 of its stately palaces, so gorgeous were the richly-coloured paint- 
 ings of saints, historical personages, and other subjects on their 
 walls. Here more suitably to the character of the people, it is in- 
 dustry and utilitarianism that can hardly be contained within 
 bounds and limits. 
 
 There are constant alarms of fires here. I think hardly a night 
 has passed, without our hearing the engines going full speed some- 
 where or other ; but in general it proves a false alarm, and after 
 posting along in "hot haste," on finding all cool and quiet where 
 they were bound to, they come deliberately back, to make the 
 same little " promenade" again on the following night. 
 
 The first night, V and I were quite anxious to ascertain 
 
 where the dreadful fire could be, for the engines went thundering 
 through the streets at a terrific pace, making a prodigious noise : 
 we soon found that we might sit up all night, and every night at 
 Boston, if we paid any attention to these gad-about engines taking 
 their gallops about every half-hour. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Plans for the Future Musical Taste of the New Englanders Cholera in 
 New York Transparency of the American Atmosphere American 
 
 Newspapers Their Personalities A signal Instance Mrs. S. M of 
 
 New York and her Family Miss G of Boston The Loud Talking 
 
 ascribed to American Ladies The Town of Gloucester Its Trade. 
 
 ON the 27th July we came to Cape Ann Pavilion, Gloucester, 
 Massachusetts. The place is truly charming. The hotel is al- 
 most in the sea, like a very huge and gayly-decorated bathing ma- 
 chine (the only one here by the way !) There is a wide, beau- 
 tiful covered veranda all round the house ; then comes a wee 
 narrow strip of beach, then a low stone wall, some rocks, and then 
 the Atlantic, so close, that I can not imagine the house can be 
 quite safe in winter, unless they intend to strengthen and heighten 
 the defensive wall. The hotel is quite new. It may be imagined 
 how clean, and fresh, and nice it is. 
 
 As to traveling about, and seeing sights, in so hot a climate as 
 America is in the summer, it is out of the question, I find ; but, this 
 I believe is an unusually hot summer the hottest, I am told, 
 but one, they have had for twenty-four years. I thmk of staying 
 quietly at the sea, till summer is over, and it is safe and pleasant
 
 CHOLERA IN NEW YORK. 
 
 to travel ; of course, this will necessarily prolong my stay : every 
 body assures me I must not think of going southward till Octo- 
 ber, particularly this year, considering cholera and the great heat. 
 
 I think we have fortunately found a very quiet and healthy 
 spot here. I was going to Newport, but heard of this being so 
 very nice, that I thought I would try it first, and I think I shall re- 
 main here for some time. We have delightful rooms on the ground 
 floor, opening on the sea. It is very much like being afloat in a 
 line-of-battle ship, we are so close to the grand old Atlantic. 
 
 The New Englanders appear to me generally a very quiet peo- 
 ple, and very fond of music : we hear them playing and singing a 
 great deal. Some of them sing exceedingly well, too, airs out of 
 Italian operas, &c. They have a good piano-forte in the ladies' 
 public drawing-room, which has plenty of work on its hands, or 
 rather plenty of hands on its keys from morning till night. They 
 have an excellent piano-forte maker at Boston named Chickeriug. 
 
 I hear from^New York of a sad increase .of cholera in that city. 
 My correspondent, poor Mrs. Barclay, who writes in evident low 
 spirits, tells me of the death of some of their friends from this ter- 
 rible disease : one of her own family had had it slightly. I believe 
 the wisest thing to do is to dismiss the subject from the mind as 
 much as possible, putting one's whole trust where safety and pro- 
 tection can alone be found. At the same time, of course, it is right 
 to be properly prepared, and to use the necessary remedies at the 
 very first moment of alarm, and to be prudent and careful in diet. 
 From all 1 can learn of the spread of cholera on this side of the At- 
 lantic, I believe most of the fatal cases arise from carelessness and 
 neglect at first, and total disregard of the premonitory symptoms. 
 
 The weather is lovely in this delectable place. I think the at- 
 mosphere in America is much like that in beauteous Italy, it is so 
 exquisitely clear and transparent. Thus the grand features of 
 this country are presented to the eye through a lovely lucid medium, 
 and it is indeed a country of " magnificent distances," as some one 
 named its unfinished capital. As yet, however, we have seen but 
 little of it, and that little seems less when we recollect how much 
 there is to be seen. 
 
 Pine-apples and newspapers are rather cheap here ! The first 
 (and fine ones) at a penny apiece (owing a good deal to the preva- 
 lence of cholera, which makes people afraid of eating them), and 
 the second, I am told, many of them at a half-penny (English) 
 these are of course small, but really sometimes full of information 
 and news. Some of their most distinguished papers are admirably
 
 44 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 written, and replete with varied and extensive information and 
 tidings from all the corners of the earth ; there seems in general in 
 their tone, I think, more heartiness of feeling and more freshness 
 and originality than in ours. What I do not like in the daily 
 American press, is the perpetual and sometimes puerile and paltry 
 attempts at wit and humor, which they seem to thik indispensa- 
 ble, whether in season or out of season. They sometimes mingle 
 this often rather ponderous pleasantry with the most serious accounts 
 of accidents and disasters. Then their abuse of the authorities 
 and people in office is beyond all idea violent. In the opposition 
 papers, the most unmerciful vituperations are poured forth against 
 some of their most eminent men ; really if you did not see their 
 names you would sometimes think they were speaking of the most 
 atrocious criminals. It might almost make one imagine that three- 
 quarters of the population are in a state of perpetual irritation and 
 disappointment at not being President themselves, or at least, 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Taylor is one of the most popular of men, and all seem to be 
 proud of, as well as attached to, their far-famed "Old Zack ;" yet 
 I have seen such epithets as these applied to him in their public 
 prints "Journeyman butcher," "Moloch," "Monster," "Nero," 
 " Tyrant," " Ignominious cheat," " No three men could be found 
 on a jury to credit him on his oath," " dolt," " tool," " fool," 
 "cipher," "Cyclops," "fly on a coach wheel," "disgrace to the 
 country," &c. Still this is only an ebullition of, perhaps, quite 
 transitory wrath ; and the next day their good " Old Zack" will 
 be forgiven. 
 
 We have made acquaintance with a very agreeable lady here, 
 
 Mrs. S. M , of New York. She has charming unaffected 
 
 manners, and appears to be very accomplished : she sings remark- 
 ably well, and has a handsome Italian-looking face. Her husband 
 and daughter in-law are here with her ; the latter, I believe, older 
 than herself. Her little grandson-in-law is a pretty, dark child, 
 and his youthful grandmamma appears excessively attached to him. 
 
 A friend of Mrs. M 's, a Miss G , of Boston, is one of the 
 
 loveliest young American ladies I have yet seen-; she is fair, and 
 
 a little reminds me of our own beautiful Lady C. V , in the 
 
 cast of her countenance and the line of feature. She looks par- 
 ticularly pretty in the bathing hat, a large Swiss-looking straw 
 hat which she sometimes wears also out walking. She appears to 
 have the softest and sweetest manners imaginable ; and all she 
 does and says seems characterized by extreme grace and gentleness.
 
 TRADE OF GLOUCESTER. 
 
 There is no loud talking and constant giving, of which travelers 
 have so often accused American young ladies, and which, I believe, 
 wherever it is to be found, is greatly owing to their being partly 
 educated at large public schools, which, perhaps, gives them a 
 habit of pitching their voice high, in order to make themselves 
 heard among numbers. I am happy to say I have not yet met with 
 any who have that unrefined disagreeable habit. 
 
 The town of Gloucester, where we are, has a population of about 
 six thousand : its trade is entirely maritime. The harbor is reck- 
 oned one of the finest on the whole coast of the Atlantic. The town 
 contains seven churches and various public buildings ; the inhab- 
 itants are mostly employed in the halibut, cod, and mackerel fish- 
 eries ; and there are about seventeen thousand tons of shipping here. 
 Quite a little navy (chiefly from Newfoundland station) came in 
 the other day to take shelter in the harbor from a gale at sea. If it 
 is true that Newport is very foggy, which I am told it is, I think 
 this must be a far preferable place of summer residence. Colonel 
 Green and his lady called on me the other day. He is the accom- 
 plished editor of an excellent Boston paper. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Return to Boston Fire Engines and their Horses The Cradle of American 
 Liberty Faneuil Hall Boston Prohibition of Street-smoking Statue of 
 Washington in the State House Anecdote connected with it A Drum 
 preserved in the State House Visit to Cambridge Mount Auburn 
 Harvard University Professors Pierce, Silliman, Guyon, Sparks, and Agas- 
 siz Live Coral Insects preserved by Professor Agassiz Reflections sug- 
 gested by them Museum of Professor Agassiz. 
 
 THE weather on this 16th of August, is very pleasant at Boston. 
 I hear it has been terribly oppressive, and we were fortunate to be 
 at charming, breezy Cape Ann. 
 
 I was surprised the other day at my nephew-in-law, E. W , 
 
 suddenly making his appearance here. He is going to visit New- 
 port instanter, and then is off to Canada. He introduced the other 
 
 day a friend of his to me, Mr. C. S , a most agreeable and 
 
 highly-informed person. 
 
 The thunder-storms have been as rare in America as in En- 
 gland this year : we had one however, the night before last. I 
 hope it will do good, and clear away the cholera a little.
 
 46 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 We had a disagreeable little fright some time ago here, occasioned 
 
 by the passage being on fire close to V 's room (it was owing to 
 
 something wrong about the gas-pipes). It was early in the night 
 fortunately, and as I thought most likely some of the numerous 
 fire-engines would be within call, taking their usual constitutional 
 walk or canter (in short, taking the air if there was no fire to take), 
 I did not feel much trepidation. The fire was easily overcome, 
 and thereafter I felt for some time more secure than usual, think- 
 ing that for a fortnight or more people would be particularly care- 
 ful hereabout concerning fire, in consequence of this little warning, 
 and that I should hear those fidgety engines at exercise without 
 much apprehension of their being called into requisition by us. 
 
 By the way, there is a team of ghostly-looking white horses at- 
 tached to one of these engines, that truly seem to have no repose. 
 Like the restless phantoms of wicked horses, they haunt the streets 
 at the witching hour of night, and seem to wander over the face 
 of the granite city, without object or aim, as if disturbed in their 
 graves by the proximity of so many railroads here, and feeling, like 
 Othello, their "occupation gone" at least that of their fellows. 
 
 I saw the other day the place where the first blood was shed in 
 the great Revolution the righteous Revolution, if ever there was 
 one deserving to be so called; yet my English feelings make me 
 dislike always to dwell on the details of it. Faneuil Hall is the 
 American cradle of liberty. Would the reader like a slight sketch 
 of the cot where so sturdy and chopping an infant first began to 
 crow and squall ? This, in America, universally-venerated struc- 
 ture has stood for about one hundred and nine years, and was pre- 
 sented to the city of Boston by Peter Faneuil, a respected mer- 
 chant. Here the chiefs of the Revolution harangued the people 
 in those troublous and perilous times, and here often some of the 
 most distinguished orators of America pour forth the living fire of 
 their eloquence. 
 
 It is a large building, but not architecturally remarkable. The 
 lower story is occupied by stores. The hall on the second story is 
 seventy-six feet square and twenty-eight high, having galleries on 
 three sides, supported by two ranges of Ionic columns. Portraits of 
 Washington and Mr. Faneuil hang on the walls. Above this hall 
 is one of about the same dimensions, devoted to military exercises. 
 
 There is a regulation here that reminded me of Vienna. People 
 are not permitted to smoke in the streets. (I know not whether 
 this is still in force at Vienna, after the various changes there.) 
 This they appear to submit very patiently and unmurmuringly to,
 
 WASHINGTON'S STATUE. 47 
 
 albeit the Cradle of Liberty lifts its protecting walls so near 
 them. 
 
 The State House, on its noble site, with its handsome dome, is 
 very striking ; its colonnade is fine. There is an excellent statue 
 of Washington in the large hall : it is enveloped in folds of massive 
 drapery, and so easily do the graceful robes hang, that it is related 
 of a countrywoman coming one day to see it, that she exclaimed 
 she could not judge of the statue till they " tuk that sorter sheet 
 off of it." It was a more natural mistake than that of a purblind 
 lady visiting at , who, on entering the hall, gazed with re- 
 spectful admiration at the representation of an Egyptian mummy, 
 and it was found afterward she had imagined it to be a former 
 Bishop of Norwich in his full canonicals, and as such thought it a 
 remarkable likeness, and a work of great excellence ! 
 
 In the interior of the State House are the two chambers of the 
 Legislature. The House of Representatives has accommodation 
 for about four hundred persons, and the Senate-chamber is rather 
 smaller. An ancient drum is to be seen there taken in one of the 
 earlier revolutionary battles : did it hear the glorious words Mr. 
 Webster once spoke, concerning its brother-drums of Britain? If 
 it did, I marvel almost it did not burst out into an extemporaneous 
 and self-beating rub-a-dub in echo to those noble, generous, and 
 spirit-stirring strains ; if a drum had a heart in its skin, it would 
 surely have done so. " England, the beat of whose drum, keeping 
 company with the hours," &c., would that my memory could 
 serve me to repeat some of this eloquent outburst but, alas ! I 
 am far from sure that even these few words are correct. 
 
 The first time we went to Cambridge we went to see our 
 amiable friends Mrs. and Miss Everett. They are in the Presi- 
 dent's house, and are to continue there for the present. After 
 sitting a little while with Mrs. Everett, we went with Mr. and 
 Miss Everett, in their carriage to Mount Auburn, the spacious 
 and beautiful cemetery. The finely diversified grounds occupy 
 about one hundred acres, in general profusely adorned with a rich 
 variety of trees, and in some places planted with ornamental 
 shrubbery : there are some tombs graced with charming flower- 
 beds. There are also some pretty sheets of water there : it is 
 divided into different avenues and paths, which have various 
 names. Generally they are called after the trees or flowers that 
 abound there, such as lily, poplar, cypress, violet, woodbine, and 
 others. It is, indeed, a beauteous city for the dead. The birds 
 were singing most mellifluously and merrily it was quite a din
 
 48 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 of music that they kept up in these solemn but lovely shades. 
 The views from Mount Auburn are fine and extensive. There are 
 some graceful and well-executed monuments within its precincts. 
 
 Afterward we went with Mr. Everett to see a little of the 
 colleges, and then visited the mineralogical cabinet. Harvard 
 University is the most ancient, and is reckoned the best endowed 
 institution in the Union. It was founded in 1638, and from a 
 donation made to it by the Rev. John Harvard it was called after 
 him. We paid a brief visit to the great telescope, merely to look 
 at it, however, and not through it, for it was then dull, and very 
 cloudy, with no prospect of its being otherwise during the evening 
 it is a refracting telescope. Mr. Bond himself was not there, 
 but his son was, who is already a distinguished and enthusiastic 
 astronomer. Mr. Bond, senior, was one of the discoverers of the 
 eighth satellite of Saturn. 
 
 Another time we went to the soiree, which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Everett gave on the occasion of the meeting of the American 
 Association of Science at Cambridge. 
 
 There I saw, of course, many learned celebrities. Among 
 them Professor Pierce, Professor Silliman, Professor Guyon, 
 Professor Sparks (the new President of Harvard University), and 
 Professor Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist (I found he was a 
 cousin of my old governess, Mademoiselle Anne Agassiz). 
 
 This very distinguished man one of the great contributors to 
 the world's stores of science and knowledge is an extremely 
 agreeable member of society, and a very popular one. His man- 
 ners are particularly frank, pleasing, cordial, and simple ; and 
 though deeply absorbed, and intensely interested in his laborious 
 scientific researches, and a most thorough enthusiast in his study 
 of natural philosophy, yet he rattled merrily away on many of the 
 various light topics of the day with the utmost gayety, good- 
 humor, and spirit. 
 
 He has succeeded, after great trouble and persevering inde- 
 fatigable care, in preserving alive some coral insects, the first that 
 have ever been so preserved, and he kindly promised me an 
 introduction to those distinguished architects. We accordingly 
 went, accompanied by Mr. Everett, the following day. M. 
 Agassiz was up-stairs very much occupied by some scientific 
 investigation of importance, and' he could not come down, but he 
 allowed us to enter the all but hallowed precincts devoted to the 
 much-cherished coral insects. 
 
 M. Agassiz had been away a little while previously, and left
 
 CORAL INSECTS. 49 
 
 these treasures of his heart under the charge and superintendence 
 of his assistant. This poor care-worn attendant, we were told, 
 almost lost his own life in preserving the valuable existence of 
 these little moving threads, so much did he feel the weighty re- 
 sponsibility that devolved upon him, and with such intense anxiety 
 did he watch the complexion, the contortions, all the twistings 
 and twirlings, and twitchings, and flingings and writhings of the 
 wondrous little creatures, and assiduously marking any indications 
 of petite sante among them. They were kept in water carefully 
 and frequently changed, and various precautions were indispensa- 
 bly necessary to be taken in order to guard their exquisitely deli- 
 cate demi-semi existences. 
 
 Glad enough was the temporary gentleman-in-waiting, and 
 squire-of-the-body to these interesting zoophytes to see M. Agassiz 
 return, and to resign his charge into his hands. With him this 
 exceeding care and watchfulness was indeed nothing but a labor 
 of love, and probably no nurse or mother ever fondled a weakly 
 infant with more devoted tenderness and anxious attention than 
 M. Agassiz displayed toward his dearly-beloved coral insects. 
 
 As to me, I hardly dared breathe while looking at them for fear 
 I should blow their precious lives away, or some catastrophe 
 should happen while we were there, and we should be suspected 
 of coralicide! However, the sight was most interesting. We 
 watched them as they flung about what seemed their fire-like 
 white arms, like microscopic opera dancers or windmills ; but 
 these apparent arms are, I believe, all they possess of bodies. 
 How wonderful to think of the mighty works that have been 
 performed by the fellow-insects of these little restless laborers. 
 What are the builders of the Pyramids to them ? What did the 
 writers of the " Arabian Nights" imagine equal to their more 
 magical achievements ? Will men ever keep coral insects by 
 them to lay the foundations of a few islands and continents when 
 the population grows too large for the earthy portion of earth 1 
 People keep silkworms to spin that beautiful fabric for them : and 
 M. Agassiz has shown there is no impracticability. I looked at 
 the large bowl containing the weird workers with unflagging 
 interest, till I could almost fancy minute reefs of rock were rising 
 up in the basin. 
 
 What a world of marvels we live in, and alas that the splendid 
 wonders of science should be shut out from so many myriads of 
 mankind ; for that the marvelous is inalienably dear to human 
 nature, witness all the fairy tales, ghost stories, and superstitions 
 
 C
 
 50 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 of all kinds that have abounded and been popular from age to 
 age. Penny Magazines and such works have done much, but 
 much there remains to be done to bring the subjects not only 
 within reach, but to make them more universally popular and 
 attractive, and less technical. 
 
 At last we took leave of those marine curiosities, and wended 
 our way back, sorry not to have seen M. Agassiz (who was still 
 absorbed in dissecting or pickling for immortality some extraordi- 
 nary fish that he had discovered), but delighted to have had the 
 opportunity of seeing his proteges. 
 
 " M. Agassiz ought indeed to have an extensive museum," 
 
 said " for I believe every body in the States makes a point 
 
 of sending off to him, post haste, every imaginable reptile, and 
 monster, and nondescript that they happen to find." I should, 
 assuredly not like to have the opening of his letters and parcels if 
 that is the case. 
 
 CHAPTER' IX. 
 
 Plymouth The Pilgrim Fathers Mrs. Warren, a Descendant of one of thp 
 Pilgrims Visit from Mr. Prescott the Historian Graves of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers Visits from Daniel Webster and from Mr. N. P. Willis Samoset 
 the Indian Chief Energy of the Pilgrim Fathers Altered Face of their 
 Country. 
 
 WE have come to famous Old Plymouth, to see the interesting 
 gpot where the first Pilgrim Fathers landed. We paid a visit to the 
 rock which it is said their feet first touched : it has been conveyed 
 to the centre of the village. Here they landed after their perilous 
 voyage in the "Mayflower," on the 22d of December, 1620. 
 Plymouth boasts of being the first town built by civilized beings 
 in New England. The inhabitants celebrate the interesting anni- 
 versary of the landing every year. 
 
 We visited one of the lineal descendants of the pilgrims, soon 
 after our arrival here. Mrs. Warren is the mother of Judge 
 Warren (with whom we went) ; she is a most charming, delight- 
 ful old lady, with the most gentle, amiable, and polished manners 
 imaginable ; her house was as delightful as herself ! and was, I 
 believe, certainly one of the original houses built by the Pilgrim 
 Fathers. Mrs. Warren seated me oa a precious old-fashioned chair,
 
 MESSRS. PRESCOTT AND WEBSTER. 51 
 
 that actually had come over in the t: Mayflower." I fancy there 
 are pseudo-Mayflower chairs enough in various parts of Massa- 
 chusetts to set up a score of upholsterers in business ; but this, 
 there is no doubt, really came over with the venerable voyagers, 
 as it belonged to the descendant of one of the earliest governors. 
 There were a number of old family pictures in the room, some of 
 them by Copley, father of our greatly-distinguished Lord Lynd- 
 hurst (who was born, I think, in Boston). 
 
 I hud the great pleasure of a visit from Mr. Prescott before I 
 left Boston ; he came from Nahant to see me with his daughter. 
 I was delighted to have an opportunity of making acquaintance 
 with this justly celebrated historian, whose works I had read with 
 such lively interest. Even by the side of his handsome (and, by 
 the way, very English-looking) daughter, he still looks quite a 
 young man, and he seems to have a flow of spirits equal to those 
 of Lord Stanley : there is not a particle of pomposity about him, 
 and his style of conversation is of the most fresh, original, agreeable, 
 and striking kind ; and with all his stores of learning, and varied 
 knowledge, there is the most complete absence possible of any thing 
 approaching to pedantry. His eyesight is, unfortunately, defective, 
 tut no one would observe this in society. 
 
 He appeared rather absent. A short time after he had taken 
 leave and left the room with his daughter, we heard a knock at 
 the door ; on saying, " come in," Mr. Prescott appeared again, and 
 said he had left his cane there. He looked, and we looked, chairs 
 were inspected, sofas pushed about, and tables trotted out from 
 their places, when presently I heard a subdued exclamation from 
 Mr. Prescott, who had found the cane in his hand, where I cer- 
 tainly did not think of looking for it. He laughed good-humoredly 
 at his forgetfulness, and he and his cane vanished presently together. 
 
 We have visited the church-yard here, which contains some 
 interesting graves of the old Pilgrims. Altogether, there is much 
 to attract and to please in Plymouth, and I am very glad I came 
 here. 
 
 I have just seen that great man, Mr. Webster, and also Mrs. 
 Webster who, I find, are now staying in this hotel. He is a friend 
 of my father's ; but as I was abroad when he was at Belvoir 
 Castle, I had never before seen him. I was, as every body must 
 be, I should think, very much struck by his magnificent counte- 
 nance that prodigiously massive brow, those mighty eyes, that 
 seem as if they were calmly looking down the depths of ages, and 
 that grand air of repose (which especially appeared to me to char-
 
 52 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 acterize his aspect) have a sort of quiet mountainous grandeur 
 about them that makes one think, that old Homer, had he not 
 been blind, might so have looked, or the awful son of Coalus and 
 Terra ! His features have more, I think, of the Oriental than 
 the Occidental cast ; but then you seldom see *so much intellect in 
 an Eastern countenance. It is, indeed, a very un-American face, 
 for their features are ordinarily rather sharp and delicate. 
 
 Mr. arid Mrs. Webster have kindly asked me to go to Green 
 Harbor ; the invitation was most cordial and friendly. " Come, 
 pray, and remain there as long as you can we shall do all we 
 can to make your stay agreeable," &c. I look forward very much 
 to going and seeing this great man in his own house. I hear he 
 occupies himself much with farming and various country pursuits. 
 
 I am afraid there will be no change in American policy with 
 regard to protection. The South are for free trade, and if they 
 can carry the day they will have it. 
 
 I have just had a very agreeable visit from Mr. N. P. Willis. 
 
 V was highly delighted to see this well known and popular 
 
 American author, of whom she had often heard. I hope to see 
 Mrs. Willis to-morrow ; she is the niece and adopted daughter^ of 
 Mr. Grinnell, brother to the Mr. Grinnell to whom I have let'terg 
 from Mr. C . 
 
 There are six churches in this small town, and two academies. 
 The hotel is called Samoset House, after the friendly Indian chief 
 whom the settlers found here in the olden time. It sounds so like 
 Somerset that I begin to think my cousin the Duke of Beaufort 
 must claim some very distant relationship with this old chieftain 
 of Massachusetts, and we, of course, too ! I remember finding 
 something like traces of the De Rooses in Africa : so at 'this rate, 
 it seems, I shall establish very amicable relations of my own be- 
 tween far-apart and widely extended countries. Fbelieve there is 
 some curious tradition of this identical old Samoset accosting the 
 newly-arrived pilgrims with some words of broken English ; but I 
 do not exactly recollect the story. 
 
 What energy and determination those old Pilgrim Fathers showed, 
 and the poor Pilgrim mothers too (who, as some one justly ob- 
 served the other day, seemed usually consigned to an unmerited 
 oblivion). What hardships and heart-quakings must they not have 
 gone through when all this now cheerful and cultivated and in- 
 habited country, with its profusion of towns and villages, and its 
 multiplicity of railways, was one huge wild-waving pine forest ! 
 Fancy their surprise if they could look upon it now ; and the iron
 
 VISIT TO MR. WEBSTER. 53 
 
 trains, and the electric telegraphs, and their dandy, French-cos- 
 tumed, mustached sons, and their polka-dancing daughters ; what 
 would great-grandmamma think of that ? Mrs. Hemans's lovely 
 lines on the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, and the beautiful music 
 poor Mrs. Arkwright wedded to them, have often lately recurred 
 to my memory ! 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Green Harbor, the seat of Daniel Webster His Guests Description of his 
 Mansion The Militia General Enterprise of American Lady-travelers 
 
 An instance Mrs. C from China Great intellectual Powers of Mr. 
 
 Webster A Storm " My Kingdom for a Pin" Anecdote of Lady 
 
 The sole American with an aristocratic Title Extraordinary Popularity 
 of Mr. Webster in New England Anecdote of Mr. Webster That States- 
 man and Mr. Clay never Presidents of the United States A Cause assigned 
 Appointment of illiterate political Postmasters Mode of Living at Green 
 Harbor. 
 
 WE have been much charmed with our visit to Green Harbor, 
 Marshfield, the beautiful domain of Mr. Webster. It is a charm- 
 ing and particularly enjoyable place, almost close to the sea. The 
 beach here is something marvelous, eight miles in breadth, and of 
 splendid hard floor-like sand, and when this is covered by the roll- 
 ing Atlantic, the waves all but come up to the neighboring green, 
 grassy fields. Very high tides cover them. 
 
 There is a very agreeable party in the house, including Mr. and 
 Miss Everett, &c., and in addition to the guests here, those stay- 
 ing at Mr. F. Webster's (Mr. Webster's son) generally assemble 
 
 here in the evening ; among them was Miss S . She was an 
 
 exceedingly pleasant and agreeable young lady, full of life, spirits, 
 information, and good-humor, joined to mild and amiable manners. 
 Miss F was another very pleasing specimen of an accom- 
 plished American young lady. 
 
 This house is very prettily fitted up. It strikes me as being 
 partly in the English and partly in the French style, exceedingly 
 comfortable, and with a number of remarkably pretty drawing- 
 rooms opening into one another, which always is a judicious ar- 
 rangement I think ; it makes a party agreeable and unformal. 
 There "are a variety of pictures and busts by American artists, and 
 some of them are exceedingly good. There is a picture in the
 
 54 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 chief drawing room of Mr. Webster's gallant son who was killed 
 in the Mexican war. The two greatest of America's statesmen 
 each lost a son in that war, Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster. There 
 is also a fine picture of Mr. Webster himself, which, however, 
 though a masterly painting, does not do justice to the distinguished 
 original. It was executed some years ago ; but I really think it 
 is not so handsome as the great statesman is now, with his Olyrn- 
 pus-like brow, on which are throned such divinities of thought, and 
 with that wonderful countenance of might and majesty. 
 
 The dining-room here is a charming apartment with all its win- 
 dows opening to the ground, looking on the garden ; and it is 
 deliciously cool, protected from the sun by the overshadowing 
 masses of foliage of the most magnificent weeping (American) 
 elms. These colossal trees stand just before the house, and are 
 pre-eminently beautiful : they seem to .unite in their own gigantic 
 persons the exquisite and exceeding grace of the weeping willow, 
 with the strength and grandeur of the towering elm. I was told 
 a curious fact last night. Every where, through the length and 
 breadth of the States, the sycamore trees this year are blighted 
 and dying. 
 
 The walls of the dining-room are adorned chiefly with English 
 engravings, among which there is one of my father. My bed- 
 . room is profusely decorated with prints of different English country 
 houses and castles. The utmost good taste and refinement are 
 perceptible in the arrangements of the house, and a most enchant- 
 ing place of residence it is. All the domestics of the house are 
 colored persons, which is very seldom indeed the case in this part 
 of the United States. Mr. Webster tells me he considers them 
 the best possible servants, much attached, contented and grateful, 
 and he added, he would " fearlessly trust them with untold gold." 
 They certainly must be good ones to judge by the exquisite neat- 
 ness and order of every thing in the establishment. 
 
 Mr. Webster's farm here consists of one thousand five hundred 
 acres : he has a hundred head of cattle. 
 
 Mr. F. Webster has been a good deal in India, and he was men- 
 tioning the other evening that he was struck, in several of the 
 English schools in that country, by the tone of some political lessons 
 that were taught there. For instance, with regard to freedom 
 and representation of the people, &c. ; the natives were forcibly 
 reminded of their own unrepresented state, by questions bearing 
 on the subject the United States being instanced as an example 
 of almost universal suffrage ; Great Britain itself of a less extensive
 
 AMERICAN LADY-TRAVELERS. 55 
 
 elective franchise ; France, of whatever France was then ; and 
 Hindostan especially pointed out as having nothing of the kind, as 
 if they really wished to make the poor Hindoos discontented with 
 their present state. To be sure, they migfct as well go to Persia 
 and Turkey for their examples. Mr. F. Webster seemed to think 
 the Hindoos were beginning a little to turn their thoughts to such 
 political subjects. 
 
 While we were at dinner a day or two ago, a new guest, who 
 had arrived rather late from New York, walked in, being announ- 
 ced as a general. He was a very military looking man indeed with 
 a formidable pair of mustaches. Some turn in the conversation 
 
 reminding me of the Mexican war, I asked if General had 
 
 served in Mexico. Mr. laughed, and told me he was in the 
 
 militia, and had never smelt powder in his life. 
 
 What enterprising travelers American ladies sometimes are ! 
 My Atlantic-crossing performances seem very little in comparison, 
 with some of their expeditions. It would not surprise me that any 
 who have ever gone to settle in the far-ofl' portions of the country, 
 and been doomed to undergo such rugged experiences as those de- 
 scribed in the American work (by a lady) called " A new Home, 
 Who '11 Follow ?" should laugh at hardships and discomforts which 
 mig*ht reasonably perhaps deter less seasoned and experienced trav- 
 elers ;. but it must be a very different case with those habituated 
 only to refinements and luxuries. Mr. Webster had told me he 
 had expected for some little time past the arrival of a lady, a rela- 
 tive of his, who had lately left China for the United States ; she 
 was to leave her husband in the Celestial flowery land, her inten- 
 tion being, I beiieve, to see her relatives and friends at home, and 
 then to rejoin him in the course of some months in China. 
 
 Like the gallant chieftain spoken of before, she arrived late, and 
 
 during dinner the doors were thown open and " Mrs. P , from 
 
 China," was announced. She came in, and met her relatives and 
 friends, as quietly as if she had merely made a "petite promenade 
 de quinze jours" (as the French boasted they should do when they 
 went to besiege Antwerp). She seated herself at table, when a 
 few questions were asked relative to her voyage. 
 
 " Had you a good passage ]" 
 
 " Very altogether." 
 
 " How long?" 
 
 " About one hundred and three days" (I think this is correct, 
 but I can not answer to a day). 
 
 " Pleasant companions ?"
 
 56 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 "Very much so, and with books the time passed very agree- 
 ably." 
 
 All this was as quietly discussed as if the passage had been 
 from Dover to Boulogne, and the length of the time of absence a 
 fortnight. 
 
 American ladies, perhaps, on the whole, do not travel about as 
 much as we do, but when they do set about it, the uttermost ends of 
 the earth seem scarcely to alarm them. The fact is, I think, that 
 foreign travel to American ladies is rather a different thing to what 
 it is with us. Living so close, comparatively speaking, to all the 
 most interesting places in the world Italy, with its countless 
 associations and glories of art Switzerland, with its crown of 
 mountains and enchanting scenery, and other classic lands we 
 can so easily and so quickly indulge ourselves with these glorious 
 and interesting spectacles ; but if our transatlantic sister wishes to 
 gaze on the time-honored monuments and transcendent works .of 
 art of Old Imperial Rome, or the magical enchantments of Naples, 
 or the Arabian-Night-like glories of the Alhambra and Granada ; 
 or to speed to that Mecca of the Americans Paris ; there rolls 
 the broad Atlantic, and she must prepare for the fatigues of a 
 regular sea voyage before she can hope to accomplish it. T^hus 
 their ideas of foreign travel are necessarily more comprehensive, and, 
 perhaps more expansive than ours. Without doubt, after cjpssing 
 the Atlantic the Pacific becomes less formidable ; but I need not 
 talk of foreign travel, when part of their own America California 
 is at such a mighty distance from them. 
 
 " Mrs. P , from China," I found to be a delightful person, 
 
 and I was excessively interested in many things Shd told me dur- 
 ing a long conversation we had in the evening. Some of her ac- 
 counts of Chinese proceedings amused me greatly. Together with 
 other things, she told me that at Canton, among the crowded 
 population who live in boats, it was a regular custom, as soon as a 
 boy could crawl about on his hands and knees, to fasten carefully 
 around his head a sort of life-preserving apparatus, in case little 
 Master Chinaman should, when occasionally left to his own inven- 
 tions, pop overboard, and the brother of the sun and moon lose a 
 valuable subject. But no such tender precautions are ever taken 
 with regard to the poor little Celestial misses. Their brows and 
 waists are left unbound by the guardian bladder, and if they be- 
 come a morsel for the fishes, so much the better for the finny bon- 
 vivant, and also for the affectionate parental wera-barbarians ! It 
 is not unlikely, if this is the case, that these poor little supernu-
 
 DRIVE WITH MR. WEBSTER. 57 
 
 meraries are sometimes assisted by a sly push in their aquatic ex- 
 cursions. 
 
 Mr. Webster was good enough to drive me out yesterday, and 
 a most splendid drive we had. At one part, from a rather high 
 eminence, we had a glorious panoramic view : it was really sublime : 
 ocean, forest, hill, valley, promontory, river, field, glade, and hollow, 
 were spread before us ; altogether they formed a truly magnificent 
 prospect. One almost seemed to be looking into boundless space. 
 We paused at this spot a little while to admire the beautiful scene. 
 How meet a companion the giant Atlantic seemed for that mighty 
 mind, to some of whose noble sentiments I had just been listening 
 with delight and veneration, and yet how far beyond the widest 
 sweep of ocean, is the endless expanse of the immortal intellect 
 time-overcoming creation-compelling ! 
 
 However, while I was thus up in the clouds, they (condescend- 
 ingly determining, I suppose, to return my call) suddenly came 
 down upon us, and unmercifully. St. Swithin ! what a rain it 
 was ! The Atlantic is a beautiful object to look at, but when 
 either he, or some cousin-german above, takes it into his head to 
 act the part of shower-bath extraordinary to you, it is not so pleas- 
 ant. My thoughts immediately fled away from ocean (except the 
 defending one), forest, hill, dale, and all the circumjacent scenery, 
 to centre ignominiously on my bonnet, to say nothing of the tip of 
 my nose, which was drenched and drowned completely in a half 
 second. My vail humble defense against the fury of the ele- 
 ments ! accommodated its dripping self to the features of my face 
 like the black mask of some desperate burglar, driven against it, 
 also, by the wind, that blew a " few," I can assure the reader. 
 
 How Mr. Webster contrived to drive, I know not, but drive he 
 did, at a good pace too, for " after us," indeed, was " the deluge ;" 
 I could scarcely see him ; a wall of water separated us, but ever 
 and anon I heard faintly, through the hissing and splashing and 
 lashing and pattering of the big rain, his deep, sonorous voice, rec- 
 ommending me to keep my cloak well about me, which no mortal 
 cloak of any spirit will ever allow you to do at such needful mo- 
 ments not it ! " My kingdom for a pin." 
 
 I recollect Lady , telling me how her life had once hung on 
 
 a pin. Thus it was ; she was driving herself one day across a 
 bleak, broad moor in Yorkshire, and it began rather suddenly to 
 rain, and blow tremendously. Excepting a cloak, she was very 
 lightly clothed, and this said cloak blew open, flew back, and made 
 itself as odious as possible, and left her chilled by the wind, and
 
 58 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 drenched by the rain. She was delicate, and extremely afraid of 
 cold, and was shivering from head to foot : at last a friendly pin 
 was found, and behold perhaps her lungs and her life were thus 
 saved ! 
 
 When we arrived at Green Harbor, we found Mrs. Webster 
 very anxious for the poor rain-beaten wayfarers. She took every 
 kind care of me, and except a very slight souppon of a cold, the 
 next morning, I did not suffer any inconvenience. Mr. Webster 
 had complained of not being very well before (I think a slight at- 
 tack of hay-asthma), but I was glad to meet him soon afterward 
 at dinner, not at all the worse for the tempestuous drive ; and for 
 my part, I could most cordially thank him for the glorious pano- 
 rama he had shown me, and the splendid drive through what seemed 
 almost interminable woods : and (since we had got safely through 
 it), I was not sorry to have witnessed the very excellent imitation 
 of the Flood which had been presented before (and some of it into) 
 my astonished eyes. Mr. Webster told me the drive through the 
 woods would have been extended, but for the rain, ten miles ! 
 
 He took me the other day to a room I had not before visited, 
 and showed me a beautiful picture of a lovely and only daughter, 
 whom he had the great misfortune to lose last year. 
 . I am about to leave this delightful place, for I have an engage- 
 ment to go and dine at Nahant to-morrow, with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Prescott. The latter I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting. 
 I believe she has very delicate health. 
 
 I made acquaintance at Plymouth with a charming Mrs. 
 Thayer : her father is said to be the only American who possesses 
 and is universally known by an aristocratic title : he is the lineal 
 descendant of an ancient Dutch family. I believe the title is 
 " The Patroon." 
 
 I can not describe to you the almost adoration with which Mr. 
 Webster is regarded in New England. The newspapers chronicle 
 his every movement, and constantly contain anecdotes respecting 
 him, and he invariably is treated with the greatest respect by every 
 body, and, in fact, his intellectual greatness seems all but worshiped. 
 Massachusetts boasts, with a commendable pride and exultation, 
 that he is one of her children. A rather curious anecdote has been 
 going the round of the papers lately. It appears Mr. Webster 
 was at Martha's Vineyard a short time ago, and he drove up to 
 the door of the principal hotel, at Edgartown, the capital, ac- 
 companied by some of his family, and attended, as usual, by his 
 colored servants. Now it must be observed that Mr. Webster has
 
 ANECDOTE OF MK. WEBSTER. 59 
 
 a swarthy, almost South-Spanish complexion, and when he put his 
 head out of the window, and inquired for apartments, the keeper 
 of the hotel, casting dismayed glances, first at the domestics of dif- 
 ferent shades of sable and mahogany, and then at the fine dark 
 face of Mr. Webster, excused himself from providing them with 
 accommodation, declaring he made it a rule never to receive any 
 colored persons. (This in New England ! if the tale be true.) 
 The great statesman and his family were about to seek for accom- 
 modation elsewhere thinking the hotel-keeper alluded to his ser- 
 vants when the magical name of "glorious Dan" becoming 
 known, mine host, penitent and abashed, after profuse apologies, 
 entreated him to honor his house with his presence. " All's well 
 that ends well." 
 
 One can not wonder at the Americans' extreme admiration of 
 the genius and the statesman-like qualities of their distinguished 
 countryman, his glorious and electrifying eloquence, his great 
 powers of ratiocination, his solid judgment, his stores of knowledge, 
 and his large and comprehensive mind a mind of that real ex- 
 pansion and breadth which, heaven knows, too few public men can 
 boast of. But what does excite wonder is, the singular fact, that 
 neither he nor that other idol of the western world, Mr. Clay, 
 should ever have been chosen to fill the highest office in the 
 United States. 
 
 It has been explained to me thus : the greatest and most dis- 
 tinguished statesmen in America are so thoroughly identified with 
 some particular party, that naturally all the men of other parties 
 (and party-spirit appears to run very high in America) are vio- 
 lently opposed to them. A comparatively unknown politician, 
 therefore, who has made himself popular in some other sphere as 
 the present President, for instance* has a better chance to occupy 
 the Presidential chair than the best and most renowned of their 
 statesmen. In short, as regards the politics of their chief magis- 
 trate, they appear universally to prefer what is called ,jn sporting 
 circles in England, a " dark horse." Whether this peculiarity in 
 the working of their constitutional polity be for good or for evil, 
 where the chief magistrate for the time being has so vast au 
 amount of power and patronage, I leave those more conversant 
 with such subjects to decide. 
 
 Speaking of patronage, it may be well to allude to the army of 
 postmasters whom every successive President has the privilege (of 
 
 * I need hardly point out to the reader that President Taylor died since 
 these remarks were written.
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 which it is said he uniformly avails himself) of turning out on his 
 election. In the newly- appointed legions of this class of adminis- 
 trators, it is not experience, I am told, or fitness in any way for 
 the post, that is considered, but the direction their votes have 
 taken ; and I have been assured that sometimes persons are ap- 
 pointed certainly extraordinarily illiterate for America who can 
 not read, and others who can not spell. 
 
 In one of the public prints I saw the other day an attack on a 
 recently appointed postmaster to Indianapolis, the capital of Indi- 
 ana. This functionary wrote from his then abode to some one at 
 the place of his future labors, and spelt the name of the town thus : 
 " Indian Apolis." Deponent sayeth not whether he added the 
 name of the State as Indian Anna. 
 
 The mode of living at Green Harbor is exceedingly agreeable, 
 quiet, and unostentatious, yet all is conducted with the most un- 
 bounded hospitality. Every one is judiciously allowed to follow 
 their own tastes and inclinations, and read, walk, drive, write, or 
 whatever else they may like, without any formality or interference. 
 
 CHAPTER, XL 
 
 Visit to Mr. and Mrs. Prescott at Nahant Paucity of Trees there A mag- 
 nificent Water-Melon Beauty of Boston Harbor Poetical additional 
 Names given to American Cities New Bedford Its Population and Trade 
 Delicate Politeness of a Descendant of William Penn Martha's Vine- 
 yard The Hostess, her Son and Daughter Woodsville Naushon Its 
 Loveliness The One Grave Reflections suggested by it An ancient 
 Place of Indian Sepulture Verses suggested by Naushon. 
 
 TO-DAY we went and dined early with Mr. and Mrs. Prescott 
 at Nahant, where they are staying for the summer. They have a 
 charming country villa on the beautiful peninsula of Nahant. The 
 town of Nahant is a very pleasant watering-place, about twelve 
 miles from Boston by water, and sixteen by land. Near Mr. Pres- 
 cott's house is a magnificent-looking hotel with numerous piazzas : 
 the sea-coast view from his villa is boundless, and the perpetually 
 high and dashing waves fling their fantastic foam, without ceasing, 
 against the wild jagged rocks, which abound in every direction. 
 
 We started by railroad to go there, and very near us in the car 
 was a respectable looking negro. Mr. C. S , who was in the
 
 BEAUTY OF BOSTON HARBOR. 61 
 
 same car with us (also going to dine at Mr. Prescott's), pointed 
 this man out to me, at the same time saying, that this could not 
 by possibility have happened two years ago in this State, so strong 
 then were the prejudices against any approach to, or appearance 
 of amalgamation with the black race. No one could certainly ap- 
 pear more humble and quiet, less presuming or forward in his new 
 position, than did this colored individual. 
 
 On our way to Mr. Prescott's, we stopped to pay a visit to Mrs. 
 Page, the sister of Mrs. F. Webster. She has a very pretty little 
 country house at Nahant : she made many inquiries, with much 
 kind feeling, after those friends whom she remembers at Belvoir 
 Castle, where she was staying with Mr. and Mrs. Webster. 
 
 I have already mentioned that Mr. Prescott is one of the most 
 agreeable people I ever met with as delightful as his own most 
 delightful books : he talks of going to Europe next year. He tells 
 me he has never visited either Mexico or Peru. I am surprised 
 that the interest he must have felt in his own matchless works did 
 not impel him to go to both. Mrs. Prescott is very delicate, with 
 most gentle and pleasing manners. One of the guests was a niece 
 of Lord Lyndhurst, her mother being Lord Lyndhurst's sister. 
 
 After a most interesting and agreeable visit, we returned by 
 water to Boston. The sea was blue as a plain of sparkling sap- 
 phire quite Mediterraneans ! Nahant is certainly a delightful 
 place of summer residence, though it wants shade : trees in general 
 most positively refuse to grow there, and there are but a few, 
 which are taken as much care of as if they were the most precious 
 exotics ; but Nahant and they do not agree. They have quite a 
 pouting sulky look ; and it is almost as sad to look at them as it is 
 to see the girdled trees, which look like skeletons of malefactors 
 bleaching in the wind. At dessert, at Mr. Prescott's, there was 
 a huge magnificent water-melon, that almost might have taken 
 the place of the Cochituate Pond, and supplied Boston with the 
 crystal element for a day. 
 
 In returning through the harbor of Boston from Nahant, we 
 were full of admiration of its scenery : the many lovely islands, 
 with which it is beautifully studded, and the superb view of Bos- 
 ton itself, so nobly surmounted by its crown-like State House, en- 
 chanted us. 
 
 Since I wrote this, we have had a very agreeable little tour. 
 
 We have received, through Mrs. W , a kind invitation from 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell to visit them at New Bedford. That 
 inwn is called " the City of Palaces," from the beanti '
 
 62' TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 it contains : it is also the great whaling metropolis of the North. 
 It is about fifty-six miles from hence. 
 
 The Americans give their cities most poetical and significant 
 designations, and sometimes one town will have a variety of these. 
 For instance, this, I believe, is not only called the Granite City, 
 but the Trimountain City. Philadelphia is the city of Brotherly 
 Love, or the Iron City. Buffalo, the Queen City of the Lakes ; 
 New Haven, the City of Elms, &c. I think the American imag- 
 ination is more florid than ours. I am afraid matter-of-fact John 
 Bull, if he attempted suqh a fanciful classification would make sad 
 work of it. Perhaps we should have Birmingham, the City of 
 Buttons or Warming-pans ; Nottingham, the City of Stockings ; 
 Sheffield, the City of Knives and Forks, and so forth. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Willis, and Mr. Willis's musical brother, were at 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell's beautiful mansion. We paid a visit to 
 an immense whale-ship that is in the course of busy preparation for 
 her voyage to the South Seas, I believe. The whale-fishery is 
 very extensively carried on at New Bedford. The population is 
 about fifteen thousand, almost all engaged directly or indirectly in 
 this trade. There are about two hundred and twenty-nine vessels 
 engaged in the fishery, which is said to be continually increasing. 
 
 The system on which they conduct their whaling operations, 
 seems to be a very judicious one. Every one of the crew has a 
 share in the profits or losses of the expedition ; it becomes, there- 
 fore, his interest to do all he possibly can to render the voyage a 
 prosperous one. All are eager, all on the look-out, all are quite 
 sure to exert their energies to the utmost, and perhaps this is one 
 secret of the success that attends the American whaling-ships. 
 
 Mrs. Grinnell had a little conversazione the other evening, and 
 among the visitors was a beautiful young Quaker lady, a descend- 
 ant of William Penn. She was an extremely pleasing person 
 and her conversation was very animated and interesting. Imag- 
 ining that perhaps I had never been in the society of Quakers be- 
 fore, she cleverly contrived to converse in the most pleasant and 
 delightful manner, without once bringing in either "thee" or 
 " thou," or " you" though she was talking to me almost all the 
 evening. 
 
 I remarked this omission, and was afterward certain of it when 
 Mrs. Willis told me the lady informed her of the .fact before go- 
 ing away, and gave her that reason for her delicate, scrupulous 
 abstinence. She would not say " you," in short ; and " thee" and 
 " thou" she thought would appear strange to me. I was told her
 
 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. t3 
 
 family are in possession of a splendid silver tea-service which be- 
 longed to their celebrated ancestor, William Penn. 
 
 We went from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard, an island 
 in the Atlantic not far from New Bedford. There we staid a few 
 days at an unpretending neat hotel, of small dimensions not the 
 chief hotel, where the mistress, we found, was unaccommodating 
 and disobliging a very rare thing in America. On taking 
 refuge at the other hotel, we found we had reason to congratulate 
 ourselves, for a more kind-hearted, attentive person I never found 
 than our new hostess. She, poor soul, was in affliction at the 
 time ; for her son was about to go off to California indeed his 
 departure took place for that distant region the morning after our 
 arrival. 
 
 What misery has this Californian emigration brought on thou- 
 sands of families unknown, incalculable wretchedness ! There 
 was, as may be supposed, a melancholy chorus of wailing and 
 sobs when the dreaded moment actually arrived ; but her domes- 
 tic sorrows did not make the excellent mother of the family neg- 
 lect her guests. Nothing was omitted that could conduce to our 
 comfort ; and her daughter's attention and her own were unremit- 
 ting. 
 
 Her daughter was a smart intelligent lassie. One day, when 
 she was in the room, the mother hurried in to ask some question 
 relative to dinner, or something of the kind. She had previously 
 been baking, and her hands, and arms too, I believe, were white 
 with flour. This very much annoyed her neat, particular, and 
 precise daughter, who kept dusting her daintily, and trying to 
 wipe it off, and drawing her mother's attention to it with great 
 pertinacity. At last the mother said she hadn't had time to get 
 rid of it hoped the lady would excuse it, with other apologies, 
 and the daughter was a little pacified. One should hardly have 
 expected so much susceptibility in such matters in a little out-of- 
 the-way town on an island like Martha's Vineyard. 
 
 When we came away I felt it was quite a friend I was taking 
 leave of, though we had been there so short a time, so good and 
 kind did we find her. On the table in her little parlor, instead of 
 the horrid novels so commonly to be seen in America, were the 
 " Penny Magazine," and other works of that species. 
 
 From Martha's Vineyard we went to Woodsville, a quiet little 
 village by the sea. I had promised to pay a visit to Mrs. J. Grin- 
 nell, at the residence of a friend of hers, situated on an island very 
 near this place (to which Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell had lately gone
 
 64 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 from New Bedford), We were at a very nice little hotel, indeed, 
 at Woodsville, the master of which was a Mr. Webster, who had 
 called one of his sons Daniel, after the famous statesman, the 
 pride of old Massachusetts. 
 
 At this hotel there was an admirable specimen of an American 
 female waiter and house-maid ; in short, a domestic factotum. 
 She was excessively civil, obliging, active, and attentive, not in 
 the slightest degree forward or intrusive, always willing to do 
 whatever one required of her. Altogether a very prepossessing 
 personage is Mademoiselle Caroline not the famous female 
 equestrian of Paris, but the excellent and accomplished waitress 
 and chambermaid at Woodsville, whom I beg to introduce to the 
 reader, and to immortality. The mistress of the hotel cooked for 
 us herself, and she was quite a cordon-bleu, I assure you. Her 
 chicken pies and her puddings were of the sublimest description. 
 
 The morning was lovely, the sea sparkling with a myriad lus- 
 tres, the air of Ausonian clearness and purity, when we went to 
 Naushon, an exquisite little island (one of a cluster of the islands 
 called the Elizabeth Group). We started in a small boat 
 manned by the two sons of our host, and before very long we 
 entered a little creek, and soon landed on the beautiful shore of 
 fairy-like Naushon. (This is of course its old Indian name, and 
 long may it retain it). 
 
 We found Mr. Grinnell kindly waiting to receive us and drive 
 us to the island palace of the proprietor of Naushon, for to Mr. 
 
 S , the whole beauteous island belongs. What an enviable 
 
 possession ! Though not given to pilfering propensities, I should 
 
 like to pick Mr. S 's pocket of this gem ! We started in 
 
 a somewhat sledge-like vehicle, a la flcche (as our old Belgian 
 courier Marcotte used to say), for the house, and soon found our- 
 selves seated in a large cool apartment with Mrs. Grinnell, and 
 the kindly cordial Lord and Lady of the Isle, whose welcome had 
 much of unworldly heartiness about it. I longed to explore the 
 beautiful island, and when I did so, my anticipations were not 
 disappointed. 
 
 Naushon is a little America in itself. There are miniatures of 
 her wild, illimitable, awful old forests a beautiful little diamond 
 edition of her wonderful lakes, a fairy representation of her variety 
 of scenery, a page torn from "her ancient Indian associations and 
 remains. There too are her customs, her manners, her spirit, and 
 character ; in short, it is a little pocket America (and enough to 
 make the chief superintendent of any police himself a pick -pocket),
 
 THE SINGLE GRAVE. 65 
 
 a Liliputian Western World, a compressed Columbia. But its 
 trees are not Liliputian, they are magnificent. 
 
 We drove under a varied shade for a long time, and saw lovely 
 views through openings in the woods. At last after tearing and 
 crackling along through a thick growth of timber and underwood, 
 we emerged upon a truly magnificent prospect. We were on a 
 height, and on either side were lovely woods, valleys, and gentle 
 eminences ; and in front the glorious Atlantic. After enjoying 
 this beauteous view for some time, the Lord of Naushon took us 
 to see a still, secluded part of the forest, where in the midst of a 
 sunny clearing, surrounded by partly overshadowing trees in the 
 heart of that sequestered island, embosomed in the mighty ocean, 
 was a single grave, that of the only and adored son of our amiable 
 hosts ; indeed, their only child. Almost close to this simple grave 
 
 was a semi-circular seat. " There often," said Mr. S , " we 
 
 come in the summer time and spend the evening, and frequently 
 bring our friends, too, with us, and it is a melancholy happiness to 
 feel he is near almost, as it were, with us." 
 
 Here we all remained for some time : the birds were singing, 
 the sea so calm you could scarcely just then at that distance hear 
 its everlasting resounding voice. You might look through the 
 opening in the woods, up and up, and the clear cloudless sky 
 would seem almost receding from your gaze (like the horizon 
 when you are advancing toward it), yet bluer and bluer, brighter 
 and brighter. All was beauty and enchantment ! and there lay 
 the lonely dead who could dare to say in unconsecrated ground? 
 where Nature was so wild and beautiful, and Nature's Creator 
 seemed so nigh and where that grand untrodden ground with 
 nothing to desecrate it, was ever bathed by the tears of hallowed 
 parental affection ? How blessed and sacred it appeared ! To 
 think, in contrast with this grave, of our dead in crowded city 
 church-yards ! But I trust that unutterably detestable system 
 will soon be done away with. 
 
 If what 1 have related seems strange to you, you must recollect 
 that in America it is often the case ; at least, I have frequently 
 _ heard so before I came here. In the quiet garden, or in the wood 
 near the house, often sleep in their last slumber the beloved mem- 
 bers of the family, not banished from the every-day associations 
 of the survivors, and almost seeming" to have still some participa- 
 tion in their feelings, in their woes, and their pleasures. I co^d 
 almost fancy, after seeing that Eden for the dead, Mount Auburn, 
 and remembering this affectionate custom, that is one reason why
 
 66 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 -* 
 
 death does not seem a thing to be dreaded or deplored in America, 
 as with us. If I recollect correctly, the only words on the mod- 
 est head-stone were, " To our beloved Son." 
 
 After willingly remaining some time here, beside this simple 
 Christian tomb, we went to see an ancient place of Indian sepul- 
 ture. The corpses, I believe, had mostly been dug up poor 
 
 Indians ; hardly allowed to rest in their graves ! Mrs. S 
 
 told me that the first time Naushon had passed into white men's 
 hands from those of the red chief s, this exquisite island, with all 
 its lovely and splendid woods, its herds of wild deer, and all its 
 fair lands, it had been sold for an old coat. (I think a little fire- 
 water must have entered into the bargain). After hearing this, 
 I began to think feu squire and squaw Naushon of the olden time 
 and their clan hardly deserved to rest in their graves. 
 
 Our excellent hosts most kindly pressed us to stay at Naushon, 
 but my plans did not admit of this ; so, enchanted with their de- 
 lectable island, and full of gratitude for all their cordial friendli- 
 ness and truly American hospitality toward us, we took leave of 
 them and Mrs. Grinnell, in the evening, and returned to the main 
 land. The weather became very unpropitious, and it blew and 
 rained heavily. However, we arrived in damp safety at our hotel. 
 
 I will venture to give some verses which I wrote for an album 
 at Naushon, begging the reader not to be severe in his criticisms ; 
 for constantly traveling, as I have lately been, is not favorable to 
 verse manufacturing. 
 
 NAUSHON. 
 
 If falling stars were truly what they seem, 
 
 The glittering regions of a magic dream, 
 
 Then might we fancy this enchanted isle 
 
 (Where such bright, varying beauties gleam and smile), 
 
 Were even an after-gift, in mercy sent, 
 
 Straight from yon golden-fretted firmament ; 
 
 Rapt from those lustrous paths, to vision bared, 
 
 A down-dropped star from yon grand circle spared; 
 
 Fallen in a gracious moment from the sky, 
 
 To charm to rapture man's earth-wearied eye, 
 
 From harsher haunts and sceneries to beguile, 
 
 To almost Eden's loss to reconcile. 
 
 A home for world-sick angel-hearts to be, 
 
 A wilder, freer Paradise at sea; 
 
 Hung, gem-like, where to stormless deeps are given 
 
 The best reflections of its parent heaven ! 
 
 The loveliest likeness that this planet wears, 
 
 Of kindred glories sister stars and spheres !
 
 VERSES ON NAUSHON. 67 
 
 But since 'tis not so, let me hope, at least 
 Kind new-made friends, by its possession blest 
 That while no fallen-star hath spread for you 
 A bowered Elysium midst these waves of blue, 
 Your hearts, your hopes, your virtues yet will make 
 This radiant island, for your own bright sake, 
 A rising-star in guardian-angels' eyes, 
 That, better-seeing, watch the heavenward rise, 
 The unceasing soul-flight of its human guests, 
 Far, far beyond where sun or system rests 
 (Till they, and thou, in their remembering thought 
 Fair isle ! to faith's own glorious goal are brought). 
 
 Ah, yes, a mounting world, be this hushed spot, 
 Where th' earthlier globe's vain mockeries are forgot, 
 A star of rising heaven-bound souls, that feel, 
 'Midst such rare scenes, fresh hopes, fresh trusts and zeal, 
 And, looking on this lustrous realm below 
 In morn's creation-burst, or sunset's glow 
 This little heaven of beauty, peace, and love, 
 Who could forget the kindred heaven above ? 
 
 Though, in thyself, fair isle ! thou mayst not soar 
 To be their bower of bliss for evermore, 
 Nor midst the unfading realms of splendor shine, 
 And hallowed fields, and mansions, all divine ; 
 Thy deathless dwellers there may cherish yet 
 (Where worlds ne'er sink, nor suns of glory set), 
 Thy precious memory's truth, in ages bright, 
 That through eternity shall speed their flight. 
 Thus thou mayst find thy changeless home within. 
 The unbounded soul released from earth and sin, 
 As now within the unbounded sea, that smiles 
 Round thee, like molten skies, sweet isle of isles !
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Blind Asylum at Boston, and Laura Bridgeman New Haven, the 
 " City of Elms" Yale College Its Objects of Science and Art Profes- 
 sor Silliman, Jun. Governor Yale His Epitaph His EnglishConnections 
 Black domestic Servants Two Opinions of them A sable Count 
 D'Orsay The American Character Scenery about New Haven Katy- 
 dids, Tree-frogs, and Crickets Connecticut Yankees. 
 
 I HAD been very anxious to pay a visit to the Blind Asylum and 
 Laura Bridgeman, at Boston. Perhaps the reader will remember 
 the very interesting account given of poor Laura by Mr. Dickens, 
 in his work on America, and Dr. Howe's wonderful and successful 
 mode of teaching her. She is blind, and deaf, and dumb, and has 
 hardly any sense of smell or taste. 
 
 They told us at the Asylum that if they gave her strong Cayenne 
 pepper, or any thing equally pungent, she would appear to taste it 
 slightly, but nothing less powerful. 
 
 After Mr. Dickens's excellent and elaborate description, I need 
 only say say that we found Laura apparently well and contented, 
 though she is slight and delicate-looking, and has a rather pensive, 
 serious expression of countenance. A lady, who we understood 
 was a governess, especially devoted to her, told us Laura Bridge- 
 man had enjoyed a late visit into the country much ; and though 
 she could neither see the views, nor hear the merry song of birds, 
 nor smell the sweet odor of flowers, yet she appeared to inhale the 
 freshness of the free air with delight. She added that Laura was 
 now learning geometry, and that she took very deep interest in it, 
 and made great and rapid progress. Is not this wonderful ? 
 
 When we first entered, the teacher was holding an open letter 
 in one hand, while with the other she was repeating the contents 
 of it to the poor girl, by telling it very rapidly on the fingers of 
 Laura's lifted hand. This was a letter from her country friends, 
 and it was extraordinary to observe each eloquent change of ex- 
 pression that passed over Laura's intelligent and most speaking 
 face. Wonder, pleasure sometimes a slight shade of vexation and 
 disappointment regret, affection, mirth, sympathy, doubt, anxiety, 
 hope, expectation ; all seemed to impress themselves by turns on 
 the voiceless and sightless one's features. I could almost read the 
 letter on Laura's eloquent face, which those mute signs, quick as 
 lightning, were conveying to her mind !
 
 "CITY OF ELMS." 69 
 
 I might well have been reminded of the illumined alabaster vase 
 to which some one imaginatively compared a celebrated poet's 
 countenance, for really Laura's face appeared almost like a crystal 
 one, and the mighty mystery of mind seemed peering through the 
 transparent casket. I do not think I ever saw any features that 
 had a voice to help them, or eyes to look with, speak so impress- 
 ively with their varied changes. All her features and movements 
 seemed forced by her active mind to act as voice, tongue, and eyes. 
 When we first entered the Asylum, the blind children were sing- 
 ing, in a sort of music-hall, furnished with a good organ. What 
 a pleasure must this be to these poor bereaved beings ! Their 
 voices sounded very sweet and solemn, and they had evidently been 
 carefully taught. 
 
 The Institution for the Blind is admirably situated, on open and 
 elevated ground, and commands a noble and splendid prospect of 
 the island-studded harbor, the city and circumjacent country :. its 
 lofty position, and the pure air that circulates around it, are, no 
 doubt, highly conducive to the health of the pupils. But how 
 mournful to think, on looking out of the vast opened windows of 
 the establishment, that all this beauty and glory can shine not to 
 those poor benighted eyes ! 
 
 New Haven is lovely ; but I must explain to what it owes 
 its principal charm : it is to the exceeding profusion of its stately 
 elms, which render it not only one of the most charming but one 
 of the most " unique" cities I ever beheld. From the trees it is 
 called the " City of Elms," and it may be imagined how delight- 
 ful a place of residence they must make it in the heat of an Amer- 
 ican summer. Even now we find their shade very welcome ; and 
 wherever we go, in street or suburb, we see these umbrageous 
 trees in short, I think, there are multitudinous avenues of them. 
 
 We lately paid a very interesting visit to the college library, 
 with a lady to whom I had a letter, and who has been most 
 friendly and kind since our stay here. In this city is Yale College, 
 which is said to have a greater number of students than any other 
 college in the United States. Yale College was founded at Kill- 
 ingworth in 1701, and subsequently established at Ne\* Haven 
 in 1717. There are several college-halls, about one hundred, and 
 four feet long by forty feet wide and four stories high ; a hall for 
 theological student*, a chapel, the Lyceum, and the Athenaeum. 
 Behind the main building is another range which contains a build- 
 ing devoted to an interesting collection of paintings by Col. Trum- 
 bull ; a chemical laboratory, and the Commons' Hall, which has
 
 70 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 in its second story a fine mineralogical cabinet, supposed to be by 
 far the most complete in the United States. Buildings devoted to 
 the law and medical departments are hard by. We saw in the 
 library a likeness of poor Major Andre, drawn by himself, just 
 before his execution, and a lock of his hair. 
 
 I was particularly interested in my visit to the cabinet of min- 
 erals. They boast that they have some specimens far superior to 
 any corresponding ones in the British Museum, but this is a knotty 
 point which I am not at all competent to decide. The specimens 
 of meteoric iron struck me certainly as extraordinarily fine : one 
 piece was truly enormous, and if the theory of some natural phi- 
 losophers respecting their lunar origin be correct, it seems almost 
 frightful to think of such an iron rock being lanched at us from 
 such a distance ! We had better take care and keep on good 
 terms with the moon, if she can bombard us thus. One can hardly 
 help wondering, when gazing on that huge projectile, how so many 
 poets and poetasters have escaped her vengeance, making her, as 
 they do, the target for their rhyming arrows, without mercy or 
 compunction. Long suffering must the " Casta Diva" be indeed ! 
 
 Besides my letter to Mrs. W , I had one for Mrs. D . 
 
 They both appear highly-accomplished and agreeable persons, and 
 are nearly related to wealthy planters in the South. Owing to 
 
 Mrs. D being absent from New Haven during the greater 
 
 part of the time we were there, I saw the more of Mrs. W 
 
 and her daughter : I found them most particularly pleasing and 
 amiable. It was with them we went to the colleges, the library 
 and mineralogical cabinet. We had the advantage of meeting 
 Professor Silliman, Jun., at the latter, who was kind enough to ac- 
 company us round, and his elucidatory observations rendered our 
 visit far more attractive and interesting than it would otherwise 
 have been. 
 
 The chief benefactor of the college, Governor Yale (from whom 
 the institution received its name), died July 8, 1721. Here is the 
 old gentleman's epitaph (in the church-yard at Wrexham) : 
 
 " Under this tomb lyes interred ELIHU YALE, of Place Gronow, Esq. 
 Born 5th April, 1648, and dyed the 8th of July, 1721, aged seventy-three 
 years. 
 
 " Born in America, in Europe bred, 
 In Afric traveled, and in Asia wed, 
 Where long he lived and thrived ; at London dead. 
 Much good, some ill he did ; so hope all's even, 
 And that his soul through Mercy's gone to Heaven.
 
 YALE COLLEGE. 71 
 
 You that survive and read, take care, 
 For this most certain exit to prepare ; 
 For only the actions of the Just 
 Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust." 
 
 The last two lines are a naughty plagiarism from old Shirley, 
 and poor Charles Lamb would have taken, perhaps, offense at the 
 previous two. Touching the plagiarism, it is more pardonable 
 than the almost parody I once saw in a country church-yard in 
 England, on Lord Byron's fine lines, 
 
 " Bright be the place of thy soul," &c. 
 The line 
 
 " On earth she was all but divine," 
 
 was thus rendered : 
 
 " On earth she was all we could wish." 
 
 The rhyme was unmercifully sacrificed ; not even did they deign 
 to press an extraneous line, slightly altered into the service, and 
 say 
 
 " And the spoon ran away with the dish." 
 
 I return to old Governor Yale.* One of his daughters married 
 a son of the then Duke of Devonshire ; another, a grandson of 
 the Earl of Guildford. It was he of whom Collins says in his 
 " Peerage of England :" " he brought such quantities of goods 
 from India that, finding no house large enough to stow them in, 
 he had a public sale of the overplus, and that was the first auction 
 in England." 
 
 Yale College was instituted when Connecticut was in its in*"- .' 
 cy, and has exerted a powerful influence over its literary., 
 social, and religious character. A new department was et. 
 ed in the college in 1847, called the Department of Phiiv 
 and the Arts. The gentleman I have mentioned, Professor 
 man, Jun., instructs in elementary and analytical chemistry, min- 
 eralogy, and metallurgy. 
 
 I was talking, the other day, to Mrs. W and her daughter 
 
 of the capabilities of the black people for making good domestic 
 servants, and remarking how very civil, attentive, and intelligent 
 we had uniformly found the black waiters and attendants we had 
 
 * On the monument to Governor Eaton is a quaint inscription. He was 
 buried here, with his son-in-law and daughter near him. It thus concludes : 
 " T" attend you, sir, under these framed stones, 
 Are come your honored son and daughter Jones, 
 On each hand to repose their wearied bones."
 
 72 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 occasionally encountered. I was surprised to hear them condemn 
 them unconditionally, and declare they carefully avoided having 
 any of them in their house ; speaking in no measured terms of 
 their having many uneradicably bad habits. How different from 
 Mr. Webster's expressed opinion concerning them ! But it is very 
 natural that they should, from their Carolinian antecedents, be 
 disposed not to judge the colored race with much impartiality ; 
 and it is certainly probable that, after being accustomed to them 
 as slaves, they would be likely to be a little impatient of them as 
 servants. Altogether, I can easily imagine the household arrange- 
 ments, under the circumstances of the case, not being conducted 
 very harmoniously or satisfactorily to either party. 
 
 The old black waiter who attends on us here is an admirable 
 specimen of his class. He is invaluable to the master of the es- 
 tablishment, and I find he is constantly spoken of by the white 
 servants, quite respectfully, as " Mr. Williams." He speaks par- 
 ticularly good English, without any twang, and has the manners 
 of a quiet, highly-respectable English butler. 
 
 We saw one very curious specimen of a dandy among his fellow- 
 colorists, lounging down the street. He was a sable Count d'Or- 
 say. His toilet was the most elaborately recherche you can 
 imagine. He seemed intensely and harmlessly happy in his coat 
 and waistcoat, of the finest possible materials ; and the careful 
 carelessness of the adjustment of the wool and hat was not readily 
 to be surpassed. 
 
 The more I see of American society, the more I like it. In 
 aianeral, I should say, they are a peculiarly sensitive people, and 
 yet very forbearing and not easily offended. They are generally 
 accused of being conceited. I can only say, as far as I have seen, 
 th^.i candor appears to be far more remarkable than their conceit. 
 Indeed, I have perpetually found them volunteer remarks on what 
 they consider defects in their manners and customs, with the great- 
 est possible good-humor and ingenuousness. Nay, I have some- 
 times, in common honesty, found myself compelled to take their part 
 against themselves. In traveling, their courtesy, their good-temper, 
 their obligingness, their utter unselfishness, are beyond all praise. 
 
 This town is delightfully situated. It is built round the head 
 of the bay, and is partly skirted by an amphitheatre of hills, of 
 which two, at their termination, present steep bluffs, which rise, 
 indeed, almost perpendicularly to the height of three hundred and 
 seventy feet. The population is about 20,500. We have had 
 several charming drives with Mrs. and Miss W . The coun-
 
 CONNECTICUT YANKEES. 73 
 
 try surrounding New Haven, is very picturesque and fine, and 
 these bluffs look very imposing. They took us to see some ex- 
 ceedingly nice country houses, with grounds well laid out. Their 
 
 own mansion was a very pretty one (as was also Mrs. D 's), 
 
 completely emhowered in trees, except on one side, where there 
 was a beautiful garden. 
 
 The noise the katydids, tree-frogs, and crickets make at New 
 Haven, is inconceivable almost enough to interrupt the students 
 at their labors. The former repeat very plainly the sound that 
 gives them their name, in a most positive and authoritative man- 
 ner ; and, after a little time, you will hear others apparently re- 
 plying, " Katy-didn't." Of course the prodigious number of these 
 insects at New Haven arises from the multitude of trees. 
 
 The Americans, I find, call the New Englanders Yankees in. 
 general ; though, I believe, the meaning of the term varies accord- 
 ing to the section of country you happen to be in. They tell me 
 that almost all the Americans met with abroad, especially those 
 who venture into remote localities, such as India, China, Austra- 
 lia, Polynesia, and other distant regions, are Yankees, i.e., New 
 Englanders; and that of "these, by far the greater part are the 
 enterprising, active, indefatigable, Connecticut Yankees. It is 
 said, if you ask a Connecticut Yankee, in any part of the world, 
 how he is, he will, if not " sick," answer " moving, sir," equivalent 
 to saying " well ;" for, if well, he is sure to be on the move. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Bridgeport The Irish Housemaid Ultra-Republicans even in America- 
 The Great Croton Aqueduct described Supply of Water to New York 
 New York Trotters Delmonico's Hotel Excursion with American 
 Friends Glorious Scenery of Staten Island Greenwood Cemetery 
 Its Extent, Scenery and Monuments Miss Lynch the Poetess and Fred- 
 rika Brcmer. 
 
 IN coming here (to Delmonico's Hotel, New York), on the 14th 
 October, from New Haven, we stopped at Bridgeport, at a rather 
 indifferent hotel that is to say, compared with the generality of 
 the hotels in the United States. I believe it is near that town 
 that the well-known Mr. Barnum, of Tom Thumb and " woolly 
 horse" notoriety, has his abode his splendid abode, I fancy I may 
 say, if the accounts generally given of it are correct. 
 
 D
 
 74 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 We did not see Bridgeport to advantage, as it rained a good 
 
 deal while we were there. Both V and I were quite sorry to 
 
 leave the city of Elms, and our very kind friends Mrs. and Miss 
 
 W , and Mrs. D , who had made our sojourn there so 
 
 singularly agreeable. I should think Bridgeport is a pretty place 
 when you can see it, which we could scarcely do for the cascade- 
 like rain during our short stay. 
 
 There was a poor Irish housemaid there who touched our feel- 
 ings extremely : we had watched her with compassion in the 
 pouring rain milking the cows, her gown-skirt over her head, 
 crouched in the wet grass. When she came in with our tea we 
 asked her some questions about her leaving Ireland, and she ap- 
 peared delighted to talk about the "ould country ;" ill off as she 
 had been there. She seemed to think it the most beauteous and 
 charming place on the face of the globe. Eveiy time we saw her 
 after that, we had a little talk about " the fair Emerald Isle ;" 
 and on our coming away, when I gave her a little gratuity, she 
 fairly burst into tears and thanked me most heartily ; but, I verily 
 believe, more for talking to her about beautiful "ould Ireland," 
 and displaying interest in her simple history, than for the trifle I 
 presented her with. She sobbed out as we took leave, " Och sure, 
 my heart warmed toward ye from the first, when I found ye was 
 from the ould countries, .'" thus cordially uniting together the land 
 of the Saxon with her own far-off Erin. 
 
 I have been reading some extracts from late American news- 
 papers, which I inclose, concerning the tariff. It is easily to be 
 seen that there are radicals and ultra-republicans in the United 
 States as well as elsewhere, which I think is scarcely well known, 
 to politicians in England. What intemperance of language 
 there is in these extracts ! To judge by the meeting described, 
 they seem just as violent as the malcontents of Europe, and fully 
 as discontented with their government ; but if they ever did more 
 ,than talk here, they would find no merciful Louis the Sixteenths, 
 or Charles the Tenths, or hesitating, compromising, concession- 
 making Louis-Philippes : the executive would deal with them at 
 once with determination, promptitude, and just whatever amount 
 of severity might be deemed necessary. 
 
 I have found those kindest of friends, Mrs. Barclay and Mrs. 
 W. Barclay here. Mrs. Barclay most kindly invited me to spend 
 the winter with them in Georgia, but as I wished extremely to 
 go down the Mississippi to New Orleans, I, with great reluctance, 
 declined their truly friendly proposal. Wo went with them one
 
 THE CROTON AQUEDUCT. 75 
 
 day to see the High Bridge of the great Croton Aqueduct. It is 
 vefy magnificent indeed. This bridge crosses Harlem River and is 
 made of stone : it is one thousand four hundred and fifty feet long, 
 with fourteen piers, eight of which bear arches of eighty feet span, 
 and seven others of fifty feet span, one hundred and fourteen feet 
 above tide water at the top. It has cost about nine hundred 
 thousand dollars. The whole cost of the aqueduct will be about 
 fourteen million dollars. 
 
 " The aqueduct commences about five miles from the Hudson," 
 says ' Appleton's Railroad Companion,' " about forty miles from 
 the City Hall. The dam, which is two hundred and fifty feet long, 
 seventy feet wide at the bottom and seven at the top, and forty 
 feet high, is built of stone and cement. A pond five miles in length 
 is created by the dam, covering a surface of four hundred acres, 
 and containing five hundred million gallons of water. From the 
 dam the aqueduct proceeds, sometimes tunneling through solid 
 rocks, crossing valleys by embankments and brooks by culverts, 
 until it reaches Harlem River. It is built of stone, brick, and ce- 
 ment, arched over and under ; is six feet three inches wide at the 
 bottom, seven feet eight inches wide at the side walls, and eight 
 feet five inches high ; it has a descent of thirteen inches and a 
 quarter per mile, and will discharge sixty millions of gallons in 
 twenty-four hours." 
 
 Then follows a description of the High Bridge, and it goes on to 
 say : " The receiving reservoir is at Eighty-sixth-street and Sixth- 
 Avenue, covering thirty-five acres, and containing one hundred and 
 fifty million gallons of water. There is now no city in the world 
 better supplied with pure and wholesome water than New York, and 
 the supply would be abundant if the population were five times its 
 present number." Another account I have seen proceeds to say, 
 that the distributing reservoir on Murray's-hill, in Fortieth-street, 
 covers about four acres, and is constructed of stone and cement, 
 raised forty-five feet above the street, and contains twenty millions of 
 gallons. The water is thence distributed over the city in iron pipes, 
 laid sufficiently deep under ground so as to be secure from frost. 
 
 As we returned from the "High Bridge," we were passed by 
 some of the famous New York trotters, who flew by at a most won- 
 derful pace, drawing after them almost invisible little light vehicles. 
 
 Delmonico's is a most excellent hotel, admirably conducted ; it 
 has all sorts of comforts and conveniences ; charming apartments, 
 delightful baths of all kinds, and during the whole day a number 
 of extremely good carriages for hire by the hour, or just as you
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 choose, are drawn up before the door. In addition to this, the at- 
 tendance is remarkably good. 
 
 We dined at Mr. H. Grinnell's,* the other evening (to whom I 
 
 had letters from Mr. C ) : he is brother of Mr. J. Grinnell, 
 
 at whose hospitable house we were staying at New Bedford. I 
 like Mrs. H. Grinnell exceedingly, and her daughter seems a most 
 thoroughly well-educated and accomplished young lady. Mr. Grin- 
 nel) showed us some specimens of Californian gold that looked re- 
 markably pure. Their drawing-rooms were adorned with some 
 beautiful Italian paintings. 
 
 I have just returned from an agreeable little excursion to Staten 
 Island, to dine and sleep at Mr. and Mrs. Cunard's enchanting 
 villa in this beautiful locality. No words can describe the mag- 
 nificence of American autumnal coloring. When the sun rose on 
 the rainbow-tinted woods of the island in the morning, what a 
 glorious blazing world we beheld ! The scenery of Staten Island 
 is superb, and riot only is that well worthy of admiration, but its 
 situation commands a glorious view of the Bay of New York, 
 Long Island, &c. 
 
 We had, indeed, a delightful visit, though from my stupidly mis- 
 understanding what Mr. Cunard said, I thought it was limited to a 
 dinner invitation, and consequently, we arrived at the house, maid- 
 less, trunkless, and carpet-bag-less. Light was soon thrown upon 
 the mistake ; but we found though we had not burned our ships, 
 yet that no mode of retreat was open to us, for the last steamer 
 for New York had already departed. However, Mrs. Cunard most 
 kindly supplied us with all possible paraphernalia and caparisons 
 and appointments, and we passed a charming evening listening to 
 the beautiful instrumental music, with which Mrs. Cunard, who 
 is an admirable performer, entertained us delightfully. 
 
 I must now give a brief account of Greenwood Cemetery, which 
 we visited the other day in company with Mr. and Miss Grinnell, 
 who obligingly insisted on taking us there, and showing us the 
 place. It is in the south part of Brooklyn, about three miles from 
 Fulton Ferry (you may also go to Greenwood by the new ferry, at 
 Whitehall, which lands you in the vicinity of the cemetery on a 
 very long pier). Greenwood contains two hundred and forty-two 
 acres, of which a great part is beautifully covered with woods of 
 a natural growth ; and I think the surprisingly brilliant colors of 
 autumn are more striking and exquisite here than those at Staten 
 
 * This is the gentleman who subscribed so munificently to the American 
 expedition in search of Sir John Franklin.
 
 GREENWOOD CEMETERY. 77 
 
 Island, or New Haven, or in the country before we came to New 
 York. These were perfectly extraordinary the most dazzling 
 scarlet, the most golden and vivid yellows and Tyrian purples, and 
 rich, deep, velvet-like crimsons, and delicate pale primrose-tints, 
 and soft surviving greens, and rose-hues, such as flush the lips of 
 Indian shells all cast their sumptuous shadowings over the quiet 
 graves, like the reflections from richly-painted windows, " blushing 
 with the blood of kings and queens," in some mighty old cathedral. 
 The views from the heights of the cemetery were sublime. I ad- 
 mired the one from Ocean Hill the most. There is a lovely va- 
 riety of valleys, elevations, plains, groves, and glades, and paths. 
 When will London have any thing even approaching to this magnifi- 
 cent cemetery ? The ocean rolling and moaning, with its fine mel- 
 ancholy, organ- like sounds, so near, like a mighty mourner, she can 
 not have, nor the gorgeous pall cast over the tombs by a Western 
 autumn ; but all the rest she could have, and yet has not. 
 
 The cemetery is traversed by many winding paths and avenues, 
 all beautiful and solemn. Some of the monuments are interesting. 
 There is one to an Iowa Indian Princess, named Dohumme ; an- 
 other handsome one to a young lady who was killed while return- 
 ing from a ball. There is one thing which I did not quite like, 
 and yet it is not only useful, but necessary, and that is, having 
 " Guide Boards" given to visitors, to direct them in these solemn 
 labyrinths. We were told that, but for this precaution, many per- 
 sons would probably lose themselves in the Cemetery ; still, there 
 is something not in keeping with all the rest in these melancholy, 
 methodical maps ; but that is only fanciful. 
 
 We met, a short time since, at Mr. and Mrs. Willis's, Miss 
 Lynch, the poetess ; she is expecting Miss Fredrika Bremer to pay 
 her a visit shortly. Miss Bremer's works are very much liked in 
 the States. 1 believe she is going to remain in America some 
 time. Miss Lynch, who has kindly sent me a delightful volume 
 of her poems, reminded me a little of our poor L. E. L. in her 
 manner and conversation.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Philadelphia Incessant Uproar in that City its Custom House and Ceme- 
 teries Baltimore Battle and Washington Monuments The Catholic 
 Cathedral The Merchants' Shot Tower Its Trade and Commerce Its 
 Increase and Population Baltimore Clippers Barnum's Hotel Sensi- 
 .- tiveness of Americans to Cold The Deaf Gentleman and His Stentorian 
 Friend Anthracite Coal Fires. 
 
 WE came to Baltimore, via Philadelphia ; and though I very 
 much admired the regularity of the Iron City's streets, and the 
 beauty of many of the principal buildings, its profusion of white 
 marble, and its perfection of cleanliness, I was glad to escape from 
 its unearthly nightly noises, and the wars and rumors of wars which 
 seemed unceasing and ever-increasing in the City of Brotherly Love 
 to Baltimore. 
 
 The Society of Friends at any rate, methinks, must gain many 
 converts in the former place. Verily I was a Quaker all the time 
 I staid there, and still tremble at the recollection of it. All night 
 a sound as of a masque and procession of one hundred menageries 
 let loose, filled one's ears. The deserts of Africa seemed to have 
 disgorged half their denizens on the beautiful streets of fair Phila- 
 delphia ; while bells, horns, gongs, and rattling fire-engines, helped 
 to swell the hideous chorus. 
 
 I had understood there had been, some time ago, serious riots at 
 Philadelphia, but that they were all over now, and I was, natur- 
 ally surprised at this hubbub ; but on inquiring the next morning, 
 all I learnt was it was the fashion of the dwellers of Moyamen- 
 sing, a suburb of Philadelphia, called, I believe, a " district," to 
 regale the ears of the inhabitants of that city frequently with such 
 harmonious serenades. These gentlemen appear to indulge in very 
 peculiar notions of music and melody, and to be resolved that at 
 least their neighbors shall admire no rival harmonists, by leaving 
 them completely deafened by their din. The Moyamensingists, in 
 short, seem to look upon a riot or a row, or something resembling 
 it, as the first necessary of life : they also would seem to entertain 
 a new theory with regard to sleep, and to consider it as a wholly 
 needless indulgence. To any one not participating in these senti- 
 ments, Philadelphia (while thus apparently at the mercy of this
 
 APPEARANCE OF BALTIMORE. 79 
 
 theoretical and experimentalizing suburb) can not be an eligible 
 place of residence, I think : Sancho Panza certainly would shun 
 it ; for blessed, he declared, was the man who invented sleep. 
 
 It is said, it is the colored people residing in Moyamensing, who 
 are the chief ringleaders of these frequent riots ; but I know not 
 how this may be. At New York I heard the authorities at Phil- 
 adelphia very much found fault with for their supineness in allow- 
 ing these disturbances to take place : if there was a proper amount 
 of energy and resolution displayed, it was said, Philadelphia might 
 be as orderly and tranquil as the other cities of the United States. 
 
 Our hotel is opposite a beautiful building, the Custom House 
 (formerly the United States Bank), of the Doric order of archi- 
 tecture, built in imitation of the Parthenon at Athens, but lacking 
 the side colonnades ; it reminded me much of its glorious prototype, 
 except in its situation, which is unfavorable to it. There are some 
 fine cemeteries here : " Laurel Hill," " Green Mount Cemetery," 
 and others which my brief stay did not allow me to visit. 
 
 Baltimore is a very handsome city, situated on the north side of 
 the Patapsco River. Jones's Fall, a confluent of the Patapsco, 
 divides it into two parts. (This is an ill-sounding conjunction of 
 Anglo-Saxon and Indian names. Again I rejoice at the luck that 
 spared Niagara from a denomination similar to the preceding one !) 
 Three fine stone bridges and four wooden ones crossing this stream 
 connect the different parts of the city. 
 
 The streets of Baltimore are, in general, very regular, clean, 
 broad, and straight, and it has several fine monuments, among 
 which lower conspiciously, Battle Monument, and Washington 
 Monument. The Catholic Cathedral is a noble structure : it has 
 the largest organ in the Union ; this instrument has six thousand 
 pipes and thirty-six stops : arid the cathedral has two valuable 
 paintings, one presented by Louis the Sixteenth, and the other 
 (" St. Louis burying his officers and soldiers slain before Tunis") 
 given by Charles the Tenth. The Merchants' Shot Tower here 
 rises above all the monuments that distinguish Baltimore : it is 
 two hundred and fifty feet high, and is said to be higher than any 
 similar building in the world, exceeding by one foot that at Villach, 
 in Carinthia. 
 
 Baltimore is said to be the greatest flour market in existence 
 (within twenty miles of the city there are seventy or more flouring 
 mills) ; and no city in the United States deals so extensively in 
 tobacco. The Patapsco affords numerous valuable mill sites (i'all- 
 iug eight hundred feet in thirty miles) ; and Jones's Falls also yield
 
 80 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 a considerable water-power it has thus great advantages for man- 
 ufactures, and they appear to keep pace with its commerce. 
 
 This flourishing city spreads rapidly : one thousand nine hundred 
 and fifty-nine houses were erected during the year 1847, the as- 
 sessed value of which is more than two million six hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. The population, in 1840, was 102,313 ; it is now 
 said to be about 125,000. The capital of Maryland contains up- 
 ward of one hundred churches. The Maryland University is 
 here : it constitutes one of the most important institutions of the 
 kind in the country. 
 
 Canton, a skeleton suburb of the city of monuments, is waiting 
 
 for nothing but houses ; like the magnificent library at E , 
 
 that had every thing complete except books. 
 
 Baltimore has an admirable harbor, which is incessantly crowd- 
 ed with shipping : and who has not heard of the Baltimore clip- 
 pers, that start "before the wind has time to reach their sails, and 
 never allow it to come up with them ?" 
 
 We are at a magnificent hotel here, called "Barnum's," and its 
 comforts and excellent arrangements are scarcely to be surpassed. 
 It is admirably conducted, and if it has not quite the " gentleman- 
 like 2X*rters" spoken of in some of the hotel cards, it has, at least, 
 a set of most attentive and assiduous domestics. 
 
 In coming by the railroad here, I was struck one evening by the 
 dread the Americans appear to have of catching cold. The car 
 
 was extremely close, and V and I let down our window, and 
 
 much enjoyed the cool, fresh air, which we thus secured in our 
 immediate vicinity we beheld instantly a simultaneous stir among 
 the passengers. At first, I could not think that the fresh, but 
 hardly cold air, I had been instrumental in introducing to the 
 crowded and suffocating car, occasioned this movement ; but I 
 soon ascertained that such was the fact, on seeing a gentleman 
 carefully barricading himself with a large carpet-bag against the 
 assaults of his aerial foe. His appearance, just peeping over this 
 gaudy-patterned, defensive wall, was rather comical. 
 
 One opened a vast umbrella, and disappeared behind its ample 
 shade from scrutiny and the supposed severity of the elements, 
 looking as there was neither rain nor sun like that Asiatic po- 
 tentate above whose head, as a sign of royalty, an_ umbrella is rev- 
 erentially and habitually carried. There was a general raising 
 of collars and buttoning of coats, and slouching of hats, and shrink- 
 ing, and shrugging ; but all were too courteous and obliging to 
 remonstrate, and I am not sure that one of the victims did not
 
 ANTHRACITE COAL FIRES. 81 
 
 actually most politely assist us to open this terrible window, though 
 so much to his own discomfiture. 
 
 Shall I confess it ? grieved as I was to cause so much apparent 
 annoyance, I had not the magnanimity to raise the glass I felt 
 so sure that, though unpalatable to them, this homoeopathic dose 
 of pure air was for their good. It must be, no doubt, the great 
 variability and the violent extremes of their climate, that render 
 them thus susceptible of the slightest chill. I heard some saying ; 
 " we shall all be frozen before we get to our journey's end," yet 
 there was only a little part of the window open, and the only per- 
 sons close to it were ourselves. I think I ought to have shut it, 
 notwithstanding ; but I can only hope none of the passengers suf- 
 fered from this barbarous infliction of Zephyrus. We who stood 
 the whole brunt of it certainly did not. 
 
 The room adjoining our sitting-room is occupied by an exceed- 
 ingly deaf gentleman, and he has the advantage of possessing a 
 friend who has a tremendously loud voice a perfect Stentor : the 
 hallooing and bawling are past description. In consequence of this 
 proximity, we found Baltimore by day almost as noisy as Philadel- 
 phia by night. At first I could not imagine what the shouting was, 
 and thought a caravan of lions or Moyamensingers had arrived, 
 and were accommodated with apartments close by. Soon, how- 
 ever, the various friendly inquiries roared out, and the low milder 
 answers, informed me of the truth. 
 
 I was sorry, but really could not help hearing the communica- 
 tions addressed to the deaf gentleman, and being enlightened by 
 them considerably about " lots," and " sales," and " dollars." What 
 a comical effect it sometimes had to hear the most insignificant re- 
 marks hallooed out with .Apollonicon-loudness, and often with a 
 wrong emphasis, from the difficulty of sustaining and pitching the 
 voice properly, in speaking to the deaf in that tone of " live thun- 
 der" which people ordinarily employ under such circumstances. I 
 believe one ought, instead, to speak loiv and distinctly. Hark ! 
 listen to Stentor ! for one must whether one will or no. The 
 louder shouts are italicised. " I guess so, sir : that chap in the 
 pepper and salt coat popped in ; he hemmed and halved at first, 
 and then squeaked out " " What V " Squeaked, I say," with a 
 roar. 
 
 The weather is beginning to get colder, and a little fire every 
 now and then is not unpleasant. I like the anthracite coal, in 
 which taste I am quite in a minority : it is supposed to give 
 headaches, and to be verv unwholesome ; I have never Buffered
 
 82 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 from its effects as yet, and it gives so little trouble, burning 
 quietly, and lasting for an immense time. It goes on and on like 
 a free horse, wanting not that whip the poker, and then there is 
 no smoke. But I think its great advantage is its burning so long 
 without any necessity for that drawing-room earthquake the 
 distracting uproar of flinging coals on the grate. In short, the 
 coal-scuttle (that great institution of England) sings very small 
 where anthracite is used, and its inner darkness is banished into 
 outer darkness. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The City of Washington Pennsylvania Avenue The " City of Magnificent 
 Distances" The Stentorian Gentleman and his Hogs The Capitol de- 
 scribed Monument to Washington The Navy Yard Georgetown A 
 Digression to Tunis Public Buildings The Post Office The Patent 
 Office The Treasury The President's Mansion The " White House" 
 Visit to General Taylor, the late President His Daughter, Mrs. Bliss 
 Appearance of General Taylor His Affability His Conversation 
 Invitation to the Authoress Heat of the Weather in November. 
 
 WASHINGTON would be a beautiful city if it were built ; but as 
 it is not I can not say much about it. There is the Capitol, how- 
 ever, standing like the sun, from which are to radiate majestic 
 beams of streets and avenues of enormous breadth and astonishing 
 length ; but at present the execution limps and lingers sadly after 
 the design. 
 
 This noble metropolitan myth hovers over the north bank of the 
 Potomac (this Indian name means, I believe, the wild swan, or 
 the river of the wild swan), about one hundred and twenty miles 
 from Chesapeake bay and at the head of tide water. Pennsyl- 
 vania Avenue is splendid : it is about three hundred feet broad ; 
 but the houses are not colossal enough to be in keeping with the 
 immense space appropriated to the thoroughfare. They should be 
 at least as high as the highest of old Edinburgh houses, instead of 
 like those of London, which some one compared to the Paris ones 
 making a profound courtesy. Now these Pennsylvania Avenue 
 habitations seem making a very distant courtesy indeed to their 
 opposite non-neighbors ; and it made us think of people at an im- 
 mensely wide dining-table, separated as "far as the poles assunder," 
 by way of a pleasing rencontre and social intercourse. However, 
 that is merely fancy ; you do not want to talk across the streets ;
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON. 83 
 
 and this appearance would vanish if the houses were taller and 
 larger. 
 
 Washington is called the " City of Magnificent Distances :" it 
 reminds one a little of a vast plantation with the houses purposely 
 kept far apart to give them room to grow and spread : the " side- 
 walks" of Pennsylvania Avenue are twenty-six feet wide. 
 
 My unseen friend, Steritor, was in the same railroad car with us 
 from Baltimore to this place, and the gentleman who was hard of 
 hearing as well at least I can hardly think there can be two 
 sets of lungs of such marvelous power in the same country. Still, 
 the theme of his discourse was very different ; one subject occupied 
 him all the way it was hogs. The car was full, I was at some 
 distance from him, but no other voice was heard how could it 
 be ? Poor Stentor ! he was lamenting with a most lachrymose 
 roar, the abduction of some magnificent swine : their size was 
 something prodigious, unparalleled (maestoso), their fat (in a melt- 
 ing tone) unheard of they were Stentor's ! The howl with 
 which this dreadful fact was enunciated made one start. 
 
 But this was not all. Some friends, possessors of almost equally 
 enchanting animals, had lost theirs too. " One wonderfully splen- 
 did creature of enormous dimensions (emphatically expressed in a 
 perfect hurrah), and promising to grow much huger, was found 
 killed (this in a lack-a-daisieal bellow of grief and ire), supposed to 
 be with a spiteful motive, but the wretches will suffer for it (a 
 nine-times-nine, and-one-oheer-more sort of a tone) ! It was the 
 most magnificent hou quite, that ever " and here, wonderful to 
 relate, the noise of the railroad, together perhaps with his own 
 emotions, overpowered the narrator. There was that terrible din 
 that they make sometimes in the States when another train is 
 expected. Very quickly, however, this was over, and there was 
 Stentor shouting as loud as ever, or rather louder, as if indignant 
 at the interruption. 
 
 " The lovely, interesting widow was much afflicted," contin- 
 ued he. " What," thought I, " can he mean, the widow of the 
 pig !" I found soon she was the proprietress of the fat animal he 
 was grieving for. He thundered on in the same way, and on the 
 same subject, till we arrived ; and if he did not leave his poor 
 friend much more deaf than he found him, it is matter of surprise. 
 What an invaluable " rnuezziu" he would make ! 
 
 I have had the great pleasure since I came here of making ac- 
 quaintance with Madame C. de la B , the Spanish ministress, 
 
 here, the authoress of a most ch.irminn; and entertaining work on
 
 84 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Mexico, published some years ago. It made one long to go to 
 Mexico, and 1 find it is not at all impracticable, from Madame 
 C 's account. I have a great mind to try it. 
 
 We went to see the Capitol soon after our arrival. There is a 
 fine colossal statue by Greenough, of Washington, placed in front 
 of it. The Capitol itself is a very noble-looking and imposing struc- 
 ture, though I think disadvantageous^ situated with regard to the 
 city, as it seems rather to present the appearance of running away 
 from it, while, like the flight of Louis-Philippe in the memorable 
 days of February, there is nothing running after it. However, it 
 is an exceedingly striking and handsome building, and is otherwise 
 very finely situated. 
 
 It is built on an elevation that is about seventy-two feet above 
 tide water. It is of the Corinthian order of architecture, and is 
 built of freestone ; and the front, including the wings, is three hun- 
 dred and fifty-two feet long, and the depth of the wings is one hun- 
 dred and twenty-one feet. The projection in the main front, which 
 looks to the East (hardly complimentary to the West, in this world 
 of the West), is decorated by a handsome portico of twenty-two 
 lofty Corinthian columns. The broad steps leading to the portico 
 are adorned by pedestals, on one of which is a group in marble, 
 representing Columbus, with a globe in his outstretched hand, and 
 an Aboriginal American of that New World he discovered, a fe- 
 male figure, in a lovely, half crouching attitude of veneration and 
 wonder, beside him. The remaining pedestals will, in process 
 of time, no doubt, be ornamented by groups of statuary. To the 
 highest top of the dome, the height of the building is one hundred 
 and twenty feet. The rotunda, which is under the dome, is nine- 
 ty-five feet in diameter, and the same in height, In this rotunda 
 there are some celebrated pictures by Trumbull, representing his- 
 torical subjects. 
 
 The hall of the House of Representatives is in the second story 
 of the south wing. Its form is semicircular ; it is ninety-six feet 
 long and sixty feet high, and has a dome supported by twenty-four 
 columns of native variegated marble, whose capitals are of Italian 
 marble. The chair of the Speaker occupies, so to say, the centre of 
 the chord of the arc, the members' seats radiate back from the chair 
 to the massive pillars. Congress is not sitting now. The Senate 
 chamber is in the second story of the north wing, semicircular like 
 the other, but of smaller dimensions, being seventy-eight feet long 
 and forty-five feet high. The library is a fine room, containing 
 thirty thousand volumes.
 
 THE NAVY YARD. TUNIS. 83 
 
 After seeing the Capitol, we went to have a glimpse of the Navy 
 Yard. There we beheld two mountainous looking ship-houses, a 
 man-of-war steamer, the Alleghany, lately dismantled, &c. Keep- 
 ing guard on board the Alleghany, was an old Irish marine, with his 
 face tied up for the tooth-ache a most lugubrious-looking sentinel. 
 
 We saw a sadder sight after that, a large number of slaves, who 
 seemed to be forging their own chains, but they were making chains, 
 anchors, &c., for the United States navy. I hope and think slav- 
 ery will be done away with soon in the District of Columbia, where 
 it seems indeed strikingly out of place.* 
 
 Madame C. de la B kindly took us to Georgetown a day 
 
 or two ago in her carriage. It is on the left bank of the Potomac 
 River, two miles to the west of Washington, from which it is sep- 
 arated by Rock Creek, over which are two bridges, I think the 
 situation of Georgetown delightful : it commands a fine view of the 
 Potomac, of Washington, and the circumjacent country. Here 
 you observe a number of handsome buildings and pleasant-looking 
 country seats, and here, I believe, many of the corps diplomatique 
 reside. 
 
 Dr. Heap, American consul at Tunis (whom we made acquaint- 
 ance with there), called on me lately. I was glad to see him, 
 but very sorry to learn that he had had more than one melancholy 
 loss lately. His charming daughter, Mrs. Ferrier, was in a very 
 delicate, indeed alarming state of health while we were there : she 
 has since died, and she left her husband suffering from the same 
 complaint consumption. 
 
 Dr. Heap told me how well the Bey had behaved on the occa- 
 sion of the death of my poor much-esteemed friend, Sir Thomas 
 Reade. He sent two thousand troops to attend the funeral, and 
 offered the Abdellia to Lady Reade for her life, if she would like 
 to live there. I was so much reminded of Tunis by the way in 
 which Dr. Heap shook the forefinger of the right hand before his 
 chin, whenever be wished to say " No." This negative sign is 
 constantly used there ; and I remember little dear Peter Reade, at 
 five years old, gravely shaking his little finger backward and for- 
 ward before his innocent childish countenance, when asked any 
 thing from .which he dissented, as solemnly as the oldest Moor in 
 the Regency. 
 
 The General Post Office here is a handsome, white marble build- 
 ing, classical and simple. The Patent Office is to the north of it, 
 
 * Since the letters were written this has taken place.
 
 86 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 and is a very noble structure. The Treasury is splendid, and has a 
 colonnade of extraordinarily great length and beauty. The Presi- 
 dent's mansion, usually called the " White House," is of ample 
 size, and of simple architecture ; it has altogether a noble effect : 
 quiet lawns surround it, and some fine trees are grouped near : it 
 is said to be not at all in a healthy situation. 
 
 We have just paid a visit by appointment to the hero-President. 
 Madame C kindly took us there. I was much pleased at be- 
 ing allowed to take V : she may never have another opportunity 
 
 of being presented to a President of the United States. She was 
 delighted at going. 
 
 General Taylor received us most kindly. He had had two coun- 
 cils to preside over that morning, and when we first arrived at the 
 White House, he was actually engaged in an extra Session of 
 Council in short, overwhelmed with business, which rendered it 
 doubly kind and amiable of him to receive us. Mrs. Bliss, the 
 charming daughter of the President, was in the drawing-room when 
 we first went in. Mrs. Taylor has delicate health, and does not 
 do the honors of the Presidential mansion. Mrs. Bliss received us 
 most cordially and courteously, saying her father would come as 
 soon as his presence could be dispensed with. Presently after, the 
 President made his appearance : his manners are winningly frank, 
 simple, and kind, and though characteristically distinguished by 
 much straightforwardness, there is not the slightest roughness in his 
 address. There was a quick, keen, eagle-like expression in the eye 
 which reminded me a little of the Duke of Wellington's. 
 
 He commenced an animated conversation with Madame C. de 
 
 la B and us : among other things, speaking of the routes, he 
 
 recommended me to follow, steam navigation, Mexico, and the Rio 
 Grande, &c. 
 
 He was so exceedingly good-natured as to talk a great deal to 
 my little girl about roses and lilies, as if he had been quite a 
 botanist all his life. This species of the slight, childish, daffydown- 
 dilly talk was so particularly and amiably considerate and kind to 
 her, that it overcame her shyness at once, and the dread she had 
 entertained of not understanding what he might say to her. 
 
 I was quite sorry when the time came for us to leave the White 
 House. General Taylor strongly advised me not to leave America 
 without seeing St. Louis : he said he considered it altogether per- 
 haps the most interesting town in the United States : he said he 
 recollected the greater part of it a deep dense forest. He spoke 
 very kindly of England, and adverting to the approaching acceler-
 
 VISIT TO GENERAL TAYLOR. 87 
 
 ation and extension of steam communication between her and 
 America (the contemplated competition about to be established by 
 " Collins'sline") he exclaimed, " The voyage will be made shorter 
 and shorter, and I expect England and America will soon be quite 
 alongside of each other, ma'am." 
 
 " The sooner the better, sir," I most heartily responded, at 
 which he bowed and smiled. 
 
 "We are the same people," he continued, "and it is good for 
 both to see more of each other." 
 
 " Yes," I replied, " and thus all detestable old prejudices will 
 die away." 
 
 " I hope so," he said : " it will be for the advantage of toth." 
 
 He continued in this strain and spoke so nobly of England, that 
 it made one's heart bound to hear him. And he evidently felt 
 what he said ; indeed, I am sure that honest, high-hearted, true-as- 
 steel, old hero could not say any thing he did not feel or think. 
 
 A little while before we took leave he said, " I hope you will 
 visit my farm near Natchez : Cypress Grove is the name a sad 
 name," he said, with a smile, "but I think you will find it inter- 
 esting." I thanked him, and promised so to do. A short time 
 previously, after talking about the beauties of Nature in the South, 
 
 General Taylor had said to V , that he longed to return to 
 
 that farm, and to his quiet home near the banks of the Mississippi, 
 and added, that he was sorely tired of public life, and the harassing 
 responsibilities of his high office. The President insisted most 
 courteously on conducting us to our carriage, and bareheaded he 
 handed us in, standing on the steps till we drove off, and cordially 
 reiterating many kind and friendly wishes for our prosperous jour- 
 ney, and-health, and safety. 
 
 We afterward went to Madame C 's, and staid some time 
 
 in her pleasant house. She kindly wishes me to go to a party at 
 her house to-night, but the suddea hot weather has given me a 
 headache, and I fear I shall not be able. It is the Indian Sum- 
 mer here, now, which answers to the French " Ete de St. Martin," 
 only it is twenty times as hot. The spacious high rooms in the 
 White House felt quite oppressively warm, and here we are suffo- 
 cated with* heat, though the drawing-room is a large apartment. 
 I think it is like a July in England, when our summer has not 
 " set in with its usual severity." Fans and parasols are plentiful ; 
 and there are no fires except the apparently indispensable ones 
 which are lit, it would almost seem, ibr the benefit of the very 
 numerous fire-companies here and elsewhere in the Union.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Discomforts of Traveling over the Alleghanies Mr. Clay Pittsbnrg as 
 sable as Sheffield Its Population Visit to a Glass Factory and Iron 
 Foundry A dingy Vehicle Factories and Foundries in Pittsburg The 
 Ohio The new Suspension Bridge at Wheeling Accidents to Steamers 
 caused by it Courtesy of the Captains and Clerks of Steamers Cincin- 
 nati German and Irish Immigrants compared Verses addressed to 
 Emigrants. 
 
 WE had a very cold journey to Louisville over the Alleghanies, 
 but a safe one, which is, I find, matter of congratulation. 
 
 I think it was the day before we started from Cumberland, Mr. 
 Clay was overturned on those rough roads : most fortunately: he 
 was not injured. Another carriage that started about the same 
 time we did, was detained a very long time ; and the passengers 
 had to walk a long way. I am not, in general, fond of walking, 
 but should particularly hate such compulsory pedestrianism. 
 
 One can not wonder at accidents in crossing these mountains, 
 for the drivers appear to be frequently intoxicated, and are rough 
 and reckless, cruel to their horses, by over-urging them, and oruel 
 to their passengers, driving often full gallop over the worst part of 
 abominable roads, to the almost dislocation of their limbs and the 
 bumping and thumping of their unfortunate heads against the 
 hard roof of the vehicle. If there be any truth in phrenology, 
 what changes in character must be wrought during a journey 
 across the Alleghanies !.' The morose cynic may come out sweet 
 as syrup ; the humble with an ambition, that will be already 
 practiced in " overvaulting itself" and tumbling on the other side ! 
 A Pensylvanian Quaker might be shaken out of all his trembling 
 sectarianism, or a French novel-writer tossed into a demure Broad- 
 brim. I can answer for our tempers being very materially changed. 
 
 I am particularly sorry to miss seeing Mr. Clay, for whom I had 
 a letter of introduction from Mr. : it is the only disappoint- 
 ment I have yet had in America. He crossed the Alleghanies for 
 Washington in good time to avoid bad roads and bad weather. 
 The first he certainly did not. 
 
 We stopped at Pittsburg on our way hither at an excellent 
 hotel called the Monongahela House. At Pittsburg we went to 
 see some manufactories, and iron foundries, in a sort of coal-scuttle 
 on wheels. No mourning coach was ever so thoroughly black,
 
 PITTSBURG. 89 
 
 methinks, inwardly and outwardly ; and, that we might be in 
 keeping with our vehicle, we found it obligingly undertook (with- 
 out any outlay or trouble on our part) to put us all into decent 
 mourning. 
 
 Pittsburg has as sable a complexion as Sheffield. It is situated 
 at the confluence of the Monongahela and the Alleghany (the lat- 
 ter name, I believe, means " clear water"), which by their union 
 form the noble Ohio. These two rivers, together, avail not to 
 cleanse the sooty Pittsburg ; if they did, as Coleridge said of the 
 Rhine at Cologne, nothing could ever wash them clean again 
 (though it has not the hundred and seventy-two distinct " mauf&ises 
 odeurs" of that city). Nevertheless, in spite of its brunette color- 
 ing, it is a handsome town. With its suburbs, it contains about 
 seventy-five thousand inhabitants ; some say a hundred thousand. 
 
 A great number of Germans are settled at Pittsburg. In one 
 manufactory (a glass one) we heard hardly any language but Ger- 
 man spoken. An American in that manufactory looked rather 
 reproachfully at us, with a glassy eye or an eye to the glass 
 and said, we English were underselling them in articles of this 
 material. I bore the "brittle" impeachment as well as I could; 
 this glass was slippery ground, and I was fain to slide off it. 
 
 In the place we next went to, without meaning to insinuate any 
 thing to the prejudice of Pittsburg, which is a well-principled and 
 orthodox city, I doubt not, it really appeared to me they had deal- 
 ings in the black art (I must beg to disclaim any allusion to the 
 half-mourning tints which seem the fashion here) so wondrous 
 was the rapidity of the processes, and the way in which the work- 
 men appeared to be snowballing one another with huge lumps and 
 blocks of red-hot iron. The noise was very great, and the glare ; 
 but in the midst of the confusion a woman stood with a mite of a 
 baby in her arms, an infant Cyclops, or young Vulcan himself in 
 bib and tucker to judge by the coolness with which it surveyed 
 the scene and listened to the noise, as if the whole were got up for 
 its especial edification, and it would like much to have all those 
 pretty playthings that were being tossed about on all sides. 
 
 It was late, and our " coal-scuttle" stopped the way, so we de 
 parted, still leaving the little Vulcan evidently deeply engaged in 
 teaching his own young idea how to shoot, or to toss those nice 
 balls of red hot iron, which he would also have liked uncommonly 
 to stuff into his mouth, big as they were. We stepped most gin- 
 gerly into our jetty coach ; but in vain did we try to escape being" 
 made finished chimney-sweepers. Methinks it must have served
 
 90 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 a subterraneous apprenticeship in some coal-mine as a lowly wagon 
 for the conveyance of that article, before it was promoted to its 
 present office above-ground the reverse of the fate of mortals. 
 The driver was hopelessly black, having the features, however, of 
 a white man, and the brogue of the Green Erin. He affected to 
 guard our dresses from the wheel as we ascended, which delicate 
 attention was but a refinement of barbarity, adding insult to injury. 
 We met a number of similarly sable coaches, but 1 think ours bore 
 the belle. 
 
 There are twenty-five furnaces, and five forges and rolling-mills 
 in I^tsburg, besides which, there are woolen and cotton factories, 
 machine shops, tanneries, and hardware, cutlery, and several 
 other manufactories in abundance. The city is lighted by gas, 
 which is produced by the bituminous coal that fills the hills which 
 surround Pittsburgh. Most of the extensive manufactories are not 
 in the city, but are distributed over a circle of about five miles' 
 radius from the Court House, which stands on Grant's Hill. One 
 of the suburbs of Pittsburg is called Birmingham. 
 
 The Ohio quite exceeded my expectations : the river and the 
 scenery are both beautiful. We came under a splendid new sus- 
 pension bridge at Wheeling, which is however, a bone of conten- 
 tion just now between various parties. It seems, the bridge is not 
 high enough for some of the lofty funnels of the steamers, and 
 several of these have had some very hard knocks. There are great 
 complaints in consequence ; and the poor captains of these crippled 
 boats seem, to judge by the newspapers, to take their disfigurement 
 and discomfiture quite to heart. Captain This has felt himself 
 grievously wounded through the knock-down blows dealt at the 
 splendid steamer " Explosion," by the bridge aforesaid ; and Cap- 
 tain That thinks he will never entirely recover indeed, will carry 
 sympathetically to the end of his days the marks left on his beauti- 
 ful steamer, the " Racer." 
 
 If there is any safety in new steamers, we need not just now be 
 afraid of boilers bursting, or any such foreseen accidents, on these 
 rivers ; for, since this new and destruction-dealing bridge has been 
 built, it is extraordinary how every steamer on the river, accord- 
 ing to the complainants' statements (save those with low funnels) 
 seems equally "new," "splendid," and just "come out." It must 
 be provoking, it is true, to be knocked on the head of your steam- 
 er, arid to be forced to cut her down yourself without mercy. That 
 bridge, in short, proves a " bridge of sighs" to the navigators of the 
 Ohio. As for our boat, being of moderate proportions, she did not
 
 GERMAN AND IRISH IMMIGRANTS. 01 
 
 receive the slightest contusion on her crown. She was, (though 
 not holding her head as high as some) an. extremely fine and com- 
 fortable vessel. 
 
 The captains of these steamers appear universally a most gentle- 
 man-like set of persons, and the clerks are always as civil and 
 obliging as possible. The other day, having heard one particular 
 steamer was the best, I sent to take places in it : all was arranged 
 and paid, but the person who had taken the tickets had mistaken 
 a rival boat for the one specified. When I found out this misun- 
 derstanding, which was not till we went down to the wharf to 
 embark, I went to the clerk (not liking the appearance flPthis 
 boat so much as that of the opposition one to which we had been 
 recommended) and informed him of the error that had been 
 committed, and asked if we might be allowed to change. He 
 most courteously complied, and returned the money. In the 
 hurry of departure, I did not do what I now feel sorry I did 
 not return such civility by going by the smaller boat, after all ; 
 for such obliging conduct deserves to meet with reciprocal com- 
 plaisance. 
 
 We only stopped a day at Cincinnati, for the hotels were all 
 crowded, which made it extremely uncomfortable. The " Queen 
 City of the West," is built on the north bank of the Ohio. It has 
 floating wharves, which are rendered necessary by the continual 
 and rapid fluctuations of the river. It is a very handsome city, 
 and in a remarkably fine situation. In 1840, the population was 
 46,338 ; and now it is estimated at about 1 10,000. I asked them, 
 at Pittsburg, and other places, how they liked the German immi- 
 grants. You almost invariably receive the same reply to this ques- 
 tion : "Very much. They are the best immigrants possible: 
 industrious, generally sober and quiet not quarrelsome like the 
 Irish." Then they added " but we could not do without the 
 Irish. They build all our railroads, make our roads, canals, and 
 do all the hardest work in the country." 
 
 "Wanderers ! who come from many a distant zone, 
 To gaze on Nature's Transatlantic throne : 
 Wanderers! whose feet like mine ne'er trod before, 
 This proud, magnificently-various shore; 
 Ne'er lightly view the thousand scenes sublime 
 Of great America's resplendent clime; 
 But still, in thoughtful mood's observant care 
 Weigh well the many-mingling glories there 
 Since all the loftier wonders of the land 
 Are most admired, when best ye understand.
 
 93 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 'Tis a glad, gracious study for the soul, 
 As part by part the Heaven-stamped leaves unroll, 
 To watch the crowing triumphs still expand, 
 The will, the wisdom live along the land ! 
 
 Not only all-majestic Nature here 
 Speaks to each kindling thought, but far and near 
 A large and mighty meaning seems to lurk, 
 A glorious mind is every where at work ! 
 A bold, grand spirit rules and reigns around, 
 And sanctifies the common air and ground ; 
 And glorifies the lowliest herb and stone 
 With conscious tints and touches of its own ; 
 JA A spirit ever flashing back the sun, 
 
 That scorns each prize while aught is to be won ; 
 
 More boundless than the prairie's wondrous sweep, 
 
 Or the old Atlantic's long-resounding deep ; 
 
 And more luxuriant than the forest's crowd 
 
 Of patriarch trees, by weightiest foliage bowed ; 
 
 More rich than California's teeming mould, 
 
 Whose hoarded sunbeams laugh to living gold ; 
 
 More soaring far than the immemorial hills, 
 
 More fresh and flowing than their streams and rills. 
 
 That mind of quenchless energy and power 
 
 Which springs from strength to strength, hour after hour; 
 
 Man's glorious mind in its most glorious mood, 
 
 That seems for aye, on every side to brood 
 
 In this empurpled and exultant land 
 
 So gladly bowed beneath its bright command. 
 
 Man's sovereign mind in its most sovereign march, 
 
 Embracing earth, like light's own rainbowed arch. 
 
 That soul that mind, 'tis every where revealed, 
 It crowns the steep, it gilds the cultured field, 
 Bids science, art, and studious knowledge aid, 
 Till all hath heard its voice, and all obeyed. 
 It charms the waste, and paves the rushing stream, 
 And scarce allows the sun a vagrant beam ; 
 The obsequious lightning to its service trains, 
 And bids the elements to wear its chains. 
 It tames the rugged soil of rocks, and flings 
 From seas to seas the shadow of its wings ; 
 And Time and Space in that great shadow rest, 
 And watch to serve their ruler-sons' behest ; 
 And still its growing, gathering influence spreads, 
 And still abroad its own great life it sheds 
 O'er mount and lake, o'er cataract, field and flood- 
 O'er rock, and cave, and isle, o'er plain and wood : 
 It lives, it lightens, and its might inspires 
 Each separate scene with fresh creative fires. 
 Where'er it moves a wondering world awakes, 
 And fast all nature's form its likeness takes ; 
 
 It quickening thrills, and kindles and pervades 
 
 Her startled deserts and receding shades,
 
 DESCRIPTION OF LOUISVILLE. 93 
 
 Her mightiest solitudes and paths unknown, 
 
 Her deep-vailed shrines, and well-springs pure and lone. 
 
 America's great Mind, the true New World, 
 
 Launched like the sun, 'gainst th ! elder darkness hurled ; 
 
 Hung, as The Heavens are hung, above them all, 
 
 And holding their sublimest powers in thrall ! 
 
 It must be confessed that Cincinnati, the pride of the banks of 
 " La belle Riviere," is in fact what its nickname, " Porkopolis," 
 implies the Empire City of Pigs, as well as of the West ; but it 
 is fortunate that they condescendingly allow human beings to share 
 that truly magnificent location with them. 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 Description of Louisville Its Trade and Natural Productions Its Soil and 
 Rivers The Kentucky Caves A Visit to one Its Avenues, Domes, 
 Cataracts, Pits, and Rivers A Sea in it The vociferous Bats Echoes 
 of the Cave The Cave once the Residence of consumptive Patients 
 The eyeless Fish The narrow Path and the fat Englishman Vast 
 Extent of the Cave Verses suggested by it. 
 
 WE have had a very interesting expedition to the Mammoth 
 Cave of Kentucky. But, first, a word of Louisville itself. 
 
 It is a fine city, and the best lighted, I think, that I have seen 
 in the United States. I imagine the Louisvillians are proud of 
 this, as they have their diligences start at four o'clock in the win- 
 ter's morning ! It is the chief commercial city of Kentucky, and 
 lies on the south bank of the Ohio. The canal from Portland en- 
 ables large steamers to come to the wharves. An extensive trade 
 is carried on here, and there are manufactories of various descrip- 
 tions, the facilities offered by the enormous water-power of the 
 region assisting greatly in the development of this department of 
 industry. There are numerous factories, foundries, woolen and 
 cotton mills, flour-mills, &c. The population is about forty-seven 
 thousand : in 1800, it was only six hundred. Kentucky is a very 
 prosperous state. 
 
 The natural growths of the soil are the black cherry, black 
 walnut, chestnut, honey-locust, buck-eye, pawpaw, mulberry, sugar- 
 maple, ash, elm, white-thorn, cotton-wood, and abundance of grape- 
 vines, and various others. Part of the country we traversed in
 
 94 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 going to " The Cave," is called the " Barrens ;" other portions looked 
 very fertile, and reminded me exceedingly of England. " The 
 Barrens," were bestowed some time ago gratuitously on actual 
 settlers, as the Legislature of the State were under the erroneous 
 impression that the tract was of little value ; but it proved to be 
 remarkably good grain land, and particularly well adapted to graz- 
 ing and the successful rearing of cattle. 
 
 Below the mountains, the whole of Kentucky, it appears, rests 
 on an enormous bed of limestone, generally about eight feet beneath 
 the surface. Every where in this formation are found apertures, 
 which they denominate " Sink-holes." Through these the flowing 
 waters of the rivers disappear into the earth. Several of these 
 were pointed out to us on our journey. Owing to this the waters 
 in Kentucky are more impoverished and diminished during the hot 
 and dry season, than those of any other portion of the United States, 
 and the lesser streams vanish entirely. 
 
 The banks of the rivers are quite natural curiosities. Very pro- 
 found channels are usually worn in the calcareous rock which they 
 pass over in their course. The Kentucky River especially is said 
 to have sublime precipices of great height, on either side, consist- 
 ing of almost perpendicular banks of solid limestone. 
 
 There are several huge caves between Green and Cumberland 
 rivers ; but the one we went to see is the largest. The size of 
 it may be guessed when I inform the reader that we walked in it 
 the first day eight miles, four in and four out ; and the second 
 fourteen, seven in and seven out, hardly traversing any of the same 
 ground, except just at the beginning. In fact, this marvelous cave 
 is a little subterranean state in itself, that might. almost claim to bo 
 admitted separately into the Union, if it had any population besides 
 mummies and bats (and, alas ! the former have disappeared, to 
 our regret). 
 
 The cave contains, it is said, two hundred and twenty-six ave- 
 nues ! It has, besides, forty-seven domes, eight cataracts, twenty- 
 three pits, and several rivers one, the River Styx and, I believe, 
 a small sea, the Dead Sea. The Echo River (called so from its 
 possessing a very remarkable and powerful echo) is wide enough 
 and deep enough to float the largest steamer. The great dome is 
 four hundred feet high. In 1813, two Indian mummies were found 
 here, wrapped in highly-ornamented deerskins ; so that it is evi- 
 dent, though the white men have only of late years discovered this 
 gigantic cavern, the red warriors ,knew of it in days of yore. There 
 was a great deal of saltpetre found in this cave, and the remains
 
 MAMMOTH CAVE. 95 
 
 of the furnaces, and large mounds of ashes, are still to be seen near 
 the entrance. 
 
 In one of the most beautiful chambers we saw in the interior of 
 this vast underground Palace of Nature, the roof appeared to repre- 
 sent a firmament of stars ! A comet, with its train of light, seemed 
 sparkling in the distance. And in another place, the appearance 
 of the roof was that of an " inverted flower-garden" (as Professor 
 
 , at Washington, happily called it, in describing the wonders 
 
 of this under-world to me). The bats, which are " located" near 
 the mouth of the cave (where, spacious an area as it is, there are 
 excellent lodgings for man and bat if any of the former are tired 
 of this very superficial earth), are the noisiest little rascals I ever 
 met with. Jabbering like monkeys, chattering like magpies, they 
 appear to repudiate all connection with their humble, quiet little 
 cousins, the mice. They made such a din when we entered their 
 chosen precincts, that it seemed as if they were hissing us off the 
 subterranean stage on which we were making our debut, rather 
 agitated at our novel position ; or perhaps they were intending 
 those suspicious sounds for cheers nine times nine, and one cheer 
 more and the Kentish (or, rather, the Kentuckyish) fire, at our 
 entry. 
 
 Without caring to silence this bat-tery, we proceeded, and soon 
 invaded the haunts of old Silence herself. Ours being almost 
 entirely a female party, it will readily be imagined, we did little 
 to disturb the stillness of the place ! One English and one Ameri- 
 can gentleman, however, were also there ; and I can not answer 
 equally for them, especially the latter, who, however, did the honors 
 of the cave most admirably. He knew every nook of it, brought 
 out the echoes splendidly, with " The Arkansas Hunters," " Uncle 
 Ned," " O ! Susanna," and other far-famed works of the great 
 masters, finishing with " Yankee-doodle," and repeated some really 
 very fine and striking lines, author unknown. There is a magnifi- 
 cent natural church in the cave ; and here divine service has been 
 performed, we were assured. Of course, we had a great number 
 of torches, or rather lamps with us. Bengal lights are sometimes 
 used here, but we had not given due warning, and none were to 
 be procured. 
 
 Some of the sadder things to be seen in this gloomy stronghold 
 of Nature, are the remains of a number of small ruined houses, 
 erected within the cave for consumptive patients, the constantly 
 equable temperature of this solemn place being considered as of 
 great efficacy in restoring them to health. This idea is, however,
 
 96 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 I should imagine, almost abandoned, if we may judge by the dilapi- 
 dated structures before alluded to ; indeed, we understand that the 
 depressing effect on the spirits of the sufferers tended greatly to 
 counteract the beneficial influence of the unvarying and mild tem- 
 perature. They were obliged to remove these melancholy habita- 
 tions to some distance from each other, as they found the constant 
 sound of the hollow cough reverberating through the vaulted gal- 
 leries irritated the nerves, and affected the spirits of the invalids 
 grievously. I can not imagine it doing any good in a single in- 
 stance ; yet it is said some apparent cures were performed ; but on 
 returning to the upper earth and the cheerfulness of day, the symp- 
 toms of the disorder immediately returned, and, therefore, the only 
 hope of continued existence was in renouncing all its delights and 
 charms ; in perpetuating this most dreary exile, in living as much 
 like the dead as possible, and in anticipating and rehearsing, as it 
 were, the loneliness, the gloom, the silence of the grave. These 
 ruined tenements made me shudder ; sepulchres of the living as they 
 must have been. 
 
 Even for the short time I was in the cave I felt a strange op- 
 pression, and a longing for the sun and the free fresh air again, that 
 was almost painful. Notwithstanding this, you can undergo much 
 greater fatigue in the cave than outside owing, I was told, to the 
 remarkable elasticity of the air there ; but walking so long, and 
 over such frightfully- rugged ground made me very thirsty. Some 
 of the springs were of delicious water, but one that we drank of 
 was like sulphur : we should have thought it horrible under other 
 circumstances, bftt were so suffering from drought, that we found 
 it then and there exquisite. 
 
 One of the most singular curiosities of this stupendous cave, are 
 the eyeless fish that are found in one of the rivers : they are not 
 only destitute of eyes, but have not the faintest, slightest rudiments 
 of the organ, or place for it ; the skull is perfectly smooth. I had 
 
 heard these fish much talked of by Professors A and G 
 
 at Cambridge, and was anxious to see one ; there were some 
 swimming about in the river, but I could not thus examine their 
 peculiarities satisfactorily ; subsequently, I got a preserved one in 
 spirits. They are to be purchased of the guides. 
 
 There is in the cave an extraordinarily narrow path, between 
 immense rocks, through which a human being can with difficulty 
 force his way. The American gentleman I have alluded to before 
 gave an amusing account of a fat Englishman accomplishing this 
 feat, and emerging on the other side, all sorts of shapes a kind of
 
 MAMMOTH CAVE. 97 
 
 Proteus, exhibiting at one and the same time, a pleasing variety 
 of appearances. One arm jammed into his side, one cheek alarm- 
 ingly flattened, and the other, by the contrast, apparently pufied 
 out preposterously, as if the material of the one had been squeezed 
 into the other. By all accounts he must have looked something 
 like a huge pillow, of which the feathers had been displaced in 
 one part, and huddled up in another, which, in short, had shifted 
 its cargo of down ! and that required shaking and putting to rights. 
 By degrees the metamorphosis ceased, and he shortly regained his 
 natural shape, but then the poor wretch had to endure a second 
 martyrdom ! I know not the end of his history, perhaps he staid 
 on the other side for a while, practiced abstemiousness, and went 
 into training, and so came out of the cave a " lean and slippered 
 pantaloon," having gone in like a Folstaff. This " Winding 
 Way" is popularly known as " The Fat Man's Misery." 
 
 It is the tall man's also, for even women have here and there 
 to bend almost double. One longed to walk with one's head 
 under one's arm, in imitation of some of the gentry who figure in 
 ghost stories. I suffered several times from a severe concussion of 
 my bonnet, and only narrowly escaped a compound fracture of the 
 comb. 
 
 As to the cave altogether, it is magnificent that is, what we 
 saw of it ; for many parts of it we did not see at all, which are 
 already explored, and it is said people may go on exploring for 
 three hundred miles or more ; I should be sorry to try the experi- 
 ment. After this under-ground jaunt after this sort of temporary 
 burial, I think one almost requires a dozen or so of balloon-ascen- 
 sions to restore the equilibrium of one's feelings, and take away 
 the subterraneousness of one's sensations, and ungrovelize one's self; 
 in short, to carry off a little of the superabundant earthliness 
 that one feels has been acquired by walking below ground, where 
 should be nothing but graves and gas-pipes, and cellars and worms, 
 and Guy Fawkeses, and sorcerers, and mummies, and trains of 
 gunpowder, and fossil Ichthyosauruses. 
 
 Stalactites and stalagmites are beautiful and interesting, but 
 they seem to me to have a sort of magnetism of petrifaction about 
 them, and to inoculate one with ossification. Glad was I when 
 we wended our way from these mighty vaults, with their imita- 
 tion stars and hobgoblin roses : we had to pass again by the samo 
 great Hall by which we entered, under the living leathern canopy 
 of the imminent bats wnich almost grazed or stuck to ouomuch- 
 cnduring bonnets as we passed so low was the roof in some places. 
 
 E
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 THE MAMMOTH CAVE IN KENTUCKY. 
 
 And have a thousand burning worlds on high, 
 
 And tens of thousands marshaled in the sky. 
 
 Scattering their splendor o'er Heaven's boundless plain 
 
 Besieged thy gates for ages and in vain ? 
 
 Never the gentle Pleiad here hath gazed ; 
 
 Not here hath ever flashing comet blazed , 
 
 Nor keenest lightning sent one arrowy ray, 
 
 'Midst these dread strongholds of the night to play, 
 
 Nor here the artillery of the thunder even 
 
 E'er woke one echo of the Voice of Heaven. 
 
 Stars from their spheres have shot but here unmisscd, 
 Of them this frowning under-world ne'er wist. 
 Still of the sun unseen, there lives a sign, 
 His warmth comes even to this sepulchral shrine. 
 Yet by no change seems the awful gloom beguiled, 
 Here rain nor rainbow ever wept nor smiled. 
 Yet oh ! the hanging gardens glittering there 
 Where sunshine laughs not, and no dews appear ; 
 And not a butterfly pursues its flight, 
 Giving and gaining hues more freshly bright. 
 
 Behold the inverted beds of sumptuous flowers, 
 That wealth of stony blooms, and frozen bowers, 
 Those spectral buds, those sparry branches drear, 
 That pomp of floral petrifactions there, 
 Those ghostly wreaths those braids of shadowy leaves, 
 Which Nature, as in stern self-mockery, weaves, 
 Roses and sunflowers ; tulips rich, and bells 
 Of sumptuous lilies, where no sweetness dwells ; 
 And sculptured irises, and dahlias pale, 
 Unknown to spring's bright ray, or autumn's gale, 
 All in a deadly beauty coldly clad, 
 A funeral pomp, bewilderingly sad. 
 
 How sweet how exquisite compared with these, 
 The lowliest hedge-flower, touched by dew and breeze ! 
 How dear, compared with such stark frigid shows, 
 The wan and withered ruins of a rose, 
 That once has looked on day's bright star, and grown 
 Something that seemed a stray smile of his own 
 True, 'tis most beautiful, most wondrous too, 
 This tranced this spell-bound nature, calm and new ; 
 But yet this mockery of earth's heaven-born things. 
 Though fair, though glorious, but despondence brings. 
 'Tis like Death's palace with his cold white show, 
 Of all that most should smile with life's fresh glow. 
 
 For me, I long to leave these precincts drear, 
 Shun this cold gliost of Nature reigning here, 
 (So fixed, so fate-like, life and motion seem 
 Near this, the fleeting fictions of a dream), 
 And once again the glad Creation hail, 
 That tells with thousand tongues the eternal tale.
 
 CONVERSATION IN A COACH. 
 
 Give back the world ! the changeful hues and forms, 
 
 The hurrying shadows of its very storms. 
 
 Oh ! for a mountain-scene to lift me now 
 
 On high; as 'twere to climb near Heaven's sweet brow; 
 
 Give me those scenes, fresh, moving, breathing, free, 
 
 Where even midst gloom, a thousand glories be. ^ 
 
 And sound, ye clarion-tones of winds, which make 
 
 The stately forests to their centres shake ! 
 
 Give even the quivering darkness of that Night, 
 
 Which heaves and hovers as 'twere taking flight! 
 
 And give the change of seasons and of hours, 
 
 The strife of elements, the shock of powers ! 
 
 And life-like shiftings, and awakening signs, 
 
 True, quickening tones from Nature's thousand shrines. 
 
 Give me, for these cold vaults, and these bare halls, 
 The glistening smile of streams the roar of falls ; 
 The startling wonders of the restless deep, 
 The towering headland, and the cloud-capped steep; 
 Glaciers for stalactites, keen moons for spars, 
 For these dull gauds Heaven's galaxies of stars; 
 Nay, humbler be the yearning, less the prayer, 
 Give any scene of outward Nature fair, 
 For th' awful mysteries of this solemn cave, 
 Give but a breath, a cloud, a flower, a wave ; 
 For all the dreadful splendors that it boasts, 
 One mirrored ray from yonder starry hosts ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A Conversation in a Coach A loquacious Gentleman The other Passenger 
 His Appearance An American Argument touching the Potency of 
 Money to make a Gentleman An Exhibition of genuine Feeling A 
 Kentuckian's Notion of England The slight Value set on human Life 
 in America The Duel Pigs paramount in Louisville Herds of Swine 
 on the Alleghanies The Hotel-Keeper and the Kentucky Cave Danger 
 attending a Visit to the Caves. 
 
 I CAN not refrain from giving a conversation which I heard as 
 we came by the coach to Louisville. One of the speakers was a 
 very agreeable and apparently well-informed gentleman, who seem- 
 ed to have seen a great deal of the world. When he first entered 
 the " stage," it would seem it was with the benignant intention 
 of giving a sort of conversazione in the coach, in which after a few 
 preliminary interrogatories to the various passengers (as if to take 
 the size and measure of their capacities), he sustained all the 
 active part, not calling upon them for the slightest exercise of theii
 
 100 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 conversational powers. He varied the entertainment occasionally 
 by soliloquizing and monopolyloguizing ; and ever and anon it ap- 
 peared as if he addressed the human race generally, or was speak- 
 ing for posterity in a very elevated tone indeed, and seemingly 
 oblivious of that fraction of the contemporaneous generation who 
 were then largely benefiting by his really most animated and 
 amusing discourse for he was thoroughly original and very shrewd 
 and entertaining. 
 
 Where had he not been ? What had he not seen 1 what not 
 met, tried, suffered, sought, found, dared, done, won, lost, said? 
 The last we could give the most implicit credence to, no matter 
 how large the demand. Now he told us, or the ceiling of the 
 coach, how he had been eighteen months in the Prairies (which 
 keep very open house for all visitors), shooting herds of buffaloes, 
 and with his cloak for his only castle, and all his household furni- 
 ture, and how he had been all this time without bed or bread : 
 and he described the longing for the last, much in the way Mr. 
 Ruxton does in his account of Prairie excursions ; and now but 
 I will not attempt to follow him in all his wondrous adventures. 
 
 Suffice it to say, Robinson Crusoe, placed in juxtaposition with 
 him, was a mere fire-side stay-at-home sort of personage, one who 
 had never left his own comfortable arm-chair, in comparison. In 
 short, the adventures were marvelous and manifold, and all told in 
 the same agreeable, lively, Scheherezade-like sort of a manner so 
 agreeable, indeed, that I am sure had Judge Lynch himself had 
 any little account to settle with him, he would have postponed 
 a la Sultan of the Indies any trifling beheading or strangling, or 
 unpleasant little operation of the sort, to hear the end of the tale. 
 
 After these narratives and amusing lectures had been poured 
 forth continuously for a length of time, it chanced that a quiet 
 countryman-like person got into the coach, bundle and stick in 
 hand. After a few questions to the rustic wayfarer, our eloquent 
 orator left off his historic and other tales, and devoted himself to 
 drawing out, and " squeezing the orange of the brains" of this ap- 
 parently simple-minded and unlettered man. The discourse that 
 ensued was a singular one to take place, too, in the United States 
 between Americans. 
 
 The new-comer was a Kentuckian by birth, who had not very 
 long ago gone to settle in Indiana. He called himself a mechanic 
 these facts came out in answer to the queries put to him by our 
 unwearied talker but he had, as I have said, much more the 
 appearance of a respectable country farming man and indeed,
 
 NOBLE-SPIRITED MECHANIC. 101 
 
 I believe, mechanic means here, in a general sense, a laborer. He 
 seemed, a fine, honest-hearted, straight-forward, noble-spirited son 
 of the plow ; and his lofty, earnest, generous sentiments were spoken 
 in somewhat unpolished but energetic and good language ; and 
 what particularly struck me was a really beautiful and almost 
 child-like simplicity of mind and manner, that was combined with 
 the most uncompromising firmness and unflinching adherence in 
 argument, to what he conceived to be right. 
 
 His features were decidedly plain, but the countenance was very 
 fine, chiefly characterized by great ingenuousness, commingled with 
 gentleness and benevolence ; and yet bearing evident traces of 
 strength, determination, and energetic resolution. It was rather 
 a complicated countenance, so to say, notwithstanding its great 
 openness and expression of downright truth and goodness. 
 
 After opening the conversation with him, as you would an oyster, 
 by the introduction of a pretty keen knife of inquisitorial questions, 
 the chief speaker began to hold forth, capriciously enough, on the 
 essentials and distinguishing attributes of a gentleman. He de- 
 clared, emphatically, that one qualification alone was necessary, 
 and that money only made a gentleman, according to the world, 
 and, above all, in the United States (quite a mistake is this, I 
 fully believe). " Let a man," said he, " be dressed here in every 
 thing of the best, with splendid rings on his fingers, and plenty of 
 money to spend at the ends of them, and he may go where he will, 
 and be received as a gentleman ; ay, though he may be a gam- 
 bler, a rogue, or a swindler, and you, now, you may be a good 
 honest mechanic ; but he will at once get into the best society in 
 these parts, which you would never dream even of attempting to 
 accomplish " 
 
 " But he would not be a gentleman," broke in the Kentuckian, 
 indignantly. " No, sir ; nor will I ever allow that money only 
 makes the gentleman : it is the principle, sir, and the inner feel- 
 ing, and the mind and no fine clothes can ever make it ; and no 
 rough ones unmake it, that's a fact. And, sir, there's many a bet- 
 ter gentleman following the plow in these parts than there is among 
 the richer classes : I mean those poor men who' re contented with 
 their lot, and work hard and try no mean shifts and methods to 
 get on and up in the world ; for there's little some 'ill stick at to 
 get at money ; and such means a true gentleman (what / call a 
 gentleman) will avoid like pison, and scorn utterly." 
 
 " Now that's all very well for you to talk so here just now ; but 
 you know yourself, I don't doubt, that your own object, as well as
 
 102 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 all the world's around you, is to make money. It is with that 
 object that you work hard and save up : you do not work only to 
 live, or make yourself more comfortable, but to get money : and 
 money is the be-all and end-all of all and every body ; and that 
 only commands consideration and respect." 
 
 " That only, sir, would never command mine, and " 
 
 " Why, how you talk now ! if you meet a fine dressed-out gen- 
 tleman in one of these stages, you look on him as one directly you 
 don't ask him did he 'make or take his money what's that to 
 you ? there he is, and it is not for you to busy or bother yourself 
 to find out all the private particulars of his history ; and if you 
 find him, as I say, well dressed in superfine, and he acts the gen- 
 tleman to you, he may be the greatest rogue in existence, but he 
 will be treated by you like a gentleman yes, even by you." 
 
 " Yes, sir, that may be while I know nothing of him while as 
 you say, he acts the gentleman to me ; but let me once find out 
 what he is, and I would never show him respect more no ! though 
 he had all the gold of California." 
 
 "Ah, California! just look at that now look at people by 
 scores and thousands, leaving their families, and friends, and 
 homes and what for but for gold ? people with a comfortable com- 
 petence already ; but it's fine talking. Why, what are you taking 
 this very journey for ? why, I can answer for you for gold, I 
 doubt not ; and every other action of your life is for that object : 
 confess the real truth now." 
 
 " I will, sir I am come here from Indiana, for though I'm a 
 Kentucky man, I live in the Hoosier State. I'm come here to see 
 a dear brother ; and instead of gaining money I'm spending it in. 
 these stages to get to see him and ' old Kentuck' agin. So you see 
 sir, I love my brother I do more than money, poor man as I am ; 
 ay, and that I do too." 
 
 " Well, I dare say you do ; but come now, just tell me 
 haven't you a little bit of a speculation, now, here, that you're come 
 after, as well as your brother some trifle of a speculation afoot ? 
 You know you have now. You must have. Some horse, per- 
 haps " 
 
 It was quite delightful to see and hear the indignant burst of 
 eager denial which this elicited from the ingenuous Kentuckian. 
 
 '' No, sir ! no, I have not none whatever, indeed I have not :" 
 his voice quivered with emotion ; the earnest expression of his 
 countenance was more than eloquent. If his interrogator had ac- 
 cused him of a serious crime he could hardly more anxiously and
 
 EXHIBITION OF FEELING. 103 
 
 more earnestly have disclaimed it. To him, I thought the bare 
 suspicion seemed like a coarse desecration of his real motives, a kind 
 of undervaluing even of his "dear brother," to suppose he must 
 have had a "little speculation on hand" to make it worth his while 
 to go to see him. 
 
 He went on in an agitated, eager tone : 
 
 " And look ye here ; I am leaving off my work and money- 
 making for some days on purpose only for that, and spending 
 money at it, too!" 
 
 His somewhat case-hardened antagonist looked the least in the 
 world discomfited, for that angry denial was a magnificent burst, 
 and uttered in a tone that actually seemed to give an additional jolt 
 to the rough coach ; and I might say it had really a splendid thej- 
 atrical effect, but that I should hesitate to use that expression 
 with reference to one of the most beautiful natural exhibitions of 
 deep feeling and generous sentiment I ever witnessed. 
 
 " Where are you going to ?"at last inquired the other, apparently 
 about to commence a little cross-examination. 
 
 " About twenty miles beyond Munsfordville," replied Kentucky, 
 in his simple, direct manner, " to " I forget the name. 
 
 " Why, you're come by the wrong stage, then," exclaimed the 
 other, "you should have waited till to-morrow, and then taken the 
 stage to , and then you would have gone direct." 
 
 " Well, yes, sir; it's true enough, sir; but you see in short, 
 I couldn't wait no, that I couldn't. I was so anxious, and I 
 felt so like seeing my brother ; and I was in such a mortal hurry 
 to get to him." 
 
 " Hurry, man ! why how will you see him any sooner by this ? 
 Why you might as well have walked up and down Main-street 
 till to-morrow ; it would have advanced you just as much on your 
 journey." 
 
 " You're right, sir, I know that ; but I really couldn't wait : I 
 wanted to feel I was going ahead, and getting 'tiearei- my brother 
 at any rate ; I got so impatient-like. No, sir ; I couldn't have 
 staid till the morning any how you could fix it." 
 
 " You'll have to walk for your folly, for you'll get no conveyance 
 this way, I tell you." 
 
 " I'll have to walk the twenty miles to-night, I suppose," said 
 Kentucky, with the most imperturbable*smiling composure ; " but 
 never mind that ! I shall be getting near my brother, then. Ha," 
 he said, after a pause, "you see I do love my brother, sir, and I 
 don't regard trouble for him. I'll have to walk the twenty miles
 
 104 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 to-night with my bundle, I dare say, and spending money at that, 
 too, perhaps, for a bit of food ; but I couldn't have waited no ! 
 not another hour at Louisville I felt so like getting nearer to my 
 brother." 
 
 At the end of the argument about money-making being the all 
 in all, one or two of us signified briefly that we thought Kentucky 
 was right. You never saw any body so surprised. He had evi- 
 dently entertained a deep conviction that all in the stage-coach 
 were opposed to his opinions, and that he stood alone in his veiw 
 on the matter. He replied he was glad any body thought as he 
 did, and reiterated with strong emphasis to his opponent : 
 
 " I'm sure, sir, I'm right ; it is the principle, and the manners, 
 and the mind, and not money that makes a gentleman. No, no ; 
 money can never make half a one." 
 
 I shall feel a respect for " old Kentucky" forever after for his 
 sake. 
 
 This high-hearted fellow-passenger of ours seemed to know very 
 little of any country but his own. He discovered we were English, 
 and exclaimed " That England may be a good country, but I 
 could never bear to live under a king : a man's life must be miser- 
 able there ! I couldn't bear their laws neither." 
 
 " Why, they're pretty nearly the same as here." 
 
 " You don't say so !" exclaimed the other, much astonished ; 
 for he seemed, like many others, to have an idea that we could 
 not do any thing, or move from any place to another without the 
 sovereign or the army giving leave, or, vice versa, and- condescend- 
 ing to regulate all our domestic affairs. 
 
 After that true " Nature's nobleman," the Kentucky " me- 
 chanic," had vanished from the scene, the same gentleman began 
 talking to a neighbor in his loud, clear voice, on another subject 
 the little value set on human life in the United States. He said, 
 
 " The other day, while I was at , two men had a quarrel," 
 
 and he mentioned their names, which I do not accurately re- 
 member, " the one told the other to meet him in the market-place, 
 and to prepare his mind ; he did so, and a pistol also : the other 
 had a six-shooter ; they fired, and neither fell. Then the one who 
 had the revolver coolly put six bullets into his antagonist, and left 
 him stone dead ; and this was in the market-place with numbers 
 assembled, who formed rund in a ring," said this gentleman, "to 
 see the horrible spectacle, without one interfering to prevent it. 
 One can not begin to imagine how indifferent the people here are 
 to life in general."
 
 WHIMSICAL LANDLORD. 105 
 
 The talkative gentleman told other anecdotes of the same 
 nature, but one will be thought enough, I have no doubt, though 
 it was interesting to hear them related, for he was a capital 
 narrator, all life and spirit ; and one could not help paying amused 
 attention, though, it must be confessed, his small talk was chiefly 
 of murders, duels, executions, terrific fights with Indians, encoun- 
 ters with grizzly bears and such. small deer in fact conducted on 
 the principle of Madame Tussaud's " Chamber of Horrors;" a 
 kind of verbal conversational Reign of Terror. 
 
 I have already said what a very nice town Louisville is city, 
 I ought to say, for all large towns have that rank here : yet one 
 thing a little detracts from its general appearance, and that is the 
 preponderating population of pigs that in all directions perambu- 
 late its handsome streets. I had observed this with surprise, and 
 was amused at a corroborative paragraph in one of their papers 
 here lately, saying that really the pigs are becoming masters of 
 the place ; they push the two-legged citizens into the streets, 
 occupying the side- walks, and taking the wall of them. So things 
 begin to look serious here, and we are prepared any day for a 
 pronunciamiento of the pigs, they carry their snouts so high 
 already, and seem so bristling with importance. 
 
 In crossing the Alleghanies it was quite a curious sight to see 
 armies of these animals driven along a perfect stream of swine, 
 rejoicing in all the fat of the land, certainly. It is said to be a 
 wonderful spectacle to see them slaughtered, and almost as magic- 
 ally turned into lard and lard-oil, as if the latter article had been 
 ordered for Aladdin's lamp by his first genie gentleman-in-waiting 
 and equerry. 
 
 I must not forget to speak of a rather whimsical but thoroughly 
 obliging, hospitable, and, I believe, excellent old gentleman, at 
 whose hotel we were staying on our way to and from the Mam- 
 moth Cave. Singularly enough, he has lived for nearly half a 
 century within a few miles of the cavern, but never has visited it. 
 " Time enough," he growled, in a voice that might have sounded 
 from the subterranean depths of the cave itself, and would have 
 rumbled at Echo River, like a discharge of Satanic artillery, 
 " Time enough to go under ground when I'm dead ;" and we 
 almost agreed with him, after we had all gone a-caving, and come 
 back feeling so subterraneanically sepulchral, and with such a 
 dreary antediluvian fossil-like sensation, perfectly convinced of the 
 hollowness of the world in general, and of Kentucky in particular. 
 Indeed, we rather envied Mr. Bell his superficial views and his 
 
 E*
 
 106 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 never having been buried alive, or trodden underfoot by half a 
 quarter of the inhabitants of the State. 
 
 One of his female slaves told me, ladies return sometimes from 
 their cave expedition half dead, and keep their beds for " a many 
 days," and occasionally have received severe injuries from stum- 
 bling on the rugged sharp-pointed rocks. This negress was one 
 of the most good-natured beings I ever met with : she voluntarily 
 undertook the task of rubbing off from some of our clothes the dust 
 of the cave : she scrubbed away with such zeal that soon her arms 
 became a sort of faint cream color, and her thick crop of wool was 
 so densely powdered as to assume the same tint, together with her 
 smiling gentle face. She appeared to compassionate us profoundly ; 
 and, perhaps, imagining, in consequence of her master's prejudices 
 against that mighty cave, that no one of their own free will would 
 visit such a dreadful place (to come back in such a fearful plight), 
 she appeared to entertain an opinion that travelers in general 
 had to go through this ordeal ; and, peradventure, were thus nat- 
 uralized and made real children of the soil, after carrying so much 
 of it away about their persons and habiliments. The claim would 
 be well grounded, at any rate. 
 
 Mr. B , the English gentleman who visited the cave at 
 
 the same time we did, has just arrived here : he called a little 
 while ago and told me that a poor young lady, who was very ill 
 at the Cave Hotel while we were there, died the day before he 
 came away. She had caught cold in coming out of the cave only 
 a few days before, after being much overheated by walking there, 
 and neglecting to put on a shawl : inflammation came on, and she 
 had thus fallen a victim to this slight imprudence.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Steamer from Louisville The Passengers The Lady in the Turban, 
 and her refractory Charges A Family of another Description The 
 Liliputian Listen and his Model Grandmamma The Sonnambula of a 
 Stewardess St. Louis Ravages of the Cholera in that City Rapid 
 Growth of St. Louis Vast Number of German Immigrants Progress of 
 American Civilization Prairie Hunting Frequency of Steamboat Acci- 
 dents on the Mississippi. 
 
 WE left Louisville in a steamer with rather indifferent accom- 
 modations, but commanded by a most obliging and courteous cap- 
 tain. There were several families on board, who were removing 
 to remote parts of the Union ; slaves, children, chattels, cattle, ac- 
 companied them ; they were, in short, domestic Atlases carrying 
 their own little world on their shoulders farther west of course 
 which is quite the way of the world hereabouts. 
 
 This was one of the very roughest sets I had ever been among. 
 They lived entirely with the first-class passengers, so no doubt 
 they had paid first-class price. Some were from the heart of old 
 Kentucky, and none of them were emigrants ; they all comported 
 themselves very quietly and well, except one family of children, 
 belonging to some hard-working back-woodsman, to judge from ap- 
 pearances. They were awfully spoilt, and led their parents mis- 
 erable lives ; scratching and beating their mother, and boxing the 
 ears and kicking the shins of their (little) respected papa, and 
 knocking cruelly about the only person in the family who had the 
 sense to control the imps a little, in the shape of a gaunt tall 
 grandmamma, resembling a retired grenadier, " in" a turban, with 
 a short pipe the last evidently the consolation of her soul, and 
 the former ingeniously constructed of some light-colored hand- 
 kerchief, or handkerchiefs, and apparently built upon her head 
 by her own hands, in a fantastic fashion, having a little appear- 
 ance of a fortification for defensive purposes, which was rendered, 
 necessary by the violent attacks of the undutiful brats before 
 alluded to. Had it not been erected with considerable engineering 
 skill, this poor rustic Cybele with her tower-like turban would 
 have been left defenseless and bareheaded by these little furies. 
 
 She was wont to confide to me her troubles on this head enough 
 to have turned her head and turban too, besides other subjects that 
 "worrited" her "pretty considerable." We were great "friends
 
 109 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 together," and she was quite benignant and patronizing in her 
 manner toward me. Sometimes (smoking her short pipe the 
 while) marching up to me and laying her huge heavy hand on my 
 shoulder, she would exclaim, " Wai, them children of ourn are 
 bad children mighty bad, mighty bad ; it wears and worrits a 
 body, I guess, properly : and, my ! I feel so skeary-like too, for 
 I've never been aboard one of these steaming boats, nor never seen 
 one afore." 
 
 This surprised me " considerable," for I should have thought no 
 one could live in the States without seeing them. This I ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 " No, I haint ; where I live to home, these don't come none on 
 'em ; and they're mighty queer boats, I guess, and I don't like 
 them, and feel proper skeary, too, aboard on 'em." 
 
 Then she pensively puffed away at the short pipe, till the roar 
 ing of some of those young rebels demanded her presence as "head 
 pacificator ;" when, telling me (to console me for her temporary 
 absence) she should soon be back, she, and pipe, and turban, would 
 vanish for a while in the distance. For the benefit of those who 
 like to study various fashions of dress, I may as well remark that 
 the attire of this worthy dame, altogether was a costume somewhat 
 resembling the war-dress of Abd-el-Kader, engrafted on the pacific 
 garments of a Dutch skipper's wife ; but no description can do it 
 justice. 
 
 I took quite a liking to the worthy soul, and pitied her much 
 for being, as she was alternately, a sufferer from " skearyness," and 
 from the kicks and cuffs of those insubordinate grandchildren of 
 hers. But occasionally she would make a dash at -them, like a 
 charge of Napoleon's Old Guard, and retire, crowned with victory, 
 to smoke the short pipe of peace. On one particular day several 
 pitched battles were obstinately fought, besides numerous slight 
 skirmishes. The intrepidity of grandmamma, the Invincible, and 
 her desperate charges, ultimately won, however, the field, and 
 decided the war in favor of the party of order ; but the squalling, 
 kicking, biting, and scratching, were alarmingly vehement. The 
 passengers in general preserved a sort of armed neutrality, pre- 
 pared, however, if the disorderly little enemy attacked them, to 
 drive them back ignominiously with umbrellas, parasols, canes, and 
 other weapons of the kind. 
 
 There was another rather large family on board, the very anti- 
 podes of these, utterly unlike them in class, manners, appearance, 
 every thing. The mother was a lovely Spanish-looking lady, with
 
 AN AMIABLE FAMILY. 109 
 
 beautiful jet-black hair, and delicate regular features : she was 
 exquisitely but simply dressed, and a Spanish mantilla of black 
 lace depended, with exceeding grace, from her small statuesque 
 head. Her voice was " sweet and low an excellent thing in 
 woman," especially on board a crowded steamboat, where there is 
 always a hurricane of noises. And what a refreshing contrast it 
 was to that sheikh-like dame's tones, which would have drowned 
 the town crier's. 
 
 The eldest child of this family, a little girl, was one of the love- 
 liest children I ever saw, and with very charming and pleasing 
 manners, neither loud nor forward, nor too shy nor too bold just 
 what a child of her age should be, and like a child which is not 
 always the case here. The youngest child was one of the dearest 
 little pets I ever saw : he was about three or four years old, and a 
 perfect embodiment of fun, mischief, and merriment the very soul 
 of sauciness and drollery an infantine Polichinello, a baby Flib- 
 bertigibert, with such endless quips and cranks and " mops and 
 mows," methinks such a comical little darling Scaramouch was 
 never beheld before ! He seemed a duodecimo Grimaldi, a Lili- 
 putian Listen. He was like a supply of laughing-gas to the whole 
 cabin, but he seldom laughed himself. There was a sort of quiet, 
 profound intensity of fun difiused over his whole childish counte- 
 nance and figure, that was irresistibly comic ; his eye, cheek, nose, 
 chin, seemed all twinkling and winking together, and he had a 
 little way of putting on a despairing look of mock pathos, that was 
 marvelously amusing. 
 
 His usual dress was a sort of tiny blouse ; but, the morning of 
 his departure he was attired in a kind of microscopic pea-jacket 
 (he was a very small child), with a mighty knowing-looking hat, 
 stuck jauntily on the side of his unspeakably comical little noddle ; 
 and, as he strutted up and down the cabin, with his infinitesimal 
 little "pattes" stuck in the pockets, or the wee short arms a-kimbo, 
 it was " impayable" indeed. 
 
 The grandmamma in this family was quite a model grand- 
 mamma. She must have been a person of the most wonderful 
 force of character, and of remarkable greatness of mind ; some- 
 thing (not in person) like the strong-minded Madame Mere. It 
 will seem incredible, but she actually did not spoil little George ! 
 I have even seen her look grave when thinking, perhaps, he was 
 verging on the bounds of pertness, or exhibiting signs of incipient 
 insubordination grave and remonstrant, when every one was 
 convulsed with laughter round her.
 
 lie TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 But she was a model grandmamma in other ways too : such 
 care of the children as she took ; so nicely she made them behave ; 
 and on the morning of their disembarkation, at a place whose 
 name has slipped my memory, she shone forth in full glory. It 
 appeared they had expected to arrive very early indeed at this 
 place, but, owing to a fog coming on they did not. Well, np she 
 got in the dark, and dressed herself as neatly as ever, and then she 
 lighted the fire for the colored stewardess in this steamer hap- 
 pened to be particularly lazy, and, I believe, also, poor woman, 
 she had a great deal to do. Then the active old lady called all 
 the children, and dressed that darling little monkey, George, and 
 helped the other children to dress poor little things ! all half- 
 asleep ; and called her daughter (in vain, and no wonder at that 
 hour of the morning). She then gave the youthful travelers some 
 biscuits for their breakfast, and next began, most sedulously, to 
 pack about two dozen carpet-bags and a score of boxes, while the 
 stewardess went slowly somnambulizing about, laboriously yawn- 
 ing, stretching herself industriously, and diligently doing nothing. 
 
 How so evidently superior a family came to be without servants, 
 I know not ; probably they preferred traveling independently 
 without them. So it seemed, at all events. Little George's de- 
 parture was universally regretted ; he left quite a broken-hearted 
 boat behind him. 
 
 This same sonnambula of a stewardess was a very handsome 
 person. Her mouth was too wide, but, excepting this defect, her 
 features were very fine ; her eyes magnificently large, reminding 
 me a little, both by their size and lustre, and their languid expres- 
 sion, of the great dark orbs of the women at Constantinople. She 
 had a straight classical line of nose. I think she must have been a 
 Quadroon, from descriptions I have read of their personal appear- 
 ance. Her hair had not the slightest wooliness or even curl about 
 it : it was very black, and parted in the straightest possible bands 
 on her forehead. But there was a whisper in the boat, that these 
 Madonna-wreathed bands on the fine forehead of the Sultana-like 
 stewardess were not of native growth ; that, in short, her own 
 hair being afflicted with a ripple, or a frizzly infirmity, she wore 
 a wig. If I was required to make affidavit of the fact, I really 
 could not, and am rather disposed to doubt its being a fact at all. 
 This languid and somewhat indolent stewardess was an exception 
 to the general rule. They are usually a most active, obliging, 
 quick, and attentive set of people, and perform their duties ad- 
 mirably.
 
 ST. LOUIS. Ill 
 
 We find it very cold at St. Louis, but we are in a very comfort- 
 able hotel (Monroe House), the rooms of which are kept delight- 
 fully warm. It will doubtless be known in England how dread- 
 fully this large, busy, noble city suffered lately from fire and 
 cholera ; the last almost depopulated the city for a time. A third 
 of the inhabitants were carried off by the pestilence ; and great 
 numbers fled in dismay, panic-stricken, with their families, to 
 settle in other and, as they thought, less dangerous localities. I 
 was told here, the other day, that though it is only a short time 
 since this appalling affliction had befallen the city, yet so great 
 had been the influx of emigrants, that the gap which had been 
 made by cholera was quite filled up. " So," added my informant, 
 with not uncharacteristic indifference, " the dead are not at all 
 missed ; not in the least, you see." 
 
 Merrily were huge houses going up in all directions. From 
 our hotel windows we had a long view of gigantic, and gigantic- 
 ally-growing-up dwellings, that seemed every morning to be about 
 a story higher than we left them on the preceding night : as if 
 they slept during the night on guano, like the small boy in the 
 American tale, who reposed on a field covered by it, and whose 
 father, on seeking him the following day, found a gawky gentle- 
 man of eight feet high, bearing a strong resemblance to a Patago- 
 nian walking-stick. 
 
 This city is considered the commercial emporium of the West : 
 it is not the capital of Missouri (Jefferson City claims that honor), 
 but is the largest city in the State. It was founded by the French 
 in 1764 ; for a long time it was little more than a village ; it is 
 now an immense and fast-spreading city. There are a good many 
 (American) French still resident here, and a great number of 
 Germans. They tell me the German immigration this last year 
 has been truly enormous. A gentleman observed the other day, 
 the Germans, or the " Dutch," as he called them, are " eating up 
 the West," and sometimes driving the Americans out of their own 
 towns. " The greater part of the West," he said, " will actually 
 be in their hands soon." 
 
 This is the chief depot of the Great American Fur Company. 
 
 We are going to try and see a prairie. The Looking-glass 
 Prairie, I fear, is too far off to attempt to go to in this cold, bleak, 
 unpropitious weather ; and I am much afraid there is none near 
 enough ; for civilization hereabouts walks with no mincing, grace- 
 ful, dancing-master-like steps, but great, seven-league boots, and 
 sprawling, earth-shaking strides, and goes swinging along at such
 
 112 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 a pace that it is all the horizon can do to get out of her way in 
 time, and if once she caught it napping, it might go very hard 
 with it. 
 
 I shall not try to embark on the great Grass Sea to-day ; be- 
 sides, from what I hear of the extent to which inclosing has been 
 carried on this year, I doubt much if even the Looking-Glass 
 Prairie has escaped being framed in, and broken up into small 
 pieces. 
 
 We were a long while getting here from Louisville, in the 
 steamer; very nearly as long as we were crossing the Atlantic to 
 New York. The nights and mornings were generally very foggy, 
 and the captain appeared to have an amiable, unusual weakness 
 in favor of that trifle, called human life : a pleasant trifle enough 
 sometimes. Ah, if some of the poor victims of fast boats and reck- 
 less competition could make their voices heard, would they not 
 seem to parody that well-known refrain, that brief speech, " I'll 
 thank you for that trifle, Uncle Sam !" Particularly careful was 
 the good captain of the good steamboat Hindoo, and we had not a 
 single accident of any sort or kind all the way to St. Louis ; and 
 it is a very difficult navigation ; for the Mississippi, sullen and 
 sober as it looks, is one of the most variable of rivers. Its sand- 
 banks are perpetually shifting, and then there are the " snags and 
 sawyers." In the papers you will often see whole columns, headed, 
 " Snagged," containing a -melancholy list of boats that have had 
 that unpleasant and unnecessary operation gratuitously performed 
 upon them : frequently they are materially damaged. Then fol- 
 lows, sometimes, a list of " boilers burst." There has just arrived 
 news of a tremendous explosion on board a new and magnificent 
 steamer, " The Louisiana." Hundreds of lives are said to be lost. 
 But this does not alarm me in connection with my projected voy- 
 age to New Orleans. I think the safest time is always direct- 
 ly after a great accident, for people are naturally just then more 
 careful.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Mississippi Its Impression upon the Author Its Banks The im- 
 mense Forests seen from it Its varied Scenery The Mississippi by 
 Night Hosts of floating Trees Steamer "snagged" Visit to the 
 late President's Cotton Plantation His Slaves Interesting Negro Chil- 
 dren Shanty of Mr. Taylor, the President's Son An aged Slave His 
 extreme Politeness The black Valet of Mr. Taylor The immediate 
 Slave Abolition Question Instances of Ill-Treatment of Slaves Persecu- 
 tion of Mosquitoes. 
 
 I AM now at New Orleans. We have had a most successful 
 and enchanting tour, and our late voyage I found extremely inter- 
 esting. 
 
 I have been most agreeably disappointed with the Mississippi, 
 which has, in general, the reputation of being monotonous and 
 wearisome from its usually flat banks, and long lines of almost in- 
 terminable, dense, unvarying forests. I am, on, the contrary, quite 
 delighted with it, and watched and gazed on it, day after day, and 
 hour after hour, with ever-newly kindling interest and admiration. 
 These very forests themselves were to me sources of ever-fresh 
 wonder, and the mighty current of that marvelous river, sweep- 
 ing on like the flow of unpausing Time, carrying all before it, I 
 thought sublimity itself. 
 
 That the banks are flat for hundreds and hundreds of miles, I 
 own ; but those forests are so grand, so boundless the breadth of 
 that astounding river is so imposing its bends and curves so glo- 
 rious and beautiful that I could not find it at all monotonous. 
 And then its islands, creeks, bays, branches, and reaches, are so 
 numerous and interesting, and its many magnificent tributaries are 
 so diversified and so splendid, that it did not seem to me in the 
 least degree wearisome or dull. 
 
 Besides these, there is the busy hum of life at various places on 
 the shores. The landing-places, wharves, the plantations (toward 
 the south), the rising and risen villages and towns, the scattered 
 huts of the wood-cutters, the long rows of slaves' habitations (called 
 " quarters"), and all the openings the clearings in the old mighty 
 woods, where the settlers' cottages are cheerfully sending up their 
 blue smoke to the sky, the germs, probably, of future mighty cities 
 and then those innumerable flat-boats and rafts with small ham- 
 lets of houses on them, some wearing the look of a little nautical
 
 114 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 village ; and all kinds of strange craft, from the roughest and 
 rudest, that almost look as if the " snags" and " sawyers" had 
 determined to join company, and had linked themselves by some 
 natural process together to the magnificent steamer " Autocrat" 
 one of those " floating steam-palaces," which look really like 
 some of the wondrous fleeting creations one sees every now and 
 then in the clouds. This " Autocrat," they say, is the largest 
 steamer on the Mississippi, and is about four hundred feet long, 
 and gorgeous as an enchanted castle inside. The one we came in 
 to this place was nearly that length, and decorated with costly 
 magnificence. And then there are the poor trees, twisting and 
 twirling, and tossing about in the rapid stream (sometimes roots 
 uppermost), which form the dreaded " snags" and " sawyers" of 
 the Mississippi voyagers ; and the countless flights of birds that 
 frequently make the air alive with their myriads of hurrying wings, 
 sometimes looking like the moving folds of gigantic serpents. 
 
 How, then, can these stirring and wondrous scenes be insipid ? 
 They are certainly not ; and I think any one who can find it mo- 
 notonous and tiresome (unless they had pictured to themselves a 
 totally different scene, and expected a sort of exaggerated Rhine, 
 or magnified blue Guadalquiver), must be somewhat devoid of 
 heart, mind, and imagination, and especially the first time that 
 one steams down it. I can imagine it might become a little tedi- 
 ous, a little wearisome or so, the one-and-twentieth voyage or 
 thereabouts ; but the first time ! I can not comprehend it. No ! 
 the first time it is all change, wonder, novelty, matter for specula- 
 tion and food for reflection, an object of ceaseless interest, and of 
 ever-recurring astonishment and admiration. We saw it under a 
 vast variety of aspects and change of climate, and even seasons ; 
 and often did its whole appearance seem altered. The captain of 
 one of the steamboats observed to me, the other day, that after 
 long years spent in navigating that wondrous river, he could truly 
 say he " had never seen it in any two voyages alike." There are 
 so many different " stages" of water the banks are so perpet- 
 ually changing, the sand-bars are so incessantly shifting their posi- 
 tion, besides other alterations, that I could indeed readily believe 
 him. 
 
 I have seen it up in the northwest, amid snow, hail, ice, rain, 
 and clouds, and storm, and in the burning sunshine of the south, 
 and under its clear and unshadowed skies, by night and by day, in 
 the gale and in the calm, flowing through its almost interminable 
 mighty wilderness of forest in solitary grandeur, or watering a
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI BY NIGHT. 115 
 
 thousand teeming plantations with its turbid swelling waves, re- 
 ceiving its splendid tributaries (the Ohio, Arkansas River, &c.) as 
 if they were so many dew-drops, and sweeping on as if with a 
 magnificent unconcern and disdainful indifference, apparently whol- 
 ly unaltered and unaffected by these immense and majestic acces- 
 sories to its might and greatness. 
 
 The breadth of this ever-broad river is scarcely visibly changed, 
 though the depth is of course very often greatly increased, as 
 stream after stream rolls into its great waters. In the very ab- 
 sence of change here, is there not something sublime ? In every 
 way it is unlike every other river I ever saw, and appears to be a 
 sort of molten flowing world in itself. 
 
 By night the scene is one of startling interest and of magical 
 splendor. Hundreds of lights are glancing in different directions, 
 from the villages, towns, farms, and plantations on shore, and 
 from the magnificent " floating-palaces" of steamers, that fre- 
 quently look like moving mountains of light and flame, so brill- 
 iantly are these enormous river-leviathans illuminated, outside and 
 inside. Indeed, the spectacle presented is like a dream of enchant- 
 ment. Imagine steamer after steamer coming sweeping, sounding, 
 thundering on, blazing with these thousands of lights, casting long 
 brilliant reflections on the fast-rolling waters beneath ; (there is 
 often a number of them, one after the other like so many comets 
 in Indian file !) Some of them are so marvelously and dazzlingly 
 lighted, they really look like Aladdin's palace on fire (which it in 
 all likelihood would be in America), sent skurrying and dashing 
 down the stream, while, perhaps, just then all else is darkness 
 around it. 
 
 I delighted, too, in seeing, as you very frequently do, the twink- 
 ling lights in the numerous cottages and homesteads, dotted here 
 and there ; and you may often observe large wood-fires lit on the 
 banks, looking like merry-making bonfires. These, I believe, are 
 usually signals for the different steamers to stop to take up pas- 
 sengers, goods, and animals. I recollect, on one occasion, our cap- 
 tain was hard-hearted : the steamer was overflowing with passen- 
 gers already, and continued on her course, notwithstanding there 
 was a perfect conflagration for a signal on shore, to induce him to 
 pause. There must have been some person or persons extraordi- 
 narily anxious to be taken up, for the hubbub made on shore was 
 surprising : there were furious shouts, waving of hats, a hurricane 
 of cries and gesticulations, and people running with great perse- 
 verance along the banks, yelling and squalling like maniacs. In
 
 116 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 vain on we went, and our imaginations might fill up this mys- 
 terious outline of circumstances as they pleased. For me, I felt 
 sure cotton was at the bottom of it, somehow. 
 
 I heard, however, afterward, that there had been lately bands 
 of disorderly emigrants, who had got taken on board the steamers 
 thereabouts, and who had made themselves very disagreeable com- 
 pany while on board, and yet who thought the benefit of their 
 society was sufficient payment for their passage. Some of these 
 gentry were probably the bawlers and bonfire-makers we had left 
 behind us, stamping and handkerchief-hoisting. 
 
 It is quite curious to see the hosts of floating trees, agitated and 
 restless, and ever-tossing about in the rapid current, and occasion- 
 ally rolling and writhing in a little whirlpool. They look some- 
 times like a hundred sea-serpents at a blow ! Who could believe 
 that birds had ever built and sung in their branches ? or that they 
 ever were appareled in the sweet livery of spring 1 they have be- 
 come such black, mummified monsters, and look so hideous and 
 forlorn, drifting helplessly along, in the giant steam. 
 
 We were badly "snagged" twice. Once was really a very 
 severe snagging, though we survived it ; but I assure you the 
 shock might give one a faint idea of being blown up. The first 
 time a large tree was stuck in such a manner through the left 
 paddle-box that the wheel couldn't move, and a great deal of delay 
 was occasioned by our having to stop for the hands to extricate 
 the wheel from its disabling situation. 
 
 The most serious of all our snaggings (for we were favored with 
 a great variety of samples) was once in the night. We were 
 asleep in our cabins, when we were suddenly woke up by an im- 
 mense stunning shock, and the steamer stopped immediately, quiv- 
 ering, so to say, in every nerve of her huge body. There were a 
 great number of horses and mules on board, and they became 
 dreadfully frightened, and commenced rearing, kicking, plunging 
 and snorting furiously, and the noise and uproar really, altogether, 
 sounded most frightful for a time for, of course, there was no lack 
 of shouting, yelling, and rushing backward and forward. After a 
 little while, on went the powerful steamer again, plunging through 
 the thick darkness with the great blunt arrow that had struck her 
 so sorely, fast in her poor wounded side ; but, this time, it had just 
 missed the wheel. 
 
 Another snag subsequently hit her in the opposite side ; but the 
 wheel fortunately escaped that also ; so away she went, something 
 like a savago belle, of whom I have lately read, with wooden
 
 THE PRESIDENT'S COTTON PLANTATION. 117 
 
 skewers in her two ears. When morning came, eager was the 
 rush of all to see the extent of the damage inflicted. There stuck 
 the grim snag right through the paddle-box, as fixed as fate, and 
 there we left it when we left the steamer. I believe, however, it 
 was then in process of extraction. 
 
 Besides these very severe hurts, the unfortunate steamer suffered 
 a long succession of bumps and thumps (as well as her passengers) 
 from a whole series of snags, almost through the whole night. 
 They would not let one repose for a quarter of an hour together in 
 peace. The vessel went, jarring and jumping along in as disa- 
 greeable a manner as it is well possible to imagine ; very much as 
 if she was playing at leap-frog, or hopping on one paddle for a 
 wager. The poor mules and horses uttered a most vigorous kick- 
 ing protest against such rough treatment, and that additional hub- 
 bub did not improve the quiet or comfort of the bipeds. 
 
 I was very glad when we arrived at Natchez (built, I suppose, 
 on the scene of Chateaubriand's lovely work " Les Natchez"). 
 From thence we availed ourselves of the President's kind invita- 
 tion, to go and see his cotton plantation, and it was a truly inter- 
 esting sight to us. 
 
 The late President's son was there, and received us with the 
 kindest hospitality. The slaves were mustered and marshaled for 
 us to see ; cotton was picked from the few plants that had sur- 
 vived the late terrible overflowing of the Mississippi ; and the in- 
 terior of one of the slaves' houses was exhibited to us. As to the 
 slaves themselves, they were as well fed, comfortably clothed, and 
 kindly cared for in every way as possible, and seemed thoroughly 
 happy and contented. The dwelling-house we went to look at 
 was extremely nice : it was a most tastefully decorated and an 
 excellently furnished one ; the walls were covered with prints, and 
 it was scrupulously clean and neat. 
 
 V expressed a great wish to see some of the small sable fry, 
 
 and a whole regiment of little robust, rotund, black babies were 
 forthwith paraded for her especial amusement : it was a very or- 
 derly little assemblage, and it can not be imagined how nice and 
 clean they all looked. Such a congregation of little smiling, good- 
 natured, raven roly-polies, I never saw collected "together before. 
 One perfect duck of a child was only about three weeks old, but it 
 comported itself quite in as orderly a manner as the rest as if it 
 had been used to give parties and assemblies, and receive any 
 quantity of company, from every nation on earth, all its days, or 
 rather hours. It was as black as a little image carved in polished
 
 118 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ebony, and as plump as a partridge (in mourning). These pitchy- 
 colored piccaninnies differed from white children in one essential 
 particular, for they were all perfectly quiet and silent ; all wide 
 awake, but all still and smiling. 
 
 After the main body had departed a small straggler was brought 
 in (whose mother, perhaps, had lavished additional cares upon its 
 state toilet) ; and it alone, apparently alarmed at finding itself 
 thus unsupported and insulated, testified its disapprobation at the 
 presence of English visitors by a very mild squall. We saw an 
 older child afterward, who was very nearly white, with lovely 
 features and fair hair ; the mother was a mulatto, and the father 
 almost white. 
 
 V was delighted with the whole company of little inky 
 
 imps from first to last, nursing and fondling them in high glee ; 
 and it may be readily conceived that the mothers stood by equally 
 enchanted at having their little darkies so appreciated and not a 
 little proud ; showing their splendid glittering teeth almost from 
 ear to ear. 
 
 All the slaves were evidently taken the kindest care of on Gen. 
 Taylor's plantation. Men, women, and children all appeared to 
 adore Mr. Taylor, who seemed extremely kind to them, and affa- 
 ble with them. He informed us he sleeps always in his own rus- 
 tic shanty, surrounded by the slaves' quarters, without bolt, bar, 
 or lock of any description on his doors, and that the negroes were 
 not fastened or shut up in any way. This shanty was a very nice 
 wooden, building, with a colonnaded promenade in front, looking 
 on the river, and had a capital sitting-room, very cool and pleas- 
 ant. The overseer's house was at a little distance. 
 
 The principal mansion boasted, too, of a good and large collec- 
 tion of books, among which Mr. Taylor showed me an illustrated 
 Mexican " Don Quixote." He had brought it with him from 
 Mexico, and added, that it was said to be the first work ever 
 illustrated in that country. The engravings were well executed, 
 and the designs were spirited and clever. 
 
 We saw an aged slave, a hundred years old, and apparently 
 quite hale and hearty. He did not seem to be the least deaf or 
 decrepit, or to have lost his faculties in any way : he had quite 
 polished and graceful manners, something like an old French mar- 
 quis of the vieille cour. He really reminded me a little in his 
 courteous salutations of dear old Marquis de 1'Aigle, who used to 
 
 tell me at the Chateau d'O of his dancing minuets with poor 
 
 Marie Antoinette. He came daintily forward and treated us to most
 
 AN AGED SLAVE. 119 
 
 Chesterfieldian bows and reverences, with multitudinous respect- 
 ful inquiries after our health and well-being. 
 
 " What do I owe you for those chickens you sold to me a little 
 while ago 1" asked the President's son of the old slave. " One 
 dollar and five bits," replied the centenarian with the most unhes- 
 itating accuracy and promptitude. The money was immediately 
 paid to him. Mr. Taylor had told me before that he always 
 bought his poultry of this old man, who was allowed to rear them 
 on his own account, " and who, I assure you, invariably charges 
 the very highest prices for them," added he, laughing. 
 
 I took an opportunity of offering this sable Sir Charles Grandi- 
 son a trifling backsheesh to reward him a little for his walk to 
 the lodge to see us (though, by the way, we were told it was no 
 unusual exertion for him, as he very frequently came there) ; the 
 bowing increased to almost ko-tooing, and he went on his way re- 
 joicing and bowing still, like a self-acting porcelain Chinese Man- 
 darin, " nid-nid-nodding." 
 
 We brought away a tiny bale of the President's beautiful white 
 cotton, just as it came off the tree. 
 
 When the slaves were collected together in front of the house 
 for our inspection, they had each, as a treat, some tobacco given 
 them, which is what they dearly love. This they afterward pro- 
 ceeded to smoke to our healths, to which I had no sort of objec- 
 tion, provided they did not wish me to hob and nob with them. 
 They were generally fine stout-looking people, and had not at all 
 a stupid air. One very remarkably intelligent-looking youth was 
 Mr. Taylor's valet; and the latter informed me that this young 
 negro had taught himself to read and to write. For some time Mr. 
 Taylor had remarked that he sat up very late, and after observing 
 this repeatedly, he resolved on watching him, to see what object 
 he had in maintaining these lengthened vigils. He thus dis- 
 covered the fact. The poor aspiring darkie had saved every can- 
 dle-end he could find, and deprived himself of sleep night after 
 night to accomplish his design. Might not such a one become a 
 Toussaint 1'Ouverture in time ? 
 
 Alas ! there are too many interests involved even those of the 
 slaves themselves to permit the immediate extinction of slavery. 
 I am quite aware that on plantations such as the one I have been 
 writing about, one sees entirely the couleur de rose of the business ; 
 but I believe it is very rarely the negroes are ill-treated, except, 
 as I was told by an American, occasionally by small farmers, emi- 
 grants, who have never had such power before, and who are often
 
 120 TRAVELS III AMERICA. 
 
 led into abusing it. The French are said to be very severe mas- 
 ters, but I was constantly assured the worst of all are the colored 
 people themselves. This will appear less astonishing when it is 
 recollected that these people are universally ignorant and unedu- 
 cated, without any proper moral training to teach them to restrain 
 and subdue their naturally violent and inflammable passions and 
 tempers.. 
 
 I can not but think, too, that sometimes when the proprietor 
 himself does not live much on his estate, or personally superintend 
 his colored laborers, they are harshly used by the overseer. One 
 must guard against believing all the exaggerations and prejudiced 
 statements that one hears; but I have been told some painful 
 things relating to this, that seemed certainly from unimpeachable 
 authority. 
 
 Mr. told me at New Orleans that an overseer had actual- 
 ly offered to flog one of the negroes under his charge to show him 
 how it was done, and this in the most careless manner, as if it 
 was quite a common-place proposition. I can hardly help think- 
 ing the man had been piqued by some remarks of Mr. , and 
 
 said this as a sort of bravado, to show him he defied his opinion. 
 The other story is, I fear, more vraisemblable. An overseer was 
 talking of the idleness and carelessness of the negroes being some- 
 times very irritating and provoking as no doubt they may be 
 and, said he, "when that rascal did so and so, I shot him, that's 
 a fact, for I got so mad I couldn't do nothing else." I have heard, 
 not overseers, but other persons say the same sort of thing frequent- 
 ly, as an excuse for very intemperate and inconsiderate conduct 
 toward others, and they seem to think this exonerates them from 
 all blame, as if they were really not responsible agents at the 
 time. A gentleman conversing with me some time since in the 
 West, on the subject of some new regulations on board one of the 
 steam-boats, said that the black waiter, on bringing him some 
 beefsteaks and hot potatoes that he had ordered for luncheon, re- 
 quired payment down before the savory and smoking refection was 
 tasted. Highly indignant, the gentleman remonstrated, nay re- 
 commended the ebony-complexioned waiter to "absquatulate," 
 without loss of time. He remarked he was above all suspicion, 
 and while he was getting out his purse and counting out the coin, 
 the beefsteaks would be very fast deterioriating in value. Poor 
 Pompey declared the captain's orders were absolute, and that all 
 were required to submit, and again reiterated his request for im- 
 mediate payment. " I got so mad at this," exclaimed the narra-
 
 PERSECUTION FROM MUSQUITOES. 121 
 
 tor, " that I took up the whole tray and flung it and the contents 
 in his ugly face." I am afraid there is generally method in this 
 pleaded madness of a moment, for its victims are commonly tlie 
 'helpless and unresisting. 
 
 Mr. had gone to see the jail, and he remarked some sin- 
 gularly ferocious-looking men, who proved to be Spaniards. " Ay, 
 they are right desperate chaps, them," exclaimed the jailer or 
 turnkey who accompanied him ; " I reckon them furriners 'ud 
 think no more of murdering a man right slick, nor you would of 
 walloping your nigger." But I am saying more than I intended 
 on this theme ; and of all people in the world, the English have 
 the least right to find fault with the Americans for retaining still 
 the legacy which they had from England, that melancholy and 
 dangerous keepsake that was her gift a gift forced 011 their 
 acceptance too. 
 
 I must confess one sees very original advertisements in their 
 papers sometimes. The other day this one caught my eye : 
 " To be sold immediately, a negro woman, and a case of damaged 
 Marseilles soap :" and often you see mules, carts, wheel-barrows, 
 negroes, and farming utensils, all huddled up together in a compre- 
 pensive advertisement. How comprehensive, alas ! They do not 
 seem to think ; but of one thing 1 feel quite certain, from many 
 observations I have made, if you had the power to liberate all the 
 slaves in the United States, you would find not a tenth, not a 
 twentieth perhaps not a hundredth part of them would accept 
 their freedom from your hands. 
 
 I have had an almost sleepless night of musquito torment. The 
 housemaids assured me that the musquitoes hardly ever bite now, 
 that their s,ay season was over, and that they were living very 
 retired lives ; occupying their leisure, I suppose, in improving their 
 minds. If they would but learn to have a little philanthropy ! 
 But they would perhaps answer, they " already like man very 
 much indeed." Ah ! it is quite a platter affection, a cupboard 
 love. 
 
 Hearing the satisfactory report I have quoted above, I left my 
 net rolled up last night, and was almost eaten up alive. I could 
 hardly sleep a wink the whole night, and passed its long hours 
 chiefly in the pleasant occupation of violently boxing my own ears, 
 in ineffectual attempts to deal death and destruction at those uu- 
 pitying tormentors. They are the most ubiquitous little monsters 
 in existence, and the most unkillable : you give yourself a blow 
 that might knock down the " Mammoth" horse," and, though sore- 
 
 F
 
 122 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ly hurt, rejoice in thinking you have pulverized the foe, and you 
 feel him instanter biting away at the very hand which hit the 
 blow, or, laughing at you (and stabbing at you, too), perched on 
 the top of your own nose. 
 
 These Liliputian lancers came on like the clouds of irregular 
 Cossack cavalry that so harassed the French in their direful 
 Russian retreat they are here, there, and every where, their ter- 
 rible " hoorah," and deadly dreadful little war-whoops, freezing one 
 with horror. In the day-time it is hateful enough, but at night 
 far worse. However, at night, one has the happy resource of the 
 " bars," as they call the net apparatus here, but none in the day. 
 It would perchance lengthen one's life a little, or at any rate 
 spare one's self from sore anguish, to adopt Cromwell's plan, and 
 wear a coat of mail under the outer apparel, but soon would 
 these clever little assassins, these " Thugs" of domestic life, find a 
 joint in one's armor ; and then should one not be like those an- 
 cient warriors, who, by a cruel device of the enemy, found them- 
 selves closed up and imprisoned in cuirasses almost red-hot ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The St. Charles Hotel at New Orleans. The Swedish Waiter and Jenny 
 Lind. Oppressive Heat in December in New Orleans. Vast Quantities 
 of Cotton. The probable future Aspect of the Banks of the Mississippi. 
 Commerce of New Orleans. The City. Its Port. Its Inhabitants. Its 
 Churches. The City subject to Inundations. Places of Sepulture above 
 Ground. Wreck of the Louisiana Steamer. Wonderful Capabilities of 
 the Valley of the Mississippi. The Americans not extravagant when they 
 describe the Resources of their Country. Alligators. The Red River. 
 The artificial Embankments of the Mississippi at New Orleans. Their 
 Insecurity. 
 
 WE are quite suffering from the heat of the weather here, and 
 we are told it is unusual to be so oppressively warm at New 
 Orleans in the month of December. 
 
 We are at a very splendid and comfortable hotel, called " the 
 Verandah ;" it reminds me much of a Parisian one. The St. 
 Charles is the largest of all the hotels in New Orleans, but it is 
 much crowded, and we were recommended to try this, as it is 
 quieter, and thus pleasanter for ladies. The St. Charles looks a 
 little like St. Peter's at f, distance it is surmounted by an im- 
 mense dome ; it boasts, likewise, of a splendid Corinthian portico.
 
 NEW ORLEANS SHIPPING. 123 
 
 It i% said to be the largest in America. The attendance at this 
 Verandah hotel is admirable, and all the arrangements excellent. 
 But the charges are much higher than usual m the States. 
 
 We are waited upon by a little Swede almost fresh from Jenny- 
 Land land ; and he asked me at dinner yesterday, in an anxious 
 tone, whether I had ever heard his gifted countrywoman sing. I 
 replied in the affirmative. "Then I come from two miles of her 
 in Sweden I am from two miles of her" (from where she lives in 
 Sweden). " Indeed !" " Yes, and I have known her from a 
 little child. She is very good and fine, oh, very fine ; and I hear 
 in England they much like her." I assented, and, eloquent in the 
 praise of his northern land's nightingale, he continued, " She sings 
 so beautiful ; she is a wonderful singer ! Nothing like her, very 
 great very fine and great" and then, by way of crowning all 
 his praises, he exclaimed, with prodigious emphasis, " Oh, she is 
 very neat, very neat." I was not quite sure what particular form 
 of encomium was intended to be conveyed by that expression, but, 
 nevertheless, signified my concurrence unhesitatingly, as it was 
 evident he considered this a "clincher," for he spoke quite "in. 
 italics." 
 
 The quantity of shipping here seems to be enormous, and the 
 quays and the levee (as the great promenade which interposes 
 itself between the Crescent City and the Mississippi is called) were 
 so covered with huge bales of cotton (though it is far from a pro- 
 ductive year) that the ground was literally strewn with little lumps 
 of it, fallen from the plethoric bales in moving them. It almost 
 looked as if it had been snowing in large flakes. I think one might 
 drive a tolerably profitable trade as a gleaner by picking up the 
 scattered cotton, collecting it, and making it up into a few second- 
 hand bales. You might almost glean enough to freight a small 
 ship or stock a little warehouse. 
 
 Once or twice in our Mississippi voyages (for we stopped to see 
 various places, and thus our voyage was performed in separate 
 divisions, and by different steamers! we found ourselves in vessels 
 that appeared to eyes inexperienced in such matters to be alarm- 
 ingly overladen by the heaped-up cotton bales. I recollect on 
 disembarking from one steamer, that she really seemed, as we 
 watched her from the wharf where we had landed, to be all but 
 submerged. She looked as though she went along her course 
 making the most profound courtesies imaginable into the water, and 
 how she kept her head above the element in question I know not. 
 
 We have luckily got large and airy apartments in this same
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Verandah Hotel ; for if they were not so I know not how we should 
 endure the heat. It is now evening considerably past the middle 
 of December and we are sitting with broad immense French win- 
 dows wide open, and, of course, we have no fire, and yet it is suf- 
 focatingly hot, and we are gasping for breath ; but as the New 
 Orleanists themselves are grumbling and scolding at this weather, 
 as unseasonable and insufferable, I presume we may expect a 
 epeedy termination to this frying-pan temperature. 
 
 A very agreeable and charming French Louisianian lady, who 
 had traveled with us across the Alleghany Mountains called to see 
 me the other day. She assured me she was suffering much from 
 the great heat, and seldom remembered it so oppressive. Madame 
 V had just returned from Paris. She was traveling in com- 
 pany with her mother, husband, and several friends of theirs, 
 forming altogether a very large and agreeable party. Among 
 them was a Greek gentleman, who had lately settled in New 
 
 Orleans, and a M. , who had traveled a great deal, and was 
 
 a remarkably well-informed and pleasing person. 
 
 Almost whenever we look out of the window, we behold cotton 
 in vast quantities, carried through the streets in rather awkward- 
 looking carts or drays, which recalls to us that we are in the 
 Crescent City the City of Cotton par excellence. It is called 
 the former name from its semicircular conformation, following the 
 sweeping curves of the Mississippi shore. It is built on the left 
 bank of that mighty stream, and is about a hundred miles from 
 where it mingles its far-traveled waters with those of the Gulf of 
 Mexico far-traveled indeed ! *tn its irresistible flow, through 
 how many climates and latitudes has it gone, sounding and sweep- 
 ing on, in its majestic breadth and more awful depth, and its 
 haughty power, and gigantic features more like a long sea than 
 a mere river a drawn-out Adriatic an attenuated Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 Campbell's fine line would apply to it lengthwise, as to the 
 ocean : " The lightning's wing sinks halfway o'er thee like a 
 wearied bird." 
 
 I shall want a microscope when I return to England ; so miser- 
 ably small and petty will seem its rivers, its hills all its features. 
 Magnifying glasses might save one's patriotic vanity a little, till 
 we get used to the miniature scale. 
 
 The Mississippi springs to life amid the chilly glare of everlast- 
 ing snows, and it ends its mighty career beneath a burning sky, 
 ay, almost under the flaming heavens of the tropics. Nothing
 
 POSITION OF NEW ORLEANS. 125 
 
 gives one a better idea of the immensity and greatness of this 
 sublime river, than the reflection that a vast space, comprising 
 about to millions of square miles, pours its surplus waters into this 
 king of rivers. It is indeed a Long Sea. Then not easily can 
 one forget, in looking on those wonderful waters, what change 
 another hundred years will almost certainly have produced on the 
 vast scenes which they lave. What very nations of men will 
 crowd on its busy shores, and throng its immense valley ! What 
 a world of wonders will be presented to the future voyager ! What 
 industry, what prosperity, what splendor, what yet undreamed-of 
 attainments of civilization, and triumphs of science, and achieve- 
 ments of art ! 
 
 Already you see the beginnings of all these. The desert is 
 gradually blooming, the forest is retreating, the habitations of men 
 are rising in all directions, fleets of steamers and other craft are 
 covering the face of the river ; thousands of enterprising settlers 
 are setting foot on the shores, and advancing further and further 
 into the beleaguered wilderness but a hundred years hence, nay, 
 fifty ! Imagination almost fails to paint to herself what shall 
 then be unfolded and displayed in broad day to the gladdened 
 vision. 
 
 In a commercial point of view, New Orleans stands in a pre- 
 eminently advantageous position. The Mississippi, with its 
 numerous fine tributaries, lays at its feet the products of about 
 twenty-five thousand miles of navigation (only reckoning streams 
 navigable for large vessels), through regions of almost unparalleled 
 fertility, and of still greater promise ; and it carries back the 
 varied and extensive contributions of nearly every country and 
 every climate. The city proper is built in the form of a parallelo- 
 gram ; its whole length (including the incorporated fauxbourgs) is 
 said not to be less than five miles parallel with the river. Some 
 of the streets are extremely handsome, but present a very foreign 
 appearance. There is one enormously wide street, or " place," with 
 trees in rows down the middle of it, something like Eaton-square. 
 
 There are a good many villas in the suburbs, surrounded with 
 gardens, in which orange and other beautiful trees abound. I 
 should think the best possible view of New Orleans, is the one we 
 saw on our arrival from the river. It is indeed magnificent, seen 
 from there ; and what a noble and busy aspect did its fine port 
 present, crowded with vessels of all sorts, descriptions, sizes, na- 
 tions, and appearances ; splendid steamboats by hundreds, and a 
 multiplicity of river craft, rafts, barges, flat bottomed boats, &c.
 
 126 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The inhabitants of New Orleans, consist chiefly of Americans, 
 and French and Spanish Louisianians. French is the language 
 generally talked in the streets, in short, the prevailing tongue ; but 
 there are some of all nations. 
 
 There are many churches in New Orleans, some antique-look- 
 ing, and others apparently of a very recent date. We attended a 
 Protestant one, lately finished, of admirable architecture. The 
 cathedral, or Church of St. Louis, in the Place d'Armes, is a ven- 
 erable looking edifice. 
 
 Whenever the Mississippi overflows in the least, the streets of 
 New Orleans are inundated; but the levee (designed chiefly for 
 the purpose) prevents the great body of the swelling waters from 
 entirely annihilating the place. Not long ago, there was a very 
 serious overflow. The crevasses were fearful, and some alarm was 
 entertained for parts of the city. Boats were the only means of 
 conveyance in the streets, and windows the ways of ingress. and 
 egress. It must have been like Venice, but an impromptu sort of 
 Venice, without the needful contrivances and conveniences. 
 
 New Orleans has several peculiarities of its own, even when it 
 is not thus unceremoniously entered by the Mississippi. For in- 
 stance, the cellars and graves are above ground. With regard to 
 the cellars, the basement story of the houses is usually raised very 
 considerably above the surface, the hall door being reached by a 
 flight of steps. The graves are also elevated. The dead are 
 buried in sepulchral houses, which are termed here " ovens." 
 These often contain three or four tiers. Those belonging to the 
 wealthy are frequently very handsome, and built with marble 
 walls. There are walks leading to different parts of this singular 
 cemetery, paved neatly with shells. Were they to attempt to dig 
 into the marshy ground, they would drown the remains of their 
 lost friends and relatives, and write their loved names indeed in 
 water. 
 
 There was something very melancholy in the appearance of the 
 cemetery, that we saw. Altogether, the damp swamp of the un- 
 wholesome-looking ground, the low, flat, gloomy iriclosure, with its 
 cold and sombre houses of death, and the carelessness and neglect 
 visible, I thought, in general, made it a very mournful spectacle. 
 I believe it is not considered prudent to stay long in this sad place, 
 which may account for its seeming rather deserted and uncared- 
 for. Certainly, in genera], however little value America may 
 seem to attach to life, before Death, in their magnificent ceme- 
 teries, they usually spread a " feast of roses."
 
 PROCESSION OF FREEMASONS. 127 
 
 While speaking of melancholy subjects, I can not resist repeat- 
 ing an anecdote I heard the other day from Mrs. . Soon. 
 
 after the horrible catastrophe of the Louisiana steamer, the nu- 
 merous unknown, unclaimed bodies were laid out on the levee, for 
 their friends or relatives to identify and remove them. A friend 
 
 of Mrs. , a young man of rather delicate health, wished, out 
 
 of curiosity, to see this appalling spectacle. His friends remonstra- 
 ted with him, and earnestly sought to dissuade him, telling him 
 that, in his state of health, and subject as he was to nervous de- 
 pression of spirits, he should carefully avoid such a frightful scene ; 
 but he disregarded all their representations and entreaties, and de- 
 cided on going. He went, and on beholding the ghastly sight, the 
 hideous rows of mutilated bodies, some mere trunks, and all in the 
 most awfully dreadful condition, he was seized with shivering and 
 fainting ; he was quickly conveyed home, but never rallied from 
 the shock ; and, after lingering a few days, he died. 
 
 The noise of the terrific explosion of the " Louisiana" was heard 
 at a great distance, and fragments of the boiler flew in different 
 directions very far. A mule, in one of the streets, was cut com- 
 pletely in two, by a fragment, and on the levee, numbers of per- 
 sons were killed. 
 
 We saw the other day, from our windows, an immense proces- 
 sion of Freemasons at least, such I imagined them to be. They 
 were very handsomely attired and decorated ; but one of their num- 
 ber was a most ferocious-looking personage, with a tremendous 
 beard such a beard ! An extravagant humorist might say that 
 a fox-hunter would be fain to draw that cover for a fox, with a 
 probability of success. You might think, in looking at him, that 
 he at least might bear a charmed life among bursting boilers, rail- 
 road collisions, and such disasters, and dangers, and fatal acci- 
 dents ; for if Death stared him in the face, poor Death would 
 surely run ofF, frightened to death himself. 
 
 One can not but think what a wonderful place this same New 
 Orleans will probably become in the future. It is calculated that 
 the Great Valley of the Mississippi, now only containing, compar- 
 atively speaking, a mere handful of inhabitants, could easily sus- 
 tain and comfortably accommodate one hundred and fifty millions 
 of people. Now the population is about ten millions. What a 
 future ! what a country ! and what a noble people, to work out 
 its grand destiny, and to fill up magnificently the magnificent de- 
 signs of Nature. It is all petty malice and jealousy which make 
 people talk of their exaggerated expressions and ideas. A man
 
 128 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 must have imagination indeed, must out-Shakspeare Shakspeare, 
 the myriad-minded, and the very lord of imagination, to deal in 
 hyperbolical extravagance here. What would be exaggeration in 
 other countries, is here the simplest moderation, and in all proba- 
 bility lags behind the reality. The fact is, they feel their destiny, 
 and their country's destiny, and they would be stocks and stones 
 if they did not ; and if, in England, we are disposed to think they 
 "greatly daring" talk, we should remember a little what a pros- 
 pect lies before them. Nature, their present, their future all is 
 in such an exaggerated mood here, all on such a stupendous scale ! 
 For them to have little views, and entertain trifling projects, or 
 hold petty opinions, with regard to their mighty country's advance- 
 ment and progress, would be as absurd as to see a party of giants 
 in go-carts or in pinafores, arid playing at " Tom Thumb" and 
 " Goody Two Shoes." 
 
 People take different views of things. Our little Swedish waiter 
 seems to think America was especially designed and provided by 
 Nature as a vast receptacle and a sort of asylum for destitute or 
 somewhat needy Swedes ; a kind of country of ease for Sweden in 
 particular, who kindly allowed her advantages to be shared by a 
 iew other refugees from a few other nations. Regarded in this 
 rather modest light, it appeared to give him tolerable satisfaction, 
 on the whole ; though on some points he seemed inclined to think, . 
 a little change would be beneficial, such as having a Swedish 
 president here, and trifles of that sort. However, he was an ex- 
 cellent waiter, and labored most zealously in his vocation ; always 
 at hand, always active, attentive, and in good-humor : he must be 
 invaluable to the master of this busy hotel. 
 
 We have a great fancy for tasting and trying all sorts of un- 
 earthly, half-supernatural dishes. We had found bear excellent 
 in the West ; sometimes a wild buffalo capital. Had it been the 
 country for such animals we should have ordered hippopotamus- 
 pie, or a leg of camelopard, or chimpanzee chops, or a lew slices 
 of rattlesnake, with orang-outang sauce. As it was, we asked for 
 wild turkey, and wild geese, and wild raccoons, or "possums." I 
 believe these things (I do not know about the last) are accounted 
 very good, and it amused us trying and experimentalizing on them. 
 The recherchee cuisine of the hotel did not admit of such " curios- 
 ities of cookery;" so very frequently, and with regret, our poor 
 little Swede was constrained to bring us tame beef and mutton, 
 and other such common-place dishes instead. However, he did his 
 best, and brought, triumphantly, the other day, wild ros lief (buf-
 
 THE RED RIVER. 129 
 
 falo) ; and, in short, dubbed any thing wild that could possibly be 
 called so. According to him we tasted various very savage fish, 
 and soup manufactured from particularly uncivilized turtle. We 
 should have liked to taste alligator much, but, however, failed in 
 so doing : it is said to be pretty good. There are very few, if any, 
 left in the Mississippi ; the numbers of steamboats there have 
 crowded them out, and frightened them away. The Red River, 
 with its shore, is called, I believe, the cotton-planter's paradise, 
 and it is also the alligator's, if the account I hear of the quantities 
 there be true. In the Mississippi they abound only in the creeks 
 and small branches. 
 
 The Red River rises in the Mexican Cordillera, and debouches 
 into the Mississippi about two hundred and forty miles from New 
 Orleans : it is navigable for thirteen hundred miles above its union 
 with the waters of the great river. But what is that compared 
 with the united navigable channels of the Mississippi and the 
 Missouri, which in length actually exceed three thousand miles ! 
 I have heard it stated to be exactly three thousand four hundred 
 and twenty miles. 
 
 The artificial embankments, or levees, that I have already 
 alluded to, commence on the east bank, sixty miles above New 
 Orleans, and continue to extend down the river more than one 
 hundred and thirty miles. On the west shore the embankment 
 commences one hundred and seventy-two miles above New Or- 
 leans ; some, however, think that, instead of a protection, these 
 artificial levees will prove a means of aggravating the dangers 
 apprehended. By a natural process the river, it appears, is con- 
 tinually raising its channel by a continued succession of deposits, 
 and also elevating its own banks ; but whether the banks are 
 raised by Nature or by art, the result will be equal ; for by either 
 it would seem unquestionable that the process of upheaving the 
 bed of the river is accelerated (as the river can not there deposit the 
 extra material on the neighboring surface), and, perhaps, the more 
 so, as the velocity and force of the current are considerably weak- 
 ened and diminished as it advances toward the sea. 
 
 The tremendous crevasses of this year have greatly alarmed 
 many people. The poor Crescent City already looks up at high 
 water to the awful river, and with very tearful eyes too some- 
 times, and I am not at all sure, on second thoughts, that her com- 
 manding commercial position is so very favorable and enviable a 
 one. There is also some chance that she may find herself some 
 day a " fair forsaken," for it is not at all unlikely that the great 
 
 F*
 
 130 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 potentate and papa of rivers may one fine morning run off alto- 
 gether. 
 
 In Mr. Mackay's " Western World" this is perfectly explained. 
 New Orleans then would have no chance but to put herself upon 
 "rollers," and rush after it, taking up a new position somewhere 
 on its banks. 
 
 The electric telegraph is established on an enormous scale in 
 America. The whole of the Western, Northern, and Southern 
 States now hold frequent and uninterrupted communication through 
 its instrumentality. The great line was completed in September, 
 1848. The other day at New Orleans they knew what had hap- 
 pened at Paris twelve days before so at least I was told. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Mobile Lake Ponchartrain An Indian Encampment The Indians and 
 their Squaws Chumpa Girls Some Account of Mobile Its Harbor 
 Festival of the New Year Rival musical Processions The Magnolia 
 Grove Manner of Life of the Indians Manifold Miseries attending 
 
 waiting for Steamers Madame L V Mr. Clay Preparing to 
 
 start for Mexico Madame L V 's old black Slave Her Re- 
 membrance of Washington Verses on Madame L V 's deceased 
 
 Children. 
 
 IN the month of January, 1850, we came by Lake Ponchartrain, 
 in a very good steamer, to the Gulf, and so to Mobile. 
 
 Before we embarked on the lake we had to go by railroad a dis- 
 tance of about six miles ; and as we were waiting in a curious 
 circular sort of car, we saw an interesting procession of Indians 
 an Indian encampment on the move. The men seemed a mag- 
 nificent-looking set, splendidly rigged out in very brilliant and pic- 
 turesque habiliments. At a little distance, at first sight, I thought 
 their costume looked very much like that of Highlanders in their 
 grande tenue. They stalked along with extreme dignity, and their 
 haughty walk reminded me of the theatrical, yet bold strutting 
 march of the Albanians, the finest steppers I ever saw. 
 
 They were as upright as their own arrows, or the tropical 
 palms ; but not so their unlucky squaws, who followed after, bow- 
 ed under the weight of papooshes, lodge-poles, pots, pans, kettles, 
 all sorts of luggage and lumber, live and otherwise. They looked 
 bent all manner of ways, and old no wonder something like a
 
 CHUMPA GIRLS. 131 
 
 party of nomadic nut-crackers or itinerant notes of interrogation. 
 Poor creatures ! how wearily they seemed plodding along after 
 the ungallant gentlemen of the party, who had burdened them- 
 selves with nothing but their guus. 
 
 We had a charming little voyage over Lake Ponchartrain. I 
 made acquaintance with a particularly nice Louisianian lady on 
 board, who had the misfortune to have a child afflicted with a sad 
 deformity : its little arm was a mere short stump, with something 
 like the rudiments of a hand attached to it. It was a most en- 
 gaging, charming little child notwithstanding, full of life, good- 
 humor, and spirits. The mother appeared to adore it, and so did 
 the black nurse. 
 
 I was much struck with the great mutual affection this nurse 
 and the child showed to each other, and particularly by the ne- 
 gress's constant and extreme attention to the child when the lady 
 was not there. I mentioned this to her, and also that I thought 
 this nurse had a remarkably good and gentle manner with the 
 child. " Yes," she replied, " but at first she was very rough, and 
 spoke so strangely, that I could hardly understand her." I asked 
 her the cause of this, and she proceeded to tell me that, for some 
 reason, being obliged rather hastily to find a fresh nurse for her 
 child, she had sent for one of the field hands her husband owned 
 a sugar plantation who were in general rough and rugged to an. 
 inconceivable degree ; and that, if translated from the field to the 
 house, they were almost insupportable for a short time, but grad- 
 ually acquired the gentle manners and the quiet ways of speaking 
 of the house servants, and entirely left oft" all their uncouth and 
 almost savage habits. The blacks, it would seem, then, like all 
 of us, more or less, arc the creatures of circumstances. 
 
 We saw a most magnificent moon on the Gulf of Mexico the 
 other evening. It appeared of enormous size, and of the most 
 beautiful fire-color in short, more like a rising sun than a moon. 
 
 The weather here is deliciously cool and fresh after New Or- 
 leans. Tbis morning we had a visit from two Indian chumpa 
 girls. They are called so from carrying little fagots of pine-wood 
 for sale for the fires, and they generally quietly march into your 
 room without the ceremony of knocking, uttering the magic word 
 " chumpa," which they seem to consider a sort of " Open Sesame." 
 They belong to the remains of the great Choctaw tribe, and there 
 is a large camp of them not far from Mobile. The Cherokees 
 have lately been removed. 
 
 This place, at the mouth of the Mobile River, has become the
 
 132 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 seat of a very extensive trade, and it is the principal outlet of the 
 commerce of the State of Alabama ; and enormous quantities of 
 cotton and other staples are brought down by the different rivers 
 from the upper districts, and also from the western portion of 
 Georgia, and from the state of Mississippi, to this point. Next to 
 New Orleans, this city is the largest cotton market in the Union ; 
 it has a beautiful view of the Bay, from which it receives pleas- 
 ant and health-giving breezes. Near the town are numbers of 
 pretty and substantial villas, with delightful gardens. 
 
 Mobile has a good harbor, and is well-defended by fortifications. 
 Indian names are in the ascendant in this State : Alabama itself, 
 I am told, means " Here we rest." Then there are the Tallapoo- 
 sa and Coosa Rivers, the Cahawba and the Chattahoochee (this 
 river united with the .Flint, forms, I believe, the Apalachicola, 
 which runs through Florida). Then there is the town of Tusca- 
 loosa, on the Black Warrior River, Tuscumbia, &c. The Bay 
 of Mobile is thirty miles long and twelve broad. 
 
 The city was founded by the Spaniards in 1700, but did not 
 become a place of importance or wealth till the Americans cap- 
 tured it in 1811. Some time ago it belonged to Florida, and it 
 may be seen there still in a not very antiquated map. 
 
 There were some marvelous processions last nieht to celebrate 
 the New Year. These appeared to be representations " of all the 
 world and the rest of mankind," and a little besides this tolerably 
 comprehensive catalogue, for Olympus was there ; and, by the 
 way, ran rather foul of another Celestial empire, China, that oc- 
 casioned some trifling discord, which soon passed away. Pig-tail- 
 ed Mandarins, pagodas, and colored lanterns on poles, clashed with 
 tridents, chariots, and mythological divinities. But the most try- 
 ing part of that unlucky rencontre was, that each had a good large 
 noisy band of music, and these bands, with unfaltering intrepidity, 
 came sounding and marching on, nothing daunted, though an 
 harmonious, or, rather, an inharmonious collision was inevitable. 
 " Tweedledum" marched from one end of the street, and " Twee- 
 dledee" from the other ; and Tweedledum puffed and blew, and 
 twanged and flourished, and Tweedledee fiddled and squeaked, 
 and grunted and groaned. 
 
 " The plot thickened ;" demi-semi-quavers were fluttering con- 
 vulsively in the air, and all sorts of queer crotchets seemed in the 
 heads of the musicians. Infuriated drummer-boys, from the cen- 
 tral flowery-land, rub-a-dubbed madly against the " rataplan" of 
 their opponents ; either opposition empire came on, as bojd as
 
 MAGNOLIA GROVE. 133 
 
 brass and catgut could make them : the fiddlers of snowy Olym- 
 pus played the sublimest of jigs, and the most thrilling of polkas ; 
 the Celestial trombones " Yankee-doodle" and " Old Virginny," 
 with electrical effect. On they came still would either give 
 way 1 No : louder, and louder yet. The basses and trebles, and 
 flats and sharps, and livelys and maestosos, were jumbled together 
 into one most horrible hash and clash of music. Where would it 
 end ? Now comes the tug of war. Messrs. Neptune and Mars, 
 and their myrmidons, advance against Chang-fo and Co. : the 
 wind instruments were distending their cheeks almost to bursting, 
 the drums were beaten till they were quite beat. All the notes 
 seemed entangled together in inextricable confusion a grand 
 hodge-podge of sounds. And now one Mandarin shoulders poor 
 Minerva and her owl into the gutter (as if she were an outer bar- 
 bainan) ; another apostrophizes the solemn ancient Pluto, with 
 " Go long, there, clear off, you old critter wake snakes, will ye," 
 and other impressive expostulations, and even the bands of music 
 are utterly confounded and commixed. All, however, comesright 
 at last, the two comets have met without serious damage, and 
 each was seen pursuing its way in its own separate orbit. 
 
 I can not describe to you the beauty of a large magnolia grove 
 near this place. This majestic wood reaches nearly down to the 
 beautiful blue bay, and the trees are unspeakably magnificent. 
 
 Madame L. V tells me that when all the splendid flowers 
 
 are out in their full beauty and fragrance, "their odoriferous en- 
 chantments aie beyond all expression. I am told their delicious 
 scent is so powerful, that ten miles out to sea, the air is filled with 
 the rich perfume ! 
 
 We have several times visited the Choctaw camp in company 
 
 with Madame L. V , and in her carriage. These Choctaw 
 
 Indians are a singular people. As to civilization, poor creatures ! 
 I can not think that theirs extends beyond wearing old second- 
 hand coats when in full dress, and in drinking the hateful "fire- 
 water." They have adopted its ugliest points, and its vilest ; but 
 what know they of its advantages and benefits ? Their mode of 
 life in that camp seems pretty nearly as savage as it can be, except 
 and this is, indeed, an improvement that they no longer go out 
 in their horrible war parties, nor do they now depend entirely for their 
 subsistence upon the chase. They have in general a certain noble- 
 ness of look, and the women are, many of them, very handsome. 
 One day an Alabamian, who was not a disciple of " the Mississippi 
 of men, the Father of Waters" (Father Mathew) came lounging
 
 134 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 into their camp. His fiery and inflamed visage, and ruby nose, 
 contrasted strangely with the calm, stately, finely-tinted features 
 of the Indian. The savage, being sober, had then, really, the 
 superiority. Apropos of tint : if one had been asked to point out 
 the red man, I think the rubicund pale face would have been 
 selected. I did not know till I came here that the Indians and 
 negroes mutually hate each other. The Indians say the Great 
 Spirit made first, Indians, then white men, then dogs, and then 
 niggers. 
 
 We have been detained here a long time waiting for the " Royal 
 Mail" steamer, which has not made her appearance. Many 
 people, besides ourselves, have been watching for her arrival with 
 equal anxiety, for the same cause, namely, intending to go to 
 Mexico as passengers in her. 
 
 Lately it has been particularly disagreeable, living this life of 
 suspense and looking-out ; for, as the steamer w r as so very much 
 after her day, it was expected she would stay the shortest possible 
 space at Mobile Point, and the intending passengers were earnestly 
 recommended by the "Royal Mail" agents to be quite prepared to 
 start at any time, and in no time. She might arrive in the night, 
 and in that case a little more time was to be allowed ; but a mere 
 fraction. One was to sleep weasel-fashion with one eye open and 
 to keep one's self, as it were, packed and stowed, and locked and 
 corded, and carded, all ready lor almost instantaneous departure. 
 This became, in fact, a life of perpetual packings and unpackings ; 
 for anticipating with horror the confusion of a possible night de- 
 parture, we had every thing ready every night in case and then 
 all the indispensable things had all to be got out again in the morn- 
 ing ; and almost regularly these were found to have gone burrow- 
 ing down to the bottom of the trunks and carpet-bags, after the 
 wont of such indispensable things in general. 
 
 There were constantly flying reports of the steamer being actu- 
 ally arrived, and the confusion that ensued then was indescribable ! 
 By some strange contradiction it appeared as if every thing was so 
 ready that nothing could be found in short, the discovery was 
 made that nothing really was ready at all, but the " Royal Mail" 
 steamer ; so when this alarm was over, all was to be undone and 
 done over again more systematically. The former had been, so 
 to say, only playing at packing a mere rehearsal of preparation, 
 but now it must be taken seriously in hand, and you may guess 
 the privation of those days. Talk of journeys over deserts of 
 dreadfully severe quarantine regulations what were they to this
 
 MR. CLAY. 135 
 
 Tantalus-like state of trial this slow starvation amid plenty not 
 a book could one allow one's self to take out of the trunk, because 
 they were, of course, at the bottom. Writing materials were de- 
 nied one watches were a luxury not to be thought of; not even 
 an innocent pair of scissors, or a harmless little pincushion. Ut- 
 terly useless would it have been to have purchased other books, 
 &c. They must have all submitted to the same despotic necessity, 
 which knows no law (not even Lynch-law), and must have been 
 without hesitation or commiseration made pitilessly "ready," 
 crammed into groaning boxes, and choking trunks in fact, we 
 were (or we fully believed we were) utterly packed. 
 
 In short, I should have had a most uncomfortable visit to Mobile 
 
 but for my charming friend, Madame L. V , who is one of the 
 
 most delightful people in the world, and with whom we drove out 
 almost every day, leaving directions to send all sorts of scouts after 
 
 us in case this truant vessel should arrive. Madame L. V , 
 
 and her mother, Mrs. W , are intimate friends of Mr. Clay, 
 
 and I have heard many very interesting anecdotes of him from 
 them. A grand-daughter of Mr. Clay is at the Roman Catholic 
 convent, near Mobile (she was placed there for her education), and, 
 to his regret, she has lately declared her intention of taking the 
 vail. I believe Mr. Clay takes great interest in her (her mother, 
 his daughter, is dead), and is much grieved at her taking this 
 step. 
 
 Madame L. V has a very charming daughter, who is a 
 
 nice companion for V . Two other lovely children Madame 
 
 L. V had the misfortune to lose, and she has not yet recovered 
 
 the severe shock of their death. We went with her one day to 
 the cemetery, where repose her darlings. It is a totally different 
 one from that at New Orleans, and very prettily situated. 
 
 1 have at last a prospect of going to Mexico. The new United 
 States Minister to that Republic (whom I have made acquaint- 
 ance with at Madame L. V 's house), having written to 
 
 Washington, and represented the inconvenience to which he is 
 subjected by this long delay, and the length of time that has 
 elapsed without his being able to assume his diplomatic functions 
 and conduct various important negotiations, the authorities have 
 ordered that a war-steamer shall be " detailed" from Pensacola to 
 convey him and his suite to Vera Cruz. He has obligingly invited 
 some of the detained passengers to accompany him, and among 
 
 others ourselves. Madame L. V advises us to accept this 
 
 courteous offer, as most likely the English steamer that has been
 
 136 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 over-due so long will not call here at all now, and I am disposed 
 to do so myself. 
 
 We have had a delightful drive again to-day with dear Madame 
 
 L. V , and saw numbers of the chumpa girls returning from 
 
 the pine woods (which are a good many miles off) so laden with 
 the chumpa (pine) that they could hardly move. 
 
 One of Madame L. V 's slaves is a capital old woman, and 
 
 apparently quite an original "qui ne se desoriginalisera pas," I 
 should think now, as she must be hard upon a hundred. She 
 perfectly remembers Washington, having seen him once driving 
 out in a carriage on some great occasion in full dress. " E mighty 
 fine man as ebber I seen ; his head berry white (powder prob- 
 ably), he sit up so in de carriage," straightening herself and look- 
 ing dignified with all her might, "just like so ; and old Massa he 
 in same carriage, dressed up fine too (he was one of Washington's 
 family, Judge W.). I member all berry well, for little child dying, 
 and I ran out o' house and left it, just berry little while, cause 
 eberry body say ' Go see great General Washington' and amost 
 pushy me out for to go see him : little child dying, but I just ran 
 to seen him, and people all halloa and shout berry loud." She 
 gave us all this information in the most elevated tones, a speak- 
 ing-trumpet voice. She had a white turban on, which showed 
 off her jetty ancient countenance very picturesquely. 
 
 There are two portraits of Madame L. V 's lovely lost chil- 
 dren in. her drawing room. They suggested the few following 
 lines. 
 
 Bright lovely beings ! on each imaged face, 
 More of the angel than the child we trace 
 More of the immortal than the mortal see, 
 In each mild aspect's pictured purity. 
 
 Sweet mother, check thy deeply mournful sighs, 
 Grieve not to spare these Seraphs to the skies. 
 Ah ! not for them need flow the bitter tear ; 
 How bless'd their sunny fate, both There and Here. 
 
 Oh ! not for them should sorrow's drops be shed, 
 We scarce can dream they died, scarce deem they fled. 
 Around them seemed to smile, all fresh and fair, 
 A happier world's serener, clearer air. 
 
 'Twas scarce a change 'twas scarce a second birth, 
 More of Elysium knew they than of earth ? 
 From Love to Love, from living Light to Light, 
 How smooth the transit, and how short the flight !
 
 BOSTON AS A COMMERCIAL CITY. 137 
 
 And what to them was Death's pale kiss of Peace, 
 That bade the flutter of life's pulse to cease ? 
 Though swift the stroke, though brief the warning given, 
 'Twas but a step from yuck a Home to Heaven ! 
 
 I believe, besides ourselves, Lord Mark Kerr, (who is lately 
 come from Canada, where he is aid-de-camp to Lord Elgin), and 
 Mr. P , United States Consul at Mazatlan, a friend of Ma- 
 dame L. V 's, are going in the war steamer with Governor 
 
 L . It is expected to arrive very shortly here, and we are all 
 
 quite ready to start, I hope and trust, having subsisted almost 
 without the barest necessaries of life, for a period of about three 
 weeks, in a high state of preparation. The weather has been 
 rather unsettled and rough, but looks just now a little more prom- 
 ising for our Gulf voyage. 
 
 But before I beg the reader to accompany me in my departure 
 from the United States, I must detain him with some further re- 
 membrances of Boston and New York, to each of which cities, I 
 propose devoting a brief chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Boston as a Commercial City Its Wharves Its Shipping Its Trade The 
 India Wharf American Boys The Present and Future of America 
 The Fashionable Quarter of Boston American Ladies and Gentlemen 
 Young America Boston the Metropolis of Railroads Gallantry and Pa- 
 tience of American Travelers Fresh Pond Wenham Lake Ice Mr. 
 Prescott's Town House Library, and Literary and Philosophical Institu- 
 tions in Boston Its Periodical Literature Its Charities Its Patronage 
 of the Arts Powers Sculptures Frequency of Fires in American Cities 
 General Appearance of Boston. 
 
 BOSTON seems one of the busiest cities in the world ; a brief 
 visit to the commercial quarter will fully satisfy the visitor as to 
 that fact. 
 
 Beside its wooden wharves (some of which have durable stone 
 fronts) are innumerable vessels of all dimensions and devices, and 
 of every variety of build and rigging. The water is very deep, 
 and large ships seem almost leaning (as if tired, after their long 
 tempest-tossing, perchance, and weary wanderings), against the 
 warehouses and ranges of substantial and solid edifices, reserved 
 for commercial uses for some of the slips run a little way into
 
 138 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the land. Great numbers of these warehouses are crowded along 
 the shore ; the packets from Europe have a convenient slip espe- 
 cially set apart for their accommodation, and exclusive occupation. 
 Mr. Cunard's steamers have a one thcfcsand feet long wharf. Al- 
 together, the sight is an interesting one ; the eye is almost be- 
 wildered with the heterogeneous and ever diversified scene. 
 
 The coasting trade is said to be three or four times as great as 
 that to foreign ports. There is an extreme difference perceptible . 
 in the "naval architecture" of the crowded coasting craft. There 
 are stout-looking schooners, which ply between Boston and New 
 York, a devious and difficult voyage, and some rather Quaker-look- 
 ing brigs, somewhat formal and precise, and punctilious in appear, 
 ance, that are preparing to run a starched and stiff course, if the 
 weather will permit them to do so, to drab-suited Philadelphia. Pass 
 on, arid you will see the less elaborately finished craft, which are 
 bound for the Carolina shore, and for the trading and wealthy 
 cities of far off Alabama and Louisiana. " 'way down south." 
 Then there are the fairy, knowing-looking Baltimore clippers, their 
 graceful masts clustered together like a whole dense plantation of 
 tall slim walking-sticks for young giants. They are for the Mon- 
 umental City. 
 
 Then immense steamers are to be seen, bound for various places, 
 that look so light, despite their large size, that a strong puff of 
 wind might, peradventure, lift them " right away" out of the 
 water, to continue their voyage in mid air. If you entered, you 
 would find their furniture and appointments such as might have 
 tasked the most skillful looms of Persia, and beggared of their cost- 
 liest materials the marts of furthest Ind. 
 
 And that brings me, without further digression, to what is called 
 the " India wharf," which is nearly a thousand feet long, and 
 about two hundred and fifty feet wide. The richly freighted ships 
 from distant Hindostan, and jealous China, bring here their many 
 treasures : and those vessels, too, that are bound for these favored 
 lands, with innumerable wares for their different markets. Wher- 
 ever you turn, on all these wharves you find the bustle of business. 
 It would be a difficult matter to describe the profusion and super- 
 abundance of rattling arid lumbering drays and carts, and barrows 
 and trucks, the crowds of porters jostling each other, and the 
 throngs of the busy dealers and clerks, and superintendents and 
 assistants, and consignees on every side, or the strange chaos of 
 commerce seemingly heaving all around you. What is there ? 
 nay, what is there not ] Salt, sugar, molasses, cotton, calico, mar-
 
 AMERICAN BOYS. 139 
 
 ble, leather, silk, flour, coffee, fruits, oil stowed away in bales, 
 barrels, boxes, bags, hogsheads, jars, casks, chests, sacks, and cases, 
 till there seems enough to feed, and clothe, and supply half a world 
 for a century to come, piled before you. 
 
 I shall beg the reader now to seat himself on Prince somebody's 
 carpet, as in the fairy tale, and taking leave of these busy scenes 
 (there are, by the way, about two hundred docks and wharves 
 altogether, surrounding Boston), fly over some zig-zagging streets 
 of huge warehouses, which streets are grim and gloomy enough, 
 but of no great length, and over the noisy, reeking Irish quarter, 
 which I am told intervenes, and the carpet shall stop the way, for 
 a time, in the centre of the city. I have mentioned before, how 
 that the sidewalks were turned into counters "of ease," for the 
 overflowing, crammed shops ; and how they looked as if it had 
 actually rained silks and calicoes, and cottons, or as if some of the 
 richly-laden ships, had by some magic, been carried into the heart 
 of the town, and wrecked almost on the door-steps of the stores. 
 
 But look at these newly-arrived hurrying Yankees. They stalk 
 over these piles without casting a look to the right or left, with, 
 their curious boots turned up at the points, something like Turkish 
 cimeters (these are not the dandies of Boston, but haply specula- 
 tors in some of the ten thousand and one lines which people spec- 
 ulate in, throughout these busy regiens) ; they have an eager, on- 
 looking, straight-forward stare, and a rather vacant, and yet anx- 
 ious look, as if they had sent their minds on before them, and their 
 bodies were hastening after, and trying, at least, to keep these very 
 go-ahead avant couriers in view in short, running after them as 
 well as they could. And sooth to say, these personages are rather 
 cadaverously complexioned ; as is the wont of bodies no longer 
 tenanted by their spiritual occupants. 
 
 Look at that boy, that mannikin, with his hat so knowingly 
 on one side, and the Turkish cimeter-like boots and all ; he is " a 
 dreadful bright boy," that. You would see him chew and smoke, 
 if it was not forbidden in the Trimountain City, and hang his 
 nether limbs out of a railroad car (if you met him in one, and if he 
 could by possibility lengthen them, so as to contrive so to do) ; or 
 he will tell you, perchance, with his tiny squeaking voice, " We 
 air a great people, by thunder, the greatest on the airth, and can 
 do all things double first-rate, from blowing up a universe and a 
 half, if it misbehaves, to blowing half a soap-bubble. Now ; we'll 
 put the Atlantic and the Pacific in our side-pockets any day, and 
 reduce all Europe to no whar and a grease spot," and so forth :
 
 140 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 and very soon not only this species of boasting, but other ungrace- 
 ful bragging (which, though not so broad, is yet sufficiently ex- 
 travagant) will be entirely confined to this very young America. 
 
 As this people progress and advance more and more, they will 
 gain more the humility of true greatness. They will feel more the 
 vast responsibilities that rest upon their Titanic shoulders ; they 
 will weigh more what stupendous steps they have -yet to take 
 what almost incomprehensibly-great destinies are slowly unfolding 
 before them ; and these most momentous and grave considerations 
 will gradually produce their effects, and at length impress contin- 
 ually their views, opinions, works, and even words. They will 
 feel more and more that their past and present colossal greatness 
 does not make future improvement and progress as Napoleon's 
 renown was said to do of all future fame impossible, but impera- 
 tive absolutely indispensable. Nature has done so much for 
 them, that to be commensurate with her, to keep pace with their 
 giant opportunities, they must act as giants. 
 
 And we must be just, too ; for, verily what would be boasting 
 and hyperbolical rhodomontade with others, is the mere simple 
 truth often with them. Nature speaks to them in such grandilo- 
 quent strains that she sets the example of " tall talking." But I 
 must return to " mes moutons." 
 
 We will take a glimpse at the fashionable quarter of the town. 
 Near the Common are a number of very handsome mansions ; and 
 in driving or walking along the streets in the neighborhood of it 
 you will see many splendid equipages of the merchant princes and 
 princesses of old " Shawmut." You will often meet a group of 
 graceful ladies (perhaps going to shop in Washington-street), not 
 only beautiful, but with countenances of the most intellectual ex- 
 pression. From all I hear and see, I believe the Boston ladies 
 are particularly accomplished and amiable. 
 
 The gentlemen look like gentlemen not because they have 
 lemon-colored kid gloves, or Parisian boots, but from their whole 
 air and manner. As to being merely well-dressed in the cost-and- 
 quality-of-material sense of the word, that almost every body is. A 
 mob in the United States is a mob in broad-cloth. If we may talk 
 pf a rabble in a republic, it is a rabble in black silk waistcoats (the 
 favorite wear among certain classes in America) and well-brushed 
 hats. Therefore, to look really like a gentleman in the United States, 
 depends in nowise on the clothes, but entirely on their wearer ; 
 and the tailor has less to do with manufacturing a gentleman 
 here, than in perhaps any other part of the world. For in all other
 
 YOUNG AMERICA. 141 
 
 countries you are a little assisted to the conclusion, unwittingly, by 
 the dress ; but here not in the least, and you must judge wholly 
 by I'air noble et distingue, or the reverse, of the individual. 
 
 It is very seldom you see any equestrians in these northern 
 cities. Every body chooses either to walk or go in carriages. The 
 Common is a very agreeable place for promenading ; and there 
 you will see a great deal of little America in the shape of pretty 
 fairy-like children, enjoying the fresh air with their Irish nurses, 
 or their graceful mammas. 
 
 Little America is unhappily, generally, only grown-up Amer- 
 ica, seen through a telescope turned the wrong way. The one 
 point, perhaps, in which I most concur with other writers on the 
 United States, is there being no real child-like children here. The 
 little creatures, looking all the time every thing that is infantine 
 and unsophisticated, will read novels and newspapers by the hour 
 together, and the little boys will give you their opinions dictatori- 
 ally enough occasionally ; and the little girls " talk toilet," and 
 gossip, and descant on the merits of the last French novel, or the 
 elegibility of such a parti for a husband for such a lady ; or on 
 the way Mrs. So-and-So misconducts her household affairs, and 
 spends money at Newport or Saratoga Springs ; and so far this 
 is not pleasing to our English tastes. 
 
 But, nevertheless, there are many very good, and perhaps suffi- 
 cient reasons assigned for the necessity that exists in this country 
 at present for bringing up their children with a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the world. The boys have all an active part, to play in 
 the mighty drama of busy life on which they are entering nation- 
 ally, politically, socially, or commercially. No drones are admit- 
 ted into the great Transatlantic hive. There is no time to spare ; 
 they must be ready, as soon as possible, to take their places and 
 run in the great race, or they will be distanced by their more agile 
 and precocious contemporaneous competitors, and sec prize after 
 prize borne away by those who had learned their ABC with 
 them, or after them. 
 
 The girls are generally married early to husbands in business, 
 and have to take care of themselves. They ojrdinarily live (till a 
 competency is acquired and a house bought) at the enormous 
 hotels that abound in the State, while their husbands are at their 
 desks or counters all day. 
 
 What quantities of omnibuses and hack carriages are plying 
 backward and forward from the railroad depots ! The trains 
 seem going and coming incessantly, for Boston is a sort of rnetrop-
 
 142 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 oils of American railroads : it is the centre of the whole railroad 
 system of New England, and from it the iron lines radiate to all 
 parts. The star of Massachusetts is an iron star, and its rays 
 shine with the far-searching light of progress and power. Canals 
 and roads give it countless other additional facilities for intercom- 
 munication and self-accommodation. 
 
 The New England railroads are in general exceedingly well- 
 managed ; but^ they are not as fast as ours. They have no ex- 
 press trains running sixty miles an hour ; but in a few years they 
 will, I doubt not. (As to the electric telegraphs in the United 
 States they put us entirely to the blush). It has happened to me 
 on these railroads to look out of the window, when we have stop- 
 ped very suddenly, and to see a lady, lounging as slowly as possi- 
 ble, parasol in hand, across the rails, evidently rather enjoying 
 thus keeping the train waiting till it suited her to dawdle out of 
 the way. 
 
 As to the cows, they seem to think the iron road was especially 
 intended for them ; but their constant habit of getting in the way, 
 and the " cow-catcher," which adorns every train invented in 
 order to convince them of their error has been so often mention- 
 ed, that I will not dwell on the subject. I have heard that the 
 railroad sometimes takes a short cut across a church-yard in this 
 country, but I never saw an instance of this, nor should I believe 
 it. They treat and brave death lightly enough certainly here ; 
 but the dead are uniformly respected and honored. 
 
 We stopped one day in the " cars" (as they usually call the 
 train) about a quarter of an hour, for a newly-married lady, whose 
 husband, by some strange absence of mind, thought she had enter- 
 ed the car, and jumped in just before the train started. He paced 
 up and down, looking for the gentle bride, in vain. At last the 
 sympathizing conductor, on being informed of the mistake, had 
 the train stopped, and the gentleman ran back and brought the 
 lady to the cars ; the passengers all waiting with the greatest 
 patience, and acquiescing unmurmuringly in the gallant con- 
 ductor's decision ; indeed, many hardly looked up from their news- 
 papers, as if it was the most every-day circumstance that had 
 happened. 
 
 I have invariably remarked that, eager and go-ahead as they 
 are, the Americans are the most philosophically patient travelers 
 in the world. You are kept waiting for a cow, or a pig, or an- 
 other train coming, or a forgotten wife, and they betray no symp- 
 toms of impatience or indignation. The contretemps is borne with
 
 MR. PRESCOTT'S TOWN HOUSE. 143 
 
 the most inexhaustible stoicism and the most unvanquishable good 
 temper. How an Englishman would fume and fret ! 
 
 When we were at Cambridge the other day, we went with Mr. 
 and Miss Everett to see Fresh Pond, which in reality supplies, as 
 we were told, England and other parts of the world with the far- 
 famed Wenham Lake ice. The water is like liquid diamonds, 
 so transparent and sparklingly pure. The scenery around is 
 worthy of being mirrored in it. I am told, in the winter it is one 
 of the gayest scenes in the world. During the time of the ice- 
 cutting, innumerable sleighs assemble on the spot, and the beau 
 monde of Boston are all to be met there. The clear polished ice 
 is cut into blocks, about two-and-twenty inches square, for which 
 operation a machine expressly constructed and invented, is used 
 (called the ice-cutter), and it is then covered with saw-dust, pack- 
 ed, and sent to all quarters of the earth India and China among 
 others. 
 
 We went to see Mr. Prescott's town-house the other day a 
 very handsome and spacious one, with a large library. He has a 
 number of good pictures and busts ; among the former, some fine 
 ones of Spanish monarchs. Framed and hung up in one of the 
 rooms, we saw a portion of the rich lace that adorned the shroud 
 of Cortez. 
 
 Boston is, I think, very rich in libraries, both public and private. 
 It contributes very largely to the prosperous advancement and 
 reputation of native literature, and it has a remarkable number of 
 literary and of philosophical institutions. It has some of the most 
 valuable periodicals and journals of the country. I have just been 
 informed there are fifty weekly newspapers in Boston, besides six- 
 teen daily ones ; but this is only a small part of the periodical lit- 
 erature of Boston. 
 
 This mightiest city of New England, therefore, seems to ad- 
 vance with simultaneous progression in every varied walk. Un- 
 surpassed nay, hitherto, in some respects, unrivaled in material 
 prosperity and practical development, she sedulously devotes her 
 unwearied energies also, to cultivating to the highest point all the 
 mental faculties. The intellectual studies of her inhabitants are 
 pursued with ardor and vigor ; and on all sides you see evidences 
 of this truth, in the numerous and excellent educational establish- 
 ments and admirable scientific institutions. 
 
 The instruction of the people is a paramount consideration in 
 the public charities, and among the crowded seminaries and 
 schools are several most munificently endowed by some of the
 
 144 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 public-spirited citizens of the Granite City. The arts, too, seem 
 to flourish and improve here, and to keep pace with the ceaseless 
 march of knowledge and erudition. Music, painting, and sculp- 
 ture here exert their exquisite influence and weave their magic 
 spells. There is a gallery of sculpture, in which Power's match- 
 less works are exhibited ; and though some of the less initiated 
 and refined may call the " Greek slave" (as I have read in some 
 jocular account of it) " the greatest piece of whittling in the world," 
 they appear most sincerely and earnestly to admire it and the 
 other beautiful works of art in the saloons. Music, too, is making 
 great progress. 
 
 It appears to me that refinement and elevation of taste are ad- 
 vancing here as rapidly as science, knowledge, wealth, and pros- 
 perity. Those who wish to indulge in any invidious and vitupera- 
 tive observations respecting America had better make haste, or 
 they will find themselves absolutely compelled to praise and admire 
 instead. Not only in Boston but universally in New England the 
 habits of the people seem daily becoming more and more polished 
 and refined. 
 
 Boston just now is not very full : the greater part of the 
 wealthy inhabitants are gone to the watering-places. I find it is 
 a custom here sometimes, on going into the country, merely to 
 turn the key in the lock of the house-door. No domestic is left 
 in charge of the vacated building, but it is left to take care of itself. 
 
 This city is well lighted. Speaking of lighting, however, I must 
 say in America the fires, so frightfully frequent, render gas almost 
 a work of supererogation. If you arrive at a town at night, you 
 rnay be pretty sure you will find it illuminated by a convenient 
 conflagration ; and though they do not exactly intend to bum 
 down their houses to light travelers the better through their 
 streets (as extravagant a mode as Charles Lamb tells us was 
 adopted in some wild country for pig-roasting before cookery was 
 known), yet it really has that effect, as we found from practical 
 experience. Boston and the other towns in New England are all 
 lighted by gas, but I think the lighting arrangements sometimes 
 are a little neglected, and, in some few towns, rather insufficient. 
 
 State-street is a very busy and wealthy-looking street in Boston, 
 and Tremont-row, hard by our hotel, is a particularly handsome 
 one. But this is altogether a very striking town, although its 
 streets are not so regular and wide as those of many smaller towns. 
 Boston was planned in old times, when much irregularity prevail- 
 ed in the system of city building. Besides this, it is very much
 
 GENERAL APPEARANCE OF BOSTON. 145 
 
 circumscribed, from its situation on a rather vandykeing Peninsula, 
 with a surface far from regular, joined by a mere narrow strip of 
 terra Jirma to the main land. In short, the city proper is in con- 
 fined and straitened circumstances. It wants some territorial 
 acquisitions to increase its accommodation for building-ground, or- 
 namental space, &c. If M. Agassiz would set his coral insects to 
 work, to enlarge and spread the available land around, he would 
 confer a signal service on the city, which, nevertheless, is, all 
 things considered, a very noble capital. 
 
 Towns and villages in numbers have started up around it, to 
 relieve it of its superabundant population, but these ofishoots 
 hardly add to the stateliness of its appearance. Notwithstanding 
 this, it is a " great place," as they say here ; and, as a lady, who 
 is not a beauty, often takes more care of her personal appearance, 
 and endeavors to rectify and to compensate for the mistakes 
 and niggardliness of Nature, by additional attention to various 
 little arts of pleasing so Boston, disadvantageously situated 
 in some few respects for imposing architectural show and sym- 
 metrical display, makes amends for these inconveniences and un- 
 favorable conditions by the most scrupulous order and cleanliness, 
 and the most finished propriety and exquisite management. 
 This is one reason, I believe, why it reminds me of a promoted 
 Amsterdam that is, hoisted on a hill and other towns in Hol- 
 land. 
 
 The houses are of granite and brick, and a flight of marble 
 steps often conducts you to the hall doors of Boston's hospitable 
 mansions. 
 
 G
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Bustle in the Streets of New York Trinity Church Wall-street The 
 Park The Shops in Broadway Traffic in Broadway Irish and German 
 Emigrants Wharves of New York Its Shipping The Astor House Ho- 
 tel The Exchange The Custom House Theatres The City Hall 
 The Chair of Washington Churches Benevolent, Literary, and Scienti- 
 fic Institutions Squares, Mansions Foreigners in New York Sympathy 
 between America and Russia Those two Nations Anecdote of an Amer- 
 ican in Russia Pearl-street Military Companies in New York The 
 Militia The Firemen The Electric Telegraph in America The Bat- 
 tery The Halls of Justice The Bowery. 
 
 NEW YORK is certainly altogether the most bustling, cheerful, 
 lifeful, restless city I have yet seen in the United States. Nothing 
 and nobody seem to stand still for half a moment in New York ; 
 the multitudinous omnibuses, which drive like insane vehicles from 
 morning till night, appear not to pause to take up their passengers, 
 or it is so short a pause, you have hardly time to see the stoppage, 
 like the instantaneousness of a flash of lightning. How on earth 
 the people get in or out of them, 1 do not know : the man behind 
 surely must sometimes shut a person half in and half out, and cut 
 them in two, but neither he nor they have time to notice such 
 trifles. You see them thrust, and shoved, and pushed, and cram- 
 med through the hastily opened door, as if they were the merest 
 "live lumber." 
 
 Empty or full, these omnibuses seem never to go slower. I 
 have seen dozens upon dozens of them go by perfectly empty, but 
 just as much in a hurry, tearing and dashing along, as if lull of 
 people too late for the train. 
 
 You almost wonder at the houses standing still in New York, 
 and begin to think them rather slow and behind the age. You 
 feel surprised they are not built on wheels. I did hear, indeed, of 
 whole suburban streets being removed, the other day, to a more 
 eligible situation on rollers, or something of that kind but I will 
 not vouch for the fact. 
 
 New York has been so often and so minutely described, that I 
 shall not dwell on the details of its plan, situation, or appearance. 
 I will only mention a few points that struck me. Perhaps the 
 building I was the most pleased with in New York is the Trinity
 
 SHOPS IN BROADWAY. 147 
 
 Church. I do not profess to understand ecclesiastical architecture, 
 but if one of its perfections be the raising the thoughts and con- 
 templations from earth to heaven, then must Trinity Church be 
 deserving of the highest commendation. Its spire is unspeakably 
 beautiful (three hundred feet high), and almost seems to pierce the 
 sky, like a flash of retorted lightning. It is situated on the west- 
 ern side of Broadway, exactly opposite the entrance of Wall-street 
 into it. Wall-street is the busiest street in New York, and answers 
 to our Lombard-street in London. 
 
 The park is pretty, but too small for such a city as New York. 
 It has a beautiful fountain, and is splendidly illuminated at night 
 by thousands of lamps. There are numerous superior shops in 
 Broadway, but the most pre-eminently magnificent is " Stewart's ;" 
 it is one of the finest structures I ever saw, its front being com- 
 posed entirely of white marble. Mr. Stewart is going to add im- 
 mensely to this splendid store, and it will occupy almost as much 
 space as the Palazzo Doria at Rome. 
 
 Crowds of carriages, private and public, are to be seen in 
 Broadway, passing and re-passing every moment, filled with 
 ladies, beautifully dressed, in the most elaborate Parisian toilets. 
 Among the thousands of fashionable promenaders who are throng- 
 ing the side-walks, there is often to be seen, a group of Irish or 
 German emigrants, just as they have come from the crowded 
 packets, the latter looking very picturesque, with their national 
 costume. I saw the other day, a large party of these poor people. 
 They looked like Bavarian peasants, and they, as well as several 
 pudding-like children who accompanied them, seemed struck with 
 utter astonishment, at the noise and incessant bustle of animated 
 Broadway. The carriages scampered by as if all New York was 
 going to turn out and leave them in undisputed possession. They 
 looked so bewildered, that I fancied they were perhaps come from 
 some of the quiet hamlets I have seen by the side of the Danube, 
 where time and the river seem to flow by with equal calmness. 
 
 But look a little beyond that German group. From what part 
 of the world do those most extraordinary masqueraders come? 
 One has got only half a hat, another, two joined in one, and their 
 habiliments are marvelously grotesque. Their hair, in some in- 
 stances, hangs nearly on their shoulders, in others it radiates away 
 very respectfully from the skull, as if controlled by some mysterious 
 centrifugal force of the brain within. In the name of fortune, 
 whence are they ? They look intelligent, resolute, self-confident 
 in the name of fortune, indeed ! for perhaps these men, at the
 
 148 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 moment you are half pitying them, half wondering at their forlorn 
 and destitute appearance, are worth millions of money, and to-mor- 
 row, they will shine out in all the splendor of a New York exqui- 
 site's toilet. They are returned Californians, just landed, come 
 to enjoy in " the States," the golden fruits of their toils, their perse- 
 verance, and their industry. 
 
 The wharves of New York, during the business season, are 
 densely lined with the shipping of every maritime country under 
 the- sun. Merchantmen of every size are there, and for at least 
 three miles, they present an uninterruptedly continued forest of 
 masts, and cordage, commingling, apparently, with the chimneys 
 of almost innumerable steamers. More than a thousand sailing 
 vessels, nearly a hundred steamers, about eighty tow-boats, and two 
 hundred canal-boats, may usually be found in the noble harbor of 
 New York, during the busy time of the year. In the severest 
 winter, this harbor is never obstructed by ice, so that vessels are 
 not inconvenienced on that account. 
 
 I have already mentioned the magnificence of the New York 
 hotels, but must just add, that the enormous Astor House not only 
 is said to be furnished with its own private printing press for 
 striking off the diurnal bills of fare, but it also makes all its own 
 gas. However, it does not yet, I believe, manufacture its own 
 linen or plate ! 
 
 The Merchants' Exchange I was much struck with. It has a 
 glorious portico, formed by a towering and imposing colonnade, the 
 shafts of whose noble Ionic columns are separately composed of 
 enormous blocks of granite. We entered the great room, and were 
 amazed at its magnificent proportions. It is a rotunda, and of 
 vast diameter, adorned with high marble Corinthian columns. 
 
 Beyond this, at the corner of Nassau and Wall-streets, is the 
 Custom House for the port of New York. It is two hundred feet 
 long, ninety feet wide, and eighty feet high, and is constructed 
 wholly of superb white marble : the form is that of a Grecian tem- 
 ple of the Doric order of architecture. The front looking to Wall- 
 Etreet displays an immensely broad and lofty flight of steps, also of 
 white marble. I understand it has a second similar front on a 
 street at the back, which runs parallel to Wall-street (Pine-street, 
 I believe). Each front has a noble portico. It is made fire-proof 
 throughout, huge slabs of marble covering the whole roof. 
 
 The great hall of business is a rotunda, sixty feet in diameter, 
 with recesses and galleries, making it eighty feet. It has an elabo- 
 rately stuccoed dome, supported by sixteen Corinthian columns.
 
 NEW YORK THEATRES. 149 
 
 The Custom House is built on the site of the Old City Hall, in 
 the open gallery of which Washington was inaugurated first 
 President of the United States. 
 
 There are numerous theatres in New York. We visited none 
 of- them, so I can not describe their internal appearance and 
 accommodations. One, called the Park Theatre, is exactly opposite 
 the Astor House. Not far beyond the Park Theatre stands a 
 rather gloomy and unattractive building : it is called Tammany 
 Hall, and is the place where the Loco Focos are (or were) wont 
 to assemble. Still a little further up, and within the area of the 
 Park, stands, beautifully situated, the City Hall. Its front eleva- 
 tion is of white marble, and is ornamented with pilasters and 
 columns of the Corinthian, Ionic, and Composite orders, rising one 
 above the other in regular gradation. In the Common Council 
 Room is a chair (which is still used by the President), that Wash- 
 ington sat in when he presided over the first American Congress, 
 which assembled in New York. 
 
 From the cupola that surmounts the building, a view of the 
 whole vast city is commanded ; and in this there is a clock ; and 
 there is also an apartment constantly occupied, night and day, by 
 a watchman, whose office it is to keep a perpetual look-out for 
 fires, and to give the alarm, by striking an enormous bell which 
 hangs in a belfry in the rear of the cupola, and which is exclu- 
 sively used for this purpose. By this bell the man watches with 
 a hammer in his hand, ready to give the necessary notice when he 
 observes the least indication of fire. The sound can be heard from 
 one end of the city to the other, and is almost instantaneously re- 
 sponded to by a hundred others in every direction. The number 
 of strokes indicates the particular ward. 
 
 There are nearly three hundred churches, I believe, in this city. 
 There are a considerable number of excellent Literary, Benevolent, 
 and Scientific Institutions. Some of the squares of New York 
 are very handsome. Washington-square is prettily laid out with 
 walks, and shaded with flourishing trees. Union-square has a 
 fountain in the centre, and is inclosed with a handsome iron fence. 
 St. John's Park is also embellished with a fountain, and adorned 
 with trees. 
 
 Some of the private mansions in New York have quite an im- 
 posing and palatial appearance, and are very magnificently fur- 
 nished. All the States have their representatives in the crowded 
 and ever-animated thoroughfares of this populous city nay, I 
 might say, indeed, so have almost all the nations of the earth.
 
 150 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The French appear to muster numerically stronger than any 
 other people, but this arises from the fact, that nearly all the New 
 Yorkers are accoutred in Parisian costume. Their very hair is 
 cut and combed, and their beards trimmed and clipped strictly a 
 la Fran$aise, which does not in general improve their personal 
 appearance. Looking merely to the people, you might often fancy 
 yourself in the Boulevards, instead of in Broadway. Au reste, 
 Germans, Swedes, Poles, Italians, and hosts of others meet you at 
 every turn. There are but few Russian visitors here it seems ; 
 but I am very much struck by the apparant entente cordiale that 
 exists between Russia and the United States. There seems an. 
 inexplicable instinct of sympathy, some mysterious magnetism at 
 work, which is drawing by degrees these two mighty nations into 
 closer contact. Napoleon, we know, prophesied that the world, 
 ere long, would be either Cossadk or Republican. It seems as if 
 it would first be pretty equally shared between these two giant 
 powers. 
 
 I can not resist dwelling a little on this interesting subject. 
 
 Russia is certainly the grand representative of despotic prin- 
 ciples, as the United States are the representatives of democratic 
 ones. How is it that these antagonistic principles, embodied in 
 those two mighty governments, allow them to be so friendly and 
 cordial toward one another ? In the first place, the Emperor 
 Nicholas is a very far-seeing and astute politician ; he keenly feels 
 all the benefits that may accrue to him 1'rom cultivating the best 
 possible understanding with the United States. He has deep and 
 profound motives for this, which if he lives long enough, time will 
 gradually develop, to the astonishment of many, perhaps, who 
 ought to be more alive to the signs of the times than they are ; 
 and in the second place, there is a sympathy between those ap- 
 parently dissimilar countries. 
 
 Russia and the United States are the two young, growing, giant 
 nations of the world the Leviathans of the lands ! They enjoy 
 extraordinary advantages ; the older nations seem to have paved 
 and prepared the path before them. Around the footsteps of either 
 living and far-striding colossus, science and knowledge have shed 
 the most surprising light ; the most astounding and marvelous 
 and momentous discoveries have been made ; the most useful 
 triumphs achieved. Man almost seems a second time to have 
 been hailed master of the creation civilization has penetrated the 
 uttermost corners of the earth time and space and the lightning 
 are his familiars and his servants. With all these advantages,
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AMERICA. 151 
 
 those two grand young nations are strong to the race, and fresh to 
 the glorious contest. Far off, in the future, centuries and ages 
 beyond this present hour, is their culminating point. What to 
 other nations may be work and labor, to them is but, as it were, 
 healthful relaxation, the exercising of their mammoth limbs, the 
 quickening of the mighty current of their buoyant and bounding 
 life-blood, the conscious enjoyment of their own inexhaustible 
 vitality. 
 
 There is much similarity, in short, in the position of those two 
 vast powers. The extraordinary increase in the United States of 
 wealth, of territory, of population, and the wondrous opening of 
 fresh avenues, and new approaches incessantly to mightier domin- 
 ion, greater influence, and vaster resources, are known to all ; but 
 though assuredly not even remotely approximating to the United 
 States, in the advancement of mental energies and intelligence, or 
 in commercial enterprise and facilities, or manufacturing capabili- 
 ties, or even in the thousand practical manifestations of civiliza- 
 tion, and internal improvements, and progressive material pros- 
 perity and development, yet Russia is making immense strides, 
 too, on her part. Her population has increased to sixty millions ; 
 she is beginning to develop her gigantic resources ; her physical 
 power is stupendous and paramount; her internal condition flour- 
 ishing and apparently stable. She is strong in her geographical 
 position, protected to the rear by Nature herself by inhospitable 
 wildernesses and world- wide barriers of ice thus she can unhesi- 
 tatingly afford to fling her whole Titan strength and force into the 
 van. Her foreign policy is most energetically administered, as 
 well as most skillfully and successfully conceived. 
 
 She has plenty of time, too, before her she can watch and she 
 can wait. She is conciliating those who would seem to be her 
 natural enemies ; economizing, for the present, her interference ; 
 consolidating her energies and means ; improving her opportunities, 
 and placing herself, move by move, in the most formidable attitude, 
 both for offense and defense, and playing the mightiest and the 
 most magnificent game that perhaps has ever yet been played on 
 earth. 
 
 Still there is, undoubtedly, the greatest possible difference be- 
 tween her and America. The former is constantly watching other 
 nations, adapting herself to meeting and confronting their policy, 
 waiting to snatch, to seize, and to conquer. Her chief energies 
 seem to have an outward tendency an outward direction. In 
 America, on the contrary, those noble energies have a more cen-
 
 152 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 tral action. She is ever occupied in incalculably important in- 
 ternal improvements ; her glorious task is of a more domestic kind. 
 In her own vast regions are her giant powers perpetually at work, 
 advancing, perfecting, enriching, and strengthening ! Her internal 
 intercommunications, her extension of navigation and commerce, 
 her expanding manufacturing industry demand the most incessant 
 attention. The most carefully finished touches are sedulously given 
 to the comprehensive machinery by which is regulated, in various 
 modes, to a certain extent, the momentous schemes and enterprises 
 of that speculating, industrious, active-minded community. All 
 that concerns their privileges, their well-being, their personal rights, 
 attracts the most deep and unwearied interest ; while reforms, skill- 
 fully adapted to the spirit of the age such as measures for the 
 attainment of a more speedy and efficient administration of justice ; 
 the revision and amelioration of divers laws and systems ; the 
 establishment of harmony between conflicting and antagonistic 
 interests; and, above all, increased provisions for the happiness, 
 through munificently-enlarged opportunities for the enlightenment 
 and education of the people, have occupied, and do occupy, her 
 indefatigable politicians, administrators, and citizens. 
 
 She has nothing to do with, or to gain from intrigues of diplo- 
 macy and Machiavelian machinations of policy. Her stupendous 
 work is at home, but her inlluence is felt to the furthest ends of 
 the earth, and her shadow is spreading from pole to pole. Like a 
 colossal tree, she stands, and firmly stands, while she grows and 
 spreads, and her roots are deepening while her branches are ex- 
 panding. 
 
 Nay, she is framing additional supports, new stems and trunks, 
 like the Indian banyan, so that, while uprearing her glorious bulk 
 and stature in height, she is ever multiplying her props and her 
 foundations. 
 
 Russia is anxious to foment contentions and jealousies between 
 other nations, for her own ulterior purposes and profit. America 
 would merely incline toward a constitutional propagandism, and 
 that chiefly from a generous desire felt by all her people, from her 
 loftiest statesman to her lowliest citizen that others should par- 
 ticipate in what, with a thorough straightforward conscientious- 
 ness, they firmly believe to be the most precious of benefits and 
 advantages their free institutions and popular forms of political 
 organization. 
 
 If Canada (and that is certainly not a very unlikely event) 
 should be annexed at any future time to the United States, the
 
 AMERICA AND RUSSIA. 163 
 
 latter and Russia would be adjoining countries. The two grand 
 extremes would meet. Despotism and democracy would shake 
 hands over a rivulet, and smile at each other across a footpath. 
 
 Russia is determined to be on the best possible terms with the 
 United States at any rate, and I have been over and over again 
 impressed with that conviction, since I have been in America ; 
 and that the latter takes her flattery her complimentary cordial- 
 ity, and gentle insidious advances very kindly, is most plainly 
 evident. 
 
 The empire of the Czar is wonderful certainly ; but how much 
 it seems dwarfed when compared with America ! Its progression 
 is chiefly or wholly in physical advancement ; but that of the 
 United States is in both material and mental aggrandizement. 
 Russia will leave no methods untried, to attach the United States 
 to her interests to insure at least her complete neutrality, in the 
 event of contingencies, which her telescopic view steadily contem- 
 plates, and her mighty hand ever labors to bring about. She has 
 no desire whatever to try her strength against the rival young 
 giant to wrestle (like the mighty athletes of old) with that tre- 
 mendous competitor, in the Amphitheatre of Nations, for the edi- 
 fication of the world. She knows the prophecy, and has some 
 faith in it, but is bent on substituting (for a time at all events) 
 " and" for " or." The world may be shared, may be Cossack and 
 Republican. She positively will be modestly content, for a sea- 
 son, with only half a world. A Cossack hemisphere may hob and 
 nob in a friendly manner with a republican one, over the conquer- 
 ed empires of earth and of the ocean. 
 
 I have spoken of Russia watching ; America watches too, but 
 unlike the contemporaneous colossus, it is more the powerful pul- 
 sations of her own -mighty heart that draw her regards. If all is 
 right there, the future is at her feet and she knows it. And she 
 has occasion to watch, for more reasons than one ; for there are 
 symptoms of grave disorder threatening there, and strange signs of 
 the dissolution of the great federal compact. Nothing more con- 
 vinces the uninitiated stranger of this fact, than the incessant de- 
 nunciations thundered against disunion, the accumulated protesta- 
 tions and manifestations and deprecations, all to the same effect. 
 I think they exaggerate the evil that would arise, in the event of 
 dissolution, but the subject is too deep for discussion here. 
 
 After this long prose, I can not resist repeating an amusing 
 anecdote I heard the other day, relative to an American in Rus- 
 sia. This gentleman had a great wish to see the Czar, and asked
 
 154 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the United States minister to procure him an introduction ; but 
 the public receptions were over, and the minister told him it was 
 impracticable. Somewhat indignant, and resolved to test the as- 
 sumed impracticability, the traveler addressed a letter to one of 
 the Emperor's aids-de-camp, I believe, and solicited an interview 
 with his Imperial Majesty, as he had " brought some acorns from 
 the grave of the great Washington, expressly to lay at the Empe- 
 ror's feet, well knowing how the character of the mighty liberator 
 was appreciated," &c. Success crowned his efforts ; he had the 
 interview he desired, and not only that, but he dined with the 
 Czar, and the following day was invited to drive out with him, 
 and had the pleasure of passing the United States minister while 
 seated by the side of the mighty Nicholas, and of making him a 
 very patronizing bow as he dashed by in the imperial carriage ; 
 BO runs the story. 
 
 Pearl-street, a labyrinthine street in New York, which is said to 
 have been originally built by the Dutch, along a cow-track, is a 
 very zig-zagging thoroughfare indeed. One would really almost 
 think the Dutch cows had taken to drinking draughts, not of 
 water " as deep as the rolling Zuyder-zee." It is very narrow, 
 and the houses are very high, like those in Old Edinburgh ; waves 
 and billows of merchandise of every description and denomination 
 seem pouring over from the brimming stores and warehouses, into 
 the inconveniently narrow street. If you were in Paris, you 
 might think the street had been purposely obstructed with stub- 
 born barricades ; but there are no enfans de la patrie, with pikes 
 and muskets to oppose your progress behind them. So if you can 
 climb like a cat, or twist yourself about like a serpent, or a slip- 
 pery eel, you have every chance of surmounting those costly and 
 peaceful obstacles to your progress. 
 
 Look at those two tall Kentuckians, with their tufted chins, 
 somewhere about seven feet " above snakes ;" they can take a few 
 of the interposing calico-mountains and cotton pyramids in their 
 stride, but at last even they must stop and scramble over or 
 through with difficulty and exertion. Like Damocles' sword too, 
 over your head, are suspended from high cranes threatening loads, 
 that would soon pulverize you out of your difficulties, and reduce 
 you to very convenient dimensions, if they chanced to tumble upon 
 you. 
 
 There are a great number of military companies in New York, 
 and some of them are really very martial-looking indeed. I am 
 told there is a company of Highlanders, formed by the sons of far
 
 TARGET COMPANIES. 155 
 
 Caledonia ; and there are German, French, Italian companies, 
 &c. There are a number of target companies, each known by 
 some particular name usually, I believe, that of a favorite leader 
 who is locally popular among them. Others take their appella- 
 tion from some celebrated historical character, and others from, 
 any thing that happens to occur to them, it would seem. 
 
 A few of them are " The Washington Market CJwicder Guard'' 
 (chowder is a famous dish in the United States), " Bony Fusi- 
 leers," " Pea-nut Guard," " Sweet's Epicurean Guard" (surely 
 these must be confectioners), " George R. Jackson and Company's 
 Guard," " Nobody s Guard," "Oregon Blues," "Tenth Ward 
 Light Guard," " Carpenter Guard," " First Ward Magnetizers," 
 " Tompkins' Butcher Association Guard," " Mustache Fusileers," 
 " Henry Rose Light Guard," " Atlantic Light Guard," " Junior 
 Independence Guard," and multitudes of others. 
 
 The militia numbers about one hundred companies, which com- 
 prise six thousand men. The Target Companies are said not to 
 fall short of ten thousand men. I am informed that the passion 
 of arms is beginning to manifest itself very much here, and the 
 youths are not happy till they are enrolled in some of those bands. 
 It is said that thousands of the boldest spirits in the Mexican cam- 
 paign, who were ever in the van, and at the post of danger, rush- 
 ing to the cannon's rnoulh with fiery valor, and storming, with 
 irresistible intrepidity, the strongholds of the enemy, were those 
 who had figured in such " Target Companies" as these. 
 
 Generally a target, profusely decorated with flowers, is carried be- 
 fore the company, borne on the stalwart shoulders of a herculean 
 specimen of the African race, to be shot at lor a prize, or for glory, 
 and the "bubble reputation" alone. On its return from the excur- 
 sion and practice, the target will display many an evidence of the 
 unerring skill and markmanship of the young and gallant corps. I 
 remarked before, that it is supposed that the love and desire of 
 military distinction is increasing. In corroboration of this, I find 
 it observed in one of their papers, that the American boy, after 
 delightedly firing oft' his pistol or his minature cannon, on " Inde- 
 pendence Day," or other national anniversaries and festivals, in 
 commemoration of particular events, rests not now on his budding 
 laurels till he becomes a member of one of these Target Compa- 
 nies. Fired with youthful patriotism, and glowing with a boyish 
 ambition, he desires ardently in some way to distinguish himself 
 among his fellow-striplings ; and, once admitted as a member, he 
 strives hard to attain the post of lieutenant or captain among his
 
 156 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 companions in arms. Subsequently he aspires to join a more 
 regular militia corps ; but it is said, there are many instances where 
 their devotion to the Target Company, which originally inspired 
 them with military enthusiasm is so strong, that they will not de- 
 sert its ranks for those of the most brilliant and best-appointed 
 militia company in New York. There are so many of those en- 
 rolled bands, that they and the omnibuses share the honor of fill- 
 ing, and rousing the echoes of busy Broadway. 
 
 I hear that some of the best and finest of their organizations are 
 formed out of the fire companies, who thus take upon themselves 
 a twofold responsibility, the protection of the property and lives of 
 the citizens from a most formidable and merciless foe, and the ren- 
 dering themselves capable of discharging the patriotic duty of 
 crushing any enemy to their institutions that may threaten the 
 country, either domestic or foreign. Nowhere, on the earth, I 
 should think, are such numerous and splendid bodies of firemen ; 
 and in no place under the sun, or moon, I honestly think, have 
 they such extensive, incessant, and unlimited practice. And what 
 men in the world ought to make such admirable warriors as fire- 
 men ? At all times, but especially at the dead hour of midnight, 
 forced to leave their homes at a moment's notice, to start from 
 slumber, after, perhaps, a day of wearying toil and harassing vex- 
 ations to confront the direst extremes of cold and heat to brave 
 the " pitiless pelting" of the storm to face the raging element, 
 that is their remorseless and tremendous antagonist to dare al- 
 most every imaginable peril without the prospect of reward, or of 
 promotion, or even of renown and glory they should certainly 
 make heroes, when fame and victory beckon them proudly on- 
 ward. 
 
 They are trained, too, to strict discipline ; taught to obey every 
 word of command of their superiors, and to act together in con- 
 cert, and it may be imagined they would prove gallant candidates 
 for glory in the field. Often the lieutenants and captains of the 
 Target Companies are artisans, laborers, clerks, and mechanics. 
 The companies elect their officers, and constantly without the 
 least favor I borrow the expression of an American writer 
 shown " to class, or rank, or wealth." The man who is most 
 distinguished by these advantages, frequently shoulders his musket 
 as a private ; and yet he may most largely subscribe to the com- 
 pany's expenses for yearly "excursions," and other contingencies 
 and needs. 
 
 I have already mentioned the number of the electric telegraphs
 
 THE BATTERY. 157 
 
 in America. I must just add, that on one particular occasion the 
 New York Herald (on the 5th of January, 1848), contained ten 
 closely printed columns of important matter, that had all been re- 
 ceived during the preceding evening and night over the wires. 
 The entire length of the electric lines in the United States, which, 
 indeed, bring within speaking limits nearly every portion of this 
 vast Union, is stated on fair authority to be ten thousand seven 
 hundred and twelve miles, of which three thousand and six hun- 
 dred miles are traversed by double wire ; but while I am writing, 
 more are probably completed. Indeed, if it is not an Irish bull, 
 I should say, that in order to keep pace with what is going on in 
 this indefatigable country, this unparalleled hive of industry and 
 intelligence, you should go far ahead ; and if I had boldly said 
 fifteen thousand miles, perhaps I should have been nearer the 
 truth by the time my words are read. 
 
 The Americans, from what I hear, are remarkably expert oper- 
 ators on the electric wires those slender threads that are, with- 
 out doubt, charged with the mighty task of revolutionizing and 
 incredibly elevating the intellectual and mental condition of the 
 whole inhabited world. 
 
 One of the most charming appendages to New York is the Bat- 
 tery, which is close to Delmonico's Hotel (where we are now stay- 
 ing). It is situated at the commencement of Broadway, that 
 lengthy Mississippi of streets ; and it is adorned with a profusion 
 of noble trees, some of very large size, and is laid out in broad 
 graveled walks, commanding a charming view of the harbor, and 
 its very ornamental islands, of the almost innumerable vessels con- 
 stantly arriving and departing, and of the adjacent fair shores of 
 Nejv Jersey, and of Staten, and Long Island. There are grass- 
 plats in the Battery, all of which are intersected with paths and 
 walks, and overshadowed by trees, that look like veterans of the 
 primeval forest. It is not a very fashionable promenade, but this 
 arises probably from its being so far from the fashionable streets 
 and squares of the city. 
 
 When the first steamer that ever crossed the Atlantic arrived 
 at New York, the Battery is said to have presented a most heart- 
 stirring and majestic spectacle. The " Sinus" was the name of 
 this precursor of all the magnificent steam Leviathans that have 
 followed in her triumphant path. The moment it was reported 
 that her shadowy flag of smoke was seen floating in the direction 
 of the Narrows, the hundreds of thousands of citizens of New 
 York, aroused and excited to the utmost by the announcement of
 
 158 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 an event so congenial to their energetic natures and zealous, enter- 
 prising temperaments, rushed with simultaneous impetuosity to the 
 Battery to greet the triumphant stranger. Instead of the " Sirius" 
 ascending the East River directly to dock, she passed the thronged 
 Battery, as in graceful and grateful acknowledgment of the sym- 
 pathy and breathless interest shown in her success, and swept 
 grandly past it again, close to the densely-lined shore, while the 
 air was literally rent by the enthusiastic shouts and deafening hur- 
 rahs of thousands and thousands of people, proclaiming how a 
 noble victory had been gained a victory without bloodshed, or 
 suffering, or loss, or sorrow, to any single being, but of profit and 
 incalculable benefit to the whole race of mankind, and the unborn 
 myriads of the most distant posterity. May these be the victories 
 that in future may blaze with all the pomp of glory, and all the 
 festive splendor of success victories that, instead of severing na- 
 tions and people, shall unite them in bands of universal brother- 
 hood ! 
 
 There is no frowning artillery here to make the Battery agree 
 with its warlike name no mighty walls, no upheaved mounds. 
 It was once, I believe, applied to the use its name points out, but 
 has been entirely dismantled, and looks the very abode of peace 
 and repose. So in due course of time may all the earth witness 
 one grand disarmament and dismantling of all her warlike strong- 
 holds, and Reason and Justice reign paramount ! 
 
 Speaking of justice, there is one very gloomy-looking building 
 in New York, called " The Halls of Justice." The architecture 
 professes to be Egyptian, and the edifice is built of a rather dark- 
 colored granite, quarried at Hallowell in Maine. Its architectu- 
 ral ponderous massiveness, combined with the sombre hue of j the 
 material, gives the building a truly prison-like aspect, and has 
 caused it to obtain the sobriquet of " The Tombs." It occupies a 
 square, bounded by Centre, Elm, Franklin, and Leonard streets. 
 
 New York, as a whole, strikes one as unlike every city ever be- 
 held before. The cosmopolitanism of her citizens, the extraordi- 
 nary stir and bustle and tumult of business going on perpetually 
 the heterogeneous compounds, and kaleidoscopical varieties pre- 
 sented at every turn, bewilder and surprise the traveler. 
 
 Besides the ever-teeming tumultuous Broadway, there is another 
 street that deserves, perhaps, especial mention in any description 
 of New York, and that is the Bowery, a complete business street, 
 which also traverses longitudinally the city. This street has been 
 aptly named the Holborn of the empire city of the West. It
 
 VERA CRUZ BY MOONLIGHT. 159 
 
 runs parallel to Broadway, and changes its title of street for the 
 more rural appellation of " Avenue," when it leaves the town be- 
 hind it. 
 
 I have mentioned the East River, and ought perhaps to add, 
 that it is a continuation of Long Island Sound on the east, unit- 
 ing it with the estuary of the Hudson, and separating Long Island 
 from New York. It is of scanty width, hut deep, and at particu- 
 lar states of the tide it has a very heavy current. Long Island 
 Sound (or one part of it, I am not quite certain which portion) is 
 called the Hell Gate, which name is a corruption of the old name, 
 Hurl Gate. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Vera Cruz by Moonlight The " Walker" Steamer The new Minister to 
 Mexico Lord Mark Kerrs exquisite Drawings Scenes on Deck Love 
 of Music of the Americans The Aspect of Vera Cruz Effects of a 
 Norther Sopilotes Their Functions and Appearance The Castle of St. 
 Juan D'Ulloa The Harbor of Vera Cruz Its Commerce Its Founda- 
 tion The German Housekeeper Her polyglot Stories The Alameda 
 Vast Number of laden Mules Departures for Mexico Vera Cruzian 
 Watchmen Dresses of the Vera Cruzians. 
 
 WE landed at Vera Cruz hy the most magnificent moonlight I 
 think I ever beheld. A huge arch of dazzling silver sparkled over- 
 head, and all beside seemed floating in one vast silvery sea : any 
 place must have looked beautiful so deluged with splendor, and 
 certainly Vera Cruz did ; her defects were really dazzled away, 
 and her beauties all glorified and increased a hundred fold. 
 
 We had a very rough passage of about ten days in the survey- 
 ing steamer " Walker," of the United States Navy. She was 
 very foul, which prevented her making a rapid passage, and the 
 weather was against her. Every thing was done to render us as 
 comfortable as possible. We had a charming and large cabin, 
 and a delightful collection of books was placed at our disposal. 
 The " Walker" is reckoned the most rolling vessel in the whole 
 United States Navy, and she gave us during our voyage a great 
 deal more than a touch of her quality. 
 
 Our kind and excellent friend Governor L , the minister to 
 
 Mexico, had never been at sea before in his life, and it was not to 
 be expected he should find this tremendous tossing about very
 
 160 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 pleasant. Naturally enough he was constantly thinking we were 
 all showing, like Falstaff, a marvelous alacrity in sinking ; he 
 suffered much too, from the horrible mal de mer. But, notwith- 
 standing all this, his unalterable good-humor never failed him, 
 nor his wish to see every body comfortable around him, however 
 uncomfortable he was himself; and very seldom did his almost in- 
 exhaustible good spirits forsake hirn. Sometimes when in the 
 midst of one of his entertaining stories, laughing and making all 
 laugh, the frolicking steamer, as if enjoying the joke, would seem 
 to be contemplating standing on her head, he would suddenly re- 
 gain his gravity in one sense, while he lost it in another. But 
 generally he was the life and soul of the ship : though it must be 
 confessed the "Walker" did not exactly fly, the time did. 
 
 We had Lord M. Kerr's magnificent drawings to look at, and 
 his richly-stocked portfolio beguiled many an hour. He is not 
 only a most gifted but a most industrious and indefatigable ama- 
 teur artist ; many of his drawings are most elaborately and ex- 
 quisitely finished, and their number and variety are prodigious. 
 Here you might luxuriate among the magical beauties of queenly 
 Granada, and bask in the sunny and fairy-like courts of the match- 
 less Alhambra ; and there the snowy winter scenes of Canada 
 would make you almost feel the freshness of the keen clear air, 
 so exquisitely delineated were they ; and there again you had 
 the glowing tropical scenery of the West Indies to feast your eyes 
 upon. 
 
 The weather, after the first few days, began to be exceedingly 
 warm. The passengers spent almost all their time upon deck, for 
 most of the cabins below were very close, and hot ; ours was an 
 exception to this ; we had a very large sky-light, which was of 
 course, always wide open when possible, and the magnificent 
 American flag was thrown lightly over the opening to shield us 
 from the intense glare of the sun. 
 
 On deck, what scenes tragi-comical are ever going on ! To be 
 sure, all decks in rough weather present pretty nearly the same 
 spectacles ; yet, like the fun of Punches and puppet shows, it 
 seems an untiring species of drollery. Look at that tall gentle- 
 man ; he appears trying hard to learn to walk on his own nose, 
 which is certainly, though not otherwise than a handsome one, 
 quite sufficiently pointed perhaps, and projecting ; but he does not 
 wish other people should do so too no, that would be expecting 
 quite too much of the poor nasal organ aforesaid. But that very 
 stout gentleman seems to intend it nevertheless, nay, to be very
 
 GALE AT SEA. 161 
 
 seriously determined on doing this ; but stay ! the nose rolls sud- 
 denly one way and the very stout gentleman the other; the 
 threatened feature is safe for this time. Then they go boun- 
 cing along by fits and starts, and performing insane ko-tooings to 
 nobody, and catching tight hold of nothing, and swinging round 
 sometimes in a wild partnerless waltz. A reel is of cosmopolitan 
 constitution on board ship, and the Scotch can claim no monopoly 
 of it all are dancing it like mad in general. 
 
 Governor L , when not incapacitated by the mal de mer, 
 
 zig-zagged about to the utmost capacities of the " Walker," and 
 nothing daunted, boldly attempted to walk whenever there was 
 the least possibility of performing that most extraordinary of all 
 imaginable feats, on board a rolling vessel on a rough sea. He 
 wisely caught hold of every thing to steady him that happened to 
 be nearest, and made handles and temporary sheet-anchors, of 
 heads, ankles, benches, bonnets, boots, heels, hats, cabin-boys, car- 
 pet-bags, throats, ringlets, wide-awakes, elbows, and chins, and in 
 short, whatever came handy, dragging himself on thus with the 
 most philosophical indifference as to whether he had griped hold 
 of your "nose or your shoe. He held on like grim death, for the 
 nonce, " and no two ways about it." 
 
 As I said before, he was very amusing and pleasant, and had 
 an immense flow of spirits : it was diverting to see him occasion- 
 ally, when a sudden terrific lurch came, upsetting furniture and 
 philosophy, pathetically turning down one corner of his mouth 
 with a lachrymose and rueful expression, while he had not had 
 time to dismiss the merry curl on the other side. He was par- 
 ticularly anxious to know, on such occasions, how long the ves- 
 sel might be supposed to have a chance of going on before she 
 foundered. 
 
 One day we sprang, or carried away, our jib-boom, and the 
 main-stay sail came down, and great was the confusion and alarm ; 
 for I think one or two on board were not much better sailors than 
 the excellent minister. I believe, if the truth had been told, 
 there were several who would have thought it an improvement if 
 the ship could have accommodated a select few of the Royal, or 
 any other Humane Society to restore us to life, after any extent 
 of drowning we might be subjected to. However that might be, 
 it was a gallant and goodly company on board, and pleasant was 
 it to hear them singing in merry chorus in the evening, when the 
 water was comparatively calm (very much comparatively, I as- 
 sure you), " O Susanna !" which rather whimperingly-inclined
 
 162 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 lady seems really to be the " undying one," and also the universal 
 arid ubiquitous one ; for go where you may, you will hear her in- 
 voked. I am told they harpoon, whales to this cheering tune in 
 the Antartic regions. 
 
 Then there was a right jovial parody about " Californy," too, 
 and no end of " Uncle Neds" and " Mary Blanes," &c. But 
 among/them, however which was a great want of taste in these 
 songsters was not the good old ditty with the impressive words, , 
 beginning 
 
 " Come all ye Continentallers, I'd have ye for to know, 
 That for to fight the enemy we're going for to go." 
 
 The Americans, I think, are a very musically inclined people 
 far more naturally so, it strikes me, than we " Britishers." They 
 have a very pretty custom (and they have so many, it is strange 
 that those which are of a contrary description should ordinarily 
 alone have been dwelt upon by travelers), and this is, of calling 
 each other by the names of their respective States. If there be 
 more than one from a State, I suppose by a kind of subdivision 
 they resort to the names of their towns. If this be the cdse, what 
 grandiloquent denominations some of them might come in for. 
 " Here Constantinople, young Ninevah wants you ;" and " Pekin, 
 call Carthage and Mesopotamia to help Alexandrianopolis and 
 little Herculaneum." As it is, through our skylight, we heard 
 constantly some of their beautiful State names shouted out. 
 " Indiana, come give us a song right away, and Alabama will 
 join." " No ; it is Louisiana's turn any how." " Where's Texas? 
 is he coming on deck ?" " Wall, I jist calc'late he ain't a-going 
 to do nothing else ; there he comes, too, with Michigan and 
 Arkansas." 
 
 We arrived at Vera Cruz in the evening ; but it was some- 
 time before we were able to land. The getting out of the 
 " Walker" into the boat was a work of difficulty, so rough was 
 the sea. At last, ourselves and carpet bags were dropped in, the 
 former by some ingenious sleight of foot, very creditable to our 
 
 activity. His Excellency and Mr. P had already gone on 
 
 shore, and we found Mr. P , and some other of onr fellow- 
 passengers waiting on shore to receive us and escort us to the 
 hotel. The American Consul at Vera Cruz was so good as to 
 take us on shore in his boat. 
 
 The glorious Orizava was only dimly visible in the distance, 
 owing to some slight mist. The town, I thought, looked beauti-
 
 EFFECTS OF A NORTHER. 163 
 
 ful from the sea. It is the fashion to abuse Vera Cruz (no doubt 
 its situation and climate are odious), but its sixteen grand domes 
 and cupolas, its battlements, and picturesque buildings are very 
 striking. . ^ 
 
 The hotel we are in is in the great " Plaza," almost close to 
 the fine old cathedral, and opposite to the former palace, now 
 partly used as a prison. On the other side are seen handsome 
 houses, bearing severe marks of the bombardment of the city by 
 General Scott. We found it very hot when we first came here, 
 but rejoiced much at the speedy prospect of a norther. It came, 
 indeed ; but, alas ! though to some extent we were benefited, it 
 was at the expense almost entirely of light and liberty. 
 
 Thus it was instead of windows, except one tiny pane in the 
 door, there are, as it were, large wooden gates, or very huge 
 clumsy rough doors opening on to the indispensable balcony : when 
 the norther blows at all severely, it is absolutely necessary to close 
 these great portals, or your room would be full of sand ; and, be- 
 sides, you would be blown out of it. Therefore, we were made 
 melancholy prisoners of, and taken into close captivity by ourselves ; 
 and, iu spite of all our precautions in the night, our balcony-doors 
 blew open, and my little girl and I were almost blown away, beds 
 and all. 
 
 There are an enormous number of " sopilotes" here a kind of 
 turkey-buzzard, vulture, or carrion crow, or cousin-german to all 
 three ; and these are the feathered scavengers of the place. " I 
 calc'late" they have no sinecure office, and so they occasionally 
 appear to opine themselves, for you see the omnivorous black 
 creatures looking very grave and contemplative, sometimes motion- 
 less and quiet as a row of mutes, solemn and gloomy as a con- 
 gregation of undertakers, and you look upon the dismal sight, and 
 begin thinking of sextons and "black jobs" (as I have seen funerals 
 described in matter-of-fact England) ; when suddenly up goes one 
 undertaker with a whizz, and away goes another with a whirr, to 
 make room for a fresh set. 
 
 The castle of St. Juan d'Ulloa, which commands Vera Cruz, is 
 built on the little island bearing the same name, about four hun- 
 dred fathoms from the shore : it is said to be a strong citadel. 
 Its northwest angle supports a light-house, with a splendid re- 
 volving light, nearly eighty feet above the sea. 
 
 The harbor is reckoned a very insecure one, the anchorage so 
 bad that the vessels are not considered safe unless made fast to 
 rings of brass, which are fixed for the purpose in the walls of the
 
 164 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ' 
 
 castle. Still, however disadvantageously situated, Vera Cruz may 
 boast of considerable commercial importance, although, of late 
 years, Tampico, with rather a superior port in a less unhealthy 
 part of the coast, has been rapidly springing into consequence. 
 
 Vera Cruz was founded about the latter part of the sixteenth 
 century, on the very spot where Cortez first landed. There had, 
 however, been a small town there before that event, which by 
 Cortez himself was called " Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz." Philip 
 III. bestowed on it the titles and privileges of a city in 1615. A 
 French squadron took the castle in 1838, but shortly afterward 
 abandoned it and restored it to the Mexicans. The Americans 
 again captured it under General Scott, and it remained in their 
 possession till the ratification of the articles of peace. 
 
 While the foreign trade of Mexico was carried on exclusively 
 by the jftota, which sailed from Cadiz periodically, Vera Cruz was 
 celebrated for its " fair," held when the ships assembled at its 
 port; but, in 1778, the abolition of this system of regular fleets 
 put an end to this fair, as also to the yet more famous and splen- 
 did one of Porto Bello. 
 
 The houses here seem all built in the ancient Spanish or Moor- 
 ish style, ordinarily inclosing a spacious square court, with broad 
 covered galleries. They have commonly balconies in front. The 
 foot-paths are usually under the shelter of arcades, which is very 
 pleasant in hot, sunny countries. 
 
 This hotel, where we meet with great civility and attention, is 
 kept by a Scotchman, very considerably Mexicanized (poor man, 
 he is in very bad health, and the climate seems to be slowly poi- 
 soning him). The housekeeper is a German, and she, on the con- 
 trary, appears to be more intensified in her nationality by the pro- 
 cess of transplantation. She seemed perpetually in a high state 
 of saur-kraut, and utterly Teutonic. She was very kind and 
 good-natured indeed to jus, although frequently she had declined 
 altogether, we were told, the felicity of lodging ladies in the hotel. 
 
 She explained to me, in a remarkably intelligible mixture of 
 Mexican-Spanish, English, French, German, Indian, Scotch, arid 
 any thing else that came into her head, leaving it to me to un- 
 ravel them, her reasons for this occasional indisposition on her 
 part to receive guests of her own sex. 
 
 " Mexican ladies mit ther airs muy desagradables. Von Seno- 
 ra, wife of a General, come here, sehr cross, sulky. No canny, I 
 tink, head. Gone, loco. Order comida for she and de General, 
 husband Muy bueiia it was ; I help cook it. Todos good, when
 
 GERMAN HOUSEKEEPER. 165 
 
 she see it, no taste it, take it all todos up, and troze it all at cook's 
 cabeza ! There ! wat you tink o' dat ? The Senora got no 
 comida, nein soup, frijoles, chickens, todos she trowed in cook's 
 cara, mit her zwei hands ! And O ciel ! dere was dinner, disshes, 
 and todos on floor. De General, husband, poor man (he blind) 
 hear noise came to mich, say ' Muy schlecht, me can't help, he 
 a'most cry, pobecity! lose him dinner too. Hoot awa, a bonny 
 Senora dat, madame." 
 
 But, if her languages were wonderful, so were her gesticulations. 
 Impressive indeed they were. While her voice was pitched an 
 unusual height to suit and make up for the Babel of languages in 
 which she was constrained to utter her sentiments, she spoke with 
 great rapidity. Suddenly she changed the scene from Mexico to 
 Hanover, where it appeared she had been housekeeper to a gentle- 
 man who was an acquaintance of our late kind Duke of Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 " The English Herzog Cambridge," she exclaimed, " wat von 
 good prince dat ! Come von day, all out, tous, Madame, come to 
 mich, Cambridge did " (I think the good frau did not intend 
 any disrespect to the royal Duke by thus familiarly speaking of 
 him, but, not knowing what Herzog was in English, when she 
 did not use the German word she was quite at fault). " Well, 
 Cambridge say, tell the family I comes, eh 1 Ha, ha ! he laugh, 
 sehr. Good nature prince oui, madame, ja, always smiie and 
 laugh. O ! how unlike cross lady mit General husband !" 
 
 She then proceeded to tell some wonderful stories about the 
 Herzog, and cows and fresh milk, and a party and a country- 
 house, iiacienda, but the extraordinary patchwork of languages 
 defied all comprehension patchwork ? nay, it was more like 
 silks of mixed colors : German, shot with French, and that shot 
 over again with English, and crossed with Spanish. She seized 
 my hands every now and then as if about to give me a lift to as- 
 sist the understanding, but I was in a hopeless state. There was 
 a whirl of haciendas and Hanoverians, and generals, and chick- 
 ens, and herzogs, and cows, &c., in one's brain ; a human wind- 
 mill, a living telegraph, making signs at the rate of a million a 
 minute before me and all was confusion and mental darkness. 
 She continued, however, fast and furious ; and the chief actor in 
 this scene was evidently perfectly satisfied ; she was exceedingly 
 diverted, and intensely interested by her own tale. Now she 
 seemed almost on the point of cheering herself with hearty bravos, 
 and now she successfully melted herself almost to tears, speaking
 
 166 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 in the most pathetic accents, with clasped and wrung hands. 
 We, not having the most remote notion at this juncture what par- 
 ticular form of human grief she was representing, were at a loss 
 to console her. 
 
 As a housekeeper she was very superior indeed, and most kind 
 and obliging did we find her. She kept the hotel in admirable 
 order, and seemed to be running about from morning till night. 
 If any of the Criadas or Mozos neglected their duties, there was 
 the detachment of Hanoverian light horse after them instanter 
 trot, trot. She had, however, an unpleasant custom of keeping 
 part of the broad galleries that ran round the house in a perpetu- 
 ally flooded state, from the gigantic scale of washing operations 
 that seemed always going on there. At times the soap-sud break- 
 ers ran so fiigh, it was a matter of great difficulty to pass them 
 with safety, and a small life-boat was quite a desideratum. 
 
 We walked in the Alameda, yesterday evening, for a short time, 
 escorted by the American Consul here, who is a gentlemanlike 
 and well-informed person. He served in the Mexican war, and 
 told us many very interesting anecdotes respecting it. The Ala- 
 meda is pretty enough. At the further end a fandango was going 
 on : the music sounded rather pleasing in the distance. 
 
 Not far from this spot is the beginning of a railroad, which, say 
 the Americans, may perhaps be finished in five hundred years : 
 it is intended to be carried on to Mexico. The streets here are 
 wide and handsome, and clean too ; thanks, probably, in great 
 part, to the solemn scavengers, I have before mentioned. 
 
 Now that the norte is gone, we almost live upon the balcony. 
 From thence we saw an enormous train of packed mules the other 
 day. It seemed almost never-ending, as it came into the Plaza : 
 the whole place appeared alive with them, when they stopped and 
 were collected together and unloaded. The mules looked strong 
 and well fed ; they appeared to have a few little affairs of honor 
 to settle with their comrades on their arrival, for a variety of kicks 
 were interchanged ; and it was some time before the "party of 
 order" gained the ascendant. 
 
 We have made acquaintance already with a number of tropical 
 fruits, through the kind care of our German friend. AS yet I 
 like none of them much. There were sapotes, bananas (those 
 however were old acquaintances), Grenaditas di China, as they 
 called them mamey, and others. The living at this hotel is ex- 
 tremely good (though of course the cooking is Mexican) ; and we 
 have certainly on no occasion thrown the repast at our Mozo's
 
 DEPARTURE FOR MEXICO. 167 
 
 wild Indian head. He is an extraordinary genius, this same Mozo 
 who usually waits on us ; for he actually comprehends my Span- 
 ish, and except a few very trifling mistakes, such as bringing me 
 a jug of hoiling water instead of ice, or clearing away all the 
 things, when I ask for a few more, we manage quite capitally. I 
 am perpetually asking him for bread, and potatoes and other veget- 
 ables, and mHk ; for at sea we were deprived of all these pleasing 
 articles of food, and the two latter are very good here. He seems 
 satisfied in his own mind, as he brings fresh papas, and more leche 
 and pan, that we came from a country where cows are unknown, 
 vegetables ungrown, and bread wholly unheard of, and that we 
 are duly delighted with our new Mexican fare. 
 
 We have received several visits from the English Consul and 
 his son. Mr. Giffbrd is good enongh to give us all the necessary 
 information with regard to our journey to Mexico, and to lend us 
 a couple of small trunks in the place of our large ones, which he 
 advises, for several good and sufficient reasons, should be left be- 
 hind at Vera Cruz. We have been detained about a week here in 
 consequence of the diligences being so full, it was impossible to get 
 places. After considerable difficulty, our asientos are now secured. 
 Our kind friend, the American minister, started some time ago. 
 
 The cortege had altogether an imposing effect. Eight stout 
 mules were attached to the huge carriage, and a large escort of 
 dragoons, drew up before the front of the hotel. These, I believe 
 a short time before the diligence started, trotted off to wait for it 
 at the gates. 
 
 The diligencias always leave Vera Cruz about ten o'clock at 
 night, for the heat of the day would render the journey almost in- 
 supportable, especially to the poor mules, who have to drag the 
 unwieldy vehicle through the hills of sand which cause the first 
 part of this journey to be very wearisome and disagreeable. 
 
 We were on the balcony when the United States minister took 
 
 his departure. With him was Mr. P , a walking arsenal, and 
 
 a movable powder-magazine, determined no ladrone should annex 
 his goods and chattels. He said laughingly to us, " I have just 
 thirty-seven shots to give them, if they attempt to meddle with 
 me." 
 
 His Chilian servant did not look quite so light-hearted as his 
 master ; he marched gravely behind the bushy bulwarks of his 
 own enormous mustaches in rather a darkly contemplative mood. 
 However, I believe (like his nation in general), he is a right 
 brave man, and probably, if he entertained any apprehension, it
 
 168 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 was of the gunpowder magazine inside the diligence blowing up, 
 as such an explosion was not impossible, taking lighted cigars into 
 account ; and it would have been an unpleasant and unprofitable 
 way of quitting existenceon the road to California too ! which, 
 he and his master were. 
 
 Mr. P told me, he has always had Chinese servants at 
 
 Mazatlan, this Chilian being almost the only exception. He says 
 they are the best servants imaginable quick, obliging, attentive, 
 and trustworthy. 
 
 Lord M. Kerr started, very shortly after his arrival here, for 
 Mexico. He rode part of the way, in order to be able to stop 
 when he chose, to sketch : a Mexican guide accompanied him. 
 He thought of taking the diligence from Jalapa, I believe, and 
 after going for some distance by that, perhaps riding again. 
 
 The bawling the watchmen make here, is astonishing and alarm- 
 ing. They seem to be in the habit of perpetually frightening peo- 
 ple to death, to assure them that they are safe. Imagine all the 
 dogs of Constantinople in profound affliction and pain, and you 
 may form some idea of the howling of Vera Cruzian serenos. 
 They have that pretty name, not certainly from the state into 
 which they have suddenly aroused, and horribly startled the un- 
 fortunate slumberers, but because in the Mexican climate in gene- 
 ral, the state of the weather (which they have to report), is cloud- 
 lessly fine, and so they are constantly crying a yelling tempestuous 
 sereno : the rest of their terrible hollabulloo, I believe, consists of 
 the hour, and " Ave Marie purissima." 
 
 We have seen some very picturesque Mexican peasants and 
 horsemen. The women's dress with the flowing reboso is very 
 graceful. These rebosos are long, colored scarfs, and are crossed 
 about in some peculiar manner, which has a pretty effect. The men 
 wear enormous hats, with silver cords twisted round them, very 
 wide trowsers, which are slashed up the side of the leg, and splendid 
 serapes of many hues, which are tossed about in every imaginable 
 shape and manner : it seemed to me as if no two were ever 
 worn alike. Their horse-furniture is generally handsome, and 
 their profusely ornamented saddles are (Dominie Sampson would 
 eay) " prodigious."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Mexicans Climate of Mexico Luxuriance of its Vegetation Beauty 
 of its Flowers and Birds Jalapa The Journey from Vera Cruz The 
 State of the Roads The Diligence A formidable-looking Passenger 
 Cornish Miners in Mexico The Inn at Perote English Hardware in 
 Mexico Hacienda of General Santa Anna General Scott and the Pas- 
 sage of the Chapparal Puente Del Rey The Mountains of Mexico- 
 Orizaba Its magnificent Height Cathedral of Puebla Mexican Spurs 
 Rio Frio Popocatapetl National Character of the Mexicans. 
 
 WE have had a delightful journey from Vera Cruz, excepting 
 always the frightful roughness of the roads. I believe, since the 
 days of the Spanish dominion, they have never heen repaired 
 or touched. General Scott's artillery could have done them no 
 good ; but there they remain unmended. Formerly, it is said, 
 this road was the finest in the world. No doubt the standard 
 was not very high in those days : Macadamization had not seen, 
 the light, and the French pave had. But from the very ruins of 
 the road you can form an idea of the former excellence of it. The 
 loose stones lying about, over which you bound with such excru- 
 ciating jolts, were originally part of a fine pavement, which every 
 now and then, indeed, for a very short distance, you roll over, and 
 which has withstood ruin, rain, revolutions, and that old gentle- 
 man with the sharp scythe, who, though supposed to fly, continues 
 to leave very deep footmarks wherever he treads and where does 
 he not ? 
 
 If the Mexicans, instead of manufacturing their three hundred 
 revolutions since their independence, had spent the time and 
 money devoted to these topsy-turvy, useless pursuits, and busied 
 themselves in improving their internal communications, develop- 
 ing the natural resources of their magnificent country, and ad- 
 vancing the education of the people what might Mexico be ? 
 What might it not be at this moment ? If a calculation could be 
 made, and they could ascertain what they might have accom- 
 plished with the money and means and misdirected energies that 
 they have applied to such worse than idle purposes, would they 
 not regret their folly ? No, not a bit, I dare say ; though, but for 
 their many internal sources of weakness, in all probability they 
 might have successfully withstood the Americans, and remained 
 in possession of California, and, in course of time, discovered what 
 
 II
 
 170 TRAVELS IN AxMERICA. 
 
 that possession implied. This might have heen better and more 
 patriotic in the end than playing at revolutions, unhinging the 
 whole country, and upsetting every thing, as if this were really a 
 desideratum and advantage to a nation. 
 
 As to the extreme natural beauty we beheld during the almost 
 magical journey from Vera Cruz to the capital, no words, I feel, 
 can adequately describe it. We passed through every variety of 
 climate, each with its own peculiar productions, with splendid 
 snow-topped mountains crowning the scene, themselves crowned 
 by the gorgeous magnificence of the resplendent tropical heavens. 
 Such mornings ! such sunrises ! heaven and earth seemed meeting, 
 as it were, and mingling in glory without end. Such nights ! 
 heaving and blazing with stars. Those glorious masses of stars 
 seemed almost coming down on our little world : nearer and 
 nearer they seemed to shine, as if drooping under the weight of 
 their immense glory and majesty, and sinking toward us! You 
 know what the Neapolitan embassador said to George the Second : 
 that the moon of the King, his master, was far better than His 
 Majesty's sun. I wish he had seen the stars of Mexico, which I 
 think are not very unlike Italian moons ; and her moons like great 
 white suns, and her suns like the skies on fire. Certainly the 
 heavens in the tropics are marvelously glorious but earth is so 
 beautiful here, too. 
 
 One morning, at sunrise, coming from Puebla, we saw the 
 great mountain, Orizaba, reflecting the light of the rising lumin- 
 ary, and looking as if it was literally made partly of gold and 
 partly of fire, so gloriously was it beaming back those dazzling 
 splendors from its huge crest of glittering snow. Between Jalapa 
 and Perote, and still more between Vera Cruz and Jalapa, the 
 astonishing prodigality and unutterable magnificence of the 
 tropical vegetation is perfectly overpowering ! I could not have 
 believed, without beholding it, that such a Paradise remained to 
 this world ! Such colors such blooms such forests of flowers ! 
 Such inconceivable luxuriance of foliage and fruit ! You can not 
 for a moment " begin to imagine" the glories of these scenes 
 their inexhaustible variety their indescribable exuberance their 
 extraordinary and matchless brilliancy of coloring ! 
 
 Nature seems like a perpetual miracle there. It made us think 
 of the sumptuous Sultana in the " Arabian Nights' " tales, who 
 changed her regal dress twelve times a day. Just try to fancy in 
 those marvelous regions endlessly-spreading colossal bowers, under 
 a green overhanging firmament of uptowering trees, and such
 
 MEXICAN FLOWERS. 171 
 
 bowers too !' Myriads of flowers of a hundred colors, crowding 
 coronal upon coronal ; and these again intertwined and over- 
 twined, and round and through, and sub and supertwined with 
 others, and others still ! It seemed as if there was really going to 
 be a flood of flowers, and this was the first flow of the dazzling 
 deluge : a gorgeous deluge indeed that would be its own rain- 
 bow. There were innumerable roses, interwreathed with convol- 
 voluses, flowering myrtles, aloes, cherimoyas, floripundias (a mag- 
 nificent sculpture- like, bell-shaped flower), the verdant liquidamber, 
 jessamines, and others, with creepers and parasitical plants, fes- 
 tooning and trailing themselves about with the very wildest 
 luxuriance, so that often the coiled and heaped-together boughs 
 and branches appear to bear hundreds of different sorts of leaves 
 and flowers at once ! 
 
 One of the most magnificent flowers I ever saw, grows on a 
 tree of considerable dimensions (if, indeed, it is not a parasitical 
 plant), and looks, with its multitudinous clusters of large, gorgeous, 
 and vivid scarlet blossoms, like a pyramid of planets in a blaze, or 
 a candelabra of comets, with forty thousand branching flames in 
 all directions. These were most beautifully contrasted by the 
 snowy white lilies I have spoken of before, which literally lined 
 the road-side in many places. 
 
 In short, altogether, it was quite bewildering. One felt that 
 one would fain have ten thousand eyes to see with, and ten thou- 
 sand senses to admire, appreciate, and realize (I must go back to 
 the United States for the right word) all the immensity and 
 variety of those wondrous royal realms of Nature. I have said 
 that the leaves, branches, flowers, fruits, stems, seemed all con- 
 fusedly intermingled, and matted, and massed together in beauty. 
 There were heaps of cactuses garlanded with wildernesses of 
 roses ; there were floripundias coiled about with creepers that 
 seemed almost moving in their wild life-like grace ; besides count- 
 less other labyrinthine complications. 
 
 But I have said nothing of the splendid birds, that like ani- 
 mated rainbows and winged sunbeams were darting about amid 
 these transcendent scenes. But it is quite useless to attempt to 
 describe these unimaginable regions one might as well strive to 
 convey in words a glorious strain of the most exquisite music. 
 
 After leaving Puebla, we mounted up so high, that it b*>came 
 quite cold ; and at Perote, too, where we slept one night, we 
 should have been glad of a little fire ! There the vegetation was 
 chiefly confined to pines and firs. We had extremely hot weather
 
 172 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 for the first day's journey ; but we had a delightful and most re- 
 freshing rest at Jalapa, which is a place of enchantment a little 
 Cashmere of delights a very kingdom of roses. The climate is 
 reckoned very good, and the poor Vera Cruzians fly there to tako 
 refuge from their terrible vomito (the dreadful Vera Cruz fever). 
 
 I think this lovely Jalapa is unlike any town I have ever seen 
 any where : its houses and streets do not seem to take away the 
 country air of every thing belonging to it. In those garden-beau- 
 tified, quiet, picturesque streets, you feel as far out of the hard, and 
 stale, and work-a-day world, as if you were in the midst of a vast 
 savanna, or the shadowy recesses of an untrodden forest. I can 
 hardly tell why it is so, but so it seemed to me. Diligences seem 
 to rattle there, and busy travelers to congregate in vain : all, still, 
 appears quiet, all peaceful, and holiday-like at Jalapa. It seems, 
 as it were, consecrated by its own beauty. 
 
 And Nature has so much to say there ! Her flowery treasures 
 fill the streets and courts with their odoriferous delights. Her 
 glorious mountains and hills look upon you there in a hundred 
 beauteous shapes. 
 
 We found a delightful hotel in that exquisite town all gal- 
 leries, and balconies, and arcades, and courts ; and to breathe the 
 delicious air of balmy Jalapa alone, is a pleasure. Is the reader 
 aware, that the not delicious medicine, whose name closely resem- 
 bles that of this fair town, is produced from a root, which grows 
 in great profusion near it ? From this place it takes its name ; 
 and as this association is not particularly charming, I prefer spell- 
 ing the word in the old way, " Xalapa." What a fall from roses 
 and floripundias, to tumble down to this nauseous drug ! But I 
 believe the flower of this same plant, is a very beautiful convolvu- 
 lus. Very useful it is, no doubt ; and, in this utilitarian age per- 
 haps, more to be thought of, than poor Flora's daflydowndilly 
 treasures, and roses and posies. 
 
 The dreaded first stage from Vera Cruz, I did not find so 
 dreary as I expected. Our escort met us at the gates of the town 
 and our eight mules went gallantly on, till the deep loose sand re- 
 duced the gallop to a trot, the trot to a walk, and the walk even 
 at times almost to a stand-still : some parts of the way we went 
 washing the wheels of the cumbrous diligencia actually in the sea. 
 There seemed to be no regular road, just there, or if there was, 
 the coachman evidently disregarded it, for it could not be supposed 
 it led through the sea. 
 
 Afterward we came to a very heavy part of the road ; it seem-
 
 STATE OF THE ROADS. 173 
 
 ed all the mules could do, to tug us through, and a great deal of 
 time was consumed in this slow battle with the sand. 
 
 We stopped to breakfast at a very nice pavilion-like place. 
 There we were ushered into a very pretty airy room, where the 
 breakfast was already prepared, on a large round table. Senor 
 
 N , a friend of the English Consul, who had been introduced 
 
 to us by him at Vera Cruz, was one of our fellow-passengers. 
 He is a member of the Mexican Congress, and appears a highly- 
 informed person. He speaks French and English very fluently. 
 He was exceedingly obliging, and did the honors of the diligence 
 and the hotel admirably ibr us. 
 
 They have a very pretty plan in some of these country " fondas," 
 of putting up windows of dark blue glass, which shed a delight- 
 fully cool light through the room. This, however, is rare, for or- 
 dinarily there are no windows at all, only the great doors I men- 
 tioned before. 
 
 From Jalapa, we had an American coachman, who drove ex- 
 tremely well ; but the road was frightful. The diligences, and 
 the hotels that they stop at, all belong to one person, a rich and 
 enterprising Mexican gentleman, who has done much to improve 
 the communication between Vera Cruz and the capital, and, I be- 
 lieve, between Mexico and Guadalajara as well, which line also 
 belongs to him. But there is much room for further improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Some of the stages are a great deal too long above all, on such 
 infamous roads ; and while several of the hotels are exceedingly 
 comfortable and well-conducted, others are of the most primitive 
 description, and amply furnished with nothing ; at least, nothing 
 that you can profitably and pleasantly make%se of. 
 
 The roads are horrible. Every now and then came an un- 
 earthly jolt, that tossed us all up like shuttlecocks to the ceiling, 
 and made one think really some drivers, in despair had left their 
 foundered wagons on the way, or General Scott some broken can- 
 non, which we in our frisky diligence had taken a flying leap over. 
 Our involuntary flights to the ceiling and back, were like the 
 short, fluttering, up-springings of the poor pigeons of Loo, which I 
 used to commiserate so much when hawking there : they were 
 thrown up to attract the hawks, and then jerked back again. 
 
 At other times we felt we were droping into a chasm, that seem- 
 ed desirous of emulating the mammoth cave in dear " old Kentuck." 
 We found we had our own heads " in chancery" sometimes, pretty 
 nearly, and the whacks and thumps that all got, were tremendous.
 
 174 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 At length, the much-abused diligencia came to a dead stop, 
 heart-broken or spring-broken at any rate, as we discovered ; and 
 this accident revealed to us the astounding fact that these diligen- 
 cias, actually pretended to have springs, which otherwise we should 
 not have dreamed of. We were all requested to descend, while 
 the huge vehicle was raised and the injury temporarily repaired, 
 by the united efforts of the coachman and an American gentleman, 
 who was an outside passenger, on his way to California. At last 
 we mounted the high steps, and were placed on the wheels, or 
 " the tvheel," again. 
 
 The spirited proprietor of these coaches, should arrange that an 
 "experienced surgeon" should accompany them in their journeys. 
 It might be useful practice, too, for a few young beginners as 
 good as walking the hospitals. 
 
 We saw a beautiful waterfall in the distance, on the way to 
 
 Perote, which Colonel A (a friend of Senor N . ) first 
 
 pointed out to us. saying it was a " Catarata," like Niagara : the 
 first it was, and a very pretty one : the last I must beg to be ex- 
 cused from admitting. 
 
 We had a steep hill not far from this place, long, but not tedi- 
 ous, and so just the reverse of that sermon, Canning characterized 
 as "tedious, though not long." The road on both sides was bor- 
 dered with the most enchanting natural gardens of flowers of all 
 hues. Hesperides (and of any extent) for hedges, or instead of 
 
 them ! Colonel A gathered us some delicious flowers, and 
 
 our great barge on wheels looked as cheerful as the Russian treil- 
 laged cages in which ladies at St. Petersburg!! used to sit (I know 
 not if the fashion continues) in their drawing-rooms, playing at 
 summer and the soifth. 
 
 We drove on merrily, with our gallant escort galloping and 
 prancing by the side of the stage, the flags on their lances flutter- 
 ing gayly in the wind (and themselves all sarajjes and mustache, 
 showing only the point of a nose, and two dark eyes in addition), 
 and with our curious collection of articles within, such as roses 
 and revolvers, convolvuluses and cigars, books and bowie-knives, 
 escopetas and oranges, gunpowder and sugar-plums, fans, parasols, 
 and pistols. I forgot to mention how our kind Hanoverian house- 
 keeper loaded us with generous gifts of tea and sugar, and fruit, 
 and cakes, which she good-naturedly insisted on our taking. It 
 was rather perilous, however,, to have loose parcels in the vehicle, 
 as they were flung about in all directions ; and you stood a chance 
 now of having' a tea-canister in your eye ; now a huge packet of
 
 CORNWALL MINERS IN MEXICO. 175 
 
 sugar struck you on the nose ; and now the basket, but not the 
 oranges (these were acting the part of cannon-balls, and knocking 
 people about right and left), was on the point of trying to go down 
 your throat. 
 
 Frightful present dangers make one forget remoter perils ; and 
 the alarm occasioned by these active missiles, and also the serious 
 terror with which we contemplated our brave defenders, made us 
 think but little of robbers but this requires explanation assuredly. 
 It must be told that the passengers were superabundantly armed 
 they frequently declared no danger was to be apprehended in 
 consequence of their having such a heap of firearms among them, 
 from which I begged leave to differ. Now imagine an old " esco- 
 peta" loaded, and frequently pointed at your head during the mad 
 jumps of that lumbering and eccentric vehicle, that seemed play- 
 ing with an invisible skipping-rope, and constantly catching its 
 feet in it ; a large covey of pistols performing curious circuits in 
 the air, occasionally in the hands of their valiant owners, and 
 various other similar murderous instruments of defense, which 
 were enough to make your hair stand on end, considering the posi- 
 tion they placed themselves in with reference to your brains, during 
 the plungings and prancings of that wild-colt like coach. 
 
 At one of the "ventas" we took in a gentleman who looked like 
 the Tower of London on its travels, such an arsenal had he hung 
 round his belt. At the first glance you might have taken him for 
 the commander-in-chief of all the brigands in Mexico, but you 
 would have been widely mistaken. This was a most pacifically 
 disposed and pleasant English gentleman, Mr. G , a superin- 
 tendent of the far-famed Guanajuato mines, who had been in 
 Mexico about twenty years without losing a jot or particle of his 
 English manners, way of speaking, or appearance, although it is 
 by no means the existing fashion in Hyde Park, or even on the 
 Northwestern Railway, to hang your waist round with pistols, 
 and other such belligerent ornaments. He told us the mines of 
 Guanajuato (which place, we were told, the Cornwall miners who 
 work there pronounce invariably " Go-aud-a-quarter") have been 
 extraordinarily productive during the last year, they having yielded, 
 in 1849, 8,400,000 dollars, which is above half a million more 
 than they did last year. New mines have been opened, and the 
 improvements in the methods and machinery are said to be very 
 extensive. 
 
 Mr. G told me, on the whole, the preference was perhaps 
 
 to be given to native workmen over those from Cornwall, in con-
 
 176 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 sequence of the latter being so addicted to drinking, and to quar- 
 reling with one another at least in Mexico. Already round 
 Guanajuato there are more than a hundred mines, and nearly 
 eighty thousand workmen are employed. 
 
 When we arrived at Perote, I was rather terrified at the first 
 aspect of the meson; but presently reflected it was of course only 
 the mules' stables we saw, and I felt consoled for a brief space of 
 time ; but on descending from the diligence, what was my con- 
 sternation to find that those rough-looking stalls, which I was 
 rather compassionating the poor mules for having to inhabit, were 
 destined to be our apartments ! They were almost exactly in size 
 and every thing else like rudely-built loose horse-boxes, the chief 
 difference being that there were small beds instead of straw in 
 them, and a very little table fastened against the wall, with a 
 couple of mouldy-looking chairs. Window there was none of any 
 sort or kind. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rugged appearance and appointments of 
 our quarters, they gave us a very good dinner (after stoutly refusing 
 to let us have any thing unless we went to the public table which 
 I declined, and almost while still reiterating " Nada, nada ! no es 
 posible !" they brought it), and a very civil muchacfta waited on 
 us. All the plates and dishes at all the mesons we stopped at on 
 our way from Vera Cruz to Mexico, have the eagle and nopal (the 
 arms of Mexico) on them, and inform the hungry traveler, in very 
 conspicuous characters, that they belong to the service of the dili- 
 gencias generates, and all of them are made in busy England, ex- 
 pressly for this line. That sweet little island of ours, as we know, 
 likes to have a finger in every pie and pie-dish ! 
 
 We saw an immense conducta during our journey. A vast 
 number of mules were carrying silver from the mines to the coast. 
 It was a very gay, and pretty, and interesting sight. It seemed 
 as if there was a whole regiment of soldiers escorting the specie- 
 burdened rnules. 
 
 Perote is reckoned a sort of metropolis of the ladrones. It is 
 said the diligence has on several occasions been pillaged at the 
 very gates of this gloomy and wild-looking town. We came at a 
 very fortunate time. About a week before, a diligence had been 
 stopped and plundered, and the brigands were taken and suffered 
 capital punishment. This had, of course, struck terror into the 
 rest for the time, and, with a strong escort, we felt very secure, 
 except from the six-shooters and escopetas of our friends. 
 
 The specimen we had of the latter weapon might have figured
 
 GENERALS SCOTT AND SANTA ANNA. 177 
 
 in a museum, as an antique, with credit to itself, and less danger 
 to others, than loaded and in a loaded diligence : it looked horrible, 
 really, in the hands of a raw, inexperienced Spanish youth, who, 
 with his brother, had just arrived from Spain, to settle in Mexico 
 with some relation, I believe. It probably dated from about the 
 time of the great Spanish Armada. 
 
 It appeared to me they allow the diligencia travelers any 
 amount of dawdling-time that they require. Sometimes, when 
 the mules were all ready, the greater part of the passengers would 
 be lounging about with their cigars, keeping the rest of the "gentle 
 public" waiting : when it suited their pleasure, the agreeable sound 
 " vamos, caballeros" was heard, and, ere long, we were off. I 
 must confess, however, it is very likely at these times the stage 
 may have been a little before its time, and this was the reason the 
 " caballeros" were allowed to stretch their cramped limbs for a 
 little longer period. 
 
 I ought to have mentioned before, that we passed a fine-looking 
 hacienda, or quinta, that belonged to General Santa Anna. It 
 had a deserted, melancholy appearance ; but whether it still is his 
 property or no, I know not. It is between Vera Cruz and Jalapa ; 
 and, I believe, many other Juiciendas between these two places 
 are, or were, his. We also came by the famous battle-field of 
 Cerro Gordo. 
 
 The American whom I mentioned before (and who was a very 
 gentlemanlike, intelligent person, with very quiet manners, though 
 bristling with arms like a fortress) pointed out to us the field, on 
 which he had Ibught. He gave us an animated account of the 
 battle ; and so near the spot, and described viva voce, it was very 
 interesting. So well too did he tell his tale of war that we were fain 
 to shoulder our very parasols in martial sympathy. He told how 
 General Scott had cleared the passage through the Chapparal, 
 making a circuit of a few miles, and thus gaining the side of the 
 hill that looked to the northeast, the most easy of access, and 
 which it appeared, was not so well defended as the rest. The hill 
 has two peaks. 
 
 General Scott gained one, and the American forces charged 
 down the slope and up the steep in front of them, " even where 
 the deadliest of War's death-bolts showered" from the thundering 
 batteries of the foe. The battery was taken, and the cannons 
 played against the retreating Mexicans, who, broken, and disor- 
 dered, fled impetuously through the Chapparal. Santa Anna 
 with some difficulty eflected his escape. 
 
 H*
 
 178 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Cerro Gordo itself is a mere Indian village, of transparent-look- 
 ing cane huts. Paul Pry need not " drop in" to such dwellings 
 to see all that is going on in the household. 
 
 We passed by the ruins of a very fine stone bridge across the 
 river, near Plan del Rio, another assemblage of bamboo huts, 
 which was burned by Santa Anna on the advance of " Los Yan- 
 kees." This bridge, we were told, the Mexicans blew up, hoping 
 thus to stop General Scott's artillery. Others say, it was to hin- 
 der the passage of an American specie train, en route from Vera 
 Cruz. In six hours after this destruction was completed, Los 
 Yankees had, with their usual quickness and ability, made a capi- 
 tal road across the chasm, which not only answered their purpose 
 at the time, but which remains to answer that of ours, and all 
 other travelers ; for the sacrificed bridge has never been restored 
 by the Mexicanos. 
 
 Puente Nacional, formerly " Puenta del Rey," is in a savagely 
 beautiful glen, through which the river sparkles and dashes in its 
 passage to the Gulf. Rivers are very rare in Mexico, and there 
 are no large ones in the country. 
 
 I have said nothing yet of the Coffre di Perote. It is 13,514 
 feet high, and its crest is distinguished by a mass of rock, that is 
 shaped much like a chest, from which the mountain takes its 
 name. I did not very much admire this same Coffre di Perote : 
 what is it, compared with glorious, unmatched, unmatchable Ori- 
 zaba ? In Mexico you become quite difficile about your mount- 
 ains ; you pick and choose, select, reject. The ten-thousand-footer 
 on this side seems like a mere upstart mushroom of a mountain, 
 and the eight-thousand-feet-high hobble-de-hoy on that side is 
 really a ridiculous little molehill, a Tom Thumb on tiptoes, look- 
 ing tall with all its might, but a poor dwarf, after all. As to the 
 clouds upon it, they must be mere grovelers of clouds, very much 
 addicted to low company, to hover so much about it : mountain 
 indeed ! We will perhaps allow it to be something like the lofty 
 artificial garden-mounds in a Chinese picture, which the lady, 
 with her little club foot slightly raised, is going to step over with 
 such careless ease. 
 
 But now, Orizaba, come into court ; let us have a look at you. 
 Majestic Orizaba, thou art indeed magnificent ! What is there 
 in the world like thee ] standing alone, and thus in thy " single 
 blessedness" towering to thy mighty height of seventeen thousand 
 eight hundred feet ! (Some writers give it eighteen thousand feet. 
 It is said to be the only mountain of equal height on the earth
 
 MEXICAN SPURS. 179 
 
 that thus rises detached and apart from all others in its lofty soli- 
 tude, communing with only heaven). Thou " star-mountain," 
 with the dazzling summit of perpetual snows, so pure, and cold, 
 and bright, in the face of the burning sun of the tropics ! How 
 beautiful are the girdling forests of cedars and pines, and other trees 
 that adorn the giant sides of that consummate Orizaba. 
 
 At Puebla I was sorry not to see the inside of the Cathedral ; 
 which, to judge from the exterior, must be well worth a visit. It 
 is considered by the Pueblanos to be partly of angelic architecture 
 and well did the celestial stone-masons do their work. 
 
 Puebla was called on this account " Puebla da los Angeles." 
 The mortal workmen must have felt a very mortal jealousy of 
 these winged laborers ; but history says not whether in conse- 
 quence of diminished wages, there was any strike. Naturally (or 
 supernaturally), the immortal builders left their earthly competi- 
 tors far behind, both in the rapidity and perfection of their work. 
 This superstition is, of course, chiefly confined to the Indians. 
 
 We were too much charmed with the peace and quiet of our 
 hotel to stir out that evening. Certainly the luxury of not bound- 
 ing about like an India rubber ball, banging your head against 
 the hard coach, and wrenching your hands almost off" in the vain 
 effort to steady yourself, can only be appreciated by those who have 
 been tossing on the stormy surface of that great highway from 
 Vera Cruz for some days. Puebla is a very large town, and a 
 handsome one ; it has an immense population of spurs, cloaks, 
 sombreros, and rebosos (for we could see but little of the enveloped 
 wearers), which perpetually paraded the streets. 
 
 We saw some most beautiful spurs of wrought silver for 
 sale at one of the places we stopped at : the workmanship was 
 exquisite. The spurs were not quite the size of a wagon-wheel 
 (without the rim), but might, perhaps, on a pinch, serve in that 
 capacity. The would-be sellers of them brought them to the 
 window of the diligence, to tempt us. We admired them very 
 much not their size, but the extreme beauty of the designs, 
 which were most delicately executed upon them. All praised, 
 but none purchased : peradventure though a present of sharp spurs 
 might have been a good hint to the worthy gentlemen who some- 
 times deign to interest themselves in the temporal affairs of travel- 
 ers (and to relieve them from the troublesome charge of that plague, 
 baggage a good hint that they were welcome to use them and 
 make themselves scarce at their earliest convenience), yet it would 
 have hardly been worth our while to encumber ourselves with
 
 180 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 these huge articles, in order to lay them at the feet, and fix them 
 on the heels, of these gallant gentlemen. 
 
 The name of the place where those beauties were offered us for 
 sale has slipped my memory ; but well do I remember the road 
 which followed. Indeed, it was sufficient to have jogged any 
 memory in the world. To this day it is to me a mystery how we 
 ever arrived alive at this city of Montezuma. Instead of being a 
 road to this beauteous place, it would seem to be a succession -of 
 barriers and obstacles expressly designed to keep you from it. 
 
 When the tribulation of jolting had a little subsided, and peo- 
 ple began picking up their parcels and packages, a fresh trial await- 
 ed us : it was a sort of dust ordeal now that we had to pass 
 through. " Hombre ! que polvo ! dispense, V. Caballero, sirvase 
 V. levantar los vidrios." " Si, Senora, con mucho gusto," and up 
 went the windows on both sides, but soon to come down again, 
 for it was too hot, full as the carriage was, to keep them closed 
 long, Oh, what a dust was that ! Methinks I shall never hear 
 people talk, or see them write of the dust of their ancestors with 
 patience again it will seem so disrespectful to compare them to 
 such an unmitigated nuisance. Such dust, and such quantities of 
 it! Had it been gold dust, we might have become very valuable 
 freight before we drove into the court-yard of the Casa di Diligen- 
 cias here. As it was we might have had a good crop of Magveys 
 in the " coche," or any thing we pleased, for we had become quite 
 landed proprietors of the soil, so deeply spread was it over our 
 large light shawls and various habiliments. 
 
 Ilio Frio was the last breakfasting-place we stopped at, and 
 here it began to rain, while the travelers were devouring their rice 
 " guisados," " frijoles," and chocolate. Presently out rushed 
 
 Mr. in great, haste, leaving his " Almuerzo," with a huge 
 
 umbrella opened, and consternation in his countenance ; but it 
 was not to protect from the ram yonder muchacha with the black 
 streaming hair, nor certainly that decrepit old dame with the tat- 
 tered reboso. No : it was for the precious pistols exposed on the 
 box-seat (or rather what is called the pescante) to the storm ; 
 having carefully placed the big umbrella upon these sweet little 
 pets, he returned to his repast, with a clear conscience. The 
 welcome drops began to patter down fast ; however, soon it be- 
 came rather too much of a good thing, and the day became chilly 
 and clouded. It is said, though, at Hio Frio it is always cold, 
 and almost always windy ; it was both that morning. 
 
 I trembled for the view the " hermosissima vista" of Mexico
 
 CHARACTER OF THE MEXICANS. 181 
 
 and its vast valley of enchantment that glorious valley, which is 
 about a hundred miles in extent, and a whole world of beauty 
 and magnificence, and fertility in itself ! We had seen a splendid 
 sunrise, and had a grand view of Popocatapetl, this morning, but, 
 I'appetit vient en mangeant, and we were longing ,to gaze at sun- 
 down on the valley of valleys, with its stupendous guardian chain 
 of encircling mountains, its majestic capital, with a thousand 
 domes, and towers, and terraces, in the centre ; its lakes like glit- 
 tering sheets of silver ; and all the glories that those among our 
 fellow-passengers, who had been there before, described with great 
 and vehement enthusiasm and rapture. 
 
 In mentioning Popocatapetl, I ought not to have neglected the 
 other grand volcano, Iztaccihuatl, for they are not very far from 
 each, and do not affect a surly solitude like that sturdy old bache- 
 lor, Orizaba. " Iztaccihuatl," or the " White Lady," might 
 seem to be the fair and gia-cious bride of stately " Popocatapetl." 
 
 Not a word have I saidabout Malinche, another but a smaller 
 volcano. It is said to be about thirteen thousand feet high, and 
 is a very majestic mountain. The name is the Aztec alteration 
 for Marianna, the beauteous Indian wife of Cortez. Then, of 
 Cortez himself, and of his battle-fields, I have said naught, nor of 
 the wonderful Pyramid of Cholula, with its splendid and Titanic 
 terraces marked out against the sky that marvelous work of the 
 marvelous Aztecs. 
 
 One word of the people in this loveliest of all countries, or that 
 vast accumulation of sarapes and whiskers, which I presume to 
 be the people. They would appear, to judge by the outward man, 
 or rather the outward mantle and mustaches, to be a ferocious 
 and mysterious set of personages, but I believe they are neither 
 one nor the other ; a little treacherous, perhaps, and a little chol- 
 eric occasionally, fond of pronunciamentos, and pulque ; au reste, 
 full of contempt for all foreigners, whom they call disdainfully 
 " Los Gringos" (except their first cousins, the Spaniards, who are 
 nicknamed " Los Gachupinos"), and superlatively so, it strikes 
 me, as far as I have yet seen, for their conquerors the Yankees. 
 They that is at least the prouder and richer classes of Mexico, 
 appear generally to mention the'm with a kind of sneering shrug, 
 which seems to say " hombre ! we could have beaten them ; but, 
 only in short the stars were more in fault than we !" 
 
 I think the Americans have done good to the country and the 
 people in some respects. I should be inclined to believe that there 
 is now a greater craving for education, a deeper sense of its desir-
 
 182 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ableness and necessity, than before the war. I am told great num- 
 bers of young Mexicans of good family go to the United States 
 now to be educated, and they will come back, of course, with vast- 
 ly enlarged views, and developed powers of intellect. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Mexico when First conquered Cortez and Montezama The musical Gen- 
 tleman Mexican Plants and Flowers The Cathedral in the City of 
 Mexico Arrival of the Diligence at the Hotel The Passengers M. de 
 Zurutuza Appointments of the Hotel Mexican Pronunciamientos The 
 Mexican Lady and her Flowers The Form of Government best suited 
 for Mexico The Streets of Mexico The Passengers and Vehicles The 
 Shops Rebosos and Sarapes Picturesqu^Costume of the Mexicans. 
 
 IT was not possible to roll along the broad causeway leading to 
 Mexico that causeway made, if I am correctly informed,, by the 
 ancient Indians, and not think of the days of old, when along that 
 magnificent road marched the hosts of Cortez in their pride and 
 power the gallant Spanish chivalry while before their wondering 
 eyes rose the city of ten thousand enchantments, the unspeakably 
 beautiful Tenochtitlan, like the capital of the Eastern King of the 
 Genii, spreading over and covering its beautiful islands, with its 
 palaced streets, that swarmed with gay canoes its temples, its 
 groves, its floating gardens, its crystal seas, covered with barques 
 (those majestic lakes which are now so diminished and reduced), 
 and all its unimaginable beauties of art and nature all that un- 
 rivaled valley-world which, shut out from the rest of earth, scarcely 
 seems to belong to that earth fenced and walled round by its 
 glorious giant mountains, leaning their snowy-helmed foreheads 
 against the stars, and reflecting themselves in those silver waters, 
 as if they repented of leaving such a scene of enchantment, and 
 thus returned and haunted it ever. 
 
 What a vision must this have^been to the eyes of the Spanish 
 conqueror, arid those of his adventurous followers, when, too, they 
 saw the splendid procession advancing from the gates of the glorious 
 city to meet them the mighty monarch of the Aztecs, the im- 
 perial Montezurna, surrounded by his court, his richly appareled 
 chieftains ; in short, as says one of the old Spanish writers, about 
 two hundred nobles of the royal blood, " vestidos di librea con
 
 CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA. 183 
 
 grandes penachos conformes en la hechura y el color descal- 
 
 zos todos y sin levantar los ojos de la tierra, acompanamiento con 
 
 apariencias de procesion; y se vio a los lejos una gran tropa 
 
 de gente mejor adornada y de mayor dignidad en cuyo medio venia 
 Montezuma sobre los hombros de sus favorecidos, en unas andas de 
 oro brunido," &c. ! Montezuma himself, with "el semblante 
 magestuoso con algo de intencion. Su trage un man to de sutilisimo 
 algodon," finest cotton ! though there were no Manchester mills 
 in existence, and not a spinning jenny to help them. " Trahia 
 sobre si difierentes joyas de oro, perlas, y piedras preciosas en tanto 
 nurnero, que Servian mas al peso, que al adorno," &c. 
 
 This probably the Spaniards thought, and kindly in their own 
 minds resolved to relieve him of such a cruel weight, and any of 
 his friends and followers who were similarly inconvenienced. Then 
 on approaching nearer, they sa\w the mighty Emperor of the 
 Aztecs descend from his^fesplendent palanquin (canopied with 
 glittering and many-colored decorations of feather-work) and ad- 
 vance to meet the Spanish commander, leaning on the arms of 
 two of his relations, the Lords of Tezcuco and of Iztacpalapan. 
 
 In coming from Vera Cruz you do not enter Mexico by the 
 most beautiful approach, and we had unfavorable weather ; at 
 least the enormous volumes of dust, like the columns of sand in the 
 Desert, hid the greater part of the sublime prospect from our eyes. 
 Still, here and there we had glimpses of its almost supernatural 
 beauty, and of the majesty of those nfbuntains, which seem so 
 jealously to surround it, and shut in all that fairy land of loveliness, 
 that seems a " locked, and guarded, and a treasured thing." 
 Around those giant heights clung light fleecy clouds. As to the 
 exceeding enchantment of what even those glimpses revealed, it is 
 indescribable ; yet M. de Lamartine might do it justice (he only 
 has portrayed Constantinople in fitting, living words), or Eothen. 
 
 Every body seemed intensely delighted to be at last near this 
 Queen of Cities. One cigar-loving Mexican gentleman, who 
 seemed very pensive all day, and reduced by the awful shaking 
 and jolting, and the dust, and the after-storm of mire, to the merest 
 remains of a powder-puff, a jelly, an expiring whiff of tobacco, and 
 a splash of mud, suddenly picked himself up, and put himself to- 
 gether again, and began actually to sing for very joy (it was a very 
 quavering strain, I confess, as if the voice had not got over the 
 rough treatment it had received) : he was very like a musical box 
 tuned up and set a-going mechanically, for he never ceased this 
 strain for a moment the time was unaltered, the expression the
 
 184 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 same, or rather the non-expression ; and this long series of sliakes 
 continued, neither lower nor higher, quicker nor slower, uninterrupt- 
 edly to be poured forth till we stopped at the hotel. 
 
 I with my little party had been fortunate in one respect, for we 
 had had one side of the cache secured comfortably to ourselves. I 
 heard an amusing answer to a remark that was made one day 
 that our danger was greater from within than from without (with 
 a glance at the loaded blunderbusses), " No tieneV. cuidadoly.no 
 hay mucho peligro !" " Do not fear ; there's not much danger." 
 
 I admired exceedingly, as we drove along, the beautiful Arbol 
 de Peru, with its graceful branches, and some very singular cac- 
 tuses, called, I am told, organos from their remarkable resemblance 
 to the barrels of an organ. These were formed into extremely 
 beautiful hedges, most artistically arranged, so as to grow in the 
 shape of gigantic festoons, the tallest being very high. They 
 make a formidable fence too, thickly j*t with prickles, almost as 
 good, or as bad, as a chevaux de frise. There were some Brob- 
 dignagian aloes too (the Maguey), with leaves about a dozen feet 
 long. 
 
 In coming to the hotel, we drove past the majestic old cathedral, 
 situated in a most magnificent plaza, and another fine church, on 
 crutches, as it were, so was it propped and held up, while its huge 
 form seemed leaning over the street very threateningly. This was 
 the work of the sharp earthquake which had nearly destroyed the 
 city some years ago. People say, that, if it had lasted two minutes 
 longer, all Mexico would have toppled over. (So it really must 
 have been a little worse than our diligencia-quakes.) We saw 
 other traces and symptoms of that terrible visitor, as we rolled 
 heavily along, behind our handsome team of large powerful Yankee 
 horses, who quickly dragged us through the noble and populous 
 streets, over which, already, the shades of evening were beginning 
 to settle ; and soon our fortification on wheels rolled into the court- 
 yard of the Casa di Diligencias, and capitulated at discretion. 
 
 The doors were thrown open, we made a movement to get out 
 huge volumes of dust rolled out of the doors hidden awhile 
 1from mortal eyes and each other in these floating shrouds, we de- 
 scended like so many Apollos and Minervas from the clouds, and 
 still enwrapped in them. The living musical box, enveloped in 
 mystery, seemed suddenly to come to the end of its mechanical 
 melodies, and, clapping on its huge sombrero, gave a jump out of 
 the vehicle, that must have broken all the springs and works in its 
 body, and vanished. (Nota Bene. This same musical box was
 
 M. DE ZURUTUZA. 185 
 
 pleasing and well-bred, and a very good specimen of a polished 
 Mexican.) The different passengers evaporated different ways, 
 and we found waiting to congratulate us on our safe arrival, by 
 the side of the diligence, our friends Lord M. Kerr, and Mr. P , 
 the latter buttoned up to the chin, not without some reason, for 
 the evening air was chilly ; and I have found since, the mornings 
 and evenings are a little coldish in Mexico at least at this time 
 of the year, yet not assuredly nearly so much so as in the spring ia 
 England. In the day-time it is quite warm. 
 
 I found Mexico so fashionably full, that we could get no room 
 of any sort or kind at the Casa de Bazar, where I had intended to 
 go (it having been recommended to me), but we are very comfort- 
 able here. This hotel is the property of the Diligence-king of 
 Mexico, who is master of about a hundred or more, I suppose. 
 M. de Zurutuza is immensely rich, and has lately, I understand, 
 purchased a magnificent Qfate, for which he gave an enormous 
 price, but he still keeps on his hotel. Of course the superintend- 
 ence of it is entirely given up to a Prime Minister, who administers 
 the affairs with great zeal and discretion. 
 
 There is a capital housekeeper too, who showed us a splendid 
 suite of apartments the other day (M. de Zurutuza being away) 
 which are reserved for the proprietor. They are luxuriously fur- 
 nished : some are hung with pictures, others with very fine French 
 and English engravings. There is a superb piano-forte there, ou 
 which we were graciously invited by ihefemme de charge to play 
 whenever we liked. 
 
 Mr. called the day after we arrived. He apologized, as 
 
 he ought to do, for having no pretty little pronunciamientos to 
 show us just at this moment, which seems extraordinary, as there 
 is, it is well-known, usually a running revolution going on in 
 Mexico perhaps they are taking breath a little, after the Amer- 
 ican war. 
 
 This national sport is generally not quite so dangerous as steeple- 
 chases or fox-hunting, and far less so than bull-fighting. It is de- 
 scribed as an amusing little divertissement enough, and the pop- 
 gunning and cannonading must have a lively and festive effect. 
 
 Altogether, the political horizon seems to be very cairn and clear 
 just now, though there was a very pretty and promising little re- 
 bellion got up at Puebla about ten days ago, which was blighted 
 in the bud, and one here about the same time, that burst like a 
 bubble, or a " biler" on the Mississippi. The one at Puebla broke 
 forth rather tamely, and came to an untimely end it committed
 
 186 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 suicide, perhaps, with a precocious squib, or an inconsiderate 
 cracker. 
 
 It really seems to be the native land of revolutions, there having 
 been about three hundred and thirty, large and small, since the 
 War of Independence. Here the doctrine of compensation is ap- 
 parent ; people can not be allowed to live in such a paradise for 
 nothing. We may go on and enjoy our jog-trot peace and quiet 
 at home in our misty little island ; we have to keep our windows 
 shut to exclude the fog and chilling dropping rain : it would be 
 hard to have them broken open by drizzling cannon balls, and 
 rather expensive too, though glass is cheap. We want a good 
 roof over our heads, to prevent rude Boreas from visiting us ; to 
 have it summarily blown off by a shell would be a double hardship 
 in our bitter clime. So we have the blessings of order, as main- 
 tained by our metropolitan and rural police ; and of britannia 
 warming-pans and coal-scuttles : and the non-blessings of fog, ice, 
 snow, clouds, east winds, and unripe gooseberries. They have 
 glorious suns, and balmy airs, and mighty mountains, and dazzling 
 stars, gold and purple skies, a silver earth, and insurrections of 
 every pattern and species, a large assortment always on hand, 
 agreeably diversified by numerous little stabbings and killings, by 
 undisciplined amateurs ; for the regular promtnciamiento must be 
 quite a profession in Mexico, by all accounts, and is conducted on 
 principles of high art. 
 
 However, it is liable to abuses, as every thing else is, and they 
 say if the little boys want to rob an apple-stall they get up a small 
 pi'onunciamientito, and call, " Viva General Santa Anna," or 
 any body else, to strike terror into the soul of the Manzana-seller, 
 and, as they hope, to make President Herrera shake in his chair, 
 and then they rush on to the charge, and divide their apples of 
 discord in peace. Such a Brummagem pronunciamicnto as that, 
 it would not be worth while to see ; but as there are so many En- 
 glish and foreigners in the city, the Mexicans really should get up 
 scientifically this characteristic little national spectable for their 
 amusement and edification though, perhaps, a spontaneous growth 
 is better : forced, like early asparagus, these interesting little in- 
 surrections might be possibly insipid. 
 
 Talking of revolutions, I was told a tale of a lady at Puebla, 
 who had some beautiful flowers on her balcony, and who neglected 
 them during the civil war, a week ago (we came through as it 
 was dying off, I believe, but we were rather sleepy and did not 
 find it out at all). She left them for nearly three days, and then,
 
 GOVERNMENT FOR MEXICO. 187 
 
 afraid that they would be quite spoiled, in spite of the peppering 
 balls that fell round faster than usual (the popular tempest, just 
 going to clear off perhaps for a few weeks or so, was expending its 
 Jast strength fitfully), out she stepped, on her fair balcony, armed 
 with a watering-pot not so bad a weapon after all, if it could 
 have held enough and proceeded to refresh the unlucky flowers, 
 some of which had had their heads carried off by bullets, while 
 several were bearing scars like the very flowers of chivalry. She 
 watered them pretty fast, you may be sure, but before she had 
 done, bang came a great ball, and cut in two the body of a flower- 
 pot. That was enough ; away ran the lady at once, th&king 
 that the flowers had better be killed than herself. 
 
 Some contemplative persons would say the people would be 
 happier than they are now, under a mild, paternal, unmistakable 
 despotism, and it is rumored that the army and the church would 
 have no objection to furnish them with the said despotism on rea- 
 sonable terms. But then each individual general and priest would 
 patriotically wish to serve the public in the capacity of autocrat, 
 and take the trouble off his fellow-creatures' hands. But I am 
 against all plans of this sort, and any thing that might disturb 
 that just equilibrium of compensation I have adverted to. The 
 people would be too happy, positively ; they would all turn to 
 musical boxes, like my diligence friend, and go whistling and piping 
 away all their lives, too full of ecstasy, perhaps, to work or think 
 crazed with very bliss in this Eden of the earth. 
 
 If you were to give them the mighty Nicholas, and his firm, 
 strong, temperate government for such it is the consequences 
 might be frightful. A whole people, perhaps, light-headed from 
 very light-heartedness, too happy for any thing ; a nation in a long 
 delirium of joy ; intoxicated with felicity. Besides, they would be 
 the envy of the whole world (with their climate, their country, all 
 their advantages, and no daily battles), and thus hated of all. No ; 
 they ought to have a little share of the trials of mortals, or the in- 
 habitants of the rest of this earth would feel it unfair indeed ! The 
 Presidentship, held for a short term of years, must be a fruitful 
 source of jealousy and quarreling in general, except in the United 
 States ; but they are an extraordinary people, there, and it will 
 not do to step in a giant's footsteps, unless you are somewhere 
 about the same size, and with a nearly equal length of limb ; un- 
 less this is the case, there is a great chance of the one who makes 
 the attempt coming upon his nose. 
 
 I should think that the good people here (who, without being
 
 188 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 as capable of self-government as the calm, thoughtful, shrewd, 
 resolute Yankees, are intelligent and sensible) would be far happier 
 if they would first take care to get a very good President, and then 
 take care to keep him as long as he lives ; and instead of changing 
 state-postillions at relay-stations only a short way apart go on (as 
 Eothen, I think, says of marriage) Vetturini-wise along to the end 
 of their journey at all events as far as he can take them and 
 the next generation may find a new one. 
 
 The streets here look wonderfully gay, almost always, like Naples 
 on a holiday, so crowded, and so brilliant, though the people are 
 generally, I think, more serious and taciturn, from the little I have 
 seen of them, than the Neapolitans. But there are such multitudes 
 of them, and such quantities of carriages of various kinds, from the 
 London Brougham or the Paris britska to the most charming orig- 
 inal, aboriginal, indescribable, huge nondescripts, drawn by aston- 
 ished looking mules, that do not so much seem to be trying to drag 
 them, as attempting to race away from them with might and 
 main, utterly scared ; * and they really look as if they were about 
 to topple over, and crush every thing near them. Gare! get out 
 of the way, ye very mountains, for the runaway old globe seems 
 taking a gallop a world on wheels. 
 
 In the days when Montezuma or Guatamozin was emperor, the 
 Lord Mayor of Tenochtitlan might have gone to his Guildhall in 
 such an awful equipage, in his full dress, thatched all over with 
 feathers, and with a couple of Aztec Gogs and Magogs standing 
 behind as footmen. However comfortable and convenient as a car- 
 riage, a Brougham or Clarence may be, it looks almost like a dapper 
 piece of impertinence by these time-honored, venerable vehicles. 
 But, Shades of all the Aztecs, what comes there ? A New York 
 omnibus, as large as life. Retire, gentlemen shades, at once, as 1 
 should have done, from the window, had I had one, and had I seen 
 the sight from there. As it was, it was from the glass of Mr. 
 's handsome English Brougham that 1 beheld it, and alto- 
 gether I could hardly believe in Aztec chiefs or Indian emperors 
 any more that day. An omnibus with " Fourth Avenue" on it. 
 
 The streets, as I have said, are the gayest in the world, per- 
 haps. They are generally very broad and clean. The portales 
 are charming inventions : you have a wide corridor supported on 
 handsome stone arches, with very brilliant shops on the solid side, 
 
 * Since I wrote this I have seen the same idea in Mr. Taylor's charming 
 book, "El Dorado:" he must forgive the apparent plagiarism. It may, 
 perhaps, serve to show how exact was his description.
 
 FRUIT-SELLERS. 189 
 
 and the spaces between the supporting pillars are gayly filled with 
 a vast variety of stalls, where you may buy little trays, playthings, 
 dazzling sarapes of all colors, flowing rebosos, mangas, tortillas ad 
 libitum, tilmas (Indian cloaks), dulces (sweetmeats), pictures, little 
 figures of saints, prints, shoes, and many other miscellaneous articles. 
 The fruit-sellers exhibit their tempting piles of zapotes, cocoa 
 nnts, and all sorts of fruit, from the Tierra Caliente, at the 
 corners, and they display too an immense number of glasses and 
 cups filled with cool and refreshing beverages to arrest the steps 
 of the passer-by, heated, perhaps, by walking in the sun, before he 
 came under those delicious places of refuge from sun, wind, or 
 rain ; the first the most frequently making those portales desirable 
 promenades. As I have seen them do at Naples, in the busy and 
 stirring Strada Toledo, so in Mexico do the various tradesmen 
 constantly pursue their occupation in the open air <that is to say, 
 open here save and except the umbrageous shelter of the covered 
 porticoes. Of course, here are to be seen innumerable rebosos and 
 sarapes, kaleidoscopically diversified in both patterns and colors ; 
 a marvelous and almost endless variety of both, and also in the 
 manner of draping them about the person. Look at that little 
 urchin* of perhaps six summers, with about a mile of glittering 
 sarape wound around him, like a long, huge shining snake wreath- 
 ing about his small person ; not, however, having caught that 
 strutting little six-year-old in its gleaming coils, but being scorn- 
 fully clutched and grasped and scotched (not killed for it looks 
 living in its spiral, serpentining grace as living as the snake 
 wound round Laocoon, which is saying a very great deal !) and, in 
 short, tossed and thrown about at his will and pleasure ; and hmo 
 he stalks, how he attitudinizes, how he haughtily paces along 
 (stepping like a young panther) with his splendid prey and prize ; 
 how he gives the brilliant folds another proud toss over his shoul- 
 ders and methinks now he has chosen his fashion and mode and 
 manner of wearing the magical sarape, for ever and aye uncopied 
 and uncopiable. A Mexican and his sarape seem one and indi- 
 visible, like the ancient Centaurs and their horses inseparable 
 and the same. The whole dress is very graceful ; what a horror 
 is a swallow-tailed coat in comparison, and the crown of all the 
 hideousness of modern European dress the tight black hat ; how 
 frightful is it by the picturesque sombrero, with its delicate silver 
 cords and hanging tassels. They sometimes have the cord 
 fastened by some little silver wrought bird or animal, exquisitely 
 finished.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Cathedral of Mexico The Grand Plaza The Palace Importunity of 
 Beggars Site of the Cathedral once occupied by the Grand Aztec Tem- 
 ple Description of the Temple by old Spanish Writers The Interior of 
 the Cathedral The Calendar Stone of the Aztecs The Stone of Sacri- 
 fices The Aztec Priests and their Victims The Idol worshiped The 
 National Museum Colossal Statue of Charles IV. of Spain Armor of 
 Cortez and Pedro de Alvarado " El Salto de Alvarado" Ancient Map 
 of Mexico Beauty of the City The Shops and their Multiplicity of 
 Articles Mexican Horse Furniture Mexican Houses The Plaza del 
 Toros. 
 
 We startecMo see the magnificent cathedral, wearing as usual, 
 
 our gringos bonnets ; Mr. P told us we should haply not be 
 
 admitted in that head-dress ; but heing already accoutred, and 
 inclined to think he was possibly in error, we continued on our 
 way, resolved to try our fate. 
 
 When we came into the Grand Plaza, a little doubt and hesi- 
 tation came over us. What streams of rebosos and mantillaS were 
 going in and out of the building not one bonneted head any 
 where ! Should we go on or turn back ? One must have some- 
 thing on the head simply unbonneting would not do. In de- 
 liberating mentally on the difficulty, and giving it due earnest 
 consideration, I was disposed to believe, that our wearing bonnets, 
 or no bonnets, then and there, would scarcely be regarded in the 
 light of an ecclesiastical subject, or occasion an ecclesiastical con- 
 troversy ; that Protestants like us, if once allowed the enjoyment 
 and free use of our abominable heretical heads, might, without 
 doubt, put any thing upon them we chose-; and that if an Inqui- 
 sition had still existed, and we had been given over to its tender 
 mercies, the bonnet question would have easily been put to an 
 end, by the heads that wore them being "put down" at once by 
 the inflexible Sir Peter Laurie of that stern tribunal. So the 
 bonnets were retained, and we leisurely and calmly crossed the 
 stately Grand Plaza, one of the finest I ever beheld in Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, or America. 
 
 The whole of its vast space is uninterruptedly open, save by the 
 twofold avenue of orange-trees in 'front of the cathedral. The 
 noble equestrian statue of Charles IV. at one time stood in the 
 centre, but, since the Independence war, it has been taken from
 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF MEXICO. 191 
 
 its high position, and placed in the court-yard of the Museum, 
 where, in these revolutionary days, it might have a select society 
 of statues of deposed kings to accompany it, and have a friendly 
 ride together. The splendid national palace covers nearly the 
 whole of the eastern side of the Plaza (it has a princely frontage 
 of five hundred feet) ; while the vast cathedral, with a very hand- 
 K>me church contiguous to it, which has a beautifully sculptured 
 front, occupies the northern side : it is said they are going to pull 
 this church down. Around the other sides a Cortal runs, whose 
 noble arches exhibit an immense profusion of heterogeneous articles 
 for sale. 
 
 We were assailed by many beggars and leperos near the Cathe- 
 dral. I had not then learnt the recognized and proper method of 
 dismissing them, if you are not inclined to encourage their laziness, 
 by giving them any reales or quartillos. This is by saying, 
 " Perdone V. por Dios," or " Perdone V. Hermano ;" but I im- 
 provised a very efficient substitute in my own sturdy Anglo-Saxon, 
 which, after a few repetitions, I can recommend as answering the 
 purpose thoroughly. " Pray go away, I've nothing for you," a 
 thousand signs and gesticulations, to make me understand he wants 
 money. " You had better go away," he mutters something : 
 looks perplexed ; " Don't stand there in the pathway ^ he can 
 stand the strange gibberish no longer, and moves away discomfited. 
 The effect is very lasting, too ! I don't think the same Upcro 
 ever attacked me again. They seemed to have a sort of fear that 
 the heretic might have been pronouncing some dreadful words of 
 sorcery or witchcraft, and in short, that they had better avoid any 
 further communication. 
 
 How beautiful the Plaza looked that morning in the glorious 
 sunshine, with its picturesque crowds of monks, priests (with their 
 enormous shovel hats, over the spacious brims of which you might 
 almost drive a carriage and four), soldiers, country people, vailed 
 senoras, Indians, formats in chains, horsemen, laden mules, &c. ! 
 It was impossible not to be struck with the scenes and living 
 actors grouped and lounging about it. 
 
 The cathedral is built upon the site of a portion of the ruins of 
 the grand Aztec temple, that vast pyramidal edifice which was 
 supposed to be founded by Ahuitzotli. This was the enormous 
 idol-temple, which so astonished the Spanish conquerors by its size 
 and magnificence. Its various piles of buildings, and courts, and 
 sanctuaries, and halls, occupied, according to their statement*, the 
 whole of the ground on which the cathedral now stands ; and in
 
 192 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 addition, part of the Plaza, and even the circumjacent streets ! 
 The old writers expatiated on the wonderful assemblage of five 
 hundred dwellings within its inctosure on the mighty hall con- 
 structed of stone and lime, and adorned with dreadful serpent- 
 forms, writhing and hideous, in stone. There were four huge 
 gates, facing the four cardinal points of the great court, paved 
 with stone ; there were grand flights of stone stairs, and splendid 
 sanctuaries, which were dedicated to the dreadful god of war. 
 Then there was a vast square for their mystic dances, and educa- 
 tional establishments for the priests, and "genteel Ladies' Semina- 
 ries" for the priestesses. 
 
 There was a temple of mirrors (which for the sake of their 
 studies we should, perhaps, hope was not adjoining the latter 
 structures), and another of fair shells, and a frightful and terrible 
 one, whose door was a giant serpent's great gaping mouth (possibly 
 to frighten the priestesses away from the pavilion of looking-glasses 
 next door quien sale?) Then there were beauteous fountains, 
 where consecrated waters glittered in the sun, making sweet 
 music ; a'nd richly-colored bright starry birds, such as abound in 
 radiant Mexico, kept for sacrifice : and there was the house 
 especially designed for the emperor's devotions ; and the lovely 
 bowers and gardens for the " holy flowers" the scarlet manitas, 
 I suppose (the centre of which is formed like a hand with the 
 fingers slightly bending inward), and, terrible transition from the 
 fairest and sweetest things in nature to all that is most ghastly 
 and loathsome there, too, stood the grinning Towers of Skulls. 
 
 Yes ! there rose the horrible skull-towers, actually built of that 
 portion of the skeletons of the victims sacrificed to their monster 
 idols. In that stupendous temple, they tell us, chanted night and 
 day, at least five thousand priests in the service of their barbarous 
 false divinities, who were anointed three times a day with per- 
 fumes of the most precious and costly description. They tell us, 
 too, that the most devout of these priests were dressed in garments 
 of sable hue, their flowing locks stained deeply, with some sort of 
 ink, and their persons carefully bedaubed with a rather curious 
 kind of cosmetic, made of the ashes of burnt scorpions and spiders. 
 Whether this was done to improve or disfigure, I know not : if it 
 had been in Tierra Caliente, I should have thought it was, per- 
 haps, a cunning " dodge" to keep musquitoes away. 
 
 Imagine their horrible god of war, Megitli, being born with a 
 shield in one hand, an arrow in the other, a great plume of pea- 
 green feathers on his villainous pale, his visage dyed a sort of true
 
 MEXICAN FUNERAL. 193 
 
 or garter blue, and his left leg adorned with not the insignia of 
 the Order of the same Garter but with a luxuriant crop of 
 feathers : the monster's colossal statue thus represents him. It is 
 supposed that somewhere about fifty thousand human victims 
 were sacrificed every year in Mexico alone to their different idol 
 demons ! The knowledge of this takes away very much from 
 one's interest in the Aztecs, and even (less justly) one's compassion 
 for poor ill-used Montezuma. Surely they must have been a 
 cruel people originally to have had so cruel a religion, but, of 
 course, individually, may be entirely exonerated from such a 
 charge. 
 
 The cathedral covers an immense space of ground, has two 
 lofty white ornamented towers, and its interior is inconceivably 
 rich and splendid. There is a very costly balustrade, that occu- 
 pies the centre of the church, which is composed of a metal 
 brought from China, through the Philippine Islands. It is called 
 from this circumstance, " Metal de China :" it is supposed to be a 
 composition of brass and silver, and is very massive. It is said to 
 have cost an immense sum, as it was actually paid for by the 
 weight in hard dollars, and some say it contains so much gold, 
 that a rich silversmith in Mexico offered the bishop a new silver 
 rail of exactly equal weight, in exchange lor the old metal ! 
 
 On the hallowed pavement of the cathedral stood or knelt a 
 large number of persons, and we discovered that a funeral service 
 was going on there. Beside the coffin on the bier, which was 
 placed rather near the entrance, were priests chanting dismally 
 and very nasally. A number of lighted candles were disposed 
 round the coffin holy water was thrown on it, and soon after 
 the corpse was carried out. It appeared to be the funeral of a 
 poor person, as the mourners were miserably attired. Subsequent- 
 ly, and with only a brief interval, another coffin was brought in, 
 and the same ceremony repeated. The nave, with its arch rest- 
 ing on pillars of a partly Gothic character, and the high altar at 
 the extremity, with its magnificent pile, resplendent with burnish- 
 ed gold and solid silver, and costly marbles, formed a very impos- 
 ing spectacle. The many shrines along the side aisles were adorn- 
 ed with difierent pictures, and on all sides were beheld the glitter 
 of gold and the pomp of almost inexhaustible treasure. Some of 
 the railings and the lamps are said to be of solid silver. There 
 was a long row of female penitents kneeling at the altar, with irn- 
 ineiise lighted candles in their hands ; they turned round and 
 stared our bonnets entirely out of countenance, smiling as they did 
 
 I
 
 194 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 so, and I am afraid nudging one another ; we relieved our poor 
 shamefaced bonnets from their embarrassment, by removing them 
 quickly from their gaze. 
 
 After quitting the interior of the cathedral we threaded our 
 way among the Senoras and Senoritas, leperos, rancheros, Indians 
 and begging children (who are terrible little torments in Mexico, 
 and pursue you sometimes mounted upon each other's shoulders, 
 like the posturing Arabs), and went to see on the outer wall of the 
 building the famous calendar stone of the Aztecs. It is fastened on 
 the wall, and is a very large circular stone of basaltic porphyry, 
 covered with curious hieroglyphical figures, by which the Aztecs 
 used to designate the different months of the year, and which it is 
 thought ibrmed a perpetual calendar. This immense sculptured' 
 stone, with its astronomical signs, gives one a more favorable idea 
 of the people than the horrible idolatries I have spoken of before. 
 
 We have lately been to see the National Museum, > which is 
 
 extremely interesting. Mr. D was good enough to be our 
 
 cicerone. 
 
 Let me give the reader a slight idea of the dreadful Stone of 
 Sacrifices, which, however, at once puts to flight all the better 
 opinions that the great calendar might have induced one to form 
 of the ancient lords of the land. It was upon this that their hid- 
 eout human sacrifices were performed, those with which the great 
 Temple of ancient Tenochtitlan was so fearfully disgraced and de- 
 filed. This stone is in excellent preservation, and bears its silent 
 but eloquent and terrible testimony to the horrors and barbarities 
 of their so called religious rites and ceremonies. It has a hollow 
 in the centre, into which was inserted a piece of jasper, and upon 
 this were stretched the miserable victims, while their hearts were 
 deliberately cut out by the pitiless priests. There are little canals 
 or grooves, which slant toward the edge, for carrying off the blood 
 of the unhappy sufferer. Hard by is the hideous idol's shrine, in 
 whose honor these detestable sacrifices were performed. The ex- 
 tracted palpitating heart was laid at the grotesque monster's feet, 
 after being inspected by the high priest, and subsequently intro- 
 duced into his open mouth. The tongue projected ; and in the 
 hollow thus made, the revolting offering was thrust, being pushed 
 in with a spoon of gold by the chief priest. 
 
 We are told that the unfortunate wretches were held down by 
 
 six priests, while the appalling operation was performed. The 
 
 collars have been preserved (and were shown to us) which they 
 
 put on the necks of the helpless victims to keep them quiet, while
 
 . THE IDOL WORSHIPED. 195 
 
 the abominable murderers " stole their hearts away," in this most 
 atrocious fashion. Alas ! to think there was no ether and no 
 chloroform in those days not that those merciless demons would 
 have used it, though. 
 
 During the ghastly tragedies above mentioned, those half dozen 
 assistant executioners, it appears, were wont to be clad in red gar- 
 ments, with waving crests of green feathers on their heads ; in 
 their ears were hung rings of green and gold, and blue stones 
 were cunningly fastened in the upper lips. What beauties must 
 they have looked ! They had actually devised a costume more 
 outrageously ugly than that of our parish beadles, or even than 
 the old Windsor uniform. 
 
 After the devoted hearts had been extracted (the poor victims 
 would have found it very difficult to retaliate on their tormentors 
 the heartless barbarians !) they cut oft' the heads of the unfortu- 
 nates, and used them in adding to the Tower of Skulls ; then they 
 devoured some portions of the bodies, and consumed the remainder, 
 or flung it to some of the wild animals that were confined and 
 kept in the palace precincts. Some speak of that foul idol as a 
 goddess ; what a vile representative of a Queen of Hearts ! 
 
 After that sight I shall not scowl again at a New York omni- 
 bus, or any other evidence of human progress and civilization. I 
 should not feel shocked not much if I saw that horrible old 
 gaping idol thrust into a modern deal packing-case (supposing it 
 were less huge), and addressed, 
 
 " To MoNTEZTJMA AND Gt'ATAMOZIN, EsQS., 
 
 In the SHADES (of the Cypresses), 
 
 Chapultepec Gardens. 
 Per omnibus, 
 To be left till called for. 
 
 If the case were directed to those sanguinary priests, it would 
 be asking the omnibus to go a little too much out of its way to 
 leave it for them. 
 
 The idol in question is the hugset and most hideous of all the 
 abominable objects scattered round the great sacrificial stone, he- 
 terogeneous combinations of human figures, with those of animals 
 and reptiles. The presiding genius of the place this horror of 
 horrors the Aztec god of war rejoices in the euphonious name 
 of Queatzalcoatl (which sounds somewhat like the quacking of a 
 duck, and sometimes like quizzical), is about fourteen feet high, 
 with four faces, and pairs of arms and legs in proportion. (I hope 
 I have not confounded this with the other respected gentleman,
 
 196 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. . 
 
 Megitli, and that in reality this old " quizzical" is the god of the 
 air). His chasmy mouth seems angrily yawning for its awful ac- 
 customed banquet. One almost felt inclined to pin a paper, in 
 mockery and revenge, deaf-and-dumb beggar fashion, to its breast, 
 with " starving" written thereon. 
 
 The remainder of the abominations scattered on the pavement 
 around, were, some of them like Chinese inventions of deformity, 
 and others peculiar, I think, to Aztec conceptions ; such as ser- 
 pents in a full dress of feathers, and other incongruities. Queat- 
 zalcoatl might be presented to the Peace Congress, methinks, as a 
 very fair representation and embodiment of the terrible genius of 
 war. 
 
 These hateful and yet painfully interesting relics of antiquity, 
 are collected in the court-yard of the Museum, and railed round. 
 We were admitted, however, inside the fence, and so had an ex- 
 cellent view of them. In the centre of this court-yard stands the 
 famous colossal equestrian statue of Charles IV., executed by the 
 Mexican sculptor, Tolsa. It is very highly praised by Humboldt, 
 and in general is said to be the finest work of the kind in the New 
 World. It is of bronze. The horse (modeled from an Aridalusian 
 charger, I believe) I could not admire : it looked clumsy, I thought, 
 and without any symmetry. It has spirit, however, and its royal 
 rider looks animated and life-like. The attitude is fine and strik- 
 ing, and altogether it is a very noble work. Lord M. Kerr took 
 a capital sketch of it. 
 
 In the interior of the Museum we saw many interesting remains 
 of the ancient Indian possessors of the country, and also mementos 
 of the earlier Spanish race. Here are preserved the coats of mail 
 of the great Cortez and of Alvarado. Cortez, judging from his 
 armor helmet, cuishes, and breastplate must have been a man 
 of about the height of the Duke of Wellington (a height much in 
 fashion for heroes in all ages), and of a powerful frame. Pedro de 
 Alvarado, who performed the celebrated leap, on the far-famed 
 night which obtained the melancholy name of the Noche Triste, 
 apparently was slighter and rather taller than his great chief. 
 The measure of this wonderful leap is still shown on a walk near 
 the spot, while the fosse, crossed by a little bridge (it is, however, 
 I believe, filled up now), retains the denomination of " El Salto de 
 Alvarado." 
 
 This Salto took place on the 1st of July, 1520, when the Span- 
 ish invaders were compelled to retreat from Mexico to the heights 
 of Tepeyayac. On this mournful and memorable occasion Cortez
 
 "EL SALTO DE ALVARADO." 197 
 
 commanded the troops to march in silence. The vanguard was 
 led by the intrepid and invincible Sandoval : the valiant Pedro de 
 Alvarado brought up the rear. It was indeed a melancholy night 
 a nochc triste in every sense. The rain poured down in almost 
 sheets of water ; the heavens were obscured by black clouds ; the 
 splendid rnoon and stars of Mexico were invisible all was quiet 
 the dreary echoes of the splashing rain alone drowned the measured 
 steps of the retreating Spaniards. A wooden bridge, to enable 
 them to traverse the moats or canals, was borne along by a num- 
 ber of the soldiers, and on they went, full of determination and 
 energy, under their renowned leaders. The first canal was passed 
 in safety the hostile sentinels, who guarded it, were overpowered ; 
 but the sound of the almost momentary struggle had aroused one 
 or more of the watchful priests. The consecrated trumpets were 
 loudly blown " To arms !" was the cry ; and the suddenly awak- 
 ened city sprang from its peaceful slumber. The retreating forces 
 of Cortez were rapidly hemmed in, and surrounded by water and 
 land. They had just reached the second canal, and there the 
 hideous conflict raged fearfully : the canal was literally bridged 
 over with dead bodies, and along them the rear guard passed. 
 Cortez performed prodigies of valor, and poor Alvarado of jump- 
 ing ; yet not against him be this recorded. Alone by chance on 
 the border of the third canal to which he had fought his way, 
 with intrepid courage, his horse being killed, and himself encircled 
 by merciless enemies (perhaps with the pleasing idea of Queatzal- 
 coatl before him) against whom it was hopeless for him to contend 
 single-handed, he, with prompt decision, planted his lance firmly 
 in the bottom of the canal, and lightly leaning his weight against 
 it, sprang into the air, and vaulted over with an agile bound safely 
 to the opposite shore, leaving the Indians gaping and gazing with 
 uncontrollable admiration and wonder at the tremendous feat. A 
 contemporary author says, when they beheld this surprising leap 
 they ate earth by handfuls. To bite the dust, it appears, was to 
 express approbation in those days a disagreeable mode, we should 
 think, of elaborating a bravo. How expensive a way it would be 
 in California ! (Had they had Jenny Lind in those days, small 
 landed proprietors would have eaten their whole estates bodily.) 
 But the reader will be tired of "Alvarado of the Leap," whose 
 leap I have certainly not skipped over. 
 
 Mr. D pointed out to us, among other things, the fine map 
 
 of Ancient Mexico, which was actually given by Montezmna to 
 Cortez. There was a vast assemblage of antiques on every side
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Indian idols, amulets, and ornaments (mostly cut in obsidian, I 
 believe). Many of the idols and figures bear a striking resemblance 
 to Egyptian images. 
 
 Among ancient curiosities were some modern ones eastern 
 mirrors and Chinese nondescripts, and some marvelously well-ex- 
 ecuted figures, made of rags by the modern Mexicans. An old 
 woman, who is dying they say, is the only person (except a daugh- 
 ter of hers, whom she has taught) who knows how to make them 
 now. There are wax ones that are also clever, but they are very 
 common, and not to be compared to those of this "Ragged School" 
 of Art. 
 
 *At one end of the room there was a little plant of the manita 
 flower ; there are but three trees of the Arbol de las Manitos 
 (Cheirostemon platanifoliuni), I am informed, in Mexico : it 
 grows to a considerable size. Two are to be found in the Botan- 
 ical Gardens, and one is in the Toluca Mountains. 
 
 I was introduced in the Museum to an English gentleman, who 
 has lately arrived here from a sojourn of two years in Siberia a 
 voluntary exile. He then left Kamtschatka in a Russian merchant 
 vessel, visited Polynesia, and subsequently the interior of South 
 America. He had just come from the western coast of Mexico, 
 and intends going from Vera Cruz by the next packet, on his way 
 home. What an extensive and interesting tour ! 
 
 After the stillness and seclusion of the Museum, and the grim 
 company of so many grinning idols and dusty relics of the past, the 
 gay streets, overflowing as usual with pedestrians, horsemen, and 
 carriages, seemed doubly exhilarating and amusing ; not that I did 
 not appreciate those memorials of the olden time, and wish there 
 were many more of them, unspoiled and unshattered : for well 
 says the old Mexican, Ant. de Gama, " Quantos preciosos monu- 
 mentos de la antiquedad por falta de intelligenza, habran perecido 
 en esta manera." 
 
 I wish I could give any adequate idea of the beauty of Mexico, 
 it is so unlike any other place in the world. Humboldt says, set- 
 ting aside its very peculiar situation, that it is one of the very finest 
 cities ever built by Europeans in either hemisphere, being only in- 
 ferior to St. Petersburgh, London, Berlin, or Philadelphia, as re- 
 spects the regularity and length of its streets, as well as the extent 
 of its public places. But then to make these compare with charm- 
 ing Mexico, you must widen and adorn those streets with those 
 gay covered colonades, the portalcs (the despicable and discarded 
 Regent-street covered way gave not the slightest idea of them),
 
 MEXICAN SHOPS. 199 
 
 pour into them the picturesque and streaming population of a 
 Neapolitan holiday, give them a sky overhead yet clearer and 
 more exquisitely beautiful than that of fair Parthenope herself, 
 enthrone everlasting spring upon their terraces and gardens, and 
 then place the whole in such a paradisiacal valley as this, with its 
 giant wall around it, of the snow-crowned Cordillera. 
 
 Fancy coming at the end of Bond-street or Park-lane, to a view 
 of sublimer Alps, and more colossal Pyrenees. On looking down 
 any of the principal thoroughfares and streets of this capital, you 
 behold these grand mountain forms towering into the sky, clearly 
 defined against the lucid lustrous cerulean of the heavenly arch, 
 and sometimes almost as if they were within a stone's throw, so 
 marvelously pure is this atmosphere. 
 
 I wonder if the shops and stalls are always so abundantly pro- 
 vided as they seem to be now : perhaps they are particularly lull, 
 as it is so near the Carnival. In many of the shops are the most 
 beautiful materials for ladies' dresses, shawls of all the colors of 
 the prism, scarfs of all the shapes and patterns which Proteus, or 
 Mrs. and the Misses Proteus could have by possibility desired. 
 You might ransack your imagination in vain for a quarter of the 
 multiplicity of articles which greet the eyes at every turn. 
 
 What is there not to be found here ? Look round ; here are 
 sombreros, mantillas, rebosos, satins, silks, silver, gold, china, pic- 
 tures, mats, and twenty thousand things besides, all close at hand ; 
 and just look at those splendidly embroidered cloth-mangos for 
 gentlemen, with a circular piece of colored velvet in the middle to 
 act as a sort of masculine necklace. Here are wax figures, most 
 elaborately and exquisitely finished, faithful representations of 
 every class in Mexico, a perfect population in themselves, and, it 
 is asserted, not given to the melting mood, which you would have 
 suspected. Here are spurs, like merely moderately-sized windmills ! 
 that weigh, some of them, a pound and a half, and the rowels of 
 which clatter along the pavements when the wearer happens to 
 walk, like a traveling tinker's store on an uproarious and kicking 
 donkey. And here are gold and silver ornaments in lace, and 
 aerial flounces and furbelows, and artificial flowers, which it is said 
 but I can not corroborate the assertion by having witnessed any 
 thing of the sort are made by men ; and that you may there see 
 a whole regiment of stout, active Mexicans, who ought to be 
 quarrying stone, or working in the mines, or mending their abom- 
 inable roads (Avhich must destroy a large proportion of ill-starred 
 travelers annually, we should think), witli enormous mustaches,
 
 200 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 and desperate looking cuchillos at hand, actually employed in 
 mincingly manipulating delicate decorations for ladies' dresses, 
 trimming fairy caps, and artistically twisting and pinning bows of 
 ribbon. 
 
 Would the reader like to give two hundred dollars for a cheap 
 pair of Guadalaxara stamped leathern boots, wrought all over with 
 silver ? arid a saddle for about double that trifling sum ? Would 
 he admire more those lassos or sarapes, or beautiful Mexican hats 
 with their tassels and broad rolls of shining silver, fastened with 
 little lions, serpents, and other devices ? Or has he any fancy to 
 pay away a small fortune ibr a complete set of horse furniture, and 
 a full riding dress of the country to match 1 It is a most beautiful 
 costume altogether ; and one can not help hoping the Mexican 
 caballeros will not give up their magnificent and appropriate cos- 
 tume and splendid horse equipments, to adopt the ugly fashions of 
 Europe. 
 
 I heard English saddles were becoming very common here, but 
 I am unpatriotically happy to say I have seen but few of them. 
 But let us go back to the shops. There are the costly anqueras, 
 stamped and gilt, or otherwise curiously and ingeniously wrought, 
 and terminating in a fringe of multitudinous little bells or tags, of 
 silver generally, but sometimes of brass or iron, which jingle merrily 
 as the sledge bells of Russia or Canada. These anqueras are 
 sometimes of fur, embroidered richly with gold and silver in large 
 stripes. And, close by, are the gold-embossed jackets ; then there 
 are piles of large silver buttons, which are necessary ibr the adorn- 
 ment of different portions of the dress ; there are trinkets, slippers, 
 wares of all sorts, little images, all kinds of cotton and woolen 
 cloth ; in fact, every thing, and all things, and a great deal besides ! 
 
 All the houses here are of stone. In the most distinguished 
 portions of the city, I believe two sorts of hewn stone are used, 
 porous amygdaloid and porphyry. The gates and balustrades are 
 generally of iron and bronze. The houses have flat terraced roofs 
 and large court-yards (patios) with colonnades running round 
 them, and are often profusely adorned with plants. We are told 
 the interior is often decorated with beautiful mosaic and arabesque. 
 Few windows, in general, look out upon the streets. 
 
 Some of the fronts are enriched with glazed porcelain or beau- 
 tifully carved and ornamented, and there is usually an imposing- 
 looking arched gateway, in the centre, leading to the colonnaded 
 patio; and through them you may occasionally catch delightful 
 Arabian-night-like views of the splendid interiors. They often re-
 
 PLAZA DEL TOROS. 201 
 
 minded me of the princely palaces of Genoa the Superb, of whose 
 enchanted courts you may frequently catch similar peeps in driving 
 along the streets, and which, seen in this rapid and partial manner, 
 seemed like the aerial visions of a gorgeous dream. 
 
 Through the Mexican gateways you see sometimes a beautiful 
 fountain, sparkling against the sun, beds of flowers, or bowers -of 
 orange-trees, and the corridor's light and sculptured arches. Some 
 of the buildings are tinted with rich and delicate rosy hues, like 
 the soft reflection of the rising or setting sun, and some have the 
 faintest soupfon of a tinge imaginable, like a fairy's blush (if Queen 
 Titania and her handmaidens ever do blush), and some are com- 
 pletely covered with frescoed arabesque designs. 
 
 Mr. D has taken us to see the Plaza del Toros, the amphi- 
 theatre for bull-fights. It is an enormous circular inclosure, in a 
 very dilapidated condition, in consequence of which such exhibitions 
 are at a stand-still here, ibr it is supposed not to be safe so the 
 poor bulls are. There is an immensely great national manufactory 
 of tobacco in the southwest part of the city, which is said to sup- 
 ply the entire legitimate demands for cigarros in the Confederation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Mexico The Viga The Chinampas Floating Gardens, Fields and Or- 
 chards of the .Aztecs Abundance of Flowers in Mexico ; and of Fruits 
 The Fruit-stalls The Meat and Poultry Tortoises, Salamanders and 
 Frogs The Population of the City of Mexico Its numberless Vehicles 
 Its Environs on Fete-days Defective Police Arrangements Frequent 
 Robberies in Consequence Mexican Chocolate Victoriaca, the Waiting- 
 maid. 
 
 WE are more and more enthusiastically charmed with this peer- 
 less Mexico. What a climate what scenery ! What a brilliant 
 and busy city what beauties and wonders on all sides! 
 
 The Viga I am quite delighted with. It is an enchanting 
 promenade, with a canal running on the side of it, half-overshadow- 
 ed by lovely trees. The Arbol de Peru (Peruvian pepper-tree) was 
 conspicuously graceful and striking among them. There were 
 crowds of Indians in their flat canoes, almost lost among heaps of 
 flowers, and fruits, and vegetables. 
 
 We visited the celebrated Chinampas, formerly the floating 
 garden of the Aztecs, now stationary. They have taken up their 
 
 i*
 
 202 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 permanent abode at a little distance from the canal of Chalco. 
 The metropolis is principally supplied with vegetables from them 
 still. There are flowers sprinkled here and there. The old 
 chroniclers tell us that in 1 245, after many persecutions, the Aztecs, 
 wandering from place to place, left Chapultepec to establish them- 
 selves in an island group to the south of Tezcuco Lake. Oppressed 
 by Tezcucan chieftains, they sought refuge in Tezapan, where, 
 having assisted the princes of that land in some insignificant wars, 
 they were allowed to establish themselves, in freedom, in a city, 
 which they named Mexicalsingo. But they were commanded by 
 some oracle to transport themselves and their families from thence, 
 to some islands to the eastward of Chapultepec, and to the western 
 side of the Tezcuco Lake. 
 
 Long before this, an old tradition was popular among them, 
 to the effect that in whatever place they should see an eagle 
 seated on a nopal, with its roots fixed in a rock, on that spot, they 
 should hasten to found a city. They first hailed this sign in 1325, 
 and there (in one of the islands in the lake) they founded the first 
 house of their gods the great Mexican temple, called, in their 
 tongue, Teocalli. This history seems to me to bear a faint and 
 perhaps merely fanciful resemblance tp that of the modern Mor- 
 mons, now settled in their flourishing city of the great Salt Lake. 
 
 Through all of their Arab-like wanderings, wherever they stop- 
 ped, those Aztecs were wont to cultivate the earth, and where 
 they were then settled, frequently encircled by barbarous enemies, 
 as they were, in the midst of a great lake, where fish were re- 
 markably scarce, they devised the ingenious expedient of forming 
 floating gardens, and fields, and orchards, on the surface of the 
 tranquil waters. These they framed skillfully of the woven-to- 
 gether roots of aquatic plants, wreathed and intermingled with 
 various boughs and branches, and twigs, till they had secured a 
 foundation strong enough to uphold a soil, formed of earth drawn 
 from the bottom of the lake. Their corn and chili, and different 
 plants required for their sustenance, were sown on this. 
 
 It appears that these gliding gardens, were ordinarily elevated 
 about a foot above the surface of the water, and were of an ob- 
 long shape. Soon afterward, these insulated and raft-like fields 
 were adorned with lovely beds of countless flowers, which were 
 not alone cherished by the people (who were great lovers of these 
 luxuries of nature), but were employed in the worship of their 
 idols, and were a favorite ornament of the palace of their new em- 
 perors. These famed Chinampas, along the Viga canal, are now
 
 ABUNDANCE OF FLOWERS AND FRUITS. 203 
 
 attached to the mainlands, on the grounds that lie between the 
 two great lakes of Chalco and Tezcuco. Little trenches, filled 
 with water, appear to divide the gardens. There are small 
 bridges, thrown across the water, to keep up the communication 
 with the mainland. The Indian proprietor has generally his 
 humble hut in the garden, but no longer can he (if desirous of 
 removing for a space, his "location"), seated in his canoe, tow 
 along his fairy and flowering island to another part of that fresh, 
 silvery, glistening sea. 
 
 Whether in gardens floating or fixed, flowers never fail them 
 in their bewitching climate. Their roses are all roses des quatre 
 saisons (so well rendered by Lord 's gardener " quarter ses- 
 sions roses")! From March to June the flowery sea almost over- 
 flows, and its many-colored waves, and sunny tides bury all in 
 their beauty. We are told that, on the dias di Jiesta, even the 
 very humblest classes, are nearly smothered in roses, and crowned 
 with variegated garlands of carnations, poppies, sweet-peas, jessa- 
 mine, and other gifts of the munificent Flora of Mexico. 
 
 If the inhabitants of this favored land rejoice in myriads of 
 flowers, they have an equal good-fortune with respect to fruit. 
 All climates and seasons contend in Mexico to please the natural 
 or acquired tastes of the epicures of the land. The name of their 
 fruits is Legion. Within a very few leagues you may have in 
 Mexico the greatest imaginable variety of climates; in short, from 
 the united influence of its peculiar geological structure, and the 
 way in which heat is qualified by the diilerences of elevation in, 
 every portion of its extensive territory, t combines every conceiv- 
 able production, and is unparalleled in these particulars on the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 The fruit-stalls are veritable natural curiosity shops ; the treas- 
 ures of Pomona seem indeed here innumerable ; from the north, 
 the south, the east, the west, they appear to be gathered together 
 in inexhaustible profusion ; chirimoyas, bananas, chicozapotes, 
 pine-apples, pears, oranges, apples, grenaditas de China, melons, 
 cocoa-nuts, black and white zapotes, capnlin (the Mexican cherry), 
 dates, mameys, mulberries, plums, shaddocks, pomegranates, man- 
 goes, citrons, walnuts, strawberries, and thousands of others. The 
 consumption of these, and of vegetables, such as tomatoes, pota- 
 toes, plantains, cauliflowers, garbanzos (a small bean, much in 
 favor), gourds, cabbages, <fcc., is stated to be quite enormous in pro- 
 portion to the population. I should think such articles of food, 
 were much wholesomer, in this climate, than meat ; but I believe,
 
 204 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the city markets are also well supplied with the latter. Turkeys, 
 and poultry in general, and a very great variety of wild water- 
 fowl are abundant, and at very reasonable prices ; and also rab- 
 bits, hares, pigeons, &c. They have besides, a choice selection of 
 rather singular articles of diet, which the lower classes are said to 
 patronize extensively : tortoises, creatures they call salamanders, 
 and frogs. I have sometimes eaten the latter at Naples, and 
 found them excellent when fried ; very like a delicate little spring 
 chicken ; but here I have never seen them brought to table. 
 
 There is also a plentiful supply of good mutton, beef, and pork, 
 hut veal is said to be prohibited. The necessaries of existence 
 ought to be cheap enough here, one should think, but in other 
 things Mexico is reckoned a very expensive place to live in. 
 
 The population here in general is of a mixed character, perhaps 
 one half being Creoles (or descendants of the Spaniards), one fourth 
 Mestizoes, half castes between Europeans and Indians, and nearly 
 another fourth copper-colored Indians ; with some Blacks and Mu- 
 lattoes, and from six to seven thousand Europeans. 
 
 Many of the grandees and magnates here (frequently successful 
 speculators) are possessed of enormous wealth, but the masses are 
 commonly lazy and indigent. Great numbers pass their time in 
 lounging about the streets, portales, markets, church porches, and 
 various public buildings, asking charity of the passers by, and ap- 
 pealing usually to what they imagine to be the most lively feelings 
 of the persons they address. " Senor, by the love of the most 
 blessed Madonna !" and, " Madrecita, by the life of the little 
 one !" and so forth. They seem a happy set of people, enjoying 
 their far niente. My chatelaine always drew their most atten- 
 tive regards, and I was almost afraid one day it would suddenly 
 be snatched away from its ordinary sphere of being ; but they 
 contented themselves, like good children, with looking and not 
 touching. 
 
 The white Creoles are said to be distinguished for courtesy, 
 gentleness of manners, kindness, and hospitality ; and, from the 
 very little I have seen of them, I can readily believe it. 
 . Carriages seem literally to swarm in Mexico ; every body ap- 
 pears to possess one or more. I believe the senoras here consider 
 it the most indispensable of all necessaries. There are carratelas, 
 and French open carriages, and English closed ones, and volantes, 
 and I know not how many more species ; but they are multiform 
 and multinominal, and multitudinous ; and in the evening they 
 appear in shoals, filled with beautiful senoras, and senoritas. their
 
 ROBBERIES FREQUENT IN MEXICO. 205 
 
 large black eyes flashing out like lamps designed to dispel the 
 gathering dusk. 
 
 The environs of the city, too, are said to be generally gay and 
 crowded in the evening, especially on fete days, and to present a 
 joyous scene of bustle and animation. Hundreds of light canoes, 
 of different sizes, mostly with awnings, and crowded with Mesti- 
 zoes and native Indians, are to be seen gliding along in all direc- 
 tions on the shining canals, generally with an indefatigable guitar- 
 player among the company, and some of the festive party singing 
 or perhaps dancing. 
 
 Mr. D says, however, from defective police arrangements, 
 
 or other causes, it is dangerous to go out of the city after dusk 
 without arms. Some persons incautiously doing so, have been 
 lassoed and plundered, and every body who is compelled to go 
 should go well armed more penalties for living in such a para- 
 dise ! They say these gentry who are so free with their lassos are 
 mostly of the mongrel sort, part native (Indian), part Spanish, and 
 part Negro ; and that the gangs of guerillas and robbers, which 
 annoyed the American armies during the war, were chiefly formed 
 of such tricolor individuals. 
 
 Last night we found it a little too cool in our skylighted win- 
 dowless apartment, and I asked for a brasero, or braserico (a kind 
 of chafing-dish). After a little delay, one was brought, but the 
 warmth it afforded was barely sufficient to warm the tips of our 
 fingers however, fortunately, but little more is needed. I find 
 the air here very delightful, and none of us have experienced, dur- 
 ing our very short sejour here, the remotest inconvenience from 
 the rarification of the atmosphere in this elevated region ; but 
 Lord Mark told us, the other day, he found occasionally an unac- 
 customed oppression and shortness of breathing on running up 
 stairs, or ascending a hill, since his arrival in Mexico. 
 
 I wish the reader could have a glimpse of the damsel who es- 
 pecially waits on us. She is named Victoriana. Her long jet- 
 black hair flows and " wanders at its own sweet will," sometimes 
 waving overshadowingly above our chocolate cups in a rather 
 alarming manner ; but she usually contrives with a little twist 
 and toss of her head to prevent its sweeping away the deep foam 
 from that richest of beverages. 
 
 And here I must quit Victoriana for a while, to rave a little 
 about Mexican chocolate. It is nectar and ambrosia at once, and 
 I think would spoil us for every thing every where : tea in China 
 with the ethereal flower in it, which will not bear keeping or car-
 
 206 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 riage ; coffee at Mocha would surely seem nothing, or positively 
 nauseous, in comparison. I believe the plant from which it is 
 made is the natural growth of Mexico and Olympus, perhaps. 
 When the jetty-locked Victoriana brings it in the morning for 
 desayuno, with a most excellent sweet roll (an improvement on 
 an English bun), if Messrs. Mars, Phoebus, and Mercury, and 
 Mesdames Juno and Pallas dropped in unexpectedly through the 
 skylight, we should be able to provide them at once with their 
 usual food, the " best entertainment" for gods and goddesses. 
 
 Victoriana has one of the merriest of countenances, and appears 
 clad at all times in the simplest of dresses, the throat, shoulders, 
 and arms bare, and the drapery altogether very cool and airy, the 
 damsel's own abundant hair playing a large part in it. She is a 
 great chatterbox, and talks rare gibberish and patois. She has 
 found out that we are exceedingly fond of milk, and good-naturedly 
 exerts herself to bring us a large supply of it sometimes, I think, 
 leaving the good people at the table dhote with a considerably di- 
 minished quantity. This milk is delicious ; it is brought in a kind 
 of huge caldron, holding about a couple of pails, or thereabouts. 
 
 In my own mind I am perfectly convinced that Victoriana is 
 Indian (she is of a tolerably near approach to black : it may be 
 an invisible green, which sombre coloring is lit up by blazing 
 bright dark eyes and white teeth) but she will not hear of such 
 a thing for a momnet. No ; oh no ! " Soy Mexicana !" Yes, 
 that of course ; but of the Indian race partly ? Oh, quite out of 
 the question. " Vaya una idea !" 
 
 V did a little portrait of her, which she seemed to admire 
 
 prodigiously, and called one of the gqlopinas in to look at it. They 
 both praised the performance highly, and at last Victoriana sud- 
 denly snatched up the drawing and ran off with it. We ran after 
 her, begging her to restore it (as we wanted to keep it) ; but she 
 concealed it somewhere, and then returned, looking very demure, 
 as if nothing had happened. " Como dice Vm. ? Me habla Vm. ? 
 No entiendo bien lo que Vm. dice !" (which was just possible !) 
 " Vaya vaya el retrato, el dibujo ?" " Si, el retrato, es muy bon- 
 ito. :> After ineffectual attempts to make her refund it, another 
 was done, which she served in exactly the same way. Off sho 
 scampered with it, like a mouse carrying off a morsel of cheese to 
 its hole to devour it at leisure. It was useless to draw her any 
 more, as it was evident if one hundred and fifty were sketched they 
 would all be carried off and hidden in a similar manner. 
 
 If other travelers should take the fancy to sketch her too, what
 
 GENERAL HERRERA. 207 
 
 a gallery of portraits she will have, and all of herself ! She looked 
 so enchanted, however, with her own beaux yeux on paper, that I 
 think she intends distributing these little representations of herself 
 among her relations and friends, to show them how handsome she 
 is, of which fact she might think they were not sufficiently aware, 
 and, therefore, designs impressing it on their minds duly. 
 
 There is a very splendid bedstead here, most beautifully inlaid 
 with mother-of-pearl : the workmanship is exquisite. 
 
 CHAPTEPv XXX. 
 
 General Herrera, the President of Mexico, and the American Minister 
 Chapultepec assaulted and taken by General Scott Enormous Cypresses 
 in the Garden of Montezuma Dona Mariana, the Aztec Wife of Cortez 
 View from the Summit of Chapultepec Castle Impressions caused by 
 it The Mountains Tacubaya and Toluca Tanks and Baths of Monte- 
 zuma The Opera-house at Mexico The fat comic Actress and the 
 brilliantly dressed One Beauty of Mexican Ladies Madame Bishop- 
 Payments in Kind for her Singing Beautiful Appearance of the Stars in 
 Mexico View of dusty Victims alighting from the Diligence The 
 Brother of M. Arago the Astronomer The Volcanoes, Popocatepetl and 
 Iztacchihuatl Patio of M. Arago. 
 
 THIS morning we had a visit from our excellent friend, Mr. 
 
 L , who was presented to the President in due form yesterday, 
 
 and delivered his address extremely well. 
 
 He told us he had never been accustomed, in his own country, 
 to so much form, and pomp, and state, and ceremony as is observed 
 by the Mexican President, and that owing to this circumstance 
 and being rather taken by surprise in these particulars, he felt 
 a little nervousness and trepidation which, however, soon passed 
 over. By the account he gave us of it, the President of Mexico 
 
 must assume much of monarchical state. Mr. said General 
 
 Herrera was seated on a sort of throne raised on a platform at one 
 end of the hall, under a splendid canopy, with many ministers and 
 officers around him, the latter dressed in very costly and magnifi- 
 cent uniforms. " Such splendid and bedizened-out uniforms, to be 
 sure; and," he added, laughingly, "I thought it must all look just 
 like Solomon on his throne, with his great courtiers round him."' 
 
 Mr. had been offered the choice of coming to this country or 
 
 going to St. Petersburgh. I think the grandeur and splendor of
 
 208 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the Czar's court would have struck him a little more than General 
 Herrera's republican royalty. 
 
 He seemed much pleased with the President and his reception, 
 and appears altogether to like Mexico, which, rharming as it is, 
 is a compliment to it, for I believe he had never left home before : 
 under these circumstances it is very common, as well as natural, 
 to feel a little of the mal du pays. He is looking for a house, as 
 he expects Mrs. will join him in May. 
 
 We have had a delightful visit to Chapultepec : this fortified 
 castle was taken by the American forces in the late war, under 
 General Scott. It is the most haunted by old Aztec memories of 
 all the traditionary and interesting localities which Mexico can 
 claim. We had a charming drive. 
 
 Chapultepec is an isolated volcanic hill, rising in the centre of 
 the great plain, about three-quarters of a league from the capital. 
 The Indian name for it may be interpreted, I believe, the " Hill" 
 of Grasshoppers." Its position is singular and remarkable; it 
 shoots up boldly in the heart of the valley, precipitously steep on 
 all sides ; the zig-zagging road has still the adobe embankments 
 (adobes are sun-dried bricks), and the little comer batteries which 
 the Mexicans threw up in anticipation of the American attack, 
 and there are almost innumerable traces of General Scott's cannon 
 balls, from Tacubaya, and from the elevated ground to the rear of 
 Molino del Rey ; these are to be seen in all directions. The poor 
 Mexicans had a too plentiful peppering for their frijoles on that 
 occasion. 
 
 But before I say more of the fortress of Chapultepec let me do 
 homage to the great cypresses in what is still called the Garden 
 of Montezuma. We drew up to within a short distance of them 
 
 in the carriage, and Mr. D then proposed that we should 
 
 alight and walk toward them, which we did through a tangled 
 wilderness of yellow flowers. They are the most glorious trees I 
 ever beheld. The largest of them all was said, by Humboldt, to 
 be forty-one feet in circumference ; but I am told it is actually 
 forty-five feet. It certainly looks yet more than this. The vast 
 trunk seemed to me like a noble tower shooting toward the sky, 
 and lost in its own far-spreading and mighty cloud of deep green 
 foliage, where half an arrny might have hid a la "King Charles 
 in his oak." Soft streamers of thick gray moss depend from every 
 bough, which gives these trees a doubly venerable and patriarchal 
 appearance. 
 
 The cypress which is second in size to the huge one I have
 
 ENORMOUS CYPRESSES. 209 
 
 mentioned, is little inferior in any respect ; and indeed by some it 
 is thought more beautiful and graceful. There are several others 
 of dimensions almost similar. Would not Michael Angelo, that 
 poet-sculptor, have thundered at them, as he did at his own Moses, 
 though with a different feeling, " speak !" Think what they 
 could tell, had they tongues (and brains and memories into the 
 bargain, by the way). Venerable were they when Montezuma 
 was a puling infant, and a mischievous hobble-de-hoy ! and they 
 looked on in unaltered unshaken majesty, while the gallant Scott 
 thundered, with his conquering artillery, against the strongholds 
 of the descendants of Montezurna's Spanish conquerors ; while the 
 echoes of the world-overspreading Anglo-Saxon tongue thrilled 
 through the branches of those thousand year-old monarchs of the 
 forest, and may have rejoiced the shades of the avenged Aztecs. 
 
 The opening onset of the gallant and ever- victorious Americans, 
 when they stormed Chapultepec, was made under cover of these 
 mammoth trees. Perchance these stately survivors of empires 
 creeds, triumphs, wars, and a hundred changes, may still stand in 
 their solemn pride and lordly majesty, when a hundred other 
 changes may have transformed all around but themselves and 
 their mighty comrades, the mountains. 
 
 It is whispered by the voice of superstition, that these scenes 
 are haunted by Malinche not the mountain but the maiden, 
 though a walking mountain might stalk under those trees in 
 short, by the spectre of the celebrated Dona Mariana, the beaute- 
 ous Aztec love of the great Cortez. If such be the case, she is a 
 ghost of taste, it must be owned ; and one can not wonder she 
 snatched away the heart of the gallant Cortez not in the way 
 her countrymen, the red-jacketed cannibal priests were wont to 
 accomplish such operations. She became, as it were, a sort of 
 counter-conqueror, and ruled rather despotically over the great 
 captain of the age. 
 
 The true name of these cypresses is Ahuahuete (Sabino ahua- 
 kuete, or Cupressus disticlui). The chief of these is called 
 Montezuma's cypress. At the village of Atlixco, there is said to 
 be a cypress (they are not like what we in England call by that 
 name) seventy-six feet in circumference, and which is supposed to 
 be one of the oldest of vegetable monuments on the face of the 
 globe, if not indeed the most ancient. 
 
 But this is not all. At a village called St. Maria del Tule, 
 ten miles to the east of the capital, there is an immense trunk of 
 the same species of cypress, measuring one hundred and eighteen
 
 210 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 feet in circumference, though by all accounts it would appear to be 
 three stems, closely, almost imperceptibly, joined together. It 
 must be like the great " Boabab" of Asia; but the suspicion of 
 this latter one being a treble tree, renders it less interesting. I 
 confess, in one of the mighty Ahuahuetes that I saw, I detected 
 something that looked as if a similar process had taken place. 
 There is certainly a suspicious line along the trunk ; but I am 
 assured I am wrong, and by those likely to know better than I do. 
 
 After admiring this giant grove for some time, we crept, feeling 
 very microscopical and mite-like, back to the carriage, which had 
 assumed considerably the appearance of a nut-shell drawn by the 
 "industrious fleas," formerly in vogue in London, by comparison 
 with these colossal suzerains of the vegetable world. We in- 
 tended to drive up the precipitously steep (but zig-zagged) ascent' 
 on which stands embattled the castle, but the fates willed it other- 
 wise, and we had not gone many yards before the harness broke, 
 and our gallant grays (fine-looking American horses) were relieved 
 from the trouble of dragging us up. The Mexican cochcro in- 
 dulged in some vituperations against the American harness; the 
 horses took the whole affair very philosophically ; and we, anxious 
 to see the beauteous view which we knew the elevated summit 
 
 of Chapultepec must present, left Mr. to superintend the 
 
 criados, and the reparation of the damage, and climbed up the hill. 
 
 It was rather toilsome work, but "we felt a great reward was 
 awaiting us ; we pushed on vigorously, and, at length, found our- 
 selves on the height, and on a broad graveled terrace fronting the 
 entrance. Trumpets wese sounding cheerily, but we staid not 
 to ascertain why or where, intent upon taking, not the castle, but 
 the best possible position for seeing the hermosa vista. The 
 commandant as we afterward ascertained he was came for- 
 ward, arid very courteously asked if we would like to see the view 
 from the azotca of the castle, and observed we must be much 
 fatigued by climbing the precipitous ascent. I informed him of 
 the accident that had occurred, and that we had corne with the 
 Ministro Ingles, who was detained at the bottom of the hill by 
 the misfortune aforesaid. He immediately said he knew the 
 ministro, and scarcely had he pronounced the words, before Mr. 
 
 D appeared on the esplanade, having scrambled up by a 
 
 short cut, I believe, and a still more steep and far more rugged 
 path than the one we followed. Indeed, it looked pretty nearly 
 perpendicular. Mutual civilities were exchanged, and we forth- 
 with hurried to the flat roof of the castle.
 
 SCENERY FROM CHAPULTEPEC. 211 
 
 What a Paradise world we saw ! the different and greatly di- 
 versified scenes were all mingled and mixed in beauty without 
 end. How surpassingly grand was the apparently illimitable and 
 gigantically-castellated amphitheatre of heights ! The sun shone 
 gloriously, and the stupendous mountains, especially the magnifi- 
 cent Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, seemed joining earth and 
 heaven, yet with their mighty foreheads turning pale at their own 
 audacity, blanched as they are by interfulgerit snows. 
 
 To particularize the separate glories of this unparalleled pano- 
 rama to one's self at first seemed impossible ; aH. appeared to be 
 blended together in one magical unity. After long, long gazing, 
 till that ocean of beauty seemed to spread over the whole mind 
 and spirit, and leave every thought bathed and streaming with its 
 splendors, one began to know that this vision of magnificence was 
 composed of various parts some earthly and material parts too : 
 but still it was oh, how glorious ! and from that height all below 
 was so still, so calm ; shining, too, in such a blaze of dazzling light, 
 that the earth around you seemed no more the common earth. 
 
 Some mighty change seemed to have taken place you gazed 
 on dreamily, and the scene seemed to grow more and more awful 
 in its beauty Nature's apotheosis, as it were ; a world divided 
 from the sinning, struggling world without. The grand mount- 
 ains seemed not so much like vast masses of earth towering up 
 and heaving their giant forms toward the cerulean firmament, as 
 stooping, downward-leaning heavens themselves immeasurably 
 vast stupendous stalactites, depending grandly from the unimagin- 
 able heights of an overarching Celestial Universe above ; in short, 
 all kinds of wild fancies entered one's mind for really it was as 
 if the loveliness and majesty of a thousand worlds were concen- 
 trated here. 
 
 But it is not, after all, so much the scene itself, as the great 
 and boundless glory the imagination ever lends it ; for the soul 
 once awakened, and stirred and thrilled by the sight of that mag- 
 nificent scenery, makes it ten thousand fold more glorious. She 
 heaps far other mountains of more transcending height upon those 
 visible ones ; and it is she who clothes them with a heavenly 
 awfulness, and it is she who kindles the firmament into most un- 
 utterable splendor above, as if it were all made of the moving 
 brightness of angels' blazing passing shadows ; and it is she who 
 brings the stars in their mid-majesty as suns, as worlds gorgeously 
 shimmering down upon that paradisiacal prospect : for she unites 
 it with all that the immense and glorious universe, without a
 
 212 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 shadow of a limit, hath of the majestic, and of the lovely, and of 
 the terrible. 
 
 Perhaps it might he thought that the view of the city of Mex- 
 ico would detract a little from the visionary appearance of this 
 world-wide prospect ; but, indeed, it does not. Its glittering tow- 
 ers, its many churches and convents and domes, looked almost 
 spiritually beautiful at that distance, with that exquisite sunlight 
 beaming upon them, and making them sparkle like silver and 
 crystal, as beautiful as if they all (like what is reported of Puebla's 
 cathedral) were built by angelic architects, and of supernatural 
 materials. 
 
 The valley itself looks matchlessly lovely from Chapultepec ; 
 and if there are some symptoms here and there of a lack of care 
 and cultivation, the few uninhabited haciendas, partly dilapidated, 
 with patches of earth around them, left to the wildness of Nature, 
 were the more picturesque, and lent more variety to the scene. 
 There were vast tracts covered by the silvery-gleaming planta- 
 tions of magueys to be seen, great fields where herds of cattle 
 were pasturing ; exquisite gardens, rainbows of the earth, shadow- 
 ing paseos near the city, and groves of many-foliaged trees. 
 
 Then how endless appeared all the beauteous shapes of the 
 nearer rocks and hills ; and how the fertile variegated valley of 
 enchantment flows far in among the mighty mountains in some 
 parts, which seem to fall back before it, and so the ever-waving 
 lines are beyond imagination varied and lovely. 
 
 In one part the rocks and heights are far off in the horizon, and 
 in another they are almost running into the valley, like rugged 
 promontories and capes frowning and peering down on its tranquil 
 scenes. 
 
 But the sparkling canals must not be forgotten ; nor the stately 
 aqueducts, with their open tops and noble lines of a thousand arch- 
 es ; nor the sapphire-tinted lakes ; nor the romantic villages, with 
 their clustering masses of trees ; nor the lordly avenues of bright- 
 leaved poplars and shady elms leading to the city ; nor the won- 
 derful skies above, that looked clear, brilliant, fervid, and glowing, 
 as if they were all of blue flame, burning more and more brightly 
 every moment. Only fifteen miles beyond Tacubaya tower the 
 mountains of Toluca, and Guadaloupe's apparently insulated hills 
 are not much further on the opposite side ; but, in the other di- 
 rections, the valley spreads its sea-like surface between fifty and 
 sixty miles before it reaches the everlastingly-planted feet of the 
 mountains.
 
 CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC. 213 
 
 Tacubaya lies near Chapultepec, with her gardens of flowers, 
 and her pomp of sumptuous palaces. The shrine of " Our Lady 
 of Guadaloupe" stands on the brink of a mountain promontory, 
 which sallies out toward the lovely Lake of Tezcuco. To the 
 north is Tacuba. The tops, I might well say the great domes of 
 foliage of the gigantic cypresses were at our feet to the left. 
 Among the hamlets, scattered about to the southward, are those 
 of San Augustin, San Angel, and various others. 
 
 We then went and looked down the steep rocks over which it 
 is said the unfortunate Mexicans, after having given up all further 
 thoughts of defense, flung themselves in despair, and fell crushed 
 and mangled at the base. While we were there, a little com- 
 mandantino ran out of the castle, in the shape of the Colonel's 
 pretty boy, a charming little fellow, with a sword by his side, the 
 most soldier-like strut, and the blackest and merriest of eyes. 
 
 After thanking the obliging commandant for his civility, we 
 descended, and went to see the tanks and baths of Montezuma. 
 One could not but look back, again and again, on the colossal 
 Ahuahuetes, that had overshadowed, perhaps, in the olden time 
 the imperial ruler of the Mexicans and what a presence chamber 
 would that glorious grove have been what a hall of audience ! 
 If powerful kings had come to visit the Aztec monarch, could he 
 have received them in a nobler state chamber ? What a canopy 
 more than regal, over his head, fretted with the diamond and 
 
 golden dews of evening ! Mr. L might have thought of 
 
 Solomon's glories, indeed, under such circumstances, and still more 
 of those wonders and triumphs of Nature of her prodigal riches 
 of vegetation, that excel him " in all his glory." 
 
 The castle of Chapultepec was built by the viceroy Galvez, the 
 last representative of the Spanish monarchy in this country. The 
 vice-queen was a famed beauty, and was exceedingly popular in 
 Mexico ; and he was wealthy and magnificent. It was supposed 
 to have cost the Spanish government three hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. Chapultepec was "said to have occasioned great jealousy and 
 suspicion to the Mexicans. Though thus originally built as a 
 mere summer palace, its commanding and excellent position, forti- 
 fied and strengthened with walls and parapets toward Mexico, 
 with moats and underground vaults to the north, which were suf- 
 ficiently large to contain an immense supply of provisions, rendered 
 such a distrust and suspicion not unnatural. It was something 
 like the deception practiced concerning the fortifications of Paris ; 
 only it was pretended there, that they were built to guard against
 
 214 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the possible attacks of a foreign foe, and here, that there was no 
 fortification contemplated at all, only a summer mansion with a 
 beautiful view for the innocent delights of the Villegiatura. 
 
 One thousand and fifty bombs fell on this devoted fortress, during 
 the late hostilities, before the assault. The head-quarters of Gen- 
 eral Scott were in the palace of the Bishop of Tacubaya, which 
 place is clearly visible from Chapultepec, and said to be actually 
 within the reach of its guns. Though Chapultepec was well de- 
 fended and manned by artillery and infantry, it is not considered 
 that it can use cannon to advantage when the attacking forces 
 have approached the base of the rock. 
 
 We paid a visit to the great square tank, from whence, we are 
 told, the grand aqueduct is supplied. Its water is of the clearest 
 sparkling crystal, and of the most exquisite transparency. The 
 " Koh-i-noor," the " Mountain of Light," can hardly be brighter. 
 There is a cave too of no great dimensions. 
 
 One more look at that glorious grove, at those hoary and won- 
 drous trees, and, above all, at the stupendous giant of them all, 
 standing there in its mighty greatness, so solemn, so placid, so 
 darkly and silently sublime, with its own vast shadow making an 
 eclipse, and an evening twilight, and shedding a gathered gloom 
 and a dense duskiness around in itself a wood and then back to 
 lovely Mexico. 
 
 We rolled through the gates, and went on at a fair pace, till 
 our harness gave way again, and caused a little delay. At last 
 we gained the paseo in safety, where our rope-repaired tackle 'could 
 not have shone very brilliantly ; but we little minded that, and 
 rattled steadily on to the Hotel de Diligencias, when, after bid- 
 ding good-even to Mr. , we went to dinner, with our thoughts 
 
 full of giant cypresses, mountains, Montezumas, Malinches, and 
 fortresses. 
 
 I must now say a word or two about the Mexican Opera-house 
 which we went to, though the opera company is not here now ; 
 but plays are performed there. It is a very handsome theatre in- 
 deed, and the box of the Ministro Ingles is capitally situated. We 
 had a Spanish comedy. A senora acted, and very well too, who 
 had formerly, I believe, been a celebrated beauty ; but she was too 
 fat to permit the beaux restes to vouch much for her previous per- 
 fection. Without being absolutely like the lady whom a friend of 
 mine compared to a "feather bed in spectacles" (that lady wore 
 glasses), she bore a faint resemblance to a very liberally stuffed 
 eider-down quilt. She, however, was full of life and merriment,
 
 MEXICAN OPERA-HOUSE. 215 
 
 and the very dimples on her broad elbows seemed to laugh, ha! 
 ha ! as she shook with the severe exercise, which the employment 
 of the risible faculties was for her, when occasionally during some 
 droll passage of the performance, she indulged in it. 
 
 Another senora on the stage was very brilliantly dressed, as a 
 Madrilena (a native of Madrid). Whether the costume was cor- 
 rect I can not say, not having been in that part of Spain. It was 
 one of the costumes, I imagine, of the middle classes. The dress 
 was of white satin, with very bright full scarlet flouncings, and a 
 large black lace mantilla, most gracefully and coquettishly disposed, 
 with a single flower, I think, on one side of the head, fastened on 
 the splendid ebon braids of hair. The wearer of the dress looked 
 extremely pretty in it, and the costume itself had altogether a very 
 pretty and graceful effect, though the description does not sound 
 promising. 
 
 My attention being a little taken up by looking at the house, 
 and having the different occupants of the boxes pointed out to me, 
 I could not very satisfactorily follow the speakers on the stage ; 
 but even when I did not perfectly catch the point of the remarks 
 and repartees, those merry dimples aforesaid, on the fat shaking 
 elbows and shoulders those dimples laughing so heartily (till they, 
 and all that was visible round them, turned to a scarlet, almost as 
 bright as the Madrilena's flounces) those dimples almost in hys- 
 terics, made one laugh just as much as if one had thoroughly 
 understood the joke. 
 
 Diamonds were in profusion ; some of the ladies were very beau- 
 tiful, and seemed extremely well dressed ; they had the usual dark 
 flashing eyes of Mexico, and the graceful Spanish manner of play- 
 ing with their fans. I saw no smoking among the ladies there 
 may have been a little, but I am inclined to think not. 
 
 Madame Bishop has lately been singing here, and was exceed- 
 ingly admired and popular in Mexico. She went into the prov- 
 inces also, and I hear, at some of the theatres there, her sweet 
 sounds were sometimes paid in fighting-cocks and cigars ; to such 
 an extent, indeed, that she was obliged tp advertise in the papers 
 that she could receive no more payments in " crowing Chanticleers" 
 or prime " Havannas," and that none would be taken at the 
 doors. 
 
 There was a little divertissement, an Andalusian dance, &c. 
 On coming out of the theatre, I was almost rooted to the spot by 
 the marvelous beauty of the stars. I never saw them so glorious 
 before any where so large, so lustrous. The Persian idolater
 
 216 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 might have found a thousand suns there to worship ; they literally 
 gleamed with the different colors of the rainbow. One had a 
 crimson, another an emerald tinge ; a third shone on the deep, 
 blue, glorious sky, like cerulean fire on cerulean air. They spark- 
 led, and quivered, and blazed, and lightened in their splendor, till 
 the heavens seemed all stirring, and breathing, and living. When 
 we remarked this diversity of colors to Lord Mark afterward, he 
 laughingly exclaimed, " So even Mexican stars wear the national 
 sarape," which idea amazingly amused V . 
 
 We have a broad balcony running all round the interior of this 
 hotel, on the floor on which we are. On the lower story are 
 almacens (warehouses). The dining saloon on this floor runs out 
 far across the court-yard like a glass promontory, for it is more like 
 a conservatory than a comedor (dining-room), and seems to try and 
 make up by its vast profusion of windows for the deficiencies of 
 these agreeable additions to a house, elsewhere in the hotel. When 
 we were, by chance, occasionally a little tired of the sky prospect 
 afforded by our claraboya (skylight) in this cloudless climate, one 
 sheet of blue, with hardly the least little vagrant cloud to diversify 
 the view, we wandered forth on to the balcony (sooth to say, per- 
 petual sight-seeing has left us but little time in which to grow 
 tired of our sky-peep), as this balcony commanded a splendid view 
 of dusty diligences, and various vehicles of that kind. We were 
 often amused at the comical sights presented when the door was 
 opened, and the cramped wretched passengers rolled out on the 
 pavement. 
 
 Frightful is the deeply-rooted wickedness of the human heart. 
 We rather rejoiced than otherwise at the spectacle of sufferings 
 we had ourselves undergone, and,, .as if with mocking exultation, 
 watched the unfortunate occupants of the caches by slow degrees 
 exhibiting signs of life. At first, perhaps, when the doors of the 
 dungeon were opened, apparently a very large brown paper parcel 
 would tumble down the steps, and stand miraculously upright in 
 the court-yard. Then you would see it, as it were, suddenly gal- 
 vanized, and displaying every appearance of life. Indeed at length 
 this rather uncommon brown paper parcel would be seized as with 
 an ague fit a vehement shaking from head to foot when, lo ! a 
 huge quantity of dust, almost amounting to land enough for a little 
 Italian principality, would fly off', and a reboso, with a gown, would 
 become visible ; and, finally, a senora appear, looking wild and 
 haggard from fatigue. What is that, too, which descends the 
 steps like a white formless mist like the smoke which the eastern
 
 THE VOLCANOES. 217 
 
 fisherman saw come slowly out of the vase in the Arabian tale ! 
 Gaze steadily, and affer a while you will see that nebula resolved 
 into two starry eyes (and perhaps a diamond-luminary or two 
 sparkling on the fingers) as- a once ^ light and graceful senorita, 
 lamed and bruised by the jolting she has suffered, limps away, 
 settling her rcboso, and coaxing her hair into a little order. Some- 
 times one would see the newly-arrived shampooing themselves 
 vigorously, and extending their arms very tenderly and carefully, 
 not to clasp them around the necks of cherished objects waiting to 
 welcome them, but that the poor wretched objects themselves may 
 ascertain whether or no these members are sound and unbroken. 
 Hark ! there thunders in the Puebla Diligeneia ! Behold that 
 vast violoncello-case, all travel-stained and dusty, which can with 
 difficulty be pushed through the coach-door. Hush ! a groan ! the 
 last of the bass-strings must be broken ! What a mighty instru- 
 ment ; what a size ! the very Lablache of double basses ! But, 
 stay ! that peon has run against it, a cloud of dust arises, and 
 strange metamorphosis lo! a jolly padre, immovable from cramp 
 and weariness ! He stands in every body's way ; the great Amer- 
 ican horses shove by him on this side, the bustling cochero on, that. 
 " Fuera ! padre" at last he totters off. 
 
 We have been to see the two magnificent volcanoes this mor- 
 ning, accompanied by Mr. P from the azotea of the Casa de 
 
 Bazar. This hotel is kept by a brother of the far-famed M. Arago, 
 the distinguished French astronomer and statesman. I mentioned 
 to him that a friend of mine was acquainted whh his celebrated 
 brother. " Ah, madame, vous voulez dire mon frere 1'astronome V* 
 I said yes, and he told me it was very long indeed since he had 
 seen that famous brother of his, and that he himself had been so 
 long settled in Mexico, it seemed easier to him to speak Spanish 
 than French. He is said to be very like the astronomer in appear- 
 ance. He was particularly courteous and obliging, and accompanied 
 . us up to the azotea, which was a splendid one of great extent. 
 
 Language can not depict the majesty and beauty of Popocatepetl 
 and Iztaccihuatl that morning. The atmosphere was remarkably 
 and peculiarly clear, even for Mexico, which was the reason of our 
 
 little expedition. I had received a hasty note from Mr. , early 
 
 in the morning, stating tins fact, and recommending that we should 
 lose no time in repairing to the azotea, to see the volcanoes in their 
 fullest glory. We found, to our dismay, that this house was azotea- 
 
 less, but were advised by Mr. P to go to M. Arago's hotel 
 
 without delay : he offering to escort us there, being acquainted 
 
 K
 
 218 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 with M. Arago. We lost no time, and I am indeed glad to have 
 had so favorable an opportunity of seeing, in its greatest splendor, 
 one of the most sublime scenes in creation. Though the sun was 
 terribly hot there, we could not for some time tear ourselves away 
 from the contemplation of all that august magnificence of Nature. 
 It must be remembered that Popocatepetl far out-towers Mont 
 Blanc. 
 
 Before we went down stairs, M. Arago asked me to look down 
 upon his patio, which is really beautiful, with superb fountains 
 and corridors, the loveliest and most graceful, and a vast profusion 
 of large gayly-colored Chinese lamps, or lanterns, which are lighted 
 every evening, and must produce the most magical effect, reflected 
 by the sparkling waters of the clear fountains. Trees, covered 
 with flowers in all seasons, overshadow costly tables of marble, 
 and guard from the hot sun, in the day-time, the visitors to the 
 Cafe de Bazaar adjoining the hotel. The^ hotel is crammed with 
 guests. 
 
 In returning, we were pestered with beggars, especially Liliputian 
 leperos, mounted like monkeys on each other's shoulders, and keep- 
 ing up the most inharmonious din. The hair of one was like a 
 huge gooseberry-bush, and she would most pertinaciously follow us, 
 though there was hardly room for us and her shock of hair on the 
 broad pavement : it stuck out at the sides like two great black 
 wings, so that I was constantly corning in contact with that un- 
 pleasant hair. A little brother or sister was perched on the girl's 
 shoulders, and helped to do the whining work. I think this 
 spread-out forest of tangled locks was partly designed as a defensive 
 wall to the head that seemed lost in it ; for you see tormented 
 pedestrians frequently dealing rather desperate blo\vs at the crowns 
 of these indefatigable persecutors altogether forgetful of the more 
 gentle " Perdone V." They certainly plague one out of patience. 
 I have not seen any of the deformed lepcros mounted on the 
 shoulders of porters, or peons, that Mr. Ruxton describes perhaps 
 that portermanship is out of fashion.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Intention to cross the Isthmus of Panama The Carnival at Mexico Mag- 
 nificence of the Cathedral during that Festival Throngs of picturesque 
 People in the Streets The Masks A grotesque Equestrian Carnival 
 Quiz on English and French Horsewomen The Mexican Riding-dress 
 Mexican Eyes High-pacing of Mexican Horses Mr. Parrott instru- 
 mental in securing California to the Americans. 
 
 I FIND we can not, without great inconvenience and undergoing 
 many hardships, visit the shores of the Pacific from hence. As I 
 am most Pacifically inclined, I shall follow the advice of several 
 of my acquaintances here and take a trip across the Isthmus of 
 Panama, which is said to be much easier. This is a good time 
 for going there, as the rainy season has not yet commenced. 
 
 I shall, however, proceed there as soon as possible, as before very 
 long the beginning of the unfavorable season may be anticipated, 
 and this will considerably, and to my great regret, curtail my visit 
 to matchless Mexico ; for if we do not go from Vera Cruz by the 
 next British steamer, we should be detained here so long that the 
 bad weather would probably be set in by the time we got to Chagres, 
 and, as there is no steamer direct to Chagres, we have to go round 
 by the Havana, from whence I shall go probably in one of the 
 American steamers to the Isthmus. 
 
 Here the carnival is now going on, and we have been escorted 
 by Mr. P , to see the cathedral in all its pomp : it was aston- 
 ishingly magnificent. The quantity of gold and silver and gorgeous 
 jewels, and ornaments of different kinds was prodigious, and the 
 brilliancy of the whole scene was almost too dazzling. All around 
 the great altar it seemed to have snowed miraculous brightness 
 and sparkling splendors, for every thing was draped with spotless 
 white satin, and glittering with spangles and embroidery, and with 
 solid silver. 
 
 Some very fine music was pealing through the vast church, 
 with a noble and impressive effect. There were many priests 
 officiating, who seemed scarcely able to move under the weight of 
 their sumptuous dresses ; crowds of people in holiday dresses were 
 in the cathedral, and the odor of incense was delicious. 
 
 The great square was very gay. There were throngs of women 
 in various dresses ; some with china shawls of half a hundred 
 colors ; some in, country costumes, among whom shone conspicuous
 
 220 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the brilliantly-attired Poblanas (women from Puebla), sombreroed 
 caballeros, blanketed Indians, priests, children, friars, soldados it 
 was quite overflowing. 
 
 The leperos mustered as strong as usual, but were far too much 
 taken up with gazing at my chatelaine to importune me seriously ; 
 they came to beg, but they remained to stare ; so the chatelaine 
 made a capital diversion. Perhaps they thought it was a choice 
 assortment of weapons to ward them off with. 
 
 I must now speak of our drive in the paseo to see the masks. 
 There were a goodly number of soldiers there to preserve order and 
 prevent any carriage from breaking the line, and creating thereby 
 a confusion, which, no doubt was necessary, as the crowds of car- 
 riages were extraordinary ; they appeared innumerable, and so did 
 the horsemen. It was riot dull, for the masks and costumes were 
 capital, and the variety was almost bewildering ; but it was the 
 very quietest carnival I ever saw. 
 
 One or two groups of extraordinarily-dressed individuals were 
 much followed and shouted after, but, in general, a great silence 
 prevailed, and the pedestrians who thronged the promenades on 
 each side of the drive, merely just by a bright smile, which dis- 
 played commonly a brilliant set of teeth flashing like the driven 
 snow in the sun, expressed their pleasure and mirth. One gro- 
 tesque mask, who seemed a great favorite, was a capitally repre- 
 sented, enormous black bear on horseback (no such wonderful 
 phenomenon after all), holding the reins in the most delicate and 
 dandy-like style, in its huge paws; and caracolling about to the 
 great edification of all, the little boys especially, inthe place. 
 
 There were some masked ladies riding, with immensely long 
 habits trailing along (they were men dressed up), floating vails, 
 and jaunty riding hats arid whips ; these were a quiz upon En- 
 glish and French equestrianesses. There were some pretended 
 ladies also driving themselves in a light sort of pony carriage, 
 a I'Anglaise, with bonnets and doll's parasols these were excel- 
 lent. There were, of course, a vast number of Turks, Moors, 
 knights, cavaliers, &c. 
 
 Of all the dresses, the most beautiful was the Mexican full dress 
 (the riding costume) itself. The sombreros most profusely orna- 
 mented with the brightest of silver ; the splendidly-embroidered 
 jackets, with hanging buttons of silver ; the trowsers, also embroi- 
 dered and thickly adorned with similar silver buttons (these are 
 slit up the leg and display an under pair, of the whitest linen be- 
 neath) ; and the spurs delicately and richly ornamented, and
 
 MEXICAN HORSES. 221 
 
 about the usual unusual size, were superb. Occasionally the 
 gold-embroidered manga would be gracefully worn, and they 
 sometimes display a kind of winged shoe. The horses seemed to 
 me almost without exception beautiful ; their trappings were very 
 sumptuous and picturesque. 
 
 Among the lookers-on, we saw very many fine faces, with the 
 almost perpetual houri-like eye large, dark, and lustrous till you 
 got rather tired of it, and might even think the pink variety (such 
 as the ferret's, or the albino's) pleasing, by way of a change. The 
 blue, of course, is quite a relief. Not that I mean t6 disparage 
 Mexican eyes, they are magnificent ; but at least one thinks a lit- 
 tle variety would do no harm. Human nature is so fond of nov- 
 elty in all countries, save perhaps France (which is so constant to 
 ceaseless change it is quite remarkable how that surprising and 
 consistent people retain their tastes, and seem never tired of that 
 old game of theirs pulling down and setting up constitutions). I 
 must say, however, on the promenade we saw some lily-white 
 giieras (blondes, fair women), most likely Germans, Americans, or 
 English, with very blue eyes, flaxen hair, and light skins. 
 
 The quantities of splendidly-colored China crape shawls upon 
 the shoulders of the women who lined the sides of the road were 
 astonishing. One would think they must have bought up half the 
 manufactories of China. 
 
 Tired of the scene, at length we wished to return toward home, 
 but found we must go back the whole length of the drive first ; 
 for the soldiers would not hear of letting any body break the ranks. 
 It was rather tiresome, and I was only consoled by watching the 
 beautiful horses, mostly high-stepping Brazeadors, that went 
 prancing along, looking as conceited as any Christians, and twice 
 as handsome. I have been positively assured that they teach 
 them to raise up their fore-legs immensely high (which they al- 
 most all do) by putting on them magnifying spectacles when they 
 are young, by which means the stones on the road are made to 
 appear like large blocks in the way, and they lift up their legs in 
 order to step over them, and so acquire the habit. I dare say the 
 reader will laugh incredulously, but I tell him just what was told 
 me as a fact, and I am further informed this is constantly prac- 
 ticed in South America. 
 
 We got home at last ; but driving through the streets of Mex- 
 ico just now is a trial to the skill of most coachmen ; for there is 
 a new order come out, that no one must drive within a certain 
 number of inches of the pavement. The Mexicans themselves
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 laugh at this curious regulation. Mr. said he was stopped 
 
 the other day on this account, and mightily offended the official 
 by saying he had forgotten to bring a yard measure with him, but 
 would hang it to his carriage-wheel in future. The man was 
 furious, and said his order must not be turned into ridicule. The 
 muzzle of a pistol then peeped out in answer, and ended the con- 
 troversy. 
 
 Victoriana came to have another portrait done of her, for her 
 egotistical gallery, and brought another muchacha belonging to 
 the house, to participate also in the benefits of a paper-and-pencil 
 immortalization. But the amateur artist who had sketched the 
 two previous stolen portraits, was not much in the humor to do a 
 third, and still less to delineate the form and features of the dam- 
 sel who accompanied gentle Victoriana. For the former had cer- 
 tainly less charms to boast of than her patroness had ; and when 
 I state that that twice-pictured damsel herself bore a rather strik- 
 ing resemblance to an individual commonly known as the Knave 
 of Clubs (and to that gentleman, too, only when afflicted with the 
 mumps his personal charms being by no means overpowering at 
 any time), it will not excite so much surprise. It perhaps may 
 be conceived that Sir Peter Lely might have felt a little hesita- 
 tion with respect to admitting this new candidate for pictorial 
 honors into his gallery of beauties (had she lived in his day), and 
 it is a melancholy fact that the amateur artist before alluded to, 
 looked particularly blank at the not very charming prospect before 
 her. 
 
 Victoriana, notwithstanding her likeness to the knave of clubs, 
 en petite sante, had at least a very pleasing and gay good-humor- 
 ed countenance, but her poor friend was the most forlorn and dole- 
 ful-looking damsel you ever beheld (so it was mumps and dumps) ; 
 and with her on one side and Victorina on the other, V look- 
 ed like Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy, and ought to have 
 done the whole group, thus including herself, in these characters. 
 
 To please them, at last she did two little rough sketches, suffi- 
 ciently flattering to both these mulligatawny-complexioned nymphs. 
 Then the merry one looked contemplative and absorbed in dream- 
 ing and delighted thought, as she gazed on her own picture : and 
 the dismal one turned merry. In short, Tragedy looked very 
 comic, and Comedy rather tragic and serious ; perhaps the latter 
 was secretly plotting how to run off with both sketches for her 
 private collection in some corner of the scullery devoted to high 
 art.
 
 MR. PARROTT. 223 
 
 We had a farewell visit from our friend Mr. Parrott, who is to 
 start on his return to California almost immediately. I have 
 heard, not from himself, but from others, that it was owing to his 
 energy and promptitude that California was secured to the Amer- 
 icans. He sent an express to the American commander-in-chief 
 of the squadron in the Pacific announcing the war, when there 
 was an idea that Great Britain would attempt to take California 
 under its protection an idea arising from the circumstance of 
 there being a large British force concentrated near, and indeed at 
 anchor off the port of Mazatlan at the time. Notwithstanding 
 there was considerable difficulty in forwarding this express, Mr. 
 Parrott contrived, with great adroitness, to send it through safely 
 in five days, the usual time being ten days. This delivered the 
 first news of the war to the United States forces in the Pacific. 
 
 Very shortly afterward California was occupied, without any 
 opposition or resistance from us, by Commodore Sloat, and the 
 force under his command. He had hardly planted the American 
 flag in the territory, when our eighty-gun ship, the " Collingwood," 
 (admiral Sir G. Seymour) ran into the harbor of Monterey ; but 
 if any designs were entertained of frustrating the plan of the 
 Americans, the time was already past, when any obstacle could 
 successfully be thrown in their way, and the " Collingwood" 
 almost immediately (when the state of affairs was ascertained) 
 took her departure. 
 
 Of course I can not answer for the entire correctness of this ac- 
 count, but I believe it is substantially true. Mr. Parrott, during 
 part of the Mexican war, acted as volunteer. He told me he had 
 never enjoyed better health than when undergoing all kinds of 
 hardships and privations, and subsisting entirely on rations of fat 
 pork ; but then the charming Mexican climate, must be taken 
 into account.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Departure for Vera Cruz Threatened Accident to the Diligence Last 
 Look at Mexico, and its early Stirrers The Little Penon A magnificent 
 View Passengers by the Diligence Splendid Sombreros The Escort 
 of Lancers Mexican Robbers Of what Class composed Some of their 
 Exploits Escorts alleged to be sometimes Robbers Arrival at Rio Frio 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. G The Plain of Puebla Malinche The Pyramid 
 
 of Cholula Its early History Its Height and Appearance Chamber dis- 
 covered in the Pyramid What it contained Arrival at Puebla. 
 
 WE were both quite unhappy to leave beautiful and most en- 
 chanting Mexico. Even our parting with good-natured, kind Vic- 
 toriana, was quite affecting ! After telling us how much she 
 siento'd our departure, she flung her arms and hair about us most 
 affectionately those mahogany arms, and that ebon hair almost 
 strangled us. 
 
 We left Mexico at about half-past four o'clock in the morning. 
 I found, during the 'time we were there, that one attains a great 
 proficiency in the art of sleeping, in that clear, elastic air, and on 
 that morning we dressed and prepared for our journey, between 
 dreaming and waking. While I saw the trunks and packages, 
 busily vanishing one after the other, I remained in such a state 
 of " masterly inactivity," that I scarcely cared, and could hardly 
 rouse myself; even when those dreadful sounds, " the diligence is 
 ready," broke upon my ears. However, awake or asleep we 
 must go, and we hastily passed along the deserted corridors, a 
 dreary procession, in a state of semi-consciousness, mechanically 
 following our cherished carpet-bags, and well-beloved boxes. 
 
 Having seen their "old familiar faces" looking down upon us 
 from the mountain heights, of the diligence summit, we clamber- 
 ed into that imposing vehicle. The companion coach was ready 
 hard by, and off we started, but soon stopped again, with a jerk 
 that almost, or quite severed soul and body, but, fortunately the 
 second jerk, on starting once more, brought them together again. 
 
 In the mean time, we felt naturally -a little bewildered and 
 confused. What had happened ? Surely the ladrones had not 
 lassoed the cocJicro on the box of the diligence, in the very streets 
 of Mexico. Or had that careless functionary, driven the wheels 
 within the quarter of an inch prescribed by law] And were we 
 all about to be summoned before some dread tribunal, to answer
 
 LAST LOOK AT MEXICO. 225 
 
 for our hair's breadth scrape (not 'scape)1 We knew not, nor did 
 we ever know, for on we plunged in the half lamp-lit darkness 
 (they have huge swinging lamps swung from corner to corner), 
 and away we trotted as merrily, as before this little incident, 
 which remained clothed in impenetrable mystery. It served 
 thoroughly to awaken us, however, so that we took our last look 
 of queenly Mexico with very wide-awake eyes. 
 
 How quiet seemed those streets, generally so alive with busy 
 thousands ! The sereno was about to make his exit from the 
 scene, and the coal-seller, the carbonero, his entry : he would prob- 
 ably be soon followed by the mantequilleros (lard-venders), and 
 the lecheras (milk-women), the carnicero (butcher), Indian cam- 
 bista (exchanger), tortilleros, and the tender duck-venders, whose 
 cry is " Oh, my soul, my soul ! hot ducks !" (but I believe this is 
 an evening cry), buhoneros (peddlers), the honey and requeson-sel- 
 lers, and agiiadores. A remarkably picturesque class, are these 
 last. They are water-carriers, and have great earthen jars, slung 
 at their backs by a strap, which passes like a bandeau across the 
 forehead. Then a mere trifle of a jar, as they seem to consider it 
 (we should find rather weighty and unwieldy), swings carelessly 
 in front, to balance the bigger one, by a hand put over the top of 
 the head. 
 
 The sunrise was lovely, and when we looked back at the valley 
 of Mexico in the golden light of morning, the prospect was indeed, 
 all that one can dream of the beautiful and the sublime. It was 
 enough to electrify a mummy, or an oyster with admiration. 
 
 I forgot to say, when we reached the barrier of the city, we 
 found an escort of soldiers waiting for us, who immediately ranged 
 themselves on either side of the coche, and cantered leisurely along 
 with us. It was after quitting the shores of fair Lake Tezcuco, 
 that we turned to the south, and after changing horses at a place 
 called the little Penon (a hill standing in a solitary position be- 
 tween the Lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco), we continued our 
 course to Ayotla. 
 
 At this point it was that General Scott's army quitted the 
 main road to Mexico, and turning round the Peiion Grande to the 
 south of the city, followed the opposite shore of the Chalco Lake. 
 It was near this, at the base of the soaring Peiion, that we bade 
 adieu to the glorious valley, and began to toil up the ascent of 
 the mountain. 
 
 We had a fresh relay of horses, at a flourishing-looking Iwicien- 
 da of considerable size, on a shelf of the mountain, and it was
 
 226 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 looking back from that spot, that the prospect of the unrivaled 
 valley, which we had lately left, was magnificent. Looking to- 
 wards Tenango and Ameca, we beheld a vast plain, where stretch- 
 ed fields of verdant corn, and shone out stately haciendas, and 
 the white walls of populous hamlets. Chalco spread its many- 
 glittering waveless waters beneath us, and through some chasmy 
 opening in the surrounding hills, you marked Tezcuco, holding its 
 sparkling mirror to the morning. Onward and upward then, till 
 that earthly heaven, the valley, opened all its apparently world- 
 wide scene before you while the cloud-belted giant mountains 
 some with their foreheads dazzling as very constellations with 
 perpetual snow seemed placed there expressly to draw the glances 
 of mortals to the skies, lest they should haply forget them among 
 such endless glories and such bewilderment of beauty around. 
 
 Not long after this exquisite view we got deep into the cold 
 pine forest, which, I suppose, is the beginning of the tract called 
 the " Black Forest ;" and we were glad to draw our cloaks well 
 around us ; the air felt very sharp. We reached, at length, those 
 savage looking defiles, which are said to be the places most 
 haunted by robbers, of any in all Mexico, except, perhaps, the coun- 
 try about Perote. Our gallant little squadron of lancers took oc- 
 casionally, some short cuts in the hilly pine woods, but kept, how- 
 ever, within hail. We watched them with some little anxiety ; 
 and the party, in general, was observed to be rather more cheer- 
 ful, when their gaudy, and gracefully-wreathed sarapes, and long 
 lances, with streaming scarlet pennons, were very close to the 
 sides of the carriage. 
 
 I have not mentioned, on coming to Mexico we had passed a 
 tree under which a whole set of robbers had been shot the week 
 before. I did not observe it on our return, but it was somewhere, 
 I think, in this forest. Our diligence was nearly full : we occu- 
 pied one side, and besides ourselves there was an agreeable and 
 very poli old French gentleman; a Mexican, with his son, natives 
 of Puebla, and returning there from a visit to the capital ; and a 
 young Mexican gentleman who had been educated at New York, 
 spoke English remarkably well, and seemed imbued with much 
 admiration of " The States," which he in courtesy called the 
 United ones. 
 
 (Forgive me, my dear American friends, but just now, when 
 you are so fiercely quarreling, it is allowable to say this, is it not ? 
 One of their printers the other day unintentionally anagrammized 
 the word, and printed it " Untied States." However, the Amor-
 
 ESCORT OF LANCERS. 227 
 
 leans I have seen in Mexico seem to think, in general, all these 
 vexatious disagreements will blow over.) 
 
 The French gentleman and two of the Mexicans were carefully 
 nursing on their knees splendid sombreros to be sported on high- 
 days arid holidays, I suppose. They took off the covers which 
 protected their treasures from dust and dirt, and they were ex- 
 tremely handsome, of the most delicate materials, and exquisitely 
 decorated with silver. One had the costliest little silver dog on 
 it possible, as an ornament, to join the silver band, if I recollect 
 rightly ; it was so beautifully executed it almost looked alive, and 
 yet was only about the size of the famous little dog in the fairy 
 tale that, couched in a nut, betrayed its whereabouts by a sharp 
 little " Yap, yap." After exhibiting them to our admiring view 
 (I believe they thought our curiosity was excited by the mysteri- 
 ous way in which they were folded and enwrapped), they espe- 
 cially the Frenchman kept up a very animated conversation, in 
 Spanish, about the theatres, the great carnival-ball, and so on. 
 How happy the Frenchman seemed, talking of ballets and operas, 
 and of his seeing Cerito at Paris, and Carlotta Grisi, Marie 
 Taglioni, and half a hundred more ! 
 
 A Parisian is a Parisian every where, and always ; for, except 
 occasional visits to France, it appeared this gentleman had been 
 settled in Mexico twenty or thirty years : but he was, notwith- 
 standing that, apparently as much a citizen of Paris as if he had 
 never penetrated into the country further than the Bois de 
 Boulogne. Every now and then they stopped in the middle of 
 an entrcduit (that is, the description of one), or left poor Carlotta 
 Grisi balancing herself, with great grace, and twirling upon one 
 leg in a very difficult pas and posture, to throw a sidelong glance 
 out of the window to see whether those who were riding so close 
 to the carriage were lancers or ladrones, and, after this brief 
 investigation, resumed their discourse, till higher and more rugged 
 rocks, and a deeper and ever deepening gloom of crowding pines, 
 caused another reconnoitring look, and many an uneasy after-peep, 
 cast " slantindicularly" out of the loop-holes of our traveling 
 fortress. 
 
 One of our lancers was a negro ; another seemed to have en- 
 tirely run to mustaches ; a third, of a light copper-color, had 
 swathed himself up in his cloak like an Egyptian mummy (evi- 
 dently suffering from the cold severely) ; a fourth seemed to con- 
 sist chiefly of lance and spurs, and the point of a bluish nose the 
 points of the one and the other equally sharp. The fifth was a
 
 228 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 splendid cavalier, whose spirited horse curveted about in the 
 most graceful style but I will not go on particularizing. Suffice 
 it that all were sarape'd up almost to the eyes, and that altogether 
 they had a most imposing effect, and a highly picturesque appear- 
 ance. 
 
 Their uniform was multiform, and of all the colors of the rain- 
 bow : their complexions varied almost as much, and their horses 
 were not behindhand in variety of hues grays, blacks, alazans 
 (sorrel-colored), piebalds, prietos (dark brown), and others. I 
 believe, in addition to their lances, they are armed with holster- 
 pistols and escopettes. 
 
 With regard to the robbers, we are told they are usually very 
 humane and often courteous. If the accounts we hear of them, 
 from even Mexicans, be true, they ought to be so, as they are 
 frequently persons belonging to good society, who having gambled 
 away their property, " take to the road," temporarily, as a means 
 of recruiting their shattered fortunes. Gambling is the curse of 
 Mexico. 
 
 These distinguished marauders appear to consider this a sort of 
 guerilla warfare, which is not derogatory or degrading a singular 
 delusion, to say the least of it. A colonel in the army, we were 
 told, was shot a little while ago for heading a desperate troop of 
 brigands who plundered a diligence, and this is said to be by no 
 means an isolated case ; but that, after all, may be an exaggera- 
 tion. One thing appears certain ; they are generally exceedingly 
 civil and considerate toward passengers who at once give up their 
 money and valuables. 
 
 We were told that they have occasionally robbed a party of 
 priests ; and then, having ordered the poor fat padres to lie on 
 their rubicund faces in the dust la boca d tierra, while they 
 ransacked their trunks they have insisted on the panting, puffing 
 ecclesiastics giving them absolution for their sacrilegious sin. One 
 day, it seems, they attacked a large party of actors and actresses 
 returning from a visit to Mexico. They seized their heterogeneous 
 wardrobe, and were perfectly enchanted at the gorgeousness of the 
 dresses, glittering with tinsel and spangles. They could not resist 
 the delight of dressing themselves up in their brilliant costumes ; 
 and while one accoutred himself like a Roman senator, hanging 
 the false flowing beard (which he should have tied to his ell-long 
 mustaches) behind like a dragoon's horsetail to his helmet, another 
 attired himself in the graceful costume of the Sylphide, with a 
 wreath of white roses stuck on the top of his great bushy head,
 
 MEXICAN BRIGANDS. L':>9 
 
 and the little gauzy wings, fastened on to the herculean shoulders, 
 so that he looked like a vast cherub booted and spurred at any 
 rate, we may imagine such mistakes were made. A party of 
 dragoons galloped up, rescued the heroes and heroines of the 
 buskin, and seized for summary punishment the Sylphides and 
 senators. 
 
 We passed numerous crosses on our road through these gloomy 
 regions, which indicated where murders had been committed ; but 
 these might be relics of the olden time. As for us, we had im- 
 mense, unbounded confidence in the lances and mustaches, which 
 had so warlike an appearance, galloping at our side. They seemed 
 a gallant set altogether, and determined to put to flight any 
 number of ladrones. They were very active and vigilant, and 
 spied about for brigands, as if they would rather have liked a little 
 skirmish than not. 
 
 Travelers, however, have sometimes told me in Mexico, that 
 they do not place much dependence on them. They say, in the 
 first place, when not employed as escorts, they themselves become 
 the robbers. That trifling circumstance matters not at all, I 
 think, or is rather favorable than otherwise ; for they must know 
 the haunts and habits of their sometimes comrades particularly 
 well. And then it is so seldom now that travelers carry any real 
 valuables with them on these dangerous roads, that their pay and 
 gratuities as protectors must be in general a more certain source 
 of livelihood to them, than their booty as banditti. Besides, oc- 
 casionally travelers must be allowed to go safely, otherwise they 
 would more and more restrict themselves to a mere change of linen 
 and a few cigars. And then it is the interest of these soldados to 
 keep up the confidence of riageros in escorts, for thus they are al- 
 ways sure of some employment and emolument, either as defenders 
 or defiers of the law. No ; I am resolved that nothing shall shake 
 my full dependence on these red pennons and purple points of noses. 
 
 At last we drew up at the door of the posada at Rio Frio, 
 which is situated a short distance below the summit of this un- 
 comfortable pass, without having seen the slightest soupcon of a 
 robber, to my great delight. The Almuerzo was already pre- 
 pared, and we had wherewithal in our purses to pay for it to boot. 
 There was a complete hurricane at Rio Frio. 
 
 In the companion coach were Mr. and Mrs. G , and all 
 
 their children (Mr. G had been a traveling companion of ours 
 
 to Mexico). His wife is a French lady, very pleasing-looking, and 
 extremely fair, with light-colored hair. She traveled a fa Mr.ri-
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 came, without any bonnet, but, however, not with a reboso -in 
 short, with nothing at all on, her head : this must have been un- 
 pleasant in the clouds of dust that were whirling about. When 
 they got out to go to breakfast, two or three little blue-eyed chil- 
 dren were blown away like feathers, and the poor nurse was run- 
 ning after them in dismay, and waltzing with the wind in the 
 wildest fashion. I remained in the diligence and breakfasted on 
 biscuits. I had rather have had bear for breakfast, as we had 
 sometimes on the Mississippi. 
 
 Before we started, Mr. G - flew (the wind being favorable) 
 to the side of the carriage, and told me they were going to Puebla, 
 where we should all stop for the night, and I anticipated the pleas- 
 ure of making Mrs. G - 's acquaintance there ; but fate decided 
 otherwise. But now, the horses being to vainos, the cache thun- 
 ders along amid the roaring of the wind, and soon we enter another 
 somewhat perilous and rugged pass but this opens on the fair 
 and fertile table-land of stately Puebla. 
 
 Boldly stands the peak of Malinche alone upon the plain, and 
 it is the first spectacle that presents itself (and a very noble one 
 too) on quitting the shade of the woods. The table-land over 
 which our road then led, descends very gradually to Puebla, which 
 is a distance of about forty miles. It is covered with maize and 
 wheat ; but there does not .seem to be any division into hedged 
 fields. Here and there you see haciendas, and churches, and gar- 
 dens, and ruins. These last struck us much when we first came 
 from " The States," where such 'a thing is as rare as a Cape jes- 
 samine would be at the North Pole. Popocatapetl looked awfully 
 beautiful and magnificent from there, and Iztaccihuatl did not 
 yield much to it in grandeur. 
 
 I believe one of Cortez's great battles was fought very near this 
 volcano of Malinche ; but I get a little puzzled with the number 
 of volcanoes and mountains, and the Aztec and American battles 
 Cortez and General Scott, " El grande Emperador Montezuma" 
 and gallant " Old Zach." 
 
 We soon came in sight of the wonderful and huge pyramid of 
 Cholula, built by the Aztecs ; it is supposed as a Tcocalli. A 
 temple to Queatzalcoatl formerly stood on it ; but now it is crown- 
 ed by a Christian chapel dedicated to the Madonna. 
 
 Some antiquaries have conjectured it served for a cemetery, as 
 well as a sanctuary of religion. It is thought by Humboldt to bear 
 a striking resemblance to the temple of Belus, and some other 
 Oriental edifices. It is believed by the Indians to be hollow ; and
 
 PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 231 
 
 they have a curious tradition that while Cortez remained at Cho- 
 lula, a number of armed warriors were concealed in it, who were 
 to have attacked, suddenly and unexpectedly, the Spanish army. 
 It appears to be true, at any rate that Cortez, having some cause 
 for distrust, or some secret information of such an intention, as- 
 saulted in a very unlooked-for manner the inhabitants of Puebla, 
 and put six thousand to the sword. 
 
 Humboldt says the base of this mighty pyramid is almost double 
 that of the great pyramid of Cheops in Egypt ; its height, how- 
 ever, is not so great. It is said to be constructed most exactly in 
 the direction of the cardinal points. It consists of four distinct 
 terraces or pyramidical stories, and is entirely built with alternate 
 layers of clay and adobes (sun-dried bricks). 
 
 The pyramid is partly covered on the eastern side by the spon- 
 taneous growth of vegetation, some prickly pears, and different 
 small shrubs, giving it at a little distance, rather the appearance 
 of a natural abrupt conical-shaped hill. It seems to equal in its 
 elevation which is entirely artificial, and in noble form, the range 
 of hills that stands in the front of it, or the height of Tlaloc that 
 towers behind it. You ascend to the platform on the summit by 
 a flight of about one hundred and twenty steps. 
 
 When the present high road was made from Puebla to Mexico, 
 the first story of the Cholula pyramid, it is said, was cut through, 
 and a square chamber was brought to light, which had no outlet, 
 and which was supported by beams of cypress, and singularly con- 
 structed, each succeeding course of bricks passing beyond the lower. 
 In this square chamber were found two skeletons, some basaltic 
 idols, and a few painted vases varnished in a curious manner. 
 
 It is said, also, that there are fragmentary masses of adobes and 
 clay in the immediate vicinity of the pyramid, in one of which, 
 that bore the aspect of an old fortress, were found some bones of 
 men, earthenware, and warlike arms of the Aztecs. Plantations 
 of aloes, corn-fields, and lovely gardens, and cultivated grounds en- 
 viron Cholula. Formerly there was a great Aztec city of Cholula. 
 
 With regard to this extraordinary pyramid, I think the people 
 who could be bold enough to become mountain-builders within 
 sight of those stupendous volcanoes, Popocatapetl and Iztaccihuatl, 
 and so many other mighty mountains, deserve much praise for 
 their almost sublime audacity. The very idea was amazingly 
 grand and daring ; but when you add to this that they succeeded 
 in leaving to future generations a work that is strikingly noble 
 and magnificent, even in so trying a position, it must be conceded
 
 232 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 that those barbaric tribes have some claims on the admiration of 
 posterity. I hope when we arrive at Vera Cruz to see a drawing 
 of the pyramid by Lord M. Kerr. He intended to devote some 
 little time to making a sketch of it. 
 
 We lost sight of Cholula at last, and crossed the Tlascala 
 River, and then drew near to the many churches, and towers, and 
 domes, and convents of populous Puebla. Just as we were about 
 to enter the town, we passed the second diligence, whose huge form 
 loomed almost like another Cholula on wheels, in the dusk, with 
 its rather tapering load of trunks, portmanteaus, baskets, and car- 
 pet bags. We imagined they had stopped to have the harness 
 adjusted, as we thought we saw some shadowy figures standing by 
 the horses. However, our cochero stopped to make no inquiries, 
 nor to afford any assistance on he drove to the hotel. 
 
 There were a good many promenaders, probably just returned 
 from the Alameda, in the streets, and some cavaliers I believe 
 masked for the carnival was not over ; but the light was not 
 brilliant enough for us to see well. The magnificent cathedral 
 seemed heaving its giant frame to the sky, till you might almost 
 fancy that those angelic visitants, who were supposed to be its 
 builders, were lifting it from the earth to a more blessed region. 
 We drove through the Grand Plaza, and soon found ourselves 
 dashing into the busy court-yard of the hotel. 
 
 We asked for quartos immediately, and were informed they had 
 but one for our whole party. While I was talking to the superin- 
 tendent, a person came up to me, and began speaking to me in a 
 language that appeared to me a very strange one indeed. I con- 
 cluded it might possibly be Poblano-Spanish, with perhaps a slight 
 mixture of some Indian dialect, and I began to reply in Spanish, 
 to the best of my ability. But my new acquaintance shook her 
 head, and made a fresh trial, and I then discovered this unknown 
 tongue was intended for English ! 
 
 She was a German (and, by the flickering lamp-light, T saw 
 she was very fair and light-haired, and Saxon-looking), and had 
 
 come to Puebla to meet Mrs. G there, to whom she had re- 
 
 recently engaged herself as housekeeper. She was in great trepi- 
 dation at their non-arrival, and feared some accident had happened. 
 I told her all I knew, and we agreed that they would probably 
 soon arrive. 
 
 Another coche came rattling in, and down rushed the poor Ger- 
 man, hoping the belated travelers were in it ; but she soon returned, 
 looking very disconsolate, saying " dal not dem." Brief as Bern's
 
 ARRIVAL AT PUEBLA. 233 
 
 letter to, or of the Ban " Bern Ban baum !" Shortly afterward, 
 I ascertained that they had sent to the hotel to say their diligence 
 had broken down, and to beg some sort of carriage might be dis- 
 patched to bring them and their luggage immediately. 
 
 In the mean time, I had secured quartos. Mr. C , an En- 
 glish gentleman whom we had met in Mexico, most obligingly 
 gave up his room to us, which was a good-sized one, and got a 
 small den somewhere. The maids were left in possession of a 
 scrambling-looking apartment, that had been destined for all of us, 
 and finding the poor German housekeeper (who was not in the 
 least like a stately functionary of that description in looks, for she 
 appeared rather svelte, and delicate, and pretty) had no apartment, 
 they invited her to share theirs. 
 
 We were not sorry to see a good dinner make its appearance, 
 which was goon followed by its disappearance ; for we were very 
 hungry. After dinner, foaming chocolate was brought, and after 
 chocolate we would gladly have sought repose, but we felt anxious 
 
 to see Mr. and Mrs. G and their children arrive in safety, and 
 
 remained up for some time ; but still there were no signs of them. 
 
 So V went to bed, and I a little while after, as we had to be 
 
 up very early in the morning. I was unfortunate enough thus to 
 
 miss making acquaintance with Mrs. G , who, I was told in 
 
 Mexico, is a very nice person indeed. 
 
 Just as our door was closed for the night, hasty steps were heard 
 on the stairs, and in the broad, half-open gallery, sounds of voices 
 speaking French and English were distinctly audible. They had, 
 then, arrived.* My maid told me, the next day, that she had seen 
 them, and that they had been detained so long in consequence of 
 there being no conveyance at hand to send for them. I believe 
 they walked to the hotel, and regretted not having done so at 
 once ; for the first messenger Mr. G sent, never took the mes- 
 sage at all, and the poor children were naturally wearied out with 
 waiting so long after their fatiguing journey. I believe, however, 
 they were to rest a little at Puebla, before they proceeded to their 
 
 new home ; for, if I remember rightly, Mr. G has given up 
 
 the superintendentship of certain Guanajuata mines, and under- 
 taken some not far from Xalapa, for which he is to receive a much 
 more liberal salary.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Departure from Puebla Acajete El Final Alarm of Ladrones Discom- 
 forts of rough Roads exemplified Pulque Its Taste The Plant from 
 which it is extracted Mode of extracting it Monde de Pizano Arrival 
 at Perote Coldness of that Place in Winter. 
 
 ON the following' morning we had to rise before three o'clock, 
 and so were obliged to give up visiting the Celestial Cathedral of 
 Puebla. 
 
 Away we thundered through the deserted streets, and suddenly 
 came to a dead stop. A little alarm, lest we had " come to grief," 
 like poor Mr. and Mrs. G , was quickly dispelled by discover- 
 ing the cochero had dropped his cloak ; so the conductor had to go 
 with a lantern, hunting in the streets for it. The horses fidgeted, 
 the passengers grumbled, the time (as it has a habit of doing) sped 
 on ; but presently the conductor arrived, and brought with him 
 the lost treasure, and off we rattled again to the east to meet the 
 morning. 
 
 We rolled along on the elevated table-land, feeling a little cold, 
 and particularly sleepy. We arrived at last at Amozoque, which 
 is said to be swarming with robbers ; but we were so fortunate as 
 to see none. From this place you ascend by a very gentle inclina- 
 tion, to the summit of the separating ridge beyond Perote. Boldly 
 and proudly towered the great mountain walls of the table-land. 
 
 The next relay was at Acajete. At one of these places we 
 tasted some spring water, said to be wonderfully fine, but we did 
 not think it so very remarkable. It is reported that a large gang 
 of ladrones conceal themselves often among the ravines and bar- 
 rancas of the Acajete mountains. I am happy to say they did not 
 leave their ambush. We drove on pretty rapidly past thickets, 
 and shelving rocks, and frowning precipices, and stopped to change 
 horses at El Final, on the northern side of the mountain, a large 
 and fine hacienda, and then rattled speedily along to Nopaluca, 
 where the diligencia breakfasted. 
 
 I do not remember accurately where, but somewhere not very 
 far from this, there was an alarm of ladrones given in the diligence. 
 A number of mounted horsemen, apparently well armed, made
 
 ALARM OF LADRONES. 23r> 
 
 their appearance; and one, who looked like a chief or captain 
 among them, galloped tolerably near, and seemed to be busily oc- 
 cupied in reconnoitring our carriages, the passengers, and the pos- 
 sible booty. 
 
 The French gentleman seemed convinced they were " Les 
 voleurs ! oui, ma foi, les voila, tenez, il faut Mais, uon attendez, 
 voyons un peu. Eh, oui ! c'est le merne ;" and elevating his 
 voice, leaning half out of the carriage, taking off his sombrero, 
 and waving his hand, he called, " Como ! Senor.. quien se lo hubi- 
 era imaginado ? Se lo hubieran esperado ? Pardiez ! Me alegro 
 de ver a V. ! Celebro mucho ver a V. Me atrevere a pedir 
 adonde va V. V Many compliments passed between them, and 
 after a number of mutual civilities and salutations, and a perfect 
 lightning flash of brilliant teeth, shown by the gracious smiles of 
 the caballero, away he dashed from the side of the carriage, still 
 bowing to the senoras, and being joined by his companions, was 
 soon lost to sight. The French gentleman told us, he had met 
 him accidentally somewhere, and been enabled to show him some 
 trifling kindness and civility, and that on recognizing him so luckily, 
 he reminded the caballero of it, and for his sake were thus saved 
 our watches and coins. 
 
 By this time we were shaken almost out of all knowledge ; one 
 of our bonnets looked like a small coal-scuttle in convulsions ; a 
 wretched Mexican had his sombrero almost smashed into his face ; 
 another had his visage knocked about with many whacks, pleasingly 
 diversifying his olive complexion with patches of black and blue. 
 When we attempted to talk, it was very much like speaking in 
 entrechats, our poor words had to cut such extraordinary capers in 
 our throats. The unhappy Monsieur seemed at one moment like 
 an Indian juggler about to bolt a sword, scabbard and all, or a 
 boa constrictor preparing 1 to swallow its victim, and beginning 
 with one limb at first. The poor man had only got his neighbor's 
 elbow, in his mouth, which another jolt almost sent halfway down 
 his throat. 
 
 Our conversation was necessarily fitful. " Mais ou done est 
 mon chapeau ? Cette voiture fait danser tout d'une maniere 
 Oh ! je vous en prie Ne vous derangez pas, Monsieur." But 
 Monsieur just at that moment was very much " derange ;" he was 
 tossed as in a blanket to the highest roof, and down again, and 
 probably alighted upon the identical chapeau they were looking 
 for. " No le incomoda a V. este paquete, Senor ?" And " esre 
 paqnete," at the same moment of time, lodged itself unscrupulously
 
 236 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 on the nose of the civil questioner. " Hombre ! verdaderamente 
 los caminos no son muy buenos, pero, que hermosa vista ! Que 
 
 magnifico pais ! Parece " But the poor wretch just then 
 
 had his hat jammed over his eyes, which stopped his rapture. 
 Shortly after, you must imagine an immensely polite conversation 
 going forward. The French Monsieur discovers that the Mexican 
 Senor is going to Xalapa as well as himself, and he is charmed. 
 " Tendre el placer de gozar de su compania de V., porque yo tam- 
 
 bien " And while thus saying, even, the Senor hits him 
 
 such a terrible whack, by an involuntary butt with his head, that 
 the wretched victim is doubled up for half-an-hour by it. 
 
 At last we learned to watch for the coming jolt, when the horses 
 or mules were all at full gallop, and the road rather worse than 
 usual. At the first symptoms of plunges and shocks, conversation 
 would be generally as suddenly stopped, as if the whole company had 
 unexpectedly been gagged : and some would screw their mouths 
 into the tightest of button-holes, others open theirs wide (the wisest 
 plan, which I can safely recommend, as it saves your teeth from 
 being jammed together in lock-jaw fashion, or played upon like 
 castanets), gasping " like a cat-fish with a sock-dolager hook in its 
 mouth," but all exhibited countenances of intense horror. We 
 almost felt sometimes as if our heads had been jolted off. and re- 
 jolted on again, happy if each got his own head back : what a 
 shame it would have been if one person had acquired two, and aped 
 Austria's double-headed eagle ! 
 
 We tried some pulque for the first time, when changing horses 
 at one of the posadas, during this journey : the first time I ever 
 saw others drinking it, I thought they were draining large draughts 
 of new milk (for it looks exactly like it), and admired much the 
 teetotalism of that knot of arrieros, and rancheros, and mozos. 
 Then and there I was informed it was the famous pulque they 
 were so industriously imbibing. 
 
 I had not at this time courage to taste it, for I heard an alarm- 
 ing account of it ; but on our return we all tasted and sipped. 
 
 H and W thought it like indifferent small beer ; I 
 
 thought it like nothing exactly, but that it stood " alone in its glory," 
 matchlessly horrible. But I can just imagine that you might 
 get used to it in about a hundred and fifty years, and in a hundred 
 more learn to like it : but, on second thoughts, 1 think this is a 
 little exaggeration, and you might by possibility become an earlier 
 convert. I must also add, to give the stuff" its due, that we were 
 told that this was very inferior pulque, and therefore we must not
 
 PULQUE. 237 
 
 condemn universal pulque after tasting such a bad specimen. It 
 is said to be but very little intoxicating, and exceedingly nutritious, 
 BO it deserves well of its country ; and its countrymen have reason, 
 to prize it, and sing and say, as Mr. Ruxton tells us they sometimes 
 do " Viva nosotros y pulque." 
 
 The Maguey (Agave Americana), from which this beverage is 
 extracted, is an aloe, and is very extensively cultivated in Mexico. 
 The most famous plantations of it are in the vicinity of Cholula, 
 and also those in the Llanos de Apam ; there are many places be- 
 sides celebrated for excellent pulque, as the valley of Teluco, where 
 the pulque is supplied from immense Maguey grounds near Lerma, 
 and numerous others. The plant grows wild in every part of 
 Mexico, but is not cultivated or milked, i.e. drained of its precious 
 sap, except in certain districts. I should imagine, however, the 
 cultivation of it is fast spreading, as the consumption appears to 
 be perfectly enormous. We saw immense fields of it in many parts 
 during our journey. 
 
 The process of preparing for the supply of pulque is curious. 
 When the central shoot, which would naturally produce the flower, 
 is on the eve of making its appearance, it is anticipated, and rather 
 harshly nipped in the bud, by a deep incision being made, and the 
 whole heart being taken out, as one of those most savage and 
 merciless barbarians of civilized life, called dentists, extracts a tooth, 
 by the roots. This operation is generally performed by the Indians, 
 whose forefathers had a little knack of doing a similar service to 
 human subjects, but not with such beneficial results. Having thus 
 extracted el corazon, only the stout outside rind is left, which acts 
 the part of a natural cistern, or large basin, both deep and wide, 
 into which the sap, which dame Nature designed for the sustenance 
 of the immense central shoot, oozes perpetually in vast quantities. 
 Then comes the experienced Indian (athirst already, and fired by 
 thoughts of coming pulque) and hacks away the leaves on one 
 side, so as to make a regular breach in these vegetable battlements, 
 and thrusts in a long gourd (acojote) whose lesser end is finished 
 ofF by a horn, while a small square orifice is left at the other ex- 
 tremity, to which his mouth is applied, while by the force of suction, 
 he extracts the sap, which sap, before fermentation takes place, is 
 named agua-mid (honey-water), and, in accordance with its name, 
 has an extremely sweet taste, and is quite destitute of that extra- 
 ordinary smell (not much unlike that of eggs in the sere and yellow 
 leaf of their existence) which appears afterward to form one of its 
 peculiar charms. The sap is allowed to ferment for about fifteen.
 
 238 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 days, when it becomes what they term madre pulque (the mother 
 of pulque), and this is distributed but only in niggardly quantities 
 among the troughs which are to receive daily accessions of agua- 
 miel. It acts as a kind of leaven, fermentation immediately begins, 
 and in about a day the pulque is ready for drinking. "Viva noso- 
 tros y pulque !" 
 
 From this plant is also prepared a horribly strong brandy (which 
 we have not tasted) called Mexical (or Mezcal or Aguardiente de 
 Maguey), which 'is but too highly approved of in general in this 
 country. A more interesting subject in connection with it, is the 
 use the Aztecs made of its leaves in manufacturing the paper on 
 which their hieroglyphics were written, some fragments of which 
 have survived. They now make of the more fibrous portions, a 
 stout thread, or twine, called pita, which is formed into ropes, and 
 made use of in the mines, and as cordage for ships on the Pacific 
 coast : it is said to be very strong and lasting. In short, the 
 Maguey seems to play an important part in Mexico altogether. 
 
 There were a few rocky peaks not far from our road ; but 
 dreaming of the Tierra Caliente the world of flowers and beauty 
 we were soon to see we did not care much to gaze at the inhos- 
 pitable looking landscape, save where afar the Cofire de Perote 
 (whose Indian name is Nauhcampapetl) gleamed out, and mighty 
 Orizaba raised his refulgent crest. 
 
 We came at length to La Venta de Soto, near which towers a 
 huge pyramidal peak of rock of perhaps three thousand feet high 
 Monte de Pizarro. From its gloomy clefts and hollows and 
 hiding-places, it is reported los ladrones often start to terrify and 
 rob passengers. We afterward entered into that lonely rugged 
 volcanic region, which had struck us much in coming, but which 
 looked particularly wild, bleak, and gloomy by the evening light, 
 which was beginning by slow degrees to fade off. 
 
 The black frowning lava scattered in broken and confused beds, 
 as if earthquakes had helped in those olden convulsions of Nature, 
 to produce wilder confusion, looked dreary indeed. Somewhere in 
 Mexico, it is said, a whole population was buried alive (as at 
 Pompeii, I suppose), and this might well be the spot ; for many 
 of these huge blocks of lava look like giant tomb-stones. There 
 were a few dilapidated cabanas, or chozas (huts and cottages), left 
 to decay, as if their inhabitants could no Jonger endure the oppress- 
 ive gloom of this stern and savage region. Acheron should flow 
 through these melancholy congenial scenes, I believe it is called 
 " mal pais" (the bad country).
 
 ARRIVAL AT PEROTE. 239 
 
 After a dismal drive across this cheerless territory, with only 
 the grandeur of the Coffre de Perote to admire, we arrived at the 
 town. The fortress, where the commandant is our friend, the 
 Coronel Aguado, frowned down upon us, and we soon galloped 
 into the court-yard belonging to that well-remembered collection 
 of dens and cellars, which is called an hotel in Perote. I must 
 not omit to mention, that we had passed innumerable crosses, each 
 showing where some poor wretch lies buried. The people here, 
 as before, refused us a separate dinner at first, and afterward re- 
 lented, and sent us a very good one. Before dinner, one of our 
 
 compagnons de voyage, Mr. C , knocked at our immense barn 
 
 doors, and wanted to know if he could be of any use in sending us 
 dinner. I went out to speak to him, and was surprised at the 
 metamorphosis the bleak air of Siberia-like Perote had wrought 
 in him he was of a tint hovering between azure and Prussian 
 blue, and his teeth were literally chattering in his head. 
 
 After dinner we had some delicious chocolate. We had a most 
 obliging and good-natured woman to wait on us, with very sweet 
 and pleasing manners, quite too good and amiable for such a wild, 
 bleak, drear, robber-haunted place. She seemed like a disguised 
 princess in Perote. If so, she was the most condescending one in 
 the world, for she ran to and fro with the greatest alacrity, bring- 
 ing us all sorts of dishes, stewed, and fried, and boiled. 
 
 I was half asleep when she came to clear away the things and 
 bring chocolate. I told her I was horribly tired (for a wonder, for 
 I very seldom am so with traveling). " Y con razon, Senorita " 
 (you must know every body here is called senorita no matter if 
 she has a hundred children, and is a hundred herself, she is still 
 called miss and child, nina. You may hear sometimes a little 
 beggar girl entreat a decrepit, toothless, bent-double child of seven- 
 ty, to give her caridad,) " con razon, los caminos son tan malos, 
 tan detestables." 
 
 She told me she had sometimes been to Puebla, and was always 
 half dead after it. I asked her if it was not terribly cold at Pe- 
 rote in the winter ; " O si, muchissima." She said the snow was 
 often very deep for a long time together. I glanced round the 
 room and thought " poor travelers !" in order to have any light in 
 the day-time, they must have their door open ; and there is no 
 stove or provision of any sort for giving warmth to the desolate 
 dens ! She told me they kept themselves warm in the kitchen ; 
 but altogether a Perote winter must be a dreary affair. 
 
 After a Little more conversation, she went to find a lamp for us,
 
 240 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 and returned speedily with a very promising-looking one. She 
 begged us then to lose no time in going to bed, as we should have 
 to get up at about two o'clock in the morning ; therefore, in her 
 soft musical voice, she counseled us to retire immediately, " Se lo 
 suplica a V." We took her advice, and slept well till a terrify- 
 ing rat-a-tatting at our prison gates aroused us from slumber, and 
 we hastily dressed by the light of the lamp and a vela, which our 
 kind friend, the disguised princess, had left us. 
 
 My maid told me there was an immense party last evening at 
 dinner, for a great number of Priests and Sisters of Charity had 
 arrived, and there were hardly tables and dinner enough to accom- 
 modate them all. She said these Sisters of Charity appeared all 
 healthy, stout, hard-working people ; and their rough, coarse hands 
 seemed to be accustomed to somewhat severe labor. She under- 
 stood from an American there, that they had just come from 
 Spain. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Departure from Perote Magnificent Views from the Heights Impres- 
 sions caused by them The Beauty of the Approach to Xalapa describ- 
 ed The Mirage Appearance of inverted Houses Hotel de Diligen- 
 cias Visit to a Church Negotiation with the Mozo touching the Sarape 
 and the American Blanket Numbers of Friars and Nuns from Spain 
 Arrival at Vera Cruz A curious Fact in Relation to Dr. Gutzlaff, the 
 Missionary to China Arrival of the Steamer for the Havana. 
 
 BITTERLY cold was it when we took our places in the diligen- 
 cia, the morning we bade adieu to scowling Perote, after having 
 a desayuno of coffee and chocolate, and a small roll, brought in 
 compassionately by one of the mozos, for, of course, our poor prin- 
 cesa was still locked in slumber. 
 
 We rolled heavily through the gloomy, lifeless streets, which 
 echoed with the tramp, tramp, of our eight mules. Most magnifi- 
 cently shone the stars, like so many diamond moons ; but they 
 looked almost as cold as ourselves. On we went, through the star- 
 lit, piercing, chilly atmosphere, between ten and eleven thousand 
 feet, or thereabouts, above the sea. 
 
 At last the pale gray of morning became visible, and soon after 
 up rose the glorious welcome sun, and showed us that we were on
 
 VIEWS FROM THE HEIGHTS. 241 
 
 the heights of the pass, and about to descend through the woods 
 of shadowing pine. Now then, for all the climates of the world, 
 " succeeding each other in layers," to use Baron Humboldt's well- 
 known expression in describing Mexico. For the visitor to this 
 Land of Marvels, the traveler in these magical regions, in the course 
 of a couple of days (and it is possible to do the same thing in a 
 far less space of time perhaps in some parts in a couple of hours), 
 may cast his eye over the whole scale of the earth's varied vege- 
 tation, from the Tropics' gorgeous and dazzling parasitical plants, 
 to the sombre firs arid pines of the Arctic Circle. 
 
 Our descent was not at all a precipitous one at first ; but after 
 a time we journeyed along quite on the extreme brink and edge 
 of the mountains, so that by leaning far out of the carriage, one 
 could catch the sublimest views conceivable of all that intervened 
 between their towering summits and the sea. The high mount- 
 ain chain to the north of the pass turns eastward, and is continued 
 on to the Gulf of Mexico, in parallel lines of ridges, on the heights 
 of which the traveler's eye looks down ; and tfiat eye might also 
 see confusedly, beautiful, wild, and solitary dells among the hills, 
 and the sombre black region of lava and dwarfed and ragged pines, 
 that he is leaving, and wilderness after wilderness of beauty that 
 he is approaching nearer and nearer to ; and from the crest of 
 some of the hills, looking to the south, the awful majesty of the 
 Mountain of the Star (Orizaba), its dazzling brow crowned with 
 unchangeable resplendence, till it seemed to have a brighter day- 
 light of its own. Let him look behind him, and see the white 
 frost like a faint sprinkling from the snows of the CofFre, blanching 
 the funereal foliage of the solemn branches of pine and the beds of 
 gloomy lava ; and let him look before him, and mark the groves 
 of oranges, the corn-fields, the gardens of roses, and the palm 
 daughter of the sun and thrice ten thousand flowering and bloom- 
 ing trees ! There laughs a leaping brook, lustrous, fresh, and 
 clear, as if all the roses had shed all their diamond dews to form 
 its fairy stream, and it rolled, tinted and blushing with their re- 
 flections. And here a forest of labyrinthine bowers makes a warm 
 and glowing darkness of flower-shadows zones after zones, re- 
 gions after regions, expanse after expanse, are stretching at his 
 feet. 
 
 Not the world, but many worlds seem to be outspread in bound- 
 less magnificence before us, for it is so seldom you think of the 
 single Earth, mingling in one transcendent unity one conjunction 
 of almost antagonizing elements and properties, all the diversities, 
 
 L
 
 242 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 all the conflicting extremes it possesses, that when you behold 
 them thus displayed in one overpowering consummate burst of 
 triumph, and in the most stupendous and imposing array, you 
 seem entering on a new state of existence, on a fresh stage of 
 being, and can hardly believe that these wonders, crowded, heap- 
 ed, precipitated, and concentrated (each separate beauty, each 
 different display of grandeur, gaining so much by such juxtaposi- 
 tion such surprising contrast, that each seems far more beauti- 
 ful, and far more majestic) can indeed be the same to which the 
 eye, or the tutored thought, or the imagination has been accus- 
 tomed. These varieties, so accumulated and agglomerated, seem 
 to be new varieties ; this creation, with all its choicest and select- 
 est wonders and glories, so combined and united to each other, 
 seems a vision of many creations, and the boundary which, how- 
 ever seems no boundary to all this gorgeous magnificence, but only 
 a continuation, along which the dreaming, straining eye appears 
 to travel into eternity is the all-glorious immeasurable ocean ! 
 
 With such a spectacle spread out before him does the traveler 
 dash downward only too fast to beautiful Xalapa. Spring and 
 summer seem flying on wings of the rainbow and the rose to greet 
 him ; and every odoriferously-breathing zephyr is an avant-courier 
 of the floral delights that await him. Miles before you are 
 whirled into the bowery, flowery, country-like town of Xalapa, you 
 rejoice in the far-floating odors of its crowding orange groves ; 
 and, what a scene enchants you : Fields of living emerald and 
 chrysoprase ; woods bathed in the beauty of myriads of blossoms 
 (the starry orange bowers emulating the snows of glittering Ori- 
 zaba) ; lovely slopes, the most graceful picturesque hollows ; and, 
 built on the smiling brows of sunny hills, lordly-looking liacien- 
 das, with their white walls sparkling like spotless alabaster ; and 
 tangled mazes of vernal delights, and startling phenomena of 
 vegetation ; such as stems that seem bearing all the flowers of 
 one zone together, so crossed and mingled are the blossomy treas- 
 ures (indeed in some places it seemed like solid masses of 
 blooms). And what fairy glens and gorges, and glittering ham- 
 lets, and sequestered homes, and half-ruined convents glimmerinf 
 through many-colored thickets, and vailing streamers of a thou- 
 sand-tendrilled blossoming vines ; and tortuous paths, and silvery 
 winding rills, and soft acclivities, seemingly intersecting and as it 
 were overlapping each other, as if to conceal some more precious 
 treasures of mystic beauty if that were possible ! And in Rome 
 parts, afar off something that almost looks like a pageant of gor-
 
 HOTEL DE DILIGENCIAS. 243 
 
 geous sunset clouds fallen to earth, and melting in multitudinous 
 splendor it is but a variegated heap of the all but endless growths 
 of Nature in these regions, billowing over some rising grounds, 
 swelling with softest undulations, while the whole resounds with 
 the joyous notes of singing birds. 
 
 But all this time I have forgotten to tell of the beautiful mirage 
 we saw among the mountains : it was pointed out to us by M. 
 
 de . It was hardly possible to believe it was not lakes of 
 
 shining water we saw : the illusion was extraordinarily perfect, 
 and some in the carriage obstinately refused to believe any thing 
 but the evidence of their own fallible senses, till the scene gradu- 
 ally changed, partly before their very eyes, sufficiently to convince 
 them of their error. We were told it was of very unusual occur- 
 rence in those parts. 
 
 There was a marvelous appearance also of some inverted 
 houses, which were at a great distance in reality : and besides 
 that, we beheld, before we left the mountain, a singular phe- 
 nomenon an immense white stratum of clouds, spread out exactly 
 like a vast ocean of snow, concealing, for a short time, the mag- 
 nificent view beneath. This vanished as the sun gained power, 
 having made its appearance during the morning twilight. 
 
 But now we must enter the charming " calles" of that pearl of 
 cities, Xalapa. Again we admired its single-storied, terraced, and 
 balconied houses, smothered in the loveliest of gardens, and many 
 of them quite as large and handsome as the glazed-porcelain 
 houses of Mexico. 
 
 We descended the steep streets to the Hotel de Diligencias, 
 where this time we h^id much better rooms than the last ; we had 
 a very pretty, large, and airy apartment, decorated with a pro- 
 fusion of gayly-painted arabesques, in fresco, and opening on to a 
 broad balcony on one side, and on another to a large wide gallery 
 communicating with a beautiful covered sort of half conservatory, 
 half corridor, enchantingly pretty, adorned with plants, and from 
 this branches the large balcony that runs round the sides of the 
 inner walls of the house, overlooking the great court-yard, which 
 balcony was rather a favorite promenading place when the huge 
 diligencias were heard dashing in from various parts. 
 
 Before we went up-stairs to take possession of our quartos, a 
 very pretty little fair-haired boy came running into the court-yard, 
 
 in great haste. It was the little son of M : he was duly 
 
 introduced to us, and appeared to be a charming little fellow ; the 
 day was beautiful, but cold ; and as we were to stay at Xalapa
 
 244 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 till the morrow, owing to the arrangements of the diligencias, we 
 
 went out walking, to see some of the old churches. Mr. C 
 
 escorted us. 
 
 We climbed up the steep street, and arrived at a handsome- 
 looking church, which 'wa$ said to be beautiful within, and to 
 have great treasures of plata (silver). After a little difficulty we 
 effected an entrance. There was a great deal of dazzling silver 
 certainly : but my attention was painfully arrested by some large 
 wooden figures intended to represent our blessed Saviour, and 
 which were truly shocking ; they were most extravagantly painted. 
 We afterward walked a little way to see some of the beautiful 
 views of this charming place, past the gardens, with their wild 
 profusion of clove-carnations, roses, jessamines, and orange trees. 
 
 As we strolled on we heard the sweet sounds of a harp suddenly 
 struck very near us. We were just passing a large, handsome 
 house, and without intending to be uncivil, on the impulse of the 
 moment we all looked into the large lofty ground-floor room from 
 whose enormous open but iron-barred windows were pouring the 
 echoing strains : we saw a black-haired though fair senorita, 
 apparently just taking her music lesson ; for a grave music-master- 
 like senor was standing by her, and, as it seemed to us, marking 
 the time, and explaining the nature of the aria. 
 
 The senorita, having looked up, caught sight of us immediately, 
 and blushing deeply remained in the attitude, and wrapped in the 
 silence of a painted St. Cecilia, suspended in mute surprise. It 
 was evident that the good Xalapenos were never in the habit of 
 giving way to such indiscreet habits of impertinent curiosity ; so 
 reluctantly we passed on, and soon after th melodious strains re- 
 commenced. 
 
 After returning to the hotel, I gave a commission to Mr. C , 
 
 to find me a sarap6, such as are worn here. A mozo brought in 
 a goodly number for me to choose from. Now it happened there 
 was a deep-blue immense American blanket, which I wanted to 
 get rid of, and as I had brought the least possible money with me 
 (for not wishing to enrich the coffers of the robbers, I had the rest 
 by bills on Vera Cruz), it was decided it was better to throw that 
 blanket into the bargain (since after Perote's chilly regions it was 
 no longer needed), and the wonderful bewilderment of the poor 
 mozo, at this proposition, was highly diverting. He said in 
 piteous accents, his master had told him exactly what to do : and 
 as the master had, naturally enough, not contemplated the circum- 
 stance that had by chance arisen, he had not tutored the mozo on
 
 SARAPE AND AMERICAN BLANKET. 246 
 
 this particular contingency ; so that he seemed at his wit's end to 
 know what to answer. 
 
 " Well," said I, in my choicest Spanish, " go and ask your 
 master ; then you will be sure to be right." 
 
 " But how can I go ?" said he, " till I know what the lady has 
 bought?" , * 
 
 " I shall buy this one, if your master will let me have it for " 
 (I forget the sum) " and take this blue one and you can leave 
 this and take the rest." 
 
 " Oh, no ! HO es posible." 
 
 Well, then, he might take them all (mine included) to his mas- 
 ter, and bring back that one, and I could then pay for it. 
 
 " No, no, that would not do : ' Dispense V. Senorita,' that is 
 quite out of the question." 
 
 "But why?" and here he talked so fast, and as it seemed to 
 me in such a curious patois, that I could not quite follow him ; 
 but yet it appeared to me he wished to leave the chosen one. 
 We offered all sorts of arrangements, but nothing would do. At 
 
 last Mr. C was called in to try to clear up the matter ; he 
 
 could not, and Senior Novarro was at last applied to whom, by 
 the way, we found here just where we had left him. He soon 
 made all clear ; he heard the man's story (who spoke in the most 
 impetuously rapid way, so that none but a native could have well 
 understood him), and he laughed much, and said that stupid man 
 declared he did not know for his life what to do. 
 
 "For," said he, "I can not arrange any price for the blue 
 blanket, for my master gave me no directions about it. I can not 
 leave the sarapes here to go and ask him, because they are not 
 paid for, and if one was paid for in full and I left it, I can not 
 take the rest with the blue blanket, to show, because the lady will 
 have no security for my return, and I can not take " 
 
 But here Senior Novarro interrupted him, and said that he was 
 sure the lady wouldn't mind, and then he explained the difficulty. 
 The shopman and the sarapes were sent off', and he soon returned, 
 saying what his master would allow, and the mighty bargain was 
 speedily and satisfactorily closed for all parties. 
 
 Soon after, a diligence came thundering down the street, and 
 we repaired to the great balcony to see the new arrivals. 
 
 A huge diligence, full of friars and nuns, made its appearance ; 
 and Senor Novarro told me the enormous number of these gentry 
 that had lately arrived, filling every public conveyance, had been 
 the cause of his detention at Xalapa, for he could not get a single
 
 246 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 place. I asked him to what he attributed this immense influx of 
 padres and nuns from Spain, and whether he thought it was owing 
 to the alarm occasioned by the late spread of revolutionary doc- 
 trines. He had heard no cause assigned, but believed such was 
 the case. It is certainly a curious fact, that, though we never 
 traveled with any in the stage coaches ourselves, we had seen 
 crowds of diligences constantly crammed with these reverend emi- 
 grants. 
 
 We left Xalapa very early the next morning, after a fruitless 
 
 search for some keys which H lost a little while before we 
 
 had to start. The sleepy mucliacha gave us a candle with a snuff 
 of alarming length, and I asked for despabiladeras, snuffers, which 
 takes a certain time to pronounce, and by the time the said despa- 
 biladeras were found (which seemed to have gone on a party of 
 pleasure for the day, with the keys), it was already the time to 
 start, and after we had a very hurried chase quite a quick thing, 
 but we could not catch our keys and put on our sombreros (which 
 ladies' bonnets are called, as well as gentlemen's hats), it was 
 rather late, and we had some reason to think the American coach- 
 man was somewhat indignant at the delay, though he amiably 
 waited for us. Cerro Gordo's varrancas pefhaps put him in good- 
 humor again. 
 
 When we arrived at Vera Cruz, we found the steamer had not 
 arrived. She was very much after her time. Unluckily for us, 
 we found the Casa de Diligencias quite full, and were obliged to 
 put up at another hotel (kept by two Frenchmen), which was not 
 nearly so good. I stupidly forgot to send M. Surutuza's letter, 
 obligingly desiring that rooms should be found for us, and every 
 attention paid us ; and, indeed, without that, Mr. Bell sent word 
 soon after we were established in this hotel, that he would contrive 
 to give us apartments ; but as the steamer was momentarily ex- 
 pected, and as the proprietors of this meson try to make us as 
 comfortable as they can, I did not avail myself of his obliging 
 proposition. 
 
 Among other people whom we recognized as having either 
 formed part of our compagnons de voyage, on board the United 
 States steamer " Walker," or as having been here before, was 
 
 Mr. , who had come over in the <: Walker," for the purpose 
 
 of bringing back from Mexico the body of his brother (who had 
 died there from the effects of wounds received during the Mexican 
 war), and conveying it to Indiana for interment. 
 
 There was an objection to the corpse being taken on board the
 
 ARRIVAL AT HAVANA 247 
 
 " Walker," I believe : at any rate Mr. was still at Vera 
 
 Cruz, not having yet accomplished his melancholy mission, but 
 is about to sail, I think, in a packet ship. He is English by birth, 
 but has been so long settled in the United States, that he has be- 
 come quite an American, even in appearance. 
 
 This reminds me of a curious fact I have heard stated, namely, 
 that Dr. Gutzlaf^ who has been so long a missionary to China, 
 and is lately returned, has contracted quite a Chinese cast of feat- 
 ures, as well as a Celestial gait, countenance, and manners. The 
 latter one can easily imagine, the former seerns somewhat of a 
 physiological curiosity. 
 
 The British Consul has just been to see me, and tells me they 
 have a great deal of specie arrived to go by the steamer, and an. 
 immense mail. He says the steamer will probably arrive to-night, 
 and he and his son must sit up all night to get the letters and 
 papers in readiness ibr her. We almost live upon the balcony, 
 for the heat inside the room is nearly insupportable. Good news ! 
 The English steamer " Thames" has just made her appearance. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Arrival at Havana Passengers on Board the " Thames" Affecting Story 
 of an American Merchant's unforeseen Calamity An American Grinlin 
 Gibbous The enterprising political Organ-cri ruler First Glimpse of 
 Havana The Harbor The Morro Castle and the Puntal The Cabanas 
 The City of Havana Volantes The Paseo Ladies of Havana Their 
 Dress The Gentlemen Usages of Gallantry at Havana The Military 
 Reviews and Music Anxiety of Spain to retain Cuba Cathedral of 
 Havana The Ashes of Columbus His Bust How his Ashes have been 
 removed from Place to Place Worshipers in the Cathedral The Bish- 
 op's Garden Rare and beautiful Trees and Flowers Hurricanes at 
 Havana Volantes in universal Use Where bestowed sometimes Ha- 
 vana Houses How furnished Social Customs in Havana Fruits. 
 
 WE arrived here (at the Havana) after a ten or eleven days' 
 voyage three days, however, of which we were detained at Tam- 
 pico ; ibr the sea ran so high, the little steamboat that was to 
 bring out the specie could not get over the bar sooner. The bar 
 was cross, they said ! 
 
 We found the " Thames" a charming ship ; so clean, and cool, 
 and large and we had several very agreeable passengers. Among
 
 248 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 them were Lord M. Kerr and Mr. Bayard Taylor the author 
 of some beautiful poetical pieces, and of a work entitled " Views 
 A-foot." He performed a pedestrian tour nearly all over Europe. 
 He was then returning from California, and is, I believe, on the 
 eve of publishing a work already prepared for the press relating 
 to that country, which, I should think, would be exceedingly in- 
 teresting. He is a very gentlemanlike young man, and appears 
 full of intelligence and information. 
 
 Mr. Hill, an English gentleman just returned from a lengthen- 
 ed tour, was also on board. He had been living between two and 
 three years in Russia and Siberia (the last not involuntary!), 
 having latterly come from South America and Polynesia. He 
 had sailed from Kamtschatka, in a Russian merchant ship, and 
 while in South America, had made several excursions inland. His 
 account of the poorer classes in Siberia, (where the peasants are 
 not serfs), made one think they must form almost the happiest and 
 most flourishing peasantry in the world. It appears they liave not 
 only plenty to boil in the pot, but they have the pot boiling almost 
 all day long : in short, plenty of fuel, and plenty of food and cloth- 
 ing. Very unlike the uoor Calif ornians of olden days. It is probably 
 known to many that on that very soil, now found to be teeming 
 with the golden treasures of earth, the former inhabitants, in a 
 state of the most abject poverty, were wont to subsist on grass- 
 hoppers ! 
 
 We stopped at Mobile point, on our way hither, to land and 
 receive passengers and specie, and came-to among the crowded 
 shipping at the anchorage there ; but, in consequence of our long 
 delay at Tampico, the " Thames" staid as short a time as possible, 
 and I had not an opportunity of seeing my dear friend Madame 
 
 L. V . Mr. Bayard Taylor, who landed there, was good 
 
 enough to take her a note from me. 
 
 There was a very melancholy circumstance connected with our 
 
 brief stay at Mobile. Mr. , an American merchant, who had 
 
 been to Mexico on business, expected to receive at Mobile, letters 
 from his wife, to whom he had written from Mexico to say he 
 should go by way of the Havana to New York, on such a day, by 
 one of the American steamers (they are generally very punctual), 
 and as they ordinarily arrive in the evening, he begged her to have 
 tea ready lor him. 
 
 He appeared a very pleasant, amiable person, and was extreme- 
 ly popular in the ship. I had not made his acquaintance ; but 
 one could not but remark his liveliness of manner and flow of
 
 AFFECTING STORY. 249 
 
 amusing conversation. . He was in the highest spirits that morn- 
 ing poor man ! compassionating Mr. Taylor for not having to 
 look forward " to tea prepared ready for him," and evidently full 
 of joy and happiness. 
 
 The last time I saw him, he was leaning over the rail of the 
 steamer, most merrily talking and laughing with those passengers, 
 who were transferred to a small high-pressure freight-boat, that 
 was to take them to Mobile (as soon as the fog would graciously 
 
 permit) Mr. Taylor, Mr. C , &c. We soon after continued 
 
 on our course, and I went down to the cabin to read a little before 
 dinner, which was very shortly afterward ready. I was rather 
 surprised not to see the captain in his usual place, and soon every 
 body was shocked to learn the cause of his absence. 
 
 He had to break to poor Mr. , the news of his young and 
 
 lovely wife's almost sudden death ! The electric telegraph had 
 brought rapidly succeeding accounts, respecting her from New 
 York, the first announcing her sudden and dangerous illness, the 
 second to say she was worse, and the third to announce her death. 
 This sad news was only brought on board a little before we start- 
 ed, and Captain A was charged with the painful office of 
 
 breaking the heart-racking tidings. As the news of the death and 
 illness" were brought at the same time, there had been no previous 
 preparation, and the captain vainly attempted at first to disguise 
 the fatal character of the announcement he had to make. His 
 trembling voice, and tell-tale looks betrayed him, and the unfortu- 
 nate bereaved husband divined at once the whcle extent of his 
 misfortune. 
 
 Captain A told me, afterward, the scene was a most try- 
 ing and terrible one. The wretched man stood as if petrified with 
 horror, his eyes glaring and glazed, and fixed as in a trance. 
 After he had stood rooted to the spot for some time in agonized 
 silence, he repeated the word " dead" in the deep, hollow voice of 
 the most profound despair ; and it was the only word he uttered, 
 or sign of life he showed, during the remainder of that day. Nor 
 did he move his eyes, that constantly were fixed, with a wild, 
 dreadful stare, on vacancy. 
 
 The captain said it was a most piteous sight to see, and he 
 began to be really alarmed for his reason, when it became appa- 
 rent that nothing could rouse him, and he still repeated, as if me- 
 chanically, at intervals, " dead ! dead !" in the same tone of frozen 
 horror. He was not left alone for a single moment, day or night, 
 so alarming did his state appear.
 
 250 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 This sad and utterly-unexpected misfortune cast quite a gloom 
 over the ship. Poor man ! he appeared to be a very devoted hus- 
 band, and Mr. said he had seen a beautiful miniature of the 
 
 deceased wife, which the unhappy man had always carried about 
 with him, and that it was the portrait of a very lovely person in- 
 deed. But I will not dwell longer on such a melancholy therne. 
 
 There was on board a very ingenious American I think, but arn 
 not quite sure, a New Englander (it is the New Englanders that 
 the Americans themselves call " Yankees"), who made, during the 
 voyage, out of a common bit of wood, merely with his pen-knife, 
 the most lovely and delicate little wooden chains imaginable, and 
 other curiosities requiring the greatest skill and nicety of handling. 
 
 There was among the deck passengers an enterprising organ- 
 grinder, who had resolved on being the pioneer of his profession in 
 Mexico, and who expected to " Oh ! Susanna-ize" and " Yankee- 
 doodle-ize" the whole country. His speculation failed ; and I was 
 told he complained bitterly of the lamentable want of love for 
 street music in the Mexicans, to which lack, on their part, he 
 seemed to attribute the generally revolutionary state of the coun- 
 try, and their backwardness in the art of self-government. A 
 deliciously hideous monkey accompanied him ; but whether his 
 diverting tricks for he had of course, received a distinguished 
 education were equally unappreciated, I know not ; or whether, 
 if so, the musical speculator thought this indifference also helped 
 to explain many defects in the working of the Mexican constitu- 
 tion, I can not pretend to say. 
 
 We had a rapid run from Mobile to this place, and arrived here 
 about two hours after noon, in the most brilliant and beautiful 
 weather imaginable. Every body was on the tiptoe of expecta- 
 tion when we passed the handsome lighthouse (La Farola) with 
 General O'Donnel's name (under whose administration it was 
 built), in immense characters on it. 
 
 The first glimpse of the Havana, from the entrance to the har- 
 bor, is remarkably picturesque, beautiful, and striking. The co- 
 lossal palm-trees (the magnificent " Palma real") that tower ma- 
 jestically in the back-ground on the hills (seeming to gaze down 
 like a guard of giants over the splendid city) form a glorious ver- 
 dant sort of outer and partial frame-work for it, while the eye 
 rests with delight on the nearer objects, especially on the crowded 
 and beauteous harbor, so covered with shipping from every part 
 of the civilized world, with the flags of every nation streaming on 
 the soft breeze, and reflected on its calm and silvery waters.
 
 THE MORRO CASTLE. 251 
 
 The Morro Castle is exceedingly striking and imposing. This 
 strong and formidable fortress is built on the solid rock, and almost 
 appears to form a part of it, so steadfast and enduring seem its 
 massive towers and walls and battlements ; looking stern and gloomy 
 as an old northern feudal fortress, notwithstanding a few light, 
 plumy cocoa-nut palms cast their delicate shadows on the grass- 
 covered banks near the stately castle. 
 
 The harbor is one of the very finest in the world, sufficiently 
 deep for the largest vessels, and capacious enough to accommodate 
 a fleet of a thousand ships, or more. There is a narrow entrance 
 to this splendid harbor (from whose magnificence the city received 
 the name of "La Havana" as the harbor, par excellence, I believe 
 and yet I think the present Spanish word for harbor and haven 
 is "puerto"). This entrance, indeed, is so narrow that only a 
 single ship can enter at once, and it is fortified the whole length 
 with strong works, platforms, and artillery. Opposite to the Morro 
 Castle there is another fort, called the Puntal. This is connected 
 with the city to the north. The Morro is built in a triangular 
 form : it is fortified strongly with bastions, and mounted with many 
 pieces of cannon, which are almost djleur cVcau. The city itself 
 stands on the western side of its noble harbor, and is extensively 
 surrounded by ramparts, bastions, and trenches. In addition to 
 the fortifications already enumerated, it is surmounted with works, 
 which are all of them supplied with a vast profusion of artillery. 
 I hear that they have been lately strengthening and improving the 
 various formidable fortifications, in anticipation of a threatened 
 visit from the Americans. The large fortress, called the Cabanas, 
 stands near the Morro Castle, and covers a great deal of ground ; 
 numbers of soldiers were seen clambering up, or half-sliding down 
 its steep sides. 
 
 We found the British steamer, bound for Jamaica, waiting for 
 the "Thames." It was nearly evening before we landed, and 
 found ourselves in a very comfortable American hotel, kept t>y 
 Mr. Fulton, of New Orleans. We found Mr. Kennedy, who is 
 now acting as consul in the absence of Mr. Crawford, obligingly 
 waiting to see us. He told us Lord Durham was here, arid very 
 ill, having caught a fever at Jamaica ; but Havana itself appears 
 to be quite healthy just now. The heat, however, is very great 
 and oppressive, though we are in one of the coolest and freshest 
 houses within the city. We are very near the entrance to the 
 harbor, and constantly a delightful refreshing breeze blows on our 
 broad balcony, and through the enormous window-gates that open
 
 252 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 upon it. It is a pretty and interesting sight to watch the ships 
 almost constantly entering or leaving the harhor. 
 
 I shall stay here a little while, I think, and see something of 
 the Havana, in case any thing should prevent my return here 
 after we have left our cards with the Pacific. It is an extraor- 
 dinarily gay-looking town. Of course in the heat of the day no 
 one thinks of stirring out who can help it. But when it begins to 
 be cool, the city seems almost to shake with an earthquake of car- 
 riages, going in different directions, whose fair occupants are visit- 
 paying, shopping, and so forth, usually ending with the paseo ; and 
 beautiful and fairy-like these carriages mostly are. They are called 
 volantes, and are generally drawn by mules, driven by a postillion 
 in some splendid livery. 
 
 We went out the other day, and I went a little way into the 
 country a very pretty drive, indeed. It was along a broad smooth 
 road (what a luxury to us, after the road to Mexico !), bordered 
 with a lovely hedge of roses and flowering pomegranates in their 
 greatest beauty. We then went to the paseo, where carriages 
 multitudinous as musquitoes in Havana swarmed in double lines, 
 and all seemed like a fairy tale in action. Those graceful, aerial- 
 looking, gayly-painted open volantes, like cars fit for Queen Mab, 
 and the ethereal-seeming beings within, crowned with flowers, 
 with no other covering on their gracious heads than these delicate 
 blossoms, and their own massive braids of superb black hair for 
 very seldom did they even wear the mantilla, and when they did, 
 its exquisitely-disposed folds seemed little else than the light shadow 
 cast by those abundant waves of silky sable locks all was enchant- 
 ment. 
 
 How gracefully waved their fans, with which they fluttered 
 light pretty salutations to each other ! those glistening feathery 
 fans, like the wings of sylphides : and their dresses ! surely Arachne 
 herself must have spun them, and Iris colored them ! I will try 
 and paint, in words, three of these fair daughters of Cuba, as they 
 recline in their luxurious volantes. One is in a dress of the most 
 sky-like azure ; another in a diaphanous dreamy sort of robe, of 
 the most gossamer texture, and of the softest yet brightest tint of 
 rose-color ; and the third (who sits forward in the middle) is in 
 spotless lily white: and these dresses float light and full as very 
 clouds about them. They are all decolletee, and with very short 
 sleeves, and all are snow-pale, with statuesque features and mag- 
 nificent hair. 
 
 There seem to be hundreds and thousands of these carriages,
 
 USAGES OF GALLAN.TRY AT HAVANA. 253 
 
 with equally fair and fairy-like damosels within, and clad in every 
 hue of the rainbow lilac, emerald-green, the faintest strawy-yellow 
 (that admirably suits with their generally jet-black locks), and 
 various delicate tints and shades of all colors. The carriages 
 themselves look like enormous butterflies glittering in the rays of 
 the descending sun, with their innumerable, bright, varied colors. 
 
 Then, how beautiful are the long double rows of trees on either 
 side of the paseo, and the flowers, and the exquisite sky above, and 
 the splendid fountains, falling into sculptured marble basins ; and 
 how charming is the delicious temperature, and the soft breeze from 
 the neighboring sea ! 
 
 You do not see here, as in Mexico, hundreds of superbly-mounted 
 caballeros, making their steeds champ, and prance, and caracolear, 
 till their weighty silver ornaments flash like lightning on the eye. 
 Here the gentlemen are generally pedestrian promenaders, if they 
 are not lounging, stretched out in their luxurious volantes them- 
 selves. They walk leisurely and gently along, smoking the fragrant 
 weed, and gazing at the fair Habaneras who are passing in their 
 fairy coracles on wheels ; and they tell me it is the fashion here, 
 when a gallant senor sees some particularly lovely young dona, for 
 him to exclaim " How beautiful how lovely !" and for her to 
 reply, with a slight gracious inclination of her little stag-like head 
 " Gracias, caballero." I was not a little surprised, at first, at 
 the answer the ladies make to the universally-employed salutation 
 " A los pies de V. senorita !" " Besos los manos de V. cabal- 
 lero !" (I am at your feet, madarn ! I kiss your hands, sir !). 
 But the dignified gentleness with which they say it, seemed to take 
 off from the too great condescension apparently expressed. It was 
 as superbly gracious as the bending of a crowned head in acknowl- 
 edgment of a subject's homage. 
 
 There seems a great deal of alarm just now about the expected 
 American invasion. It is rumored but very likely falsely that 
 some of the troops are disaffected ; and I am told that most of the 
 troops sent here are from the dregs of the population in Spain, con- 
 victs and marauders of all kinds. The cavalry, however, are said 
 to be a very fine body of men : as far as outward appearance goes, 
 they all would seem to be so. The foot soldiers strike me as 
 being much taller than our infantry regiments, and are exceed- 
 ingly clean-looking and well-dressed. 
 
 There are reviews going on almost every day now, and military 
 music abounds in Havana : it is rare not to hear the roll of drums 
 and the flourish of trumpets. A military band plays every
 
 254 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 4 
 
 evening on the Grand Plaza. The best I have heard here is, 
 I think, the Artillery band ; but they all are good. 
 
 They have a large number of troops already in Cuba, and I 
 believe they expect more very shortly. Rumors of every kind are 
 rile, but one can place no faith in any of them. I believe only 
 that Spain is most sincerely desirous of retaining this magnificent 
 possession of hers and well she may be. Not only its almost 
 unequaled fertility and natural advantages, but its position, renders 
 it a place of the very highest commercial and political importance. 
 Its situation, commanding the entrance to the Mexican Gulf, and 
 also the communication between North and South America, has 
 caused it to be named " The Queen of the Antilles," " The Senti- 
 nel of the Mississippi," "The Key of the Gulf;" and its great 
 beauty and luxuriance have acquired for it the denomination of 
 " The gem of the American Seas." " The Beautiful Antille," 
 " The Pearl of the Islands," and other admiring designations. 
 
 When we first arrived here, how natural seemed the loving 
 exclamations and remarks of returning " Habaneros," who, bend- 
 ing over the guards of the steamer, uttered ejaculatory expressions 
 of delight as we neared the enchanting shores : "O! que escenas 
 tan hermosas. El cielo sin nubes, y la mar tan serena, y el sol 
 tan brilliante." " Si ! y las florestas tan deliciosas ! Y esa ver- 
 dura eterna de la hermosissima isla." "Mira V. que multitud de 
 barcos, bergantines y goletas y fregatas y paquetes y hombre, 
 que multitud !" " Si ! y mil banderas y banderolas de variados 
 colores y de todas las naciones ! Y que vista tan hermosa ofrece 
 la ciudad desde el puerto. Mire V.! a fe mia, no se ha visto cosa 
 mas bella !" and so on. 
 
 We have been to see the cathedral here, which is extremely 
 interesting, from being the burial-place of Columbus. It is not 
 as magnificent as the cathedral in Mexico, but it is a noble build- 
 ing. On the right side of the grand altar is an urn, containing 
 those precious ashes : it is inclosed in the wall. A fine basso- 
 relievo is placed before it, of the bust of that mighty Discoverer. 
 This bust is the size of life ; and under it is read the following 
 inscription : " O restos e imagen del grande Colon, mil siglos 
 durad guardados en la urna. Y en la remembrancia de nuestra 
 nacion." There is a small, but very interesting and beautiful 
 painting opposite to the tomb, which is said to represent the Pope 
 and the Cardinals of that day, celebrating High mass previous to 
 the departure of Columbus from the shores of Spain, on his first 
 adventurous and momentous expedition in his humble "caraval."
 
 FOURTH FUNERAL OF COLUMBUS. 255 
 
 .Columbus has not had as much rest even in the grave as falls 
 to the lot of most mortals ; for his relics have been moved from 
 tomb to tomb. He died in Valladolid, in Spain, in the year 1506, 
 and a tomb was there erected to his memory, and inscribed thus : 
 "A Castillo y a Leon Nuevo Mundo -dio Colon" (in Spanish 
 he is called " Cristoval Colon"). The place in which the body 
 was deposited was the Convent of San Francisco, in Valladolid, 
 and the funeral ceremonies were celebrated with great pomp in 
 the parochial church of Santa Maria de la Antigua ; but in 1513, 
 his remains were removed to the convent of Las Cuevas, of the 
 Carthusians, at Seville, and they were deposited in the chapel of 
 Santa Christo. It was in the year 1536 they were transported to 
 Hispaniola, and they were there inhumed near the grand altar of 
 the cathedral of the capital city of San Domingo; but they were 
 not destined to repose there in uninterrupted peace. After His- 
 paniola was ceded to France in 1795, the Spanish government 
 came to the resolution of carrying off these venerable relics to the 
 Island of Cuba ; nor can one feel surprise at such a determination 
 when reflecting on all that Spain owed and still owes to that 
 wonderful man. They may well feel proud of these precious 
 relics, connected as Washington Irving says, in his highly inter- 
 esting "Life of Columbus" "with the most glorious epoch of 
 Spanish history." 
 
 Let me transcribe a little of his impressive account : "Accord- 
 ingly, on the 20th of December 1795, in the presence of an august 
 assemblage of the dignitaries of the Church, and the civil and 
 military officers, the vault was opened beside the high altar of the 
 cathedral : within were found the fragments of a leaden coffin, a 
 number of bones, arid a quantity of mould, evidently the remains 
 of a human body. These were carefully collected and put into a 
 case of gilded lead, secured by an iron lock. The case was en- 
 closed in a coffin covered with black velvet, and the whole placed 
 in a temporary mausoleum. On the following day there was 
 another grand convocation at the cathedral. The vigils and 
 masses for the dead were chanted, and a funeral sermon was 
 preached by the archbishop. After these solemn ceremonials in 
 the cathedral, the coffin was transported to the ship, attended by 
 a grand civil, religious, and military procession. The banners 
 were covered with crape. There were chants, and responses, and 
 discharges of artillery, and the most distinguished persons of the 
 several orders took turns to support the coffin. 
 
 "The reception of the body at Havana was equally august.
 
 256 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 There was a splendid procession of boats to conduct it from the 
 ship to the shore. On passing the vessels of war in the harbor, 
 they all paid the honors due to an admiral and captain-general of 
 the navy. On arriving at the mole, the remains were met by the 
 governor of the island, accompanied by the generals of the military 
 staff. They were then conveyed, in the utmost pomp, to the 
 cathedral. Masses, and the solemn ceremonies of the dead were 
 performed by the bishop, and the mortal remains of Columbus 
 were deposited in the wall on the right side of the grand altar, 
 where they still remain." 
 
 It is hardly possible, I think, to avoid feeling profoundly inter- 
 ested and affected on looking at the spot, that little spot, where the 
 ashes of the mighty man repose who gave the vast world of the 
 wild far West to the East ; and to the West Heaven : for he 
 bade the great Star of the East, the star of holy religion and 
 blessed Christianity, to shed its glorious rays on that benighted 
 and unconscious West. 
 
 There were but a very few people in the cathedral to disturb or 
 distract the deep feeling of reverence with which we regarded that 
 hallowed tomb. One or two kneeling figures of women, silently 
 and fervently praying, only added to the solemnity of the scene. 
 It is a touching and sweet custom in Cuba for all, without the 
 least distinction of color or class, to kneel together on the floor of 
 the churches. You will see a fair senora, splendidly dressed, 
 kneeling on her piece of carpet (carried to the church by her little 
 negro page), and by her side, perhaps, a negro bends his head, 
 grizzled with age, in prayer ; or a negress, attired in the most 
 gaudy colors of scarlet, blue, and yellow, uplifts her jet-black 
 hands in silent supplication. 
 
 We have been to see the bishop's palace-gardens, now belonging 
 to the Conde de Penalver. The Conde is restoring them to all 
 their pristine beauty, for they had lately been much neglected. 
 There are great numbers of fine mangoes here, and pleasant is it 
 walking in the shadowy alleys which they form. There are also 
 some beauteous bread-fruit trees, whose large and deeply indented 
 leaves I most particularly admire. 
 
 A splendid India-rubber tree attracted our attention much. Mr. 
 
 C (Lord L 's brother), who went with us, broke off a 
 
 branch, and the liquid India-rubber oozed out plentifully, and cov- 
 ered his hands, sticking his fingers together in an uncomfortable 
 fashion, as if he had been washing his hands in a jar of treacle. 
 
 An unfortunate crocodile pines in solitude in these gardens, that
 
 NMIROWNESS OF THE STREETS. 257 
 
 is to say, without any of his own kith and kin to soothe his weary 
 hours. Various animals some rare ones are confined in that 
 part of the grounds ; there are some ornamental pieces of water 
 there, covered with splendid lilies of a beautiful rose color ; and the 
 glorious ceiba, and the fair royal palm K Cuba, stand like rival 
 monarchs of the vegetable world. The flowers, of course, were 
 almost without number in this beauteous place. 
 
 Besides this delightful possession, the Conde has a splendid house 
 in the city, in which, I hear, there is a boudoir representing the 
 apartment of a mandarin and mandariness in far Pekin, which is 
 declared to be in the Chinesest taste imaginable, and more Pekinish 
 than the Chinese junk itself. 
 
 We have seen several traces of the last violent hurricane here. 
 The most complete ruin is that of an unfinished opera-house of the 
 most magnificent dimensions : it remains there still in its frag- 
 mentary state, encumbering the ground, waiting for an enterprising 
 speculator to repair the damage and finish it, or perhaps for an- 
 other hurricane to act the part of squatter, and make a complete 
 clearing. It is a superstition among the more ignorant classes in 
 Havana, that in consequence of turning a church dedicated to San 
 Francisco (who, it seems, is the patron saint of hurricanes) into a 
 tobacco warehouse or something of that kind, the island will be 
 visited by a succession of hurricanes, the last of which will destroy 
 Havana entirely, and sweep it from the face of the earth. It is 
 said several have already taken place on San Francisco's day. 
 
 The streets are exceedingly narrow here, and the volantes, with 
 their immensely long shafts and enormous wheels, turn in them 
 with the greatest difficulty, but luckily they do not easily overturn. 
 In the suburbs the streets are wider. A single volante stopping 
 will sometimes block up a whole calle. The calesero is urged, per- 
 haps, by some other driver behind to let him pass, but it is not 
 always this is conceded by the fair Creoles in the carriage ; at least 
 so says La Condesa de Merlin, in her amusing " Viaje a la Ha- 
 bana." Often, she tells us, is a feminine voice heard from the 
 depths of quitrin or volante, crying, " No te muevas, Juan, no te 
 muevas por nadie !" 
 
 They keep, in rich families, one volante, at least, constantly 
 waiting, all ready, at the door, in case any of the members of the 
 family should take a sudden fancy for a little drive ; and in many, 
 wealthy establishments, each daughter nay, each child has her 
 own volante ! Among the poorer classes (and poor they must be, 
 indeed, if they do not indulge themselves with one carriage at
 
 258 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 least) it is constantly the custom, from want of the necessary space 
 and building, to turn a corner of the drawing-room into a coach- 
 house. In fact, I was told they consider a handsome volante (and 
 rather than not have a handsome one they would half-starve them- 
 selves on a little chocolate and a cigarito) a really great ornament 
 to their not otherwise much-furnished rooms. It looks very con- 
 spicuous and very stately with its gigantic wheels, and it is occa- 
 sionally used, I am informed, as a sort of elevated and sociable 
 arm-chair by two, or perhaps three, of the ladies of the house when, 
 the rooms are particularly full ; and thus, raised as it were on a 
 silver embossed throne above their guests, they chat with them 
 condescendingly, and survey them complacently from an advan- 
 tageous position. 
 
 I have never witnessed this little domestic enthronization my- 
 self, but we have frequently seen the volante standing like any 
 other piece of furniture in. the drawing-room, as we walked or 
 drove by. It is impossible not to see into their sitting-rooms : they 
 are on the ground-floors. Havana houses are generally extremely 
 low I suppose on account of the hurricanes and in the less 
 magnificent mansions such a sight, as I said before, is quite common. 
 
 These apartments, in general, have a great resemblance to each 
 other ; large, cool, and with little furniture except a number of 
 rocking-chairs, which are called here b^ltacas. On these, softly 
 balancing themselves backward and forward, will be seen usually 
 the ladies of the family, their perpetual-motion fans in their white 
 hands those never-to-be-forgotten or dispensed-with fans, which 
 they agitate cadcnciosamente, and with the utmost grace. 
 
 It may perchance be a tertulia that you look upon : the great 
 doors are thrown open de par en *par. Numerous lights are blaz- 
 ing in beautiful candelabras of glass or alabaster ; flowers are pro- 
 fusely scattered about in lovely vases of porcelain and silver, and 
 enormous faroles a species of splendid lantern, which sheds the 
 most dazzling light are illuminating the recesses of the spacious 
 apartments, and the broad corridors, and large balconies, where 
 groups of men may be seen talking together, or admiring the beau- 
 tiful array of ladies seated in the grand sola. 
 
 They seem to have a pleasant custom here of rising from the 
 dinner-table after the segundo servicio. And during the time oc- 
 cupied in making a complete change of decorations, they take a 
 paseo a little promenade for a quarter of an hour or some min- 
 utes, in the enormous galleries (furnished with green jalousies to 
 exclude every ray of the sun, and in which, during the hottest sea-
 
 HAVANA FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 259 
 
 son, they usually dine) or in the beautiful gardens under the shadowy 
 coolness of the interlacing bowers and avenues. 
 
 On their return to the banqueting-room, they find an immense 
 profusion of crystal, alabaster, or porcelain vases, and canastillas 
 (small baskets) of silver, loaded with a vast variety of fruits. 
 " Mameys" which, says Madame de Merlin, are " Alimento de las 
 almas bienaventuradas en los valles del otro mundo, segun la 
 creencia de los habitantes de Haiti," and the " zapatillas suaves," 
 which she declares have a " gusto silvestre." Then there are 
 tunas a very handsome fruit of a lovely rose-color, about the size 
 of a small pine-apple, the inside of which is excellent, and all of it 
 eatable : it looks like the most delicate royal ermine with the 
 tiniest little black tags whipped ermine ! almost beaten to a 
 soft creamy froth. This fruit is reckoned remarkably wholesome, 
 and is so good that the " almas bienaventuradas" would do well to 
 add it to their mameys. Then there are guayavas, and hosts of . 
 others. 
 
 Besides fruits of almost innumerable kinds, and sizes, and shapes, 
 there are crowds of light silver dishes, and bandejas or dulces 
 which mean all kinds of sweets (dulces variados hasta lo infinito) ; 
 and the table, the borders of the dishes, even the glasses, are 
 wreathed, and covered, and almost buried in flowers. This change 
 is like the work of magic : the most delicious perfumes chase away 
 even the faintest smell of meat, and the eye reposes itself on a 
 rainbow-colored wilderness of blossoms mixed with the most tempt- 
 ing and the choicest fruits. Enormous doors, or rather puerta- 
 ventanas (doors and windows in one), are opened on the balconies, 
 and gigantic windows besides, perhaps lightly draperied with 
 muslin (and during the day-time shaded with persianas Vene- 
 tian blinds) to exclude the tropical sun's scorching beams, are 
 thrown wide open, and through them the soft zephyr passes, and 
 the refreshing, cooling sound and sight of the glittering fountains. 
 
 The best time for flowers in Cuba is the winter if winter it 
 can be called. They then abound in all their richest beauty. In 
 the summer the intense heat of the sun withers them up.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Performance of a Military Band in the Grand Square The Diversified 
 Company Description of Havana Nights The Opera-house The Sing- 
 ers Exhortation to Spanish Ladies to preserve their National Dress 
 An Execution Material Prosperity of Havana "Jesus del Monte" 
 Dinner with the Captain-General The Company Escort of the Conde 
 Preparations for the Isthmus Journey A Tertuha Miss M 's ex- 
 quisite Playing and Singing The Environs of Havana The Paseo of 
 Ysabel Segunda Environs of Havana in the Evening " Guagiros" 
 Description of their Houses Customs and dress of the "Guagiros" 
 Chinese Laborers in Havana Anecdote of Chinese Thieves Preparing 
 to depart for Panama. 
 
 WE went to hear trie military band play last evening in the 
 Grand Square : it was a splendid band, and played several opera 
 airs beautifully. Many ladies were walking up and down, generally 
 attended by caballeros ; but the greater part of the distinguees 
 Habaneras were in their volantes, each fair senorita looking like 
 the Reine des fees, crowned with flowers. The mucliedumbre 
 (mob or crowd) were standing about, evidently enjoying the music ; 
 the negroes, and their sable dames and damsels, especially appear 
 to delight in it. The whole scene is one of great beauty and en- 
 chantment : the lovely trees in the Grand Plaza, the magnificent 
 crystal sun of the night that crown of glory (which is so unlike 
 that tame somewhat half-a-crown-like silver lamp, we call the 
 moon, in our little northern naok), the flower- crowned ladies in 
 those fairy chariots, sparkling with silver the splendid liveries of 
 the postillions the gay military uniforms the picturesque-looking 
 negroes and negresses standing about (or sometimes dancing in 
 their glee to the exhilarating tunes that are played), the negresses 
 occasionally in white dresses, scarlet satin shoes, yellow turbans, 
 and blue scarfs, and. various other such fantastical combinations of 
 colors, with their great flaming eyes, a laflor de la cara all unite 
 to form a delightful and singular picture. 
 
 How true is this description of an Havana night by a charming 
 writer : " La noche es aqui tan deliciosa ! que transparencia ! que 
 grandeza en este cielo resplandeciente de estrellas y de meteoros ! 
 como penetra en los poros abiertos por el calor el soplo tibio de 
 la brisa de tierra embalsamada con todos los perfumes de la vege-
 
 THE OPERA-HOUSE. 261 
 
 tacion. El aire fresco <le la tarde reemplaza al calor sofocante del 
 dia bajo un cielo tan claro como si el disco de la luna lo ocupase 
 todo." 
 
 We have been to the opera, which is very good here indeed. 
 
 The Tacon Theatre (the Opera-house) is beautiful. Mrs. T , 
 
 with whom I have had the pleasure to make acquaintance here, 
 was so good as to invite us to go with her. Her box was an ex- 
 cellent one, and we saw and heard to perfection. The interior 
 of this theatre, which is very large, is exquisitely light and grace- 
 ful, and beautifully decorated : the boxes are only separated by a 
 slight railing, and there is another gilded railing in front of them. 
 The whole has the most cool, aerial, and brilliant appearance 
 imaginable, and reminded me a little of a vast and most magnifi- 
 cent saloon I had seen in one of the palaces of the Sultan at 
 Constantinople 
 
 The opera was the " Huguenots ;" it was admirably got up and 
 put on the stage. Steffanoni and Bosio were the chief female 
 singers, and the men were Salvi and Marini, &c. Salvi sang 
 quite splendidly. After the opera, Signora Bosio came on the 
 stage, dressed like a " Madrilena" (it was her benefit), and sang 
 some Spanish airs exquisitely, in the true piquant Spanish style : 
 the songs were interrupted by spoken remarks, and almost con- 
 vulsed the audience with laughter. Among other things, she ap- 
 peared (in a pretty patois) to be recommending the Spanish man- 
 tilla and dress to universal use, and to be abusing the French 
 fashions most unmercifully, in the drollest and quaintest manner, 
 her arms akimbo, and yet looking as graceful as possible. 
 
 And how right the " Madrilena" was ! What can be so beau- 
 tiful as that loveliest of costumes 1 The Spanish ladies should 
 take care what they are doing. If there are to be "no Pyrenees" 
 in the matters of dress, will not "the ladies of Spain" lose their 
 greatest, most characteristic, and peculiar of charms? Such a 
 macadamization of costumes to one insipid sameness, as seems ever 
 to be gaining ground, in defiance of the difference of climate, cus- 
 toms, and other regulating circumstances, will make- the world a 
 trifle more trite and stupid than it is at present ; but I hope the 
 masses will generally have the good sense to retain their beautiful 
 old dresses. What an unintentional dissertation ! " Annotations 
 and reflections" on Signora Bosio's lively song ! By the way, 
 both at Mexico and here, the mere appearance of the beauteous 
 Spanish costume was alone enough to draw forth ardent applause ! 
 
 The Habaneros seem to form an enthusiastic audience, and to
 
 262 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 be possessed of great good taste and discrimination. The fair 
 Habaneras look particularly well at the opera : we saw some 
 extremely handsome ones, with the whitest of skins, and the 
 blackest of hair. In these light gilded boxes they look like hund- 
 reds of Peris in magnificent cages, fluttering their fans, as though 
 about to escape. This incessant movement of nearly innumerable 
 fans makes the vast airy house seem as if it was hovering on ten 
 thousand waving wings, and on the point of soaring away to mix 
 among those gigantescas nubes (huge clouds) so well described by 
 the authoress I have already quoted, when she says, " Como se 
 balancean en el aire las nubes gigantescas adornadas de opalos y 
 de rubies," when from time to time large gauzy splendid luminous 
 vapors float on this resplendent atmosphere. 
 
 We drove to the opera, and returned in an open volante (one 
 
 of Mrs. T 's). The air was so deliciously warm, yet fresh 
 
 and not suffocating, that on coming out of the house it seemed to 
 be hotter than it was within. Soldiers are stationed round the 
 theatre to keep order, and the crowds of volantes rush off with the 
 utmost regularity. 
 
 There was an execution here the other day. The criminal 
 was a Spaniard ; the crime, murder ; and he has confessed, since 
 his detection and imprisonment, a large number of assassinations 
 that he had committed previously. He made a public declaration 
 before he was garotted, stating that all his wickedness was caused 
 by the early desertion of his parents, and his total want of educa- 
 tion. Mr. C went to see the execution. We passed the 
 
 place by chance where it was to take place, the evening before, 
 and there was already a large throng of persons collected to see 
 the dreadful spectacle ; so they seem as fond of such horrors in 
 this land of flowers and sunshine, as the citizens of smoky, dusky 
 London. 
 
 Havana is brilliantly lighted with gas : when there is a moon, 
 however, the gas is not lighted, as it would be indeed quite a 
 work of supererogation. There are American omnibuses that run 
 regularly to the Cerro, and the other suburbs. The Americans 
 (they tell me) take the lead always in commencing these improve- 
 ments, and after being for a while in leading strings under their 
 tuition, the citizens of Havana take the management of these 
 affairs into their own hands. 
 
 No city can well give one an idea of greater material prosperity 
 than the Havana. The numbers of beautiful shops, teeming with 
 every article of luxury, grace, and convenience ; the magnificent
 
 DINNER WITH THE CAPTAIN-GENERAL. 263 
 
 palaces and quintas (country houses) in the neighborhood ; the 
 splendor and opulence visible on all sides ; the brilliancy and cost- 
 liness of the countless thousands of equipages, hurrying hither and 
 thither on errands of pleasure and business all make this appear, 
 as I believe it is, one of the most flourishing arid wealthy cities in 
 the world. 
 
 As to the carriages they seem literally running over one an- 
 other. I have before said that I had heard every daughter in a 
 rich family has her own special volanta, and I see this is more 
 than corroborated by the Condesa de Merlin. She says, " acqui 
 cada individuo de la familia hasta los ninos, tiene su volanta." 
 
 We went up to Jesus del Monte, the other day, to see Miss 
 
 Inglis, sister of Madame C. de la B . She appears to be a 
 
 charming person, and is much liked and admired here : her blonde 
 chevelure and blue eyes, make her a great contrast to the dark- 
 eyed Habaneras in general. She is staying with a cousin at Jesus 
 del Monte (it is a sort of suburb of Havana, and is situated on a 
 height, with beautiful views and cool country air). They have 
 a delightful house there, and it is an easy distance from the cap- 
 ital. The road to and from this place is lovely, bordered on each 
 side with roses and pomegranates. 
 
 We dined with the Captain-General and the Condesa de Alcoy, 
 
 the other night. With the exception of Mr. K , the judge, 
 
 and Mr. C , the guests were all Spanish and Habanese. The 
 
 Conde speaks French fluently, but the Condesa and her daughter 
 know no language but Spanish ; so I was obliged to talk Spanish 
 as well as I could, which is very indifferently indeed. The ban- 
 quet was very splendid. 
 
 The palace is magnificent. There is a large full-length portrait 
 of Qufeen Ysabel Segunda, in one of the enormous lofty rooms, 
 which represents her as very interesting-looking and pretty : the 
 Condesa says she is exceedingly improved in looks lately. During 
 the dinner an immense number of slaves waited behind the guests' 
 chairs (here they did not rise between the courses, as we are told 
 they do in Creole families) ; and when the dessert was over, 
 all rose at once, and repaired to the large balconied drawing- 
 rooms for chocolate and coffee. Behind her chair, at dinner, the 
 Condesa had a little Chinese page-in-waiting, attired in the com- 
 plete dress of the scorners of outer barbarians. This costume was 
 made of the richest materials, and looked extremely handsome. 
 
 After dinner, a kind of reception, or tertulia, took place. The 
 ladies were all ranged in a formal semicircle. I sate next to the
 
 264 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Condesa ; and a French lady, who could not speak a syllable of 
 Spanish, sate on the other side of her. However, the Conde and 
 some of the gentlemen who spoke French, conversed with her, and 
 the evening passed away very pleasantly altogether. 
 
 We returned home, as usual, in an open volanta, after staying 
 a little while in the Grand Plaza, to hear the band. When the 
 Conde drives out, it is always with a gallant escort of lancers. 
 He has an open carriage that looks like one of Parisian manu- 
 facture, and the Condesa and Mademoiselle de Roncali always 
 appear in bonnets that seem fresh from Paris, thus discarding the 
 beautiful Spanish mantilla entirely. 
 
 > General C , the American Consul here a very gentleman- 
 like and distinguished person, whose acquaintance I have lately 
 made has kindly offered to arrange about my passage for me, 
 and I am busily preparing for our Isthmus journey. We .have to 
 take provisions, get riding-dresses, &c., and as the steamer stays 
 a very short time when she does arrive, it is necessary that we 
 should be quite ready. 
 
 To-day it is very hot, and the least exertion fatigues one ; not- 
 withstanding, there is a charming breeze from the sea, and this 
 hotel is in a very cool situation. I can not describe how enchant- 
 ingly cool the palace is : with its enormous galleries and corridors 
 of white marble, and immense halls and solas, I should think they 
 could never find it too hot there. In the hottest day it must be 
 like those ice-caves where Winter reigns, while Summer is revel- 
 ing in all her splendor within a few feet of him. I was so sorry 
 when I heard, after we had left New Haven, that one of these 
 extraordinary caves is to be seen very near that city. There is 
 another, I believe, in Georgia. 
 
 We have been to a little tertulia .at Mrs. M 's. The 
 
 flowers there were inexpressibly delicious and lovely, and so was 
 the music. I never heard such magnificent playing on the piano- 
 forte but once, as Miss M 's. Her execution is perfectly 
 
 prodigious ; but in addition to that she seems to have a soul at 
 every one of her fingers' ends and a seraph's soul to boot. The 
 strength and power with which she touches the instrument is 
 wonderful. The whole performance indeed is quite magical, and 
 when one looks at the delicate, svelte, sylph-like figure of the young 
 lady, you can hardly believe it was she who called forth the 
 volume of sound that you heard. 
 
 Miss M sang a French song afterward, beautifully : but, 
 
 in consequence of a delicacy of chest, from over-exertion of the
 
 PASEO OF YSABEL SEGUNDA. 265 
 
 voice in. practicing, she is not allowed to sing often, and only songs 
 that do not try the voice much. The exquisite feeling, grace, and 
 marvelous delicacy of execution with which she sang that little 
 romanza, made one regret deeply that imperious necessity forced 
 her to abstain from further exercise of her charming vocal powers. 
 
 Miss M speaks but little English, and that with a pretty 
 
 French accent, though her father is English. Her mother is 
 French. I believe, from living at Havana, she speaks Spanish 
 like a native. 
 
 In the large Creole houses here, that I have seen, I observe in 
 the chief sala a sort of canopy over a sofa at the head of the room, 
 where the mistress of the house sits with perhaps one or two 
 distinguished^guests. The rest are seated on chairs, either in a 
 semi-circle, or in a double line, like a living human avenue. 
 
 We had a delightful drive the other day in the environs of 
 
 Havana. -We first went to see Mrs. C , the lady of tho 
 
 American Consul. Their house is large, and very pleasant ; the 
 marble floors, with here and there a pretty mat, look charmingly 
 cool. We then went to see different views of the city, which are 
 all beautiful. We drove through the lovely Paseo de Tacon, and 
 admired its immense length, and splendid fountains, and statues. 
 
 The Paseo of Ysabel Segunda, is also a very charming one ; 
 and ladies and children are sometimes seen promenading under its 
 umbrageous and flower-besprinkled alleys, which is rare in Havana, 
 for hardly ever does a sefiora's foot the lovely Spanish " foot of 
 fire" touch the earth in this be-carriaged and luxurious place. 
 The different roads around the capital, in the evening, are gener- 
 ally alive with people hurrying on business, or driving leisurely 
 and loungingly along, enjoying the dolce far niente, which is in- 
 deed to be indulged in to perfection at the Havana. Now you 
 meet a quitrin or volanla, or two and three together, filled with 
 ladies, and now a hacendado (planter) returning from his estate, 
 perhaps, near the capital, cigarito-m mouth, and looking as if life 
 was as full of sweets for him as his land is of sugar ; and now it 
 is a knot of guagiros, or monteros, coming on some errand to the 
 city or the suburbs. These are a peculiar race in Cuba, and it 
 is said, retain many of the distinguishing characteristics of the 
 ancient Indian race, to whom Cuba once belonged. His humble 
 but picturesque house is probably exactly what, in former times, 
 was that of the aborigines. Light trees of the same height are 
 driven fast into the ground, and form a perfect square. But the 
 following description is excellent : " Y formando un quadrado 
 
 M
 
 266 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 perfecto sustentan por su extremidad una especie de red de 
 bambues que colocados transversalmente crecen y son atados a los 
 arboles con lianas 6 enredaderas, el techo se cubre con hojas de 
 palmera, y se llama guano." 
 
 These palm-leaf-covered roofs are very light and cool, and they 
 look truly graceful. For the work of building this primitive 
 habitation, the guagiros call in the assistance of their neighbors, 
 as they do in erecting the log-houses in Canada (which they call 
 summoning a bee) in a day at the longest : it is done with the 
 help of the vecinos. They then have a rude house-warming 
 (which sounds terrible, however, in Cuba!) A sucking-pig is 
 cooked, and the feast is devoured right merrily. 
 
 Afterward, " forman por medio de tabiques" (th*e light thin 
 walls are formed of canes), " tres habitaciones iguales, la de en 
 medio es la sala en las otros dos, duerme la familia. Los tabiques 
 se cubren de corteza de palmera, que destinada a este uso, toma el 
 nombre de yagua." The house is finished entirely in two or 
 three days. There are two puertas, but no windows. These 
 puertas are also formed of the bark of the palm trees, yagua. 
 " Y," continues the account, "no estan unidas al edificio sino por 
 la parte superior, de manera que se abren perpendicularmente, y 
 permanecen suspendidas por medio de una vara de hierro que las 
 sostiene en el aire durante el dia." At night this bar of iron 
 serves to fasten the doors with. 
 
 Generally, in front of this picturesque and rural abode there is 
 another cabana, of two departments, one of which is used as a 
 kennel and stable during the continuance of the rainy season, and 
 the other is the kitchen a very simple one. If you go in you 
 will see a confusion indeed, "en el fondo de la cocina y puestas 
 junto a la pared, estan colocados trcs enormes piedras que sirven 
 de hornillas encima una olla y alrededor del fuego bananas 
 buniatos y papas en profusion." Besides, there are chairs, stools, 
 cups of the humblest materials, earthen dishes, dogs, birds, 
 chickens, people reposing on the rough table or floor, birds'-nests 
 full of eggs depending from the bamboos, and a tremendous mas- 
 tiff, that growls frightfully, and shows his teeth threateningly, if a 
 leaf falls. 
 
 This rural lodge is surrounded by magnificent trees which a 
 king might envy, loaded with the most exquisite fruits, some of 
 enormous size the papaya and platano with their huge leaves, 
 the ak'anforero, and the beautiful arbol del pan, that might feed 
 a whole regiment in a time of famine ; the odoriferous vanilla,
 
 GUAGIROS. 267 
 
 and thousands of cactuses in flower, coiled and enlazados graciosa- 
 mente, with a profusion of hanging plants, that unite the roofs of 
 the cabanas with the stately trees, and shut out the piercing rays 
 of the dazzling sun. 
 
 These establecimientos de los guagiros are not ordinarily destined 
 for a long continuance. They frequently abandon the spot they 
 had thus selected, and transport their penates to some other place. 
 They again construct a rude but graceful habitation in a few days : 
 y siembran en seguida las legumbres ; and wherever they fix 
 themselves they find the same marvelous riches of Nature ready 
 to surround and adorn their homes. However simple their 
 cabanas may be, the entourage is worthy of an imperial palace. 
 
 Sometimes the guagiro takes a piece of ground that belongs to 
 nobody, and in general he prefers this; but if he is particularly 
 pleased with a bit of land that already has a dueilo (a master), 
 conditions are then entered into, as in Europe. I should think, 
 however, he must have less and less opportunities of doing this in. 
 this highly cultivated and flourishing island. The cosecJtas (crops) 
 are wonderfully abundant, and, with very little care, this fertile 
 soil will produce muchas cosecJias in the year. The beasts in 
 Cuba are generally fed on maloja (I think this is exactly the 
 same as Guina-grass), and on maize; and the guagiros generally 
 provide this for the great proprietors and planters. 
 
 The wives and daughters of the guagiros make "sombreros de 
 paja y de las cuerdas de majagua," and this forms their chief or 
 only occupation. They have always a slave, however moderate 
 may be their means, to do all the household work. They say 
 these guagiros are very chivalrous husbands, and may often be 
 seen carrying themselves the tapete (small square carpet) to 
 church, for their wives to kneel upon. 
 
 The guagiro is quite a dandy with regard to his appearance. 
 His mornings are generally passed at the cock-fights which are 
 as popular here almost as in Mexico and his evenings in dancing 
 or singing to his guitar, if unmarried, generally before the estancia 
 of his lady-love. He is, in his own way, a poet and a Hero too ; 
 and if by chance he should encounter a rival guitar rero, singing 
 sonnets to his querida, a duel with their knives, takes place on the 
 spot. If he receives a wound, he springs on his gallant horse, and^ 
 darts through the canaveralcs (the cane-plantations), and hurries 
 away to seek a chirurgeon, that he may appear next day at the ac- 
 customed spot again, to defy his rival, and prance and caracolear, 
 guitar in hand, before his amada.
 
 268 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The corcel has his bridle generally adorned with numerous knots 
 of bright-colored wool, and the frontil has the same ornaments. 
 He himself has a sombrero de paja, with an immense brim. A 
 brilliantly-colored scarf is tied round his waist, with the ends float- 
 ing, zapatos de tajilete (morocco leather shoes) of some gay color, 
 with silver spurs : from his beautifully-embroidered cinturon 
 (belt) hangs his machete, with a silver hilt encrusted with precious 
 stones, and there, too, is his dagger with its ebony handle. When 
 on business he is not ashamed to carry a sack fastened to his shoul- 
 ders, and when on a pleasure-excursion, on the saddle of the 
 horse you may spy the guitarra and the quitasal of his fair seno- 
 rita, the amiable guagira. 
 
 On his business-expeditions he goes from place to place, to Inge- 
 nio and Cafetal, to sell his fruits and collect his money. Then 
 he returns to eat an excellent dinner, and to smoke the most ex- 
 quisite " cigarros elaborados por so mujer 6 por su querida. His 
 horse and his macJtete (after the querida and mujer, we will 
 hope) are his greatest treasures. The machete is not only an in- 
 dispensable weapon of defense against robbers, rivals, &c., but is 
 the article in which he exhibits his chief luxury and splendor, and 
 his corcel is also very necessary to him in this vida vagabunda in 
 which he delights, and is often an object almost of adoration to 
 him. But the reader will be tired of guagiros. 
 
 There are many Chinese laborers here now, and they are said 
 to work very hard and well. Why do they not try them in Ja- 
 maica ? It is said the Coolies have failed there. I was amused 
 
 at an anecdote concerning the Chinese, that Captain A , told 
 
 me the other day. It occurred when he was on the coast of China 
 in a merchantman I think at Canton. The ship was constantly 
 robbed at night, by very expert not house-breakers, certainly, but 
 ship-breakers, I must call them. The weather was exceedingly hot 
 and close, and it was necessary to leave the port-holes open lor air. 
 The cunning Chinese ladrones availed themselves of this circum- 
 stance, and introduced themselves into the apertures by night, 
 very adroitly and silently. Their toilet, it appears, was of the 
 most primitive possible description, and consisted wholly and solely 
 of a copious supply of oil to lubricate their bodies. They thus 
 .made themselves as slippery as eels, and if detected, eluded the 
 grasp of the victimized mariners, and plunged back into the water. 
 Their long tails (which would otherwise have afforded capital 
 handles) were abundantly provided with fish-hooks, sharp knives, 
 pins, nails, &c. in short they were made quite a chevaux defrise
 
 CHINESE THIEVES. 269 
 
 in order that any one seizing them should rapidly let them go 
 again. 
 
 One of those sJiarp sharpers paid a visit one night to the cabin 
 of a young officer, who woke, and despite of oil and fish-hooks, 
 took a good gripe at the interloper and held on like grim death 
 with one hand, while with the other, armed with a stout cutlass, 
 or some weapon of the kind, he actually inflicted the grim death 
 aforesaid on the rascally son of the flowery central land, who thus 
 like a celestial Paul Pry, had dropped in literally in the cool of 
 the evening. The officer flung the body into the sea, and it was 
 found afterward by the indignant Chinese, and a mighty hubbub 
 was raised. It was discovered by some means, or at any rate 
 shrewdly suspected, that the act had been committed on board the 
 merchant ship, and the mandarins insisted that the offender should 
 be given up to them. It happened that the butcher of the ship, 
 at this juncture, committed suicide. They bethought themselves 
 of dressing him up in the officer's clothes, and formally exhibited 
 the body to the mandarins, who were invited on board peacock- 
 feathers, buttons, and all. The mandarins were informed that the 
 unfortunate officer, struck with remorse, had put an end to his ex- 
 istence. But our good friend, John Chinaman, was not to be thus 
 easily imposed upon. He declined putting any faith in the outer 
 barbarians' bare assertions, and proceeded to examine the corpse. 
 Immediately that the mandarins noticed the hands of the deceased 
 Knight of the Cleaver, they exclaimed that those were not the 
 hands of an officer, and demanded that the real offender should be 
 forthwith produced. With great difficulty the young man was se- 
 creted, and his life preserved from the vengeance of the Celestials. 
 
 I intend to leave a trunk here, with all the things I set most 
 value on, for fear of accidents on the Isthmus, and to take as little 
 luggage as possible, as on such expeditions it is very inconvenient : 
 " Ojala hubiese empezado antes esta reforma." There is a report 
 that the "Georgia" is in sight. I shall not see much of the Ha- 
 vana this time, but I hope to visit it again on my return ; it is so 
 interesting and beautiful an island. 
 
 I must go and take leave of my American acquaintance, Mrs. 
 
 . She is going with her husband and little girl back to the 
 
 United States. They have taken passages on board the " Ysabel 
 Segunda," and they fear she will be very crowded, as they find 
 the Italian operatic company are going by the same steamer, on 
 their way to New York, where they are going to perform. Mrs. 
 is in very delicate health, suffering from that fell disorder, so
 
 270 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 common in. the United States, consumption. She came to Ha- 
 vana by medical advice, and great numbers of Americans come 
 here annually on the same account. I hear that many go also to 
 
 Jamaica and to Santa Cruz. Mrs. W , another American 
 
 lady who was staying at this hotel, and with whom I have become 
 acquainted, is just gone to make a tour of the island. She sings 
 beautifully, and her little daughter is extraordinarily handsome ; 
 she has lived a great deal in Europe, chiefly in Italy. I have 
 heard since her departure, that she is anxious to introduce some 
 improvements in the railroads here, which are of her own inven- 
 tion. 
 
 The " Georgia" has arrived. We shall have but little time 
 now to make any further preparations. Tanto me/or, for as long 
 as one has time one fancies something may be better arranged, or 
 
 is requisite. General C has kindly called to tell me he is 
 
 going on board the " Georgia" this morning, and will do all he 
 can to arrange for us to go, but she is expected to be very full. 
 She is a magnificent vessel of about three thousand tons. 
 
 When these enormous American steamers first came to Havana, 
 there was a report that it was doubtful whether they could get in 
 through the narrow entrance to the harbor ; however, that was 
 found to be of easy accomplishment. The " Georgia" is said to 
 be a very fast vessel, with excellent accommodations, and a most 
 gentlemanlike captain. We take leave of this delightful hotel 
 with regret. Mr. Fulton, the excellent proprietor, has spared no 
 pains to render us as comfortable as possible. Chloe is very un- 
 happy to part with the " lilly missy," as she calls her in her broken 
 English, and her picturesque jet black daughter (a girl of about 
 
 fourteen), whose name is " Lily," is very sorry, too, for V 
 
 and she were great friends, and equally devoted to a huge and 
 very magnificent macaw (which, however, I think is more like 
 Madame Calderon s description of the Huacamaya than a macaw). 
 This splendid creature Lily is constantly seen carrying on the top 
 of her sable woolly head, like a most stately and dazzling helmet : 
 a very uncomfortable head-dress, I should think, inasmuch as it 
 was perpetually biting at her wool (that did not matter, it was so 
 thick), but her forehead came in sometimes for a snap ; and then 
 the cap did not fit, and occasionally the creature half fell, and 
 struggled on again with many flutterings and clawings but Lily 
 only laughed the more, and showed her lightning-like white teeth.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Arrival at Panama The " Georgia" Kindness and Attention of Lieu- 
 tenant Porter Deficiency of Fresh Water An Alarm on Board Its 
 Cause Bustle of Preparation to land at Chagres The stout Lady and 
 her Trunk Arrival at Chagres Polished Manners of American Gen- 
 tlemen The Bar of Chagres Difficulty of landing and of procuring 
 
 Lodgings Apartments at Sefior 's General Aspect of Chagres 
 
 The Castle of San Lorenzo Its present Condition Population of Cha- 
 gres Adventurers to California Start for Gorgona. 
 
 WE have arrived at Panama in perfect safety, and the glorious 
 Pacific, that mightiest world of waters, is at this moment rolling 
 its majestic waves under my windows as I write. I must give au 
 account, as well as 1 can, of our voyage and journey. 
 
 Through General C 's kind offices every thing was most 
 
 comfortably and delightfully arranged for us on board the mag- 
 nificent steamer " Georgia," and through his considerate attention 
 and kindness I had also the advantage and comfort of an agree- 
 able acquaintance with an amiable American lady on board, who 
 was going with her little boy to join her husband in California. 
 
 This steamer is commanded by an officer of the United States 
 navy, Lieutenant Porter, son of the celebrated Commodore Por- 
 ter. It is impossible any where to meet with a more perfect, high- 
 bred, and finished gentlemen than Lieutenant Porter. He seem- 
 ed indefatigable in his kind endeavors to render the passengers 
 comfortable, and his courteous attentions to all could not be too 
 highly praised. There was an immense number of passengers 
 altogether, chiefly deck passengers, en route to California (report 
 said thirteen hundred, but I believe that was a little exaggera- 
 tion), and yet every thing was conducted with as much order and 
 regularity, and the ship was as perfectly quiet as if there had only 
 been thirty. Our cabins were large, and exceedingly commodious 
 and particularly nicely furnished. Muslins embroidered with dif- 
 ferent rich patterns and colors, formed the blinds and curtains to 
 the berth ; they had a very cool and pretty eflect. There were 
 also green jalousies to the windows. We had a capital \\ elsli 
 stewardess, a most civil and attentive one ; and the steward was 
 the very person for that arduous office. 
 
 The first day we dined in, the saloon ; but it was very hot, in
 
 272 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 consequence of its being necessary to have lighted candles there, 
 even in the broadest day-light. The rest of the time we dined in 
 our cabins, where it was very pleasantly cool, considering the state 
 
 of the atmosphere. An acquaintance of Mrs. H , a veiy stout 
 
 lady, seemed to suffer much from the heat of the weather, but did 
 not appear to become in the least thinner in consequence ; and yet 
 she seemed to live only on air, and that air was only what her 
 fan procured for her. She was a very good-humored and pleasing 
 person ; and must be one of great energy and resolution, for she is 
 on her way to California, having determined on going there, and 
 making a fortune for her grand-children so she told my maid. 
 Though very stout indeed, I should not have thought her old 
 enough to have such relatives ; but I am sure they ought to be 
 both proud of, and grateful to their enterprising and go-ahead 
 grandmamma. I think I never saw a more benevolent and ami- 
 able countenance. 
 
 We had an excellent voyage to Chagres ; the only drawback 
 was a short supply of water. The captain had waited a long 
 time at Havana for an additional provision, but from some dilato- 
 riness or neglect of the natives, it came not, and he was obliged to 
 start without it. Sea- water and soap go veiy ill together. How 
 would the reader like to cleanse his face by rubbing it against a 
 grindstone ? I think the salt-water and soap seem pretty nearly 
 as rough. It is still more disagreeable to rinse the mouth with it ; 
 but those were very trifling disagreeables, and of little moment. 
 
 Our voyage otherwise was uninterruptedly agreeable, except 
 one little alarm which, perhaps, may amuse the reader, and I will 
 repeat it for his edification. A day or two before we arrived at 
 Chagres, there had been a little excitement among the deck-pas- 
 sengers we were told, in consequence of one of them losing some 
 money, and I believe his watch. Suspicion fell upon one of his 
 companions. They were all going to California, where from the 
 mixed state of society, the vast assemblage of people from all parts 
 of the world, and the not yet thoroughly organized system of gov- 
 ernment at the mines, &c., the most uncompromising severity, and 
 rigid laws against all similar offenders were rendered necessary. 
 There had been threats muttered of Lynch law, we were told, 
 but I did not place much reliance on these reports, as the passen- 
 gers seemed so well-disposed, respectable, and orderly a set of per- 
 sons. This little anecdote \vill partly show how philosophically 
 Americans will sometimes take matters where their interference 
 would be utterly useless and hopeless.
 
 ALARM ON BOARD. 273 
 
 At the dead of night (an ominous beginning !) I was awakened 
 by an immense noise on deck, like a furious stamping and pushing, 
 and as I fancied, shrieks and expostulations. On the promenade 
 that goes all round the ship, several mattresses were placed every 
 night for the accommodation of some of the passengers, for whom 
 there was no room elsewhere. The night was suffocatingly hot, 
 and the cabin- windows were partially opened so as to allow a pas- 
 sage to the outward air through the closed blinds. As I have 
 very quick ears, and the alarm made one more than usual on the 
 qui vive, I heard one of the passengers call out to another some- 
 thing like this : 
 
 " What in thunder's the matter up there, sir ? do you hear 
 that infernal noise ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; guess they're throwing that man overboard they 
 talked of lynching to-day." 
 
 " Wai, sir. I do suppose that '11 be it." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Good-night, sir !" 
 
 " Good-night to you, sir !" 
 
 For my part I felt pretty sure all was over, for the tremendous 
 scrambling and struggling and yelling had suddenly ceased. No 
 doubt the poor victim, maddened and desperate, had fought like a 
 demon for life for a brief while, but overpowered by numbers, had 
 been plunged into a watery grave. 
 
 I rushed into the cabin where the two maids slept, anxious to 
 impart the dreadful news, and horrify them at least. I found 
 them already listening horror-struck, to the noise, and in great 
 fear that the terrible event alluded to had happened. Presently, 
 in the now deep stillness, I heard a loud pattering of rain, it came 
 louder and louder, and there was another (though not so violent) 
 rush and struggle on deck. I then almost instantly guessed what 
 the real state of the case was. A shower of rain had come on sud- 
 denly, and all had been hurrying for shelter, and trying to shield 
 themselves in various ways from its pitiless pouring. This, in 
 fact, was the real truth, thank Heaven ! and I do not think the 
 idea of lynching had ever been seriously entertained. 
 
 A little while before we arrived at Chagres, the bustle and 
 stir in the ship were prodigious ; and I am sorry to say, the cap- 
 tain was taken very ill, and was confined to his cabin part of the 
 day. At last Chagres came in view, and before long, the hubbub 
 in the steamer became more " fast and furious." Every body 
 wanted their trunks and portmanteaus, and every body in their 
 
 M*
 
 274 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 hurry, got hold of some body else's. My poor stout friend, who 
 seemed in the greatest and most imminent danger of melting away 
 altogether in the heat, and whom I shall call Arethusa, was 
 minus a large trunk, which seemed to be all the world to her. Her 
 patience and good-humor were inexhaustible, but she was evident- 
 ly in deep perturbation about it. She described it in a panting, 
 breathless "hue and cry," de vive voix "it might be knoAvn 
 among a million ;" it was a veteran trunk, covered with conspic- 
 uous scars, each well patched over with tin ; its shape and size, 
 too, were particular. Every sort and kind of trunk, case, box, &c. 
 came up but that. Every body seemed to feel for, and with her, 
 she was so good-natured, gentle, and amiable. 
 
 The poor lady fanned away, almost frowned, and watched that 
 yawning grave, the hold,"*disgorge from its capacious maw, legions 
 of boxes, chests, and packing-cases, till even half a forest of trees 
 appeared to view an American Birnam wood on the route to 
 California. (Perhaps the transplanter imagines that these trees 
 in their new soil, will produce fruits of gold, and that he will have 
 a true Hesperides there). The anxious Arethusa, almost in de- 
 spair, called " Hold, enough!" At last there were some tidings of 
 the missing trunk having been seen somewhere, and the poor 
 lady breathed again by the help of her faithful fan. 
 
 The rush into the different boats, canoes, and dug-outs that 
 were ready to convey passengers to the shore, which was about a 
 mile oft' was tremendous ; each was anxious to get the first canoe 
 at reasonable prices, and for a short time, the scene beggared all 
 description. We looked on at the little civil war that was raging, 
 in peace, from our cabin windows, and I was very glad to take the 
 advice the captain sent me, to remain quietly till the afternoon, 
 when the bustle and confusion would be over. I had a letter from 
 
 Messrs. at Havana, to Seonr , requesting him to see 
 
 that every thing was arranged satisfactorily for us, and to engage 
 
 a canoe for us, &c. Mrs. H d was so kind as to take charge 
 
 of this note for me, and as without loss of time she had gone on 
 shore with her friends, I had no fear but that we should have a 
 good canoe secured for us. 
 
 In the afternoon the captain was good enough, ill as he was, to 
 come to the ladies' saloon to take leave of us, arid give us all the 
 advice he could respecting the journey across the Isthmus, which 
 he was well acquainted with, having very lately gone over it. It 
 is impossible for any one to have been more courteous and obliging 
 than the distinguished commander of that leviathan steamer was,
 
 THE BAR OF CHAGRES. 275 
 
 and his counsel was invaluable to us. He took care that we 
 should have a most commodious and safe boat to take us on shore, 
 and sent an officer with us, to see us established in comfortable 
 quarters, till the canoe should be ready, on the following morning, 
 to proceed with us to Gorgona or Cruces. 
 
 Truly grateful for all his solicitude and attention, we took 
 leave of him with the most sincere wishes for his restoration to 
 health. I have before this been convinced, that no manners on 
 earth can be more thoroughly distinguished, noble, and gracefully 
 polished than those of a high-bred American gentleman ; nay, I 
 doubt whether any can quite equal them, except some of our own 
 gentlemen it is the truth, and therefore I will say it. I never 
 saw a truer exemplification of this, than in the gentleman I have 
 just spoken of. 
 
 There is no shelter at Chagres whatever for ships, and when 
 the sea is at all agitated, the communication with the shore must 
 be exceedingly difficult and perilous : there is an extremely danger- 
 ous bar with but little depth of water. 
 
 Our boat rejoiced in the name of " Jenny Lind," and the pro- 
 prietor of it, an American, Captain Taylor, who is settled at 
 Chagres, and owns a goodly number of boats, which ply on the 
 river Chagres, and who seemed well-known to the officer of the 
 " Georgia," who was with us, told rne he was a relation of General 
 Taylor, and that he had served through the whole of the Mexican 
 war. When he found we had lately been in Mexico, he asked 
 many questions with great interest respecting the present state of 
 the country, and was anxious to know if we had seen different 
 battle-fields in which he had borne part, and suffered, and which 
 he commented on with much animation. 
 
 When we reached the landing-place, we found it a matter of 
 difficulty to transfer ourselves from the boat to the shore : there 
 was a huge quantity of slimy alluvial mud to be traversed, with 
 nothing but the rudest and most distant apology for a wooden pier, 
 consisting of a few half-rotten planks laid on some stakes. It was 
 not without some exertion that we scrambled on to the solid 
 ground. 
 
 Mr. then accompanied us to the abode of Senor , as 
 
 I was anxious to know if the letter had been received, and a 
 
 cayuca secured. Senor was away, "up on the hill," said 
 
 some of the retainers, with the characteristic laziness and noncJia- 
 lance of the natives. When would he be back ? " Quien sabe 1" 
 At length, however, we found a more intelligent Grenadian, who
 
 276 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 told us the letter had been received at the house, in the absence 
 
 of Senor R , agent for the Royal Mail Steam Company, and 
 
 that it was awaiting his return, which would probably take place 
 very soon. This civilized being then begged we would accept a 
 seat while measures were taken for securing us a comfortable 
 domicile for the night. 
 
 The officer of the " Georgia," whom I before mentioned, imme- 
 diately went over to what is called the American town, where 
 almost all the Americans take up their abode, and where, I hear, 
 there are some very fair hotels (one called the " Crescent City 
 Hotel") but before long he returned, and strongly recommended 
 us to remain in the native town, as, contrary to expectation, many 
 of the lately arrived travelers, having been totally unable to provide 
 themselves with cayucas, in consequence of the immense demand, 
 were imperatively compelled to wait till the morning's dawn at 
 Chagres. All the best accommodations were consequently engaged. 
 
 In the mean time, Senor returned from his excursion, and 
 
 after reading the letter from Havana, entreated us to remain there, 
 instead of attempting to go to the American town, and it was 
 finally arranged we should do so. A capital room was given us, 
 and one for the two maids close by : w r e had our own provisions, 
 and therefore required but very little. Our apartment was charm- 
 ingly cool. We had to ascend by a ladder to it ; but once there, 
 it- was very pleasant : two large windows without glass, but with 
 shutters, admitted a delightful current of fresh air. This large 
 airy apartment was open to the roof, which towered at a great 
 height above us, and there was on one side only a sort of high 
 parapet wall. Ours seemed to be the only room on that floor ; we 
 had thus the view of the whole of the enormous and lofty thatched 
 roof, and if we leaned over the wooden parapet, that of an immense 
 space, something like a great warehouse, filled with a heterogeneous 
 assemblage of countless articles, while on a sort of gallery inside, 
 that ran partly round the walls, were festooned strings of onions, 
 whose fragrance would have been rather overpowering to our 
 olfactory nerves, but for the quantity of fresh air that circulated 
 through the large rambling building. 
 
 By the way, Senor told me a dreadful fire had lately con- 
 sumed a fine house he possessed here, and which he had occupied 
 only a short time previous to our visit. We saw from our windows 
 the blackened remains of this mansion, which had all the appear- 
 ance of having been very extensive, and part of the crowded heaps 
 that encumbered the clay floor of the building we were in, was
 
 APARTMENTS AT SENOR 'S 277 
 
 the rescued but injured furniture belonging to it. Senior told 
 
 us he had quite lately also lost his father, and a child, and that his 
 wife was ill. Under these circumstances I felt loth to stay, but he 
 insisted on our so doing. 
 
 There were two little couch-like beds in. our handsome loft, with 
 pretty pillows covered with muslin, and trimmed with lace : some 
 very good-natured smiling mahogany- colored damsels came to offer 
 their services. I thought they were domestics belonging to the 
 establishment, but found afterward they were relations of either 
 
 Senor or Senora R . They took our chocolate to prepare, and 
 
 soon returned with cups, &c., and the chocolate hot and foaming, 
 of which we partook, and in a little while we went to rest. 
 
 I have as yet said nothing of the appearance of this much-vitu- 
 perated, and I think often misrepresented place. Of course the 
 ground is low, immediately on the river ; but at a little distance 
 beyond, it gradually rises till it presents the appearance of pictur- 
 esque and beautiful wooded hills, giving a romantic variety to the 
 scene. Certainly, where the Americans have betaken themselves, 
 there is a low and marshy flat, that in the rainy season (which 
 lasts here about ten months !) must be a sea of mud : it is said by 
 the Americans, that the summits of the highest hills afford hardly 
 any security against mud, at that extraordinarily "juicy season." 
 
 There is only one church at Chagres of course a Catholic one 
 and in its construction it is as unpretending as the bamboo 
 houses of the people. These houses, which are nearly as light as 
 so many balloons, mostly consist of bamboo canes, which are 
 thonged and fastened to some slight frame- work of more substantial 
 timber, all covered over with the leaves or the limbs of the cabbage 
 palm, or the cocoa-nut. They have no chimney at all. They all 
 assume to a foreign eye a very strange and fantastical, but I think 
 picturesque appearance. 
 
 The town proper the Chagres of the natives lies on the 
 north bank of the river Chagres, about a hundred yards or so 
 from the open sea, and contains about a hundred of these huts, 
 screened by their profuse coverings of palm leaves. A sudden 
 bend in the river and a tongue of land running out into the sea, 
 have caused the town to assume the shape of a semi-crescent, and 
 the former almost entirely vails it from view as you enter the 
 mouth of the river. On this point of land stands the fine old 
 castle of San Lorenzo, built by the conquering Spaniards, and in 
 olden days stormed by the celebrated and oft successful buccaneer 
 Morgan, who scaled it and leveled it, after a conflict, in which all
 
 27S TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 but thirty-three out of three hundred and sixteen defenders were 
 killed. 
 
 This fort in the time of its strength commanded the entrance to 
 the river and the town, arid to all appearance ought to have en- 
 tirely locked up the Isthmus from an invading enemy. It must 
 have been a majestic castle before it sank into the melancholy 
 state of ruin and neglect in which we now beheld it. It still 
 bears the outward show of great strength and extreme durability ; 
 and if it should ever fall into the energetic hands of our noble 
 transatlantic brothers, it is still susceptible of being made an ex- 
 ceedingly strong and important post. It is surrounded by high 
 ramparts in which are mounted perhaps nearly thirty brass guns ; 
 there are bomb-proof casemates, and capacious store-houses, large 
 enough to store provisions for the garrison, which might last them 
 for a long space of time. But on whatever side you look, Time, 
 the conqueror's conqueror, seems to reign triumphant : every where 
 his obliterating foot-marks are to be seen, and the castle seems a 
 morunful mockery of its former stately self. 
 
 The precipitously steep and inaccessible rock protects it from all 
 assault on every side but one, and on that it is guarded by an out- 
 work flanked by tottering towers at the angles. This is provided 
 with cannon, in a rusty condition ; indeed, the whole is in a dreary 
 state of dilapidation : this outwork is commanded itself by the in- 
 terior fortifications. What a contrast it must present now to its 
 former state when the proud Spanish grandees and hidalgos of old 
 had rule over it! The Americans say this is entirely owing to 
 the indolence and supineness of the " blackre publicans." They 
 seem in general to look upon these as hardly a degree removed 
 from the negroes. Certainly this Castle of San Lorenzo presents 
 a truly melancholy appearance. 
 
 I am told the guns, some of brass, and others of iron, instead of 
 standing in their former threatening attitude, have been allowed 
 almost to tumble down. Some of these guns are very fine ones ; 
 a part of them bear the date of 1703, and others are much older. 
 Thousands of pounds of powder remain in the magazine, in a 
 lamentable state of ruin, and the magazine is fast shrouding up, 
 and destroying in its decay all evidence of its existence. 
 
 The castle is connected with the before-mentioned outwork by 
 a drawbridge, and another connects this with the approach from 
 without. Enormous water-tanks, guns, powder,. balls, stores, and 
 every thing necessary during a long siege, indeed, are there to be 
 found, except provisions, and these doubtless have long ago been
 
 CASTLE OF SAN LORENZO. 279 
 
 appropriated and dispatched by the natives, rendered indolent by 
 their climate, and apt to depend almost entirely upon the abundant 
 yield of tropical productions for their livelihood. The crumbling 
 walls of this once stately stronghold seem now to be the favorite 
 promenade, the chosen " Alameda" for the agile wild goat, and 
 that scavenger-general (in these parts of the world), the unpre- 
 possessing buzzard. 
 
 Notwithstanding the state of neglect in which it is now, it is 
 easy to imagine that this fortress was formerly (as it is said to 
 have been) one of the strongest erected by the Spaniards along 
 the whole of their coast ; for it still bears striking witness to this 
 fact, despite of its ruined entrenchments and its rusty guns, its 
 dilapidated watch-towers, its tottering walls, its crumbling battle- 
 ments, decayed magazines, and damaged powder. 
 
 At some distance from the works stands a detached battery, on 
 the height which commands the town and river of Chagres, but it 
 is destitute of communication with the castle. Some superannu- 
 ated-looking and miserably appointed soldiers are to be seen loiter- 
 ing about the neglected works. Once more, what a change would 
 take place if this were transferred to the hands of the Americans 
 what a flourishing city would shortly be seen here ; and how 
 would this decayed castle regain all its pristine power and 
 more ! 
 
 Speaking cosmopolitanicaHy and philanthropically, I feel one 
 ought to wish the Americans to take to themselves, not only this, 
 but many other portions of this vast continent : but as an English 
 woman, I suppose I should not give utterance to the wish. Yet, 
 if all illiberal prejudice and antagonizing influences and unfortu- 
 nate jealousies could be annihilated, and the United States and 
 England would fairly go hand-in-hand in the work of regeneration 
 or rather creation what might not such a co-operation effect 
 what would, or could withstand them ? 
 
 But England is too calculating ; beginning now not to decline, 
 I do not think or believe that but to lose some portion of that 
 vigorous and restless energy, which must advance and to be more 
 anxious about retaining than gaining ; and her object is, perhaps, 
 yet more to check and interdict others from snatching at coveted 
 prizes, than to seize them herself. But if this policy should become 
 habitually hers, it will ultimately prove vain the Americans will 
 eventually triumph ; and if they are wise and liberal themselves, 
 and allow the Ibrms of government under their general sway to be 
 adapted to the nature and habits of the different people, they will
 
 280 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 yet rule and govern all this hemisphere at least ! But this is not 
 a subject to be superficially treated. 
 
 As to the population of the town of Chagres, I suppose the per- 
 manent inhabitants may number about three hundred nearly all 
 of these are black, or, at least, of the very blackest bronze it is 
 possible to imagine. We were much amused in watching some 
 of these people, especially the women, whose costume (and par- 
 ticularly their coiffure) is very unique. Their jet black, strong, 
 coarse hair is sometimes made to stand out on each side of theic 
 heads, like huge heavy black wings, frizzled to the last degree : 
 one .would almost think the great vultures, besides being scaven- 
 gers, are the fashionable hairdressers here. The ladies have, a 
 cigarito occasionally in their mouths, and sometimes behind their 
 ears, ready for use : a little cotton drapery completed their cos- 
 tume. Crowds of children, looking like little Chinese idols, and 
 not at all remarkable for symmetry of shape, having rather a drop- 
 sical appearance, rolled about in the sun till one thought they must 
 be baked to dumplings. 
 
 Every now and then some California-bound Americans would 
 make their appearance among these sauntering groups. It would 
 be impossible to imagine any human beings more the moral anti- 
 podes of each other than the eager, bustling, rapid, impatient 
 Yankees, and these quiet, peaceable, deliberate, and inanimate 
 natives. It is said, however, when roused or irritated, they can 
 be energetic, and as brave as lions. 
 
 The Californians are wildly impatient to get on to their destina- 
 tion, and afraid of missing the next steamer to San Francisco. 
 They are almost always to be seen impetuously gesticulating, im- 
 ploring, threatening, or encouraging the lounging boatmen, who 
 are employed generally unconcernedly re-thatching with split palm- 
 leaves the awnings or coverings of their primitively-fashioned ca- 
 noes. These boats were to be seen the preceding day by hundreds 
 beached on the oozy mud, and made fast to stakes or pegs in front 
 of the habitations of the various proprietors. On the second day, 
 comparatively few were left, and for those few large prices are 
 naturally demanded. All who were able seem willing to close 
 with any terms ; but those who were not, were of course earnestly 
 remonstrating and arguing the point, and the vociferations and 
 gesticulations were all in italics. 
 
 For our canoe, which underwent a lengthened course of prepara- 
 tion and re-thatching, I found I should have to pay seventy dollars. 
 This was engaged to take us to Gorgona, and I paid to Senor
 
 START FOR GORGONA. 281 
 
 R forty dollars more, for a respectable person to go with us, 
 
 as far as that place, who understood the habits of the natives, and 
 the best places for stopping at, and who also would engage mules 
 for us there. We waited hour after hour in vain expectation for 
 our boat, with our bonnets on ; fortunately the day was not very 
 sultry. As to the swamps we had heard so much of, where we 
 were we saw nothing of them, and while thus waiting we sate at 
 an open window in our cool, lofty apartment, inhaling a deliciously 
 fresh breeze. 
 
 At last, to our joy, the thatching was pronounced complete, and 
 we sallied forth, expecting to find an awning of considerable di- 
 mensions, and of the most elaborate workmanship, from the time 
 that had been employed in its construction. What was our dis- 
 may to find one of the smallest proportions imaginable, and which 
 it was next to impossible to crawl under, or when that was ac- 
 complished, to remain beneath- long without being cramped like 
 poor Mrs. Noble, in the cage she was carried about in, in China ! 
 But no time was to be lost, and, indeed, we were all impatience 
 to see the beautiful Isthmus, remembering the glowing descriptions 
 of Mr. Bayard Taylor and others of its extraordinary natural at- 
 tractions. 
 
 CHAPTER- XXXVIII. 
 
 The River Chagres The Boat The Rowers Their Peculiar and Vocifer- 
 ous Songs Gatun and Millaflores Exquisite Beauty of the Scenery on 
 the Banks of the Chagres Innumerable Flowers and radiant Birds 
 Strange and Prodigal Intertexture of Parasitical Plants Enormous and 
 brilliant Butterflies Las dos Hermanas Accommodations at that Place 
 The Hostess and her adopted Daughter Americans bound for Califor- 
 nia Scenery during the Progress of the Voyage San Pablo An Acci- 
 dent The Lady with her immense Coiffure Monte Carabali Arrival at 
 Gorgona. 
 
 OURS was a light and graceful-looking craft, and we soon dis- 
 covered she was one of the speediest on the river. 
 
 After taking leave of Senor R , we shot off at a merry pace, 
 
 sitting under parasols and umbrellas and vails, which tolerably 
 screened us from the burning sun, and taking it by turns every 
 now and then to squeeze ourselves under the apology for an awn- 
 ing, where we found it comparatively cool, but, from the neces- 
 sarily cramped position which one had to maintain, it was not so
 
 282 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 pleasant otherwise as the outside. We had no seats but our 
 trunks ; however, the boat progressing rapidly, soon bore us into 
 scenes of such incredible enchantment and beauty, that all minor 
 inconveniences were pretty well forgotten. We seemed trans- 
 ported to a new world all was so indescribably wild and beaute- 
 ous around us. The astonishing excess and superabundance of the 
 gorgeous chaos of vegetation on all sides, even outdid that of the 
 Tierra Caliente of Mexico, and it is difficult to say more. t 
 
 The sun raged like a blazing tempest overhead, pouring down 
 cataracts of golden flame, as it were, over all these matted masses 
 of flowery and leafy luxuriance, without being able to penetrate 
 their dense and intricate foldings. Our native rowers plied their 
 broad paddles vigorously and swiftly, singing incessantly, and some- 
 times scre'eching like a whole flock of peacocks, with a hundred- 
 horse power of lungs, Indian songs, with Spanish words ; one of 
 which songs was rather remarkable, inasmuch as, instead of being, 
 as usual, full of the praises of some chosen fair, it was nothing but 
 a string of commendations on the beauty and grace of the singer. 
 " I have a beautiful face," " I am very beautiful," &c. 
 
 When we passed any boat and in our flying craft, with our 
 light luggage, we shot by immense numbers the yells of triumph, 
 I suppose, of our boatmen, arid a sort of captain they had (who 
 was clad in very gay-colored garments with a splendid scarlet scarf 
 or sash to denote his rank, I conjecture) were literally almost deaf- 
 ening, and the beaten rowers were not slow to answer them, with 
 shouts and shrieks of merry defiance, reproach, or mockery. It 
 seemed to me on these occasions they interrupted the usual tenor 
 of their songs, and entered mutually into a marvelously rapid im- 
 promptu description of their respective passengers, of their country, 
 and their destination. Each sentence ended with an unearthly 
 yell, that might have frightened all the furies, and quite electrified 
 the lazy caymans that we saw taking their after-dinner nap in the 
 ooze, as we darted by them. 
 
 On these occasions, Senior 's respectable colored clerk, in- 
 spired by the ear-piercing strains, joined with all his might and 
 main; and I am not sure his respectabilityship did not make the 
 most noise of all, or at any rate, the most delirious attempts so 
 to do. The extraordinarily rapid powers of utterance of these 
 wild men of the wood and the water, would have astounded Mr. 
 Charles Mathews himself. Such a volley of volubility, I think, 
 I never heard it was the most distracting, bewildering, vocal 
 velocity conceivable.
 
 GATUN AND MILLAFLORES. 283 
 
 But they did not neglect their rowing for their singing. We 
 sped on wondrously, and many an American who had started long 
 before us, but was dragging along iu a heavily-laden canoe, or 
 clumsily-built dug-out, looked with envy on our little light craft. 
 " Wai, now," I heard one cry out, lugubriously, with a melan- 
 choly shake of the head to his companions, " we did ought to have 
 had that boat ; that's a fact." Poor people, they were in a lum- 
 bering, huge canoe, that crawled and crept along at a snail-like 
 pace, but then they had vast piles of luggage, which would have 
 swamped our little cayuca in no time. 
 
 From the intense heat we soon became very thirsty, and were 
 going to dip our calabashes in the water and drink, when we were 
 .stopped by our black troubadours, who said the water was bad 
 there, and we must wait for some little time till it was sweet and 
 good. However, they soon stopped where there was a hut or two, 
 and got us a couple of calabashes full of wholesome water from a 
 spring. A poor anatomy of a dog came limping toward us, look- 
 ing imploringly for something to eat ; he was quite a squellette 
 vivante, and fell upon some biscuit we threw him with the great- 
 est avidity. As to us, we fell upon the water almost as eagerly. 
 
 Gatun was the first settlement we stopped at : it was a miser- 
 able assemblage of cane hovels. Here our rowers rested awhile, 
 and then went on to Millaflores, which name suits the scenery all 
 along this miraculous river. I have said little about it yet, but 
 be prepared, reader, for a great deal of garrulity on this never- 
 ending ever-beginning topic. Oh, what magnificence of Nature ! 
 What overpowering and ineffable glory of magnificence ! Your 
 very thoughts seemed crushed beneath a M'helming weight of 
 splendor. All we could do was to stare and gaze, and utter broken, 
 exclamations of ecstasy. What a maze and mystery of unspeak- 
 ble loveliness it was ! the soaring hills of all imaginable shapes, 
 bathed and buried iu beauty, and crowned with majestically-lux- 
 uriant woods to their very topmost summits. And such woods \ 
 it was a perfect blaze of vegetation, bewildering and half blind- 
 ing one. 
 
 The gorgeous countlessly-variegated trees of those woods were 
 literally swathed and draperied over with dazzling scarlet and 
 gold, the most vivid and refulgent ! This, 1 believe, was 'occa- 
 sioned by the innumerable multitudes of orchideous, and other 
 parasitical plants, especially the former, which flash and glow 
 with the most resplendent and glorious colors, and wreathe and 
 wind around the highest tops of the gigantic trees, completely
 
 234 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 covering them with showery vails and lustrous canopies of flowers, 
 crimson, purple, intense scarlet, gold, blue, and all conceivable 
 and inconceivable colors. Earth seems like a sun a living sun 
 sparkling and quivering with all the beauties of the whole 
 creation. 
 
 I never imagined any thing so lovely as the exceeding super- 
 fluity of the blooms and foliage, and verdure here. As to de- 
 scribing it soberly, it is impossible. The enormous variety and 
 inconceivable profusion of queenly palms was beautiful beyond 
 expression. And then such birds ! like flying bouquets of jewels, 
 or rainbows, on wings, painting the fervid sunshine around them 
 ten thousand colors : and in the evening the fire-flies made a most 
 magnificent and tremulously-stirring illumination, till all life seem- 
 ed light, and all light life. As to the stars overhead, they shone 
 out like little suns. 
 
 The river Chagres itself is beautiful : it winds and twists about 
 like a brilliant serpent, most gracefully and changefully. The 
 prodigious masses of vegetation pour down upon it, and seem as 
 if they flung their glittering many-colored chains on its bright 
 waters to arrest its progress. In many places, enormous curtains 
 and thickly-woven tapestries of foliage swept down, broidered and 
 blazoned all over with sumptuous blooms, into the blue water ; 
 and in other parts the most fantastically-variegated and fairy-like 
 garlands, festoons, and streamers quivered just over its surface, 
 reflected therein in all their beauty. Wherever you turned, there 
 was a sweeping, heaving, and gorgeous ocean of flowers and foliage ; 
 wherever you caught a passing glimpse of the inner depths of this 
 world-within-world of beauty and glory, you saw wildernesses of 
 creepers and parasites, in thousands of mazes and convolutions. 
 
 Some of the latter flowers, on these blossom-embroidered banks, 
 had a most marvelous eflect, apparently " doing business on their 
 own hook ;" for they seemed to be standing alone perfectly inde- 
 pendent of any support. But I suspect, in reality, they were 
 wreathed and re-wreathed, and piled and crowded over and around 
 some irregular stumps of old trees, or chance block of stone but 
 in such unimaginable and luxuriant profusion that they often 
 formed as it were, enormous towers and gateways, thus standing 
 by themselves, of immense thickness and height. In short, they 
 displayed all kinds of shapes, most fantastically diversified and 
 varied. 
 
 Sometimes they appeared like huge triumphal arches, and some- 
 times of slenderer proportions, like soaring Turkish minarets ;
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FORESTS. 285 
 
 occasionally like the domes of Oriental mosques. At other times, 
 there was a lovely vision of vast avenues of flower-garlanded 
 bowers, vista beyond vista. In several places the sparkling river 
 was almost bridged across by radiant blossomy boughs, a magic 
 bridge of flowers, and rainbows, and meteors. It hardly seemed 
 as if this abounding wealth and deluge of blooms could have 
 sprung from earth's bosom, but as if the very firmaments, " fretted 
 with golden fire," must have rained down these superb and daz- 
 zling splendors from their own treasure-houses of starry glory, or 
 poured part of themselves away, molten, over this over-illumined 
 planet. 
 
 Through these gorgeous piles and masses of luxuriance flit not 
 only the many-colored birds I have mentioned, but colossal, daz- 
 zling, sumptuous butterflies, belonging only to the tropics, and 
 nearly as large as birds go fluttering and glittering like showers 
 of precious stones, tossed about by invisible genii. 
 
 These glorious forests are so thickly matted together, that not 
 even the lightning can pierce them. I have just been looking at 
 my little companion's description of the exquisite creepers, and all 
 the wondrous effects their elaborate loveliness produces, and I see 
 she likens them to quite different objects to what I have done : 
 but such is their apparently inexhaustible profusion and pomp, 
 and prodigality of growth, and variety of form that a hundred 
 people might very probably describe them all differently. I think 
 / was most struck with the extraordinary triumphal arches and 
 columns and castellated towers that they formed so exquisitely in 
 their spontaneous, enchanted, flowery architecture, and she with 
 the way in which they almost smothered the loftiest palms with 
 their brilliant shrouds of colored light, and streaming festoons and 
 coronals, and then continually passed on to others, linking them 
 together in beauty and enchantment. 
 
 We saw a good many Americans camping at a place, whose 
 name I do not remember. The current began to run very strong, 
 but our light boat still got on pretty fast. At last the rowers 
 seemed to become exhausted, and it was late in the evening when 
 we arrived at a settlement called Las dos Hcrmanas. 
 
 It consists of a small number of straggling scattered huts, built 
 on a brow of a headland that overhangs the stream just where the 
 
 river takes a considerable sweep. Seiior R 's lieutenant went 
 
 on shore immediately to get us as good accommodations as the 
 place afforded, and we were soon ushered into an Indian hut, of 
 which the proprietress was one of the most obliging and kind-
 
 286 TRAVELS IN AMERICA, % 
 
 hearted beings in the world. She showed us into a very comfort- 
 able room (always considering what Isthmus accommodations 
 generally are said to be). The bamboo walls she proceeded very 
 expeditiously and neatly to cover over with thick mats and hides, 
 and a delightful little tent-like apartment she made of it. 
 
 She was accompanied by a smiling girl, who, she said, was her 
 adopted daughter, and that her name was Pantaleone. Her own 
 name, she told us, was Arquellina ; so I could not but call them 
 Harlequin and Pantaloon. Poor Harlequin was of a preposterous 
 size, though amazingly active ; Pantaloon did all the staring for 
 her, and after we were gone, I think could have described us 
 accurately enough for the " Hue-and-Cry" at least. 
 
 I can not agree with the Americans about the natives. Not 
 only here but almost every where else, we found them most good- 
 natured, kind, inoffensive, and hospitable people. They are natu- 
 rally slow, but with a little humoring, and good-tempered banter- 
 ing, or gentle beseeching, they will make all the haste they can. 
 For instance, the way in which our unwieldy Harlequin bustled and 
 ran about for us was " a caution." She puffed and panted with the 
 unwonted exertion, but looked the very picture of good-humor all the 
 time. In fact, she seemed to grudge no trouble to make her foreign 
 guests as comfortable as possible. She gave up a very snug room 
 close to ours for ihefemmes de chambre, with two good hammocks in 
 it ; then she cooked our provisions for us capitally, and, till we re- 
 tired for the night, kept up an incessant chattering, in which was 
 mingled many an expression of kindly welcome and good-will. 
 
 In short, she was the very best Harlequin in the world, not as ' 
 regards rapidity and lightness of motion certainly, but in more 
 solid qualities ; and after she had affectionately bade us good-night, 
 I looked forward to a very sound sleep on the little couch she had 
 so carefully prepared. But in that I was disappointed. Quanti- 
 ties of insects, chiefly ants, that appeared without end, tormented 
 me the whole night, and it was only just at break of day that I 
 fell into a little doze (V happily slept well) ; but when morn- 
 ing dawned it was time to start, and after repeated rappings at 
 the barricaded outside door, that would not have disgraced May 
 Fair or Belgravia, and confused cries heard without, of cs muy 
 tarde, and ya es Jwra de levantarse, we got up, and fat Harlequin 
 busied herself in preparing our desayuno, and brought us a deli- 
 cious bowl of milk, which was very welcome and refreshing. 
 
 When I asked her what there was to pay, " Nothing," she 
 said, " Nada, nada." I told her that was quite out of the ques-
 
 PROGRESS OF THE VOYAGE. 287 . 
 
 tion ; and after a little amicable altercation on the subject, sbe 
 said, whatever little trifle I liked to give. I presented her then 
 with a "gratification" for which she thanked me heartily, and 
 insisted on accompanying us down the steep bank to our cayuca. 
 This poor, dear, plumpest of all imaginable Harlequins ! how she 
 waddled along down the abrupt descent ! Once more I begged 
 her not to trouble herself to come all the way, and she then took 
 leave of us most kindly ; and so did Pantaloon also, who was in- 
 dustriously continuing her occupation of staring, till her eyes seem- 
 ed inclined to leave her head. Her mouth was wide open ; and 
 if she had partaken of the nature of the curious air-plants of China 
 she would have thriven much that morning, I imagine, from the 
 quantity of that element she must have imbibed. 
 
 After re-arranging our trunks a little, so as to make tolerably 
 comfortable seats (of course without any backs to lean against), 
 we started, and waved our last adieus to our kind Harlequin and 
 Pantaloon. We passed numbers of canoes filled with Americans : 
 a great many of these boats were manned by Negroes. Some 
 appeared to move so slowly, as to be almost stationary, others 
 were " snagged." Some of these, it appeared, had been all night 
 on the river. Our boatmen, like the rest, had rejected their broad 
 paddles, and taken to palancas, or poles, and our progress became 
 slower and slower. We ran under the widely-overshadowing 
 boughs of enormous trees, that bent their stately heads over the 
 water, and made perfect tents with their far-spreading branches ; 
 and at such times we seemed inclosed in a large hollow sphere of 
 emerald ; all looked green within its leafy circle. 
 
 The current was exceedingly strong, and many of the heavily- 
 freighted, clumsy boats we passed, seemed hopelessly fighting with 
 it. The palancas splashed us terribly, and the boat had a 
 quantity of water in it, but we got to the ranclio of Palo Matida 
 in very fair time. 
 
 The water of the river, we found, had long been sweet and 
 wholesome, and often did we dip our calabashes into it, and drain 
 a refreshing draught. The vocal performances- of the crew be- 
 came " fine by degrees, and beautifully less," as- the toil of poling 
 against the rapids grew more severe : a doleful quivering drawl, 
 something like the tone of a superannuated parish clerk, took place 
 of the wild shrieking songs that had made the woods and groves 
 resound the day before. 
 
 Most beautiful was the scenery still, though its character was 
 gradually becoming altered. The hilly peaks were higher; at
 
 288 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 some places, from the highest summits of the hills to the water, 
 swept down a perfect cataract of trees you almost wondered the 
 solid hills did not come crashing down with them into the stream. 
 They, and their curtaining superincumbent mass of blossoming 
 parasitical plants, together with wild roses, and lilies, and other 
 exquisite flowers, were wedged and welded together in one heaving, 
 dense, and almost massive pall of sheeted tapestries. From this 
 still, silent, but glorious cataract of vegetation, shot, here and 
 there, what seemed pillars of quivering, leafy, bloomy mist, deli- 
 cate sprays, that appeared all made of rainbow and sunshine, and, 
 in their turn, these were diversified and adorned by stray gauzy 
 films, and floating shreds of gossamer-resembling and lightning-like 
 shoots, many-colored, and light as painted air, glancing like forked 
 tongues of serpents on the sight, and seeming instinct with life ; 
 while with a rapid darting flight, resplendent butterflies, birds, 
 and various insects, ruffled their surface. 
 
 In many parts these huge piles of vegetable growth looked more 
 like thick, hardened incrustations of leaves and boughs, which no 
 storm even could ever stir or pierce, than actually growing pro- 
 ducts of the soil. Altogether, Earth's great heart seemed to have 
 overflowed here, and poured forth all its hidden treasures, blended, 
 overcrowded, precipitated, and combined into a rich concentration 
 of preciousness, without form or order. 
 
 We passed several encampments of Americans and settlements 
 of the natives during the day. Among the latter, was Pena 
 Blanca, a small assemblage of huts, which huts sometimes look 
 like immensely tall gawky mushrooms, of most ephemeral construc- 
 tion, apparently. At one or two of these places we asked in vain 
 for a draught of milk, though we caught a glimpse, we thought, 
 of cows every now and then near the ranchos, tended by a little 
 vaquerillo. As we went on, we overtook more and more boats, 
 till the river seemed alive with them. Occasionally, the voyagers 
 in them broke out into a cheery shout of " Ho ! for California !" 
 and sometimes called to us to know if we had corne in the 
 "Georgia." Most of them were hard at work, helping their 
 boatmen to stem the stream, and urging them to go ahead. 
 
 We passed various other ranchos, and at one of them stopped 
 for some time, that the little crew of the cayuca might rest and 
 eat their dinner. We went by Agua Salud and Varro Colorado, 
 and, still battling vigorously with the racing current, struggled 
 past Palanquilla, and, as we advanced, we saw many marks of 
 cultivation. Here and there were clearings not very extensive
 
 AN ACCIDENT. 289 
 
 indeed but enough to admit of fields of Indian corn and arroz 
 (rice), and plantain-walks. There were some beautifully shaped 
 hills to be seen rising near the river-banks. One seemed particu- 
 larly high : it was, as all the rest are, like the rising sun, steeped 
 in molten gold, and panoplied in a pomp of exuberant growths, 
 among which were seen gloriously towering trees, all over-canopied 
 and buried under hanging gardens in the air, of myriad-hued 
 flowers, quite disturbing the quiet, sultry atmosphere with beauty. 
 But, partly in consequence of our boatmen having spent an un- 
 conscionable time at their dinner, partly arising from our not 
 having started as early as we should have done, owing to my 
 extreme sleepiness after the night of torment the ants and mus- 
 quitoes had given me, we were late : the evening began to grow 
 dusky, the splendid living illumination of fire-flies commenced, and 
 we were told it was necessary to stop at San Pablo, which was 
 not a very prepossessing-looking place. 
 
 We were collecting together our carpet-bags, calabashes, and 
 
 lighter luggage, when V forgetting for a moment how ^easily 
 
 these cayucas are upset, though we had repeatedly been cautioned 
 to move very carefully (and the boat had as nearly as possible 
 been tilted over before, and had been almost filled with water),* 
 jumped up very suddenly, and over went the boat. It righted, 
 however, again ; but she fell in the water, which was luckily not 
 deep there, and, after a little delay, she scrambled into the canoe 
 again, being helped by an American gentleman, who, seeing what 
 had happened, instantly rushed to the spot, and, plunging into the 
 water, rescued her. The danger was not of drowning, but of 
 alligators. 
 
 We clambered up the steep precipitous bank which led to the 
 collection of hovels called San Pablo, looking as we followed the 
 clerk and others to the little village, like a damp procession of 
 naiades learning to be amphibious for the boat had been com- 
 pletely deluged with water. The huts were very poor ones, but 
 we succeeded in getting a pretty comfortable one, detached from, 
 the rest, and where the good people lighted us a fire to dry our 
 clothes. We were very glad to have a little supper after this, 
 and disposed ourselves for rest, after receiving a visit from the 
 mistress of the huts, who was attired in a singular fashion. She 
 had an immense shock-head of hair, grizzled till it seemed powder- 
 
 * An officer of the English navy, Capt. Foster of H. M. S. Chanticleer, 
 was drowned here by such an accident. The boat was, however, of course, 
 in the middle of the river. 
 
 N
 
 290 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ed over, and like twenty judges' wigs in one nay, so enormous 
 was this coiffure that it looked more like a wigwam than a wig. 
 She seemed to have run to head entirely. 
 
 Two of us reposed on buffalo hides, and two on chairs (I was 
 one of the occupants of the latter). All became quiet and still, 
 except the monotonous but pretty cry of the bird that repeats 
 " Bohio" as plainly as possible. But presently, through the in- 
 terstices of the canes, I thought I saw a figure moving stealthily 
 near our hut. 1 looked closer through the bamboos (ours being a 
 hovel of some architectural pretensions, they were woven pretty 
 closely together !) : certainly an extraordinary form was creeping 
 slowly toward us. It looked like a haystack stuck on a pole, or a 
 colossal chicken-coop hoisted on a post, and by some magical 
 means perambulating the grounds. However, on more attentive 
 inspection, the mystery was solved it was the proprietress of the 
 huts, in her curious costume, which seemed more extraordinary 
 than ever. Perhaps to scare away all other intruders, during the 
 night, she had added to the formidable dimensions of her head- 
 dress, where there seemed really a rather roomy loft to let. Her 
 chevelure stuck out like a huge balloon of horse-hair round her 
 head. 
 
 She crept slowly on and on, and pushed at our fastened door. I 
 went and opened it, and after some difficulty she introduced her 
 vast head, with all its outer works, into the cane shed. I asked 
 her what she wanted ? " Only to have a little talk !" I thought 
 it an unseasonable time, but did not like to say so, therefore I 
 answered her queries as well as I could : " Where did we come 
 from ? Where were we going to ? Did we like the Isthmus ? 
 Surely we would go on to California 1 All the estrangeras who 
 visited the Isthmus always went to California ! or perhaps to 
 Lima] Was this finer than my country?" So she ran on, in a 
 whisper, lest she .should disturb the sleepers ; and at length, to my 
 great relief, the balloon slowly rose, not exactly into the air I 
 almost secretly wished it might be carried up into the clouds ! 
 However, it took its departure, and the door was again re-barred 
 and fastened; and nothing was heard but "Bohio! bohio." 
 So I fell asleep, in peace on the rickety chair I had taken posses- 
 sion of. 
 
 In the morning an American lady, who slept in the other cane 
 cottage (both belonging to the same people, and like detached 
 apartments of the same house there were very likely more of 
 them), came and knocked, and asked if we would like to start
 
 IMMENSE COIFFURE. 291 
 
 with her and her party. I was awake, but the others were sleep- 
 ing, and as I knew it was now only five hours to Gorgona, I 
 declined, and wishing her farewell, had a little more rest, though 
 very soon the bustle and stir incident to many departures from an 
 encampment not far off, and from the village, roused me com- 
 pletely up, and my companions also. We made our arrangements 
 for starting, and before long had a visit from the lady the head 
 personage in a double sense, who appeared to act the part only of 
 a subordinate appendage to her own giant head-dress. She 
 seemed hanging to it, like a tiny parachute to an immense bal- 
 loon, such as I have before mentioned. She came with many 
 kind salutations, and a welcome bowl of milk in her hand. But 
 alas ! when this milk was tasted, it was found to have a terrible 
 flavor of the strongest garlic. We therefore had some chocolate 
 made, and soon wers ready to start. 
 
 While tying on our bonnets, I was amused by accidentally hear- 
 ing, a lively conversation, in Spanish, between two of the native 
 ladies, as to whether I was a princess or a countess ; one inclined 
 to the first, the other to the last. Words ran rather high ; over 
 and over again was repeated " Princesa Condesa si no ! si," &c. 
 I began to think I ought to enlighten them with some red-book 
 explanations, and inform them I was not a princess, though my 
 father is a prince, and so forth. But it is time to start, and away 
 we go, hurrying down the precipitously-abrupt bank, and hastily 
 taking our seats in our cayuca, but not before one of the maids 
 had received an invitation from the lady, not in, but under the 
 balloon, which she so perseveringly carried about with her to 
 pass her days with her, in these bamboo cages of hers " Gusta V. 
 quedarse conmigo 1" She received no answer but a laugh, not 
 being understood ; but when I translated the request, an energetic 
 " No" was returned, with an eloquent glance at the buffalo-hides, 
 and walls of sticks and leaves. The good senora stared, with much 
 incredulity and astonishment, at this rejection of her offer, but re- 
 tained her good-humor notwithstanding. 
 
 San Pablo, this village of cages, is very picturesquely situated 
 on its steep bank. The beautiful Chagres makes a graceful sweep 
 and bend here, and there is a clearing behind it extending to some 
 distance ; but this clearing is not formal and bare. There are 
 lovely groups of trees left around the cane-sheds of the settlement, 
 and among them some very lofty and umbrageous palms, and 
 acacias of superb dimensions. 
 
 The pcdancas were again in requisition, and the current seemed
 
 292 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 extremely strong. About midway between San Pablo and Gorgona, 
 rises the stately hill, called Monte Carabali : it is a towering peak, 
 and is said to be the only hill in the whole province from whence 
 both oceans, the broad Atlantic and the grander Pacific, can be 
 beheld at once. 
 
 Monte Carabali, like all the other heights here, was enrobed 
 in the most effulgent forests, of which every colossal tree seemed 
 clad in a lustrous armor of precious jewels of every hue. I am not 
 sure that it was on this hill or another, that we saw one gigan- 
 tic tree on the very summit, sheeted so with the most dazzling 
 profusion of scarlet flowers, that it looked like an immense arid 
 high-soaring obelisk of fire, sending its intense blaze far into the 
 glistening blue of the resplendent sky, and, as it seemed, scattering 
 around sparkles and sheets of flame. 
 
 We had not gone very far on that day, before the hitherto brill- 
 iantly clear arch above u, showed at one point a threatening 
 frowning cloud, which soon sent down upon us a tremendous 
 shower. It appeared as if millions of wings were stirring among the 
 many-sounding leaves that echoed the fast thick droppings of the 
 rushing rain. Our canoe shot speedily under the tent-like shelter 
 of an enormous tree, and we crept as well as we could beneath the 
 ruins of our awning of palm leaves which afforded us still some 
 screen against the storm. In fact, the tree did not allow much 
 of it to pass through its wilderness of boughs and leaves. Had it 
 not been for my determination in insisting on the awning being 
 left, we should not have had a shred of protection remaining, from 
 it, either against the drops (of considerable size, I assure you) that 
 found their way through our leafy canopy above, or against the 
 burning sun that succeeded to the storm. 
 
 The evening before, finding, I suppose, the awning a little in 
 their way, and that it made the boat somewhat heavier, the head 
 man had relentlessly seized it, and began tearing it down : I stopped 
 these unwarranted proceedings, desiring him in a rather authorita- 
 tive manner to desist. He grumbled out it 'was preciso to get rid 
 of it ; I retorted it was preciso it should remain. He then ceased 
 to contradict, but not to claw down the poor awning. I called out 
 my auxiliary force in tne shape of the colored clerk, and he, after 
 first siding with the enemy, on seeing I was determined to cut 
 down all who opposed me of the aguardiente, for which they 
 kept a bright look-out returned to his duty, and issued the most 
 
 imperative orders in my name and that of Senor It , and of 
 
 the central government of New Granada to boot, for aught I know
 
 ARRIVAL AT GORGONA. 293 
 
 that the palm-thatch should be left intact. But it stood in a 
 tottering and precarious state, and required every now and then 
 bandaging and propping up a little by a skillful hand. 
 
 When the storm cleared away, we started again, and beautiful 
 were some of the long reaches of the shining river, where we 
 floated between living walls of sculptured emerald formed of 
 trees, embossed with myriads of variegated, gem-like blossoms ; 
 and every leaf hung on those innumerable hosts of boughs and 
 branches was quivering with the liquid diamonds of the rain-drops, 
 and sparkling and glancing in the golden sun, till really this 
 world seemed too lovely almost, for a temporary abode, and the 
 sense of its stupendous beauty grew painful. For not only close 
 at hand were these countlessly varied masses of luxuriance and 
 splendor, but beyond rose hills on hills, all like insulated paradises 
 soaring back again to the glorious heavens they seemed to have 
 come from ! 
 
 We arrived at Gorgona under an intensely burning sun. This 
 place is about half a dozen miles below Cruces, but I had decided 
 on riding from thence, in preference to going on. to Cruces, in. con- 
 sequence of advice given to me at Chagres. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Gorgona Immense Numbers of Americans at that Place The Native Hotel 
 The Host and his Daughters A Fiesta The Women's Dresses Tha 
 truant Clerk in his Splendor His Glory checked Hunting for Mules 
 A projected Railroad through Gorgona " Sammy," the Servant at the 
 Hotel Some Account of his Duties, and how they were performed His 
 Appearance Spread of Fever in Gorgona Mode of lading Mules De- 
 parture of Friends for Panama Pedestrian Travelers to California 
 Stanzas suggested by seeing them. 
 
 GORGONA looked all alive, and seemed to be rather a considera- 
 ble place, for the Isthmus. The palm-thatched houses of the na 
 tives looked very picturesque there, many of them towering to an 
 immense height, and appearing not unlike pictures I have seen of 
 the great African Baobab tree (only higher and more tapering), 
 with slight cane walls running up all round to meet the outward 
 edge of the circle of its widely spreading and high-reared boughs. 
 
 This Isthmusian town is situated on a very high and steep 
 bank, up which it is rather hard work to climb under the scorch-
 
 294 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ing sun, for our disembarkation there was accomplished under 
 one of the most broiling skies I ever encountered. Close to the 
 river were encamped immense numbers of Americans, who were 
 waiting for mules, or reposing themselves, after perhaps working 
 their way up the river, or who, from neglecting sanitary precau- 
 tions, were suffering from the fever. 
 
 A Frenchman came up to me, and said he belonged to an ex- 
 cellent posada here, which he recommended, but I found it was 
 much crowded, and did not go to it. The American Hotel of Mr. 
 Miller, I heard was quite full, and I ultimately decided on going 
 to a native hotel, which was kept by a Gorgonian, who rejoiced in 
 a family of twelve daughters and I do not know how many sons. 
 The dozen of daughters, as far as I saw of them, were very good- 
 natured and very indolent, and had, like our gentle Pantaloon, a 
 great talent for staring. 
 
 The house being full, they overflowed into a broad wooden gal- 
 lery that surrounded it, and a few into the road, even. When the 
 burning sun drove them in, they were always in the way, standing 
 in the porch and the narrow door- ways, and always busily engaged 
 in some toilet offices, such as putting up their long, jet-black hair, 
 fastening flowers into it, and decorating themselves in various 
 ways. I found it was a fiesta, and there was going to be a grand 
 ball in the evening, where all the fashion and aristocracy of the 
 place were to assemble. 
 
 It may be imagined that the fair residents of Gorgona looked 
 necessarily very picturesque, when I tell you that they nearly all 
 had a profusion of natural and beautifully-disposed flowers in their 
 hair, which was sometimes amazingly luxuriant and occasionally 
 gracefully braided, or with long jetty streamers flowing down al- 
 most to their feet. Their dresses of a light and delicate texture, 
 were generally either snowy white or of a lovely rose color, and 
 on some occasions the white and rose colors were blended : around 
 the corsage were very deep falls of lace ; the arms were bare. 
 
 One of mine host's twelve daughters, is particularly pretty, and 
 the arrangements of the flowers in her hair, and different little 
 decorations supera^lded to her attire (which important perform- 
 ances took place on the step of a door opposite), seemed to be an ob- 
 ject of interest to half the city ; and the amiable Gorgons which 
 name I give them, not because they are ill-favored quite the re- 
 verse but because they inhabit this same Gorgona crowded of- 
 ficiously round, all suggesting and talking together, and apparently 
 disinterestedly desirous that the beauty of the place should main-
 
 THE TRUANT CLERK. 295 
 
 tain her position as fairest of the fair. Match me that magna- 
 nimity of the mind feminine in the capitals of the Old World. 
 
 As the following day was Sunday, I determined on not starting 
 from Gorgona till early on Monday morning ; but it was neces- 
 sary to secure mules for that day. I placed full reliance on Senor 
 
 R 's colored gentleman, but the afternoon wore away and he 
 
 did not make his appearance. A loud beating of numerous wood- 
 en drums and sundry twanging of guitars and violins, announced 
 that a fandango had "commenced ; I began to fear our knight of 
 the ledger was twirling in the waltz, or threading the mazes of 
 the Spanish dances iu the bamboo Almack's, or on the smooth 
 sward before the principal huts ; but I thought it best to wait, 
 having inquired concerning his whereabouts. I could not engage 
 mules, with the chance of his having already secured some. 
 
 In the morning of the second day, we saw from the aperture in 
 our mud-floored room, which did duty as a window, the apparition 
 of the highly respectable truant, mounted on a caracoling mustang, 
 and evidently mightily proud of himself and his prancing steed. 
 Yes, it was certainly himself, in utter full dress, astonishing the 
 weak minds of some of the inhabitants of Gorgona by his splendor, 
 and having apparently breakfasted on a poker, other provisions 
 being scarce, so upright was he, and assuredly having forgotten 
 there were such humble animals as mules in creation. Without 
 further ceremony I indignantly called to him, and requested to 
 know what bargain he had made respecting the mules for our 
 journey to Panama. This was a little unmerciful, as it recalled 
 to the bold caballero on his curveting charger unpleasing reminis- 
 cences of the counting-house and the pen. As to the rnules, he 
 had not contracted for any. No ! he had made no " bargain ;" 
 and as he pronounced, with immense disgust, the unpalatable 
 word, even his shoulders contracted, and his brow contracted, and 
 all symptoms of a poker-breakfast suddenly disappeared. 
 
 ^ was in high wrath, and demanded to know why he had not 
 done so ? He had not thought about mules. There were none 
 to be had ; los Americanos had taken them all, and he glanced at 
 his fiery steed proudly, as if he would say, " to expect me to think 
 of such a plodding animal, indeed !" 
 
 " Well, then, horses have you secured horses for us ?" 
 " Tampoco, los Yankees had all the horses, too." 
 The man was evidently bewitched by his own unwonted finery, 
 possibly purchased by my forty dollars. I told him I was inform- 
 ed at the hotel, there were mules to be had, and I begged ho
 
 296 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 would instantaneously make it his business to find them. He 
 seemed to take my words, " au pied de la lettre," for he turned 
 with a discomfited look to the nearest passer by, wh\> was dawd- 
 ling along the road half asleep, like a somnambulizing snail. 
 
 " Do you know of any mules ?" " No." 
 
 He turned hopelessly to a little toddling urchin without any 
 clothing, who was disporting himself hard by ; 
 
 " Where can mules be got, Senior ?" 
 
 " Quien sabe." 
 
 He then turned to another, who, with characteristic noncha- 
 lance, shrugged his shoulders and went on. 
 
 It was difficult not to laugh at the dismal expression of despair 
 this caballero's face assumed, thus checked in his new career of 
 glory down the main street of straggling Gorgona, " You see, Se- 
 nora Miladi, it is quite in vain ; I have inquired every where." 
 He seemed to think it would be almost wicked to try any more, 
 as opposing the laws of destiny ; and really the man looked so 
 completely stupid in his unaccustomed state and splendor, that 
 unless extreme measures had been resorted to, and the poor soul 
 pulled off" his horse and dispossessed of his fine neckerchief, and his 
 refulgent waistcoat, there was no chance of his returning to the 
 full possession of his senses. 
 
 " Muy bien," I said, " but it is abominable, very, and exceed- 
 ingly disagradable" and so inly resolving to rely on my own re- 
 sources, I closed not the window, because there were none to 
 close, but our conference, and made preparations, forthwith, for 
 summoning my best Spanish to my aid, taking as a guide, poor 
 Sammy, the Hindoo Mozo at the hotel (of whom more hereafter), 
 and having a mule-hunt at once myself. 
 
 Out we sallied, and soon came to a mule proprietor's abode, who 
 took us to see his animals ; but they were more the shadows of 
 mules that had been, than actually existing mules, in substance 
 and truth. He acknowledged, after a little cross-examination 
 relative to their endurance and strength, that they were enferme, 
 arid he had given them physic. On we went, and I thought it 
 would be a judicious step .to go to Mr. Miller's hotel, and ask him 
 if he knew of any mules which we might engage. Mr. Miller 
 was very civil and obliging, and roared out a courteous answer to 
 the requests which I shrieked vehemently in his ear. If this sur- 
 prises you, know, oh, gentle reader, that a ball was going on in 
 the next house, and that the noise of drums, violins, guitars and 
 gongs, too, I believe was almost deafening. However, through
 
 HUNTING FOR MULES. 297 
 
 an interchange of shouts, rendered necessary by the aforesaid din, 
 1 became aware that there were still several places where I 
 might hope to get mules, and at the first one I visited, I saw some 
 very fine animals indeed, but the proprietor put the most extrava- 
 gant price upon them. 
 
 As I had taken care to have only money with me sufficient to 
 defray my expenses on the road (for fear of robbery), and as these 
 owners of mules demanded prepayment, the preposterous demands 
 of this individual would have left me quite penniless, so I attempted 
 to bargain with him, but he would hear of no reduction. There- 
 fore I prosecuted my search further, and at length made a very 
 satisfactory bargain altogether, which was not, however, finally 
 concluded till the mule-owner had seen our trunks, and till I had 
 made some inquiries respecting him, of the master of the hotel 
 where I was staying, who assured me Senior was a very re- 
 spectable and honest man, and he and his mules might be thor- 
 oughly depended upon. 
 
 The mules were to be at the hotel door at a very early hour in 
 the morning ; indeed, I allowed, in naming the time, for about two 
 hours' dilatoriness, and we then went to enjoy the beautiful view 
 from the edge of the bank, near a large, half-finished house, which 
 promised to be quite a palace of sticks. It was a lovely prospect : 
 splendid hills rose in front, and the American encampment be- 
 neath, by the river, with its snow-white tents scattered about 
 under wide-spreading mimosas and umbrageous sycamores, had 
 a very pleasing and striking effect. 
 
 An open-air fandango was going on at a distance, and with a 
 considerable space between us and them, the drum and the guitar 
 did not sound unpleasing. All the inhabitants who were not 
 dancing, seemed promenading about, and the wreaths and bunches 
 of natural flowers in the hair of the women, and their light, aerial- 
 lookinjr dresses, gave an air of festival gayety to the whole place 
 and scene : it really seemed a sort of Fairy-land. 
 
 One almost foolishly shrinks from the idea of a railroad coming 
 through such a lovely, idle, flower-crowned, unsophisticated place ; 
 but we hear it will do so in the course of a few years, and as we 
 came to Gorgona, we passed a number of rails, and a small 
 mountain of wheelbarrows and tools, on the bank of the Chagres, 
 in preparation for the commencement of the work. The insalu- 
 brity of the climate seerns one great obstacle to its accomplishment ; 
 but by careful precautions and perseverance, I dare say its diffi- 
 culties will be overcome.
 
 298 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 It was some time before we could tear ourselves from the con- 
 templation of this lovely view, but at last we returned to our hotel, 
 and begged the almost ubiquitous 'Sammy to prepare our chocolate, 
 and bring us some bread. 
 
 And now I must tell a little about this same marvelous Sammy, 
 who was one of the Coolies imported into Jamaica some time ago, 
 from the East Indies. His Jamaica master, being, like many 
 others, smitten with a wish to seek the new El Dorado of the 
 world, came to the Isthmus with the intention of proceeding to 
 California as soon as practicable ; he, however, fell a victim here 
 to the Chagres fever, and left the unfortunate Sammy in a strange 
 country, hardly speaking a word of English (which, from the vast 
 numbers of Americans crossing the Isthmus, would have been very 
 useful to him), and not a syllable of Spanish. He was taken, how- 
 ever, as a servant-of-all-work in this hotel, where, I believe, his 
 master died, and he certainly had no easy place ; the cry was 
 " Sammy, Sammy," from morning till night. 
 
 It was amusing to peep out into the great sola, and to see poor 
 Sammy incessantly scrambling in and out of his beloved hammock, 
 whence he appeared never to move, save on compulsion. That 
 hammock one among many seemed to him the garden of Eden, 
 the concentrated essence of all happiness : but, poor wretch ! he 
 was no sooner in it than he was out of it, and if you watched for 
 five minutes, you would be apt to imagine he was performing the 
 feat of jumping in and out, so rapidly, as hardly to touch the 
 swinging litter, for a wager. " Sammy !" he was half-way in, and 
 down he tumbled again : " Plate of boiled rice, Sammy !" That 
 done, away he posted again, hammockward ; stopped in mid 
 career, " Some roasted bananas, Sammy !" off he stumped : these 
 brought, he accomplished a triumphant jump into the hammock; 
 " Sammy, Sammy !" out again so that he rushed about inces- 
 santly, a most compulsory harlequin, and between every separate 
 service, vaulted, or a half or a quarter vaulted, as the time allowed 
 him, into the tempting bag again, thus performing the most ex- 
 traordinarily active feats of agility unceasingly. 
 
 And, indeed, the immense amount of exertion he went through, by 
 thus running backward and forward, to and from the couch in mid air, 
 was inconceivable, and by far the greater part of this labor was for the 
 sake of repose and rest ! He worked like forty dragons in order to be 
 idle. He did pretty nearly every thing, that he might do nothing 
 just that he might do nothing and as soon as he began doing it, he 
 had to leave off, and work as hard as before. It was a sad sight to
 
 SAMMY, THE SERVANT. 299 
 
 see him snatched back,again twenty times in three seconds from his 
 hanging nest of peace. Frequently he had to make a demi-vault 
 in the air and spring round, and often his head would rest for a 
 moment, while his legs still quivered in the atmosphere, as if they 
 heard the call which the sleepy head did not. As to pedestrians 
 walking a thousand miles in a thousand hours, what was that to 
 poor Sammy running, and jumping, and plunging ditto? 
 
 But a curious part of this singular exhibition was, that the poor 
 Coolie always retained, in the midst of the most hurried exertions, 
 the same placid, lazy expression. He looked the very incarnation 
 of all idleness while he was laboring most severely. He seemed 
 at such times, a sort of galvanized mummy or a puppet, with its 
 eyes half shut, pulled furiously by wires or Morpheus himself 
 forced to dance a jig and hornpipe by the German magic fiddle. 
 So sleepy a countenance one never beheld, perhaps, as poor Sam- 
 my's. It was all leaden laziness ; he looked as if he could do 
 nothing indeed, thoroughly, and more nothing than any body had 
 ever done before ! 
 
 Sammy was rather ancient, but had very fine features. I do 
 not know what tint Coolies are exactly in general, but Sammy's 
 complexion was much the same as that of an anthracite coal. His 
 jet black nose was quite Grecian ; he had large black eyes, that 
 always looked half asleep, and splendid teeth. His costume was 
 rather remarkable. Foor Massa's black hat was perched on the 
 top of his large snow-white Hindoo turban, like a chimney pot on 
 a China soup tureen. The rest of his dress seemed a mixture of 
 East Indian, Spanish, West Indian, South American Indian, 
 Yankean, Californian, English, and of his own invention. 
 
 I asked him how he liked the Isthmus. He made a piteous 
 face, and after pausing a little to muster his best English, replied 
 in this strain : " Lookee, Madras berry nice, Jamaica so so nice, 
 and dis no nice at all." With that he vanished to cries resound- 
 ing and reduplicated into one grand chorus of " Sarnmy, Sammy !" 
 What was not wanted ? dinner, breakfast, luncheon, supper, all 
 according as the hours of travelers varied. But he would turn 
 by habit to the hammock first, make a desperate spring and bound, 
 and then plunge back again, as the cries of " Sammy" increased. 
 
 A sort of book-keeper and superintendent of this palm-roofed 
 Astor House was a native of Jamaica, who had a wooden leg ; 
 and whenever Sammy heard the stump of the wooden leg, he 
 tumbled out of the much-loved hammock in no time, for one of 
 its chief occupations was routing out unfortunate Sammy. He
 
 300 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 seemed principally to have been engaged for that purpose in 
 short, as a whipper-in to Sammy. 
 
 But a delightful scene took place on one occasion, when one of 
 the native boys, lounging near the door, saw the hammock (so 
 dear to Sammy) unoccupied, while that gentleman was cooking, 
 laying dinner, and waiting, all at once as it seemed to ordinary 
 eyes in darted the boy, and was ensconced in the hammock in a 
 half-second. If the reader could but have seen Sammy's speech- 
 less rage and fury when on returning from one of his busy cruises, 
 he had almost effected an entry into his port and haven of rest, 
 and found it occupied by that intruder ! A lion returning to his 
 den, and finding it in possession of a monkey, or one of his own 
 jackals, could not have been more fiercely indignant ; but his rage 
 and his jump were both cut short. " Sammy, pork-steak. Sam- 
 my, have done snoozing there." Poor Sammy snoozing, indeed ! 
 If ever he had been wide awake in the world, old or new in 
 either hemisphere he was so then, in his unspeakable rage. 
 With an infuriated gesture of menace at the boy, he darted away 
 to get the steaks, set them down with a slam, which scattered 
 the gravy like spray about, and cutting half a dozen insane sum- 
 mersets anticipatory, in the air, before he reached the hammock, 
 began as soon as he got there (with a final bound that almost 
 sent him over the other side), to knock the boy about with all his 
 strength, muttering profuse Hindostanee compliments to him. 
 The little rascal ducked and dived skillfully. He was lithe, and 
 slippery as an eel in its teens, and Sammy's first and second 
 blow seemed to fall on the air. " Sammy, Sammy," was the 
 cry. Away he bounded, with the arm yet upraised to strike ; 
 and whether the blow, which he probably could not stop from the 
 force of its own impetus, fell on the owner of the wooden leg, or 
 on the head of one of the Californiaibound wayfarers, I know not. 
 
 I was truly sorry to be obliged to look after mules on Sunday, 
 but the fever was spreading fast at Gorgona, and I did not like 
 remaining there any longer than was absolutely necessary. We 
 had seen several suffering from its attacks ; and the poor wooden- 
 leg caught it. The following morning I saw him with his face 
 jerfectly scarlet with fever, and his blood-shot eyes almost start- 
 ing out of his head, looking as unlike the sallow, quiet, composed 
 person he had been the day before, as possible. Sammy actually 
 snatched a whole nap of one minute and a quarter " by Shrews- 
 bury clock," on that eventful morning. 
 
 When we took our little promenade in Gorgona, we had seen
 
 ARETHUSA ON A MULE. 301 
 
 here and there a wretched-looking sickly object ; and on asking 
 what was the matter, were always told it was the consequence 
 and remains of the fever. One emaciated creature was almost 
 a skeleton, with a ghastly death's-head, bandaged round. I sup- 
 pose he had been shaved ; he was quite a shocking spectacle. I 
 asked if that, too, was the fever. " Si, si." And yet Gorgona 
 is said to be a healthy spot ; but I suppose these people bring the 
 fever from Chagres, or some other insalubrious place they may 
 have visited. 
 
 We were up very early on Monday morning, but had to wait 
 a long time for the mules. I began to think I ought to have or- 
 dered them to be at the door the night before, to have insured 
 their being there in the morning early. At last they arrived, and 
 after a great deal of talking and loitering about, they began to 
 pack the animals. 
 
 This is a curious sight, and interested us, though we had seen 
 much the same thing in Mexico, but not so near. They appear 
 to have the same apparejos and alforgas for the mules, and while 
 drawing the fastenings tight, they plant one foot firmly, in the 
 same way, against the side of the animal, and pull with all their 
 might. The mule is blinded during this process. As soon as the 
 packing is finished (which takes a long while in the dilatory way 
 in which they set about it here) the bandage is taken off the eyes, 
 and the mule trots away to rejoin her companions, sometimes 
 with a reproachful snort, as if she would say, " This load's too 
 much, parole d'honneur." 
 
 On Sunday morning we saw our friends, Mrs. H and 
 
 Arethusa start for their Jornada, to Panama, riding sideways on 
 men's saddles as we also had to do ; but Arethusa (who I must 
 say, so far from having melted away, looked more substantial than 
 ever) almost entirely concealed her mule, which, whatever might 
 have been its actual size, appeared comparatively diminutive be- 
 neath its voluminous rider. (Forgive me, kind and amiable friend, 
 I would fain say, and I know yon will, for you are good-nature 
 itself.) Nothing, in short, of such an animal as a mule was 
 clearly visible, except a pair of long ears and a tail. 
 
 After the lapse of a considerable time, we saw Mrs. H 
 
 return alone, apparently in haste. We looked for the ears and 
 
 the tail, but tlieij were npt to be seen. I imagined Mrs. had 
 
 forgotten something, and returned to find it ; but I afterward 
 learned she had lost her little boy, who had strayed a short dis- 
 tance from the mule-path, gathering flowers, and had become
 
 302 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 bewildered among the dense intricacies of the trackless forests. 
 She had returned, thinking he might have found his way back to 
 Gorgona, and if not, with the intention of sending people from 
 thence in different directions, to look for him. We heard of his 
 safety subsequently. 
 
 Our room, with its solitary aperture, commanded a view of the 
 commencement of the road to Panama ; and many an interesting 
 and curious sight did we witness from it. One that is very char- 
 acteristic of American go-aheadishness and independence, I will 
 relate. A spare, eager-eyed " States' man," had loaded an ob- 
 stinate-looking animal with probably all his worldly goods, and 
 was starting, or rather attempting to start, perfectly alone on his 
 road to Panama, for the animal resolutely refused to budge, and 
 he was dragging at it by an immense long rope with all his might 
 and main, he at one end of the rambling street, and it at the 
 other, and shouting out in English to the sauntering natives by 
 the roadside, " I say, which is the road to Panamatv ?" Another 
 was stepping on deliberately, his bundle under his arm, and a huge 
 umbrella, like that you see represented in Chinese rice-paper draw- 
 ings, over his head, following the first path that came in his way. 
 
 We saw numbers start along this road (which was the right 
 way) almost all with the same frank, free, earnest bearing and 
 one felt they do not go only to gather up gold in the rich mines of 
 that far land, now a part of their glorious country they go to 
 help and assist in raising a mighty empire on those teeming shores 
 of the great Pacific, to carry progress, order, and civilization in 
 their train. I have attempted to express this in the following lines : 
 
 Beneath the Tropics' blaze of lustrous day, 
 The nation-founders take their glorious way ; 
 . Not solely for the vulgar thirst of gold, 
 
 Pass hurrying on the adventurous and the bold. 
 They haste to bear unto that distant soil 
 (To flourish soon beneath their patient toil) 
 Law, order, science, arts and all that springs 
 Beneath civilization's sheltering wings. 
 
 Pass nation-makers ! onward go ! 
 
 All earth shall yet your triumph know ! 
 
 Here, their inspiring and momentous march, 
 Seems under one august triumphal arch, 
 By Nature raised, as though to greet and grace 
 Their conquering progress to the Chosen Place. 
 She shows her vernal pomp her rich array, 
 And with her silvery voice she seems to say
 
 STANZAS OX CALIFORNIA ADVENTURERS. 303 
 
 "Forget not me. and all I bring of joy, 
 
 Blest hoards ol pure delights that can not cloy. 
 
 On! nation-founders! bold and free 
 
 But keep your souls still true to me !" 
 
 And not alone her outward charms appear, 
 
 The wanderer's wearied sense to soothe and cheer ; 
 
 But all her gentlest influences seem, 
 
 Away from home to call up home's sweet dream. 
 
 The breath of flowers the stir of leaves the breeze 
 
 Whispering soft music through the embowering trees, 
 
 Seem still to speak of home, with tenderest tone, 
 
 And bid them still that pure dominion own. 
 
 On ! nation-framers ! do and dare 
 
 Home-prayers shall bless you here and there I 
 
 A thousand generations hence shall own 
 
 Your power your influence, felt from zone to zone ; 
 
 A thousand generations hence shall bless, 
 
 Shall praise you for their homes their happiness ! 
 
 Yours is a kingly mission, brave and high ; 
 
 On ! in the name of Truth and Liberty ! 
 
 'Tis a right royal progress ! round ye wait 
 
 The guardian powers that watch and guard a state. 
 
 Long agels needs your task ? away ! 
 
 Enough is Freedom, and a Day ! 
 
 Treasures ye seek, but treasures too ye take, 
 To yon fair shores, which ye shall glorious make ; 
 Treasures that globes of gold could never buy 
 The wealth of Thought and Heart and Memory ! 
 Generous affections, quenchless zeal and skill, 
 To mould, and rule, and conquer at your will ! 
 On to your task ! with mind resolved, and soul 
 On fire to seize the prize to reach the goal. 
 
 Wide be your Flag of Stars unfurled, 
 
 Ye workmen, that shall build a world ! 
 
 Wide be your Banner of the Stars unfurled, 
 And on, ye workmen that shall build a world. 
 A host of nations, wreathed with power and pride, 
 Have rushed to glory, flourished, changed and died ; 
 And history bears them to your gaze ; behold ! 
 High towers her pyramid of nations old. 
 Plant the sublime foundations of your own 
 On those chief heights of elder lands undone. 
 
 Begin with all they had of best, 
 
 And Heaven inspire ye with the rest. 
 
 The noblest heights that others have attained 
 
 (What time o'er earth with sovereign sway they reigned) 
 
 Shall be the lo\vliest step the humblest base 
 
 Of your bright state, in eagle pride of place.
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 There shall be felt through all its movements free, 
 
 The heavings of eternity's great sea. 
 
 No dull stagnation e'er shall check its powers ; 
 
 Like rounds of th' angel's ladder, all its hours 
 Shall higher lead, and higher still, 
 Till Time his measured march fulfill. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Arrival at Panama Hospitality of Mr. His House Coral and Pearl 
 
 of the Pacific The "Espiritu Santo" Departure from Gorgona de- 
 scribed A refractory Mule The Cerro Grande Alleged View from 
 its Summit A magnificent Forest described A Forest on Fire The 
 American's Admiration of the Trees The Flowers in the Forest Diffi- 
 culty of proceeding on the bad Roads Enormous Loads carried by the 
 Natives of the Isthmus Attire of Travelers to California Female Inhab- 
 itants of the Isthmus Their Dislike of Americans Arrival at the Half- 
 way-house Mrs. H and her Child The American Character ex- 
 emplified The Journey resumed Escapade of a Mule A Halt The 
 Indian Hut Its Inmates Noises in the Forest. 
 
 I CONTINUE (being now at Panama) my narrative of our transit 
 across the Isthmus, from where I left off at Gorgona. But first, 
 
 let me observe that we are under the hospitable roof of Mr. P , 
 
 where he and his daughter most kindly have arranged every thing 
 in their power to make us comfortable. 
 
 The house is charming, and commands an enchanting view of 
 the majestic and mighty Pacific ; and almost perpetually, the most 
 delicious and the coolest breezes blow in at the immensely large 
 windows which open on broad balconies with wooden balustrades, 
 some of them ornamented with rare and lovely plants. 
 
 There is a little green paroquet here, which is an immense 
 
 favorite of V 's, and a great amusement to her. She has 
 
 undertaken to tame it, and as it is the most savage little beast of 
 a bird I ever met with, it will task her powers to the utmost, and 
 she will be the Van Amburgh of birds, if she succeeds. It already 
 begins not to bite her quite as hard as it does other people. 
 
 From the windows we see immense numbers of palm-trees, 
 growing to the very shores of the great ocean, and we can almost 
 fancy the fairy bowers of roses, and of myriad blossoms we have 
 been so enchanted with lately, are continued, and mixed with the 
 labyrinths of coral and wealth of pearl under these placid, trans- 
 lucent, silvery-glittering seas of music and of peace. But coral
 
 DEPARTURE FROM GORGONA. 305 
 
 grottoes and pearl are poor compared to the pomp of the tropical 
 flowers. 
 
 While I am speaking of flowers, I must tell of a most lovely 
 and exquisite one here, called I am told, Espiritu Santo, which 
 sacred name is given to it from its perfect resemhlance to a white 
 dove. It is not in blossom now, so I have only heard of, not seen 
 its beauty ; but I am assured the likeness of this snowy flower 
 to the bird above-mentioned is quite extraordinary, and its love- 
 liness consummate. There is another beauteous flower very com- 
 mon here, that seems to have long silky tassels hanging from it. 
 
 On the day of our departure from Gorgona, we had to wait it 
 seemed to me a most unconscionable time while they were lading 
 the mules; but patience is a virtue'that is pretty well exercised 
 on the Isthmus. At last, all was declared to be ready, and the 
 saddle mules were led up to the wooden piazza of the hotel. My 
 little girl was very anxious to ride one that was handsomer and 
 looked in sleeker condition than the rest ; I had no objection. 
 Our guides (of whom we had a good escort, and who were said to 
 be hombres muy respetables) had no objection either, and we all 
 mounted and started. We had not gone far before V disap- 
 proved of her mule being led, for one of the Mozos held its rein 
 very carefully. I remarked then that they had not taken off a 
 bandage that covered its eyes, and this circumstance, coupled with 
 the fact of its being the only one they attempted to lead, made me 
 think it was not so quiet as the others. However, on being ques- 
 tioned, they said it would go very well, and at her urgent request 
 let it go loose, and it seemed perfectly sober and steady. 
 
 We saw an absurd spectacle, though not an amusing one to the 
 unlucky person concerned, who might have been a loser thereby. 
 A mule, laden with numerous articles of luggage, was playing the 
 most extravagant antics a little way from us, galloping along the 
 valley, that was cleared here and there, with his heels generally 
 cooling themselves in the air : jets d'eau of plethoric carpet-bags 
 and divers bundles rained gracefully around him, and the unfortu- 
 nate owner of the property rushed wildly after, shouting, and ex- 
 tending his arms, which only seemed to make the creature dance 
 his bolero without castanets, more wildly, as if he took these de- 
 monstrations for "thunders of applause." At last, as if to punish 
 us for smiling at the creature's extraordinary performances, it near- 
 ed our quiet procession, and our own baggage-mules showed signs 
 of joining in a general contra-danza or a Highland fling. When 
 we saw the cherished carpet-bags of our souls, and darling pack-
 
 306 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ages of our hearts exposed to such fearful danger, we shook in our 
 stirrups (horridly clumsy things they were), but the danger passed 
 over ; the rebel mule was secured. The grief-stricken owner held 
 in his arms his shattered bags and bundles, and with much emo- 
 tion proceeded to examine the mutilated remains of various treas- 
 ures, such as travelers only know how to prize (not pearls and dia- 
 monds, nor any such trash, but haply ajar of pickles, or something 
 of the kind, invaluable, unreplaceable), and we went on our way, 
 condoling with him, however, on his misfortunes. 
 
 I must not omit to mention that to the west of Gorgona is a 
 hill called the Cerro Grande, and some maintain that from, this 
 (and not Monto Carabali), which is one of those heights forming 
 the ridge which divides the Isthmus longitudinally, both oceans 
 can be seen at once with a glass, and from this alone. Doctors 
 differ, and they set the fashion to all the rest of mankind. I could 
 not find that any one had ascended this hill lately to try the truth 
 of the statement : the path is said to be extremely rugged and 
 abrupt, and the heat of the weather affords an excuse for avoiding 
 such a fatiguing expedition. 
 
 After we had crossed this valley, we entered a magnificent forest 
 that appeared to become thicker and thicker, till it almost shut 
 out the intense light of a tropical day, and thoroughly screened us 
 from the piercing rays of a tropical sun at its zenith ! It was in- 
 describably delightful. A cool emerald-tinted twilight surrounded 
 us on every side, and still, as we rode on, we seemed more closely 
 encircled and more completely canopied by the pleached and heap- 
 ed together branches. It was a ceiling and walls of foliage and 
 flower-enameled greenery. 
 
 When we got still deeper into that mighty forest, it seemed like 
 a vegetable Mammoth Cave, and as if one was miles below the 
 surface of the earth ; for it appeared difficult to believe that other- 
 wise, in the blazing noon of the Tropics, you could be so entirely 
 sheltered from every ray of the sun, with only boughs and leaves 
 above you. The rich underwood mingled its countless shoots and 
 trails with the dense down-hanging garlands of parasites, as sta- 
 lagmites meet stalactites in earth's cavernous recesses. 
 
 We heard a shower of rain at one time above us, like the tramp, 
 tramp of a thousand fairy legions : but hardly a drop reached us 
 (it was not a very heavy rain, of course). We saw scarcely a 
 living creature in the forest (though we heard many), except insects, 
 and by them we were much assailed, though at the time we did 
 not suffer so much as afterward from their attacks. Besides the
 
 FOREST ON FIRE. 307 
 
 alligators, we had seen on the banks of the Chagres the ugly arma- 
 dillo and various lizards, and had heard a loud roaring, which I 
 thought perhaps proceeded from the puma, or South American 
 lion, but was told it was the sound made by a large black monkey 
 that frequents the Isthmus. The forests are said to be inhabited 
 by the jaguar, black tiger, wild cat, ocelot, panther, and a variety 
 of monkeys, who may often be heard chattering away briskly with 
 their numerous comrades. 
 
 We have generally been pretty fortunate in seeing interesting 
 sights in the countries we have traveled in, and during this ride 
 to Panama we, for the first time, encountered that grand spectacle, 
 a forest on fire. We rather suddenly found ourselves almost en- 
 veloped in a dense smoke, and presently the ground over which 
 we were riding (it was a very narrow mule-path through that 
 apparently illimitable and interlaced forest), and all the surround- 
 ing trees trunks, boughs, branches, leaves, and creepers became 
 of a brilliant, intense, glaring sort of red orange color (something 
 like the hue of the ripest and richest of Maltese oranges inside), 
 and the most deliciously odoriferous scents pervaded the whole air, 
 as if a thousand phoenixes were expiring at once in their burning 
 spicy nests. In short, the forest was on fire at a .little distance 
 from where we were riding. The guides called out to us to push 
 on, but not to be alarmed, for they said there was scarcely any 
 danger, as the trees were so enormously large, and so thickly crowd- 
 ed and jammed together there, that it burnt very slowly, and 
 also, there was very little if any wind (and that was, it appeared, 
 in our favor). The trees, too, had been a little moistened by a 
 late shower ; so altogether we felt but little fear, and observed the 
 majestic spectacle with feelings of tolerable security. There was, 
 however, a very loud crackling of branches, like an advancing 
 -fusillade, and the sparks and ashes fell fast on us, covering us from 
 head to foot. 
 
 We rode steadily on, and before very long emerged from those 
 thick clouds of fragrant smoke which seemed redolent of frankin- 
 cense, and of all the odorous breathings of " Araby the blest." 
 We emerged, I say, from that perfumed atmosphere, and lost 
 sight of the v^vid scarlet and orange-colored reflections of the 
 flames, passing once more into the dazzlingly bright golden sun- 
 light of the Tropics, for just then we came upon a little clearing. 
 We were glad to breathe freely, and shake the remaining ashes 
 from our clothes, which were, happily, of very incombustible ma- 
 terials.
 
 308 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 We soon plunged again into the giant woods. And here I wish 
 I could convey to the reader the faintest idea of their astonishing 
 beauty, and of their peculiar characteristics ; so gigantic, yet so 
 wondrously delicate in detail ; vast, colossal bowers hanging over 
 other bowers festooned and twining together in twenty thousand 
 wild romantic shapes, and with that gossamer net-work of light 
 creepers flaunting here and quivering there, as if the rainbowed 
 spray of myriads of fountains had suddenly been arrested and hard- 
 ened by magic into permanent forms. Then such trees ! studies 
 in themselves ; some like vast columns of burnished silver, with 
 the most smooth brilliantly white bark you can imagine, and a 
 dome-like top of magnificent foliage ; others with glorious leaves, 
 like great green stars, or rather three-quarters of a star, shining 
 like sculptured emeralds ; then a majestic kind of wild cotton tree 
 (the silk cotton, I think), with its beautiful product, hanging like 
 feathery snow from it. 
 
 A couple of Americans, armed to the teeth, and carrying large 
 knapsacks, passed us (they sometimes carry huge umbrellas, look- 
 ing like parachutes turned topsy-turvy) ; and I heard one address 
 the other ; " I've seen a many and a many trees in the States, to 
 be sure, but I -never saw a single one of these here before in my 
 country" (a pretty widely spreading country too), " not one on 'em ; 
 it beats all natur, I swarn ; it's all new to me, though I've seen 
 lots of trees in my time ; wal, I Juzve." 
 
 Another inexpressibly lovely tree is the bamboo, which grows 
 to an immense height here, and looks' like heaps of gigantic green 
 ostrich feathers. In some instances (on the bank of the Chagres) 
 I saw it forming a most perfect Prince of Wales's Plume, of the 
 most colossal dimensions, and yet of the most aerial and delicate 
 lightness imaginable. Then there are the beautiful plants of the 
 " Spanish daggers," and the cofiee trees, the cocoa-nut palms (with 
 the huge cocoa-nuts hanging so temptingly from them), and the 
 zapote, with its large, splendid fruit ; the mango, the calabash 
 tree, and the ceiba, and multitudes of others. 
 
 And then there are the superb Titanic lilies, and the immense 
 bananas, which, whenever exposed to the scorching sun, have 
 their giant leaves cracked and divided by the heat, and which are 
 sometimes split by the wind ; and there are literally roses wedged 
 with roses, ever-lovely, and heaped in such close, inextricable coils, 
 that they almost seem a single mammoth flower ; and wildernesses 
 of hot-house plants (I mean hot-house plants in our country, with 
 its coal-fire sun), hiding the soil with their lavish luxuriance, and
 
 BAD ROADS. 309 
 
 almost forming, one with another, an indistinguishable mags, where 
 the crowded dyes seem to shift, and change, and melt into each 
 other, like the hues of diamonds by lamplight. It is indeed the 
 poetry of vegetation. Yes ! it is a mighty poem, written by the 
 living sun on the earth, caught up by the elements and vibrating, 
 as it were, through the beating heart of eternal Nature, that is 
 brooding, like the mother dove, mighty in love and loveliness, over 
 her own offspring of beauty and beneficence. 
 
 Sublimely fair, however, as the scenery was, that we might not 
 be deluded by the dream that it was Elysium, we had a road 
 that might have better befitted Tartarus a road that might 
 well have been designed to torture the wandering spirits of fla- 
 gitious mules and of mule-riders too. Sometimes the descents 
 were so precipitous that the creatures almost half tumbled, half 
 slid down them ; at other times they had to go stumbling about 
 in break- neck holes of frightful depth, as if they were about to 
 seek in a subterranean passage a solution of the difficulties of the 
 road ! 
 
 Another disagreeable circumstance was, that the strong thorns 
 belonging to various prickly shrubs, which encroached on the nar- 
 row path, caught our riding dresses, which were too long for this 
 rugged expedition, and often nearly dragged us ofF our saddles. 
 Mine, particularly, which was of very strong stuff, several times as 
 nearly as possible drew me off; for the mule had a terribly hard 
 mouth, and disdained the most vehement pullings of the rein, as 
 my riding dress did the clawings of the stubborn shrubs. On one 
 occasion, just as I hung between shrub and saddle, it kindly tore, 
 and 1 somehow managed to find myself in the saddle again ; but 
 as to stopping the mule it was hopeless. Talk of " Patience on 
 a monument," think of Patience on a mule! 
 
 At rare intervals a small clearing would let the sun come sud- 
 denly down upon us, like a thousand flashes of scorching lightning 
 in one ; but we had doubled thick handkerchiefs, and tied them 
 over our bonnets, so that we did not suffer much from the power- 
 ful rays. We gathered the leaves of the fan-palm, too, and made 
 additional head-screens of them ; but in general the light and heat 
 were mellowed and softened by the over-arching roof of trees I have 
 described. 
 
 We met or passed immense numbers of natives, carrying often 
 enormous loads, which they bear, apparently, in general, without 
 fatigue. One man, especially, was burdened by a huge deal case, 
 which looked as if it contained a frame house, at least, on its way
 
 310 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 to California ; and it very likely was one, and an iron house " at 
 that !" He did look tired, poor fellow ; and the house, or what- 
 ever the mountainous load was, had slipped, and he could not get 
 it rightly on again ! He rested against a tree, and some of the 
 good-natured California-bound emigrants, who were seated in a 
 group hard by, eating their luncheon and reposing themselves (for 
 almost all we saw walked from Gorgona to Panama, frequently 
 making two days of it), went to help him. They gave him, at 
 his request I believe, a calabash full of water, and assisted him to 
 place the gigantic case (with a small hotel probably inside it), once 
 more firmly and comfortably (!) on his back. It was with some 
 difficulty he made room for our party, especially our baggage-mules 
 to pass. 
 
 I have seen the porters at Constantinople carry most enormous 
 burdens, but I think I never, or hardly ever, saw so unwieldy a 
 load on the shoulders of mortal man before. Some of the Ameri- 
 cans exclaimed on seeing him, " It must be only an empty case ;" 
 but that was not at all likely, and the fatigue he exhibited proved 
 it was much beyond the average weight they carry, for we saw 
 others laden with large trunks, strutting on as if they had nothing 
 but a feather on their backs. 
 
 I have written of a man thus perhaps carrying a house on his 
 back like a two-legged snail ; I must speak, as a " pendant" to 
 this, of an account in an American paper of a man being run over 
 by a house a curious accident. " A young man at Bath, Maine, 
 met with a dangerous accident ; a house ran over him, breaking 
 his ribs, and injuring his lungs. They were moving the tene- 
 ment, and he was caught by one of the rollers." We ourselves 
 met a mansion taking a walk last summer, I recollect; or, I 
 believe it was resting on its oars at the moment we passed by. 
 This was on the borders of Canada. 
 
 The Californians, all with their gay scarlet flannel shirts (which 
 they universally wear), were scattered about the forest on all sides, 
 and" their brilliant attire was glimpsed through the woods at inter- 
 vals ; so they looked something like dismounted fox-hunters, thus 
 reminding us of Leicestershire a little, though it would be difficult 
 to find any thing less like that highly respectable county than this 
 wild, gorgeous wilderness- forest of the South. Would not a Vale 
 of Belvoir farmer think poor nature had gone mad, and required a 
 strait-waistcoat here and a pair of handcuffs 1 Cheerily sounded 
 the emigrants' friendly greetings to one another, and their inspirit- 
 ing watchword ; " Ho ! for California !" I could almost have
 
 THE NATIVES OF THE ISTHMUS. 311 
 
 
 
 fancied the " Tally" added before the first word, and the last two 
 suppressed. 
 
 We had to ford numerous streams of water, and were glad to 
 drink at these from calabashes we carried at our saddles, hob-and- 
 nobbing with our own thirsty mules. We were now approaching 
 the half-way house, where we were told the Americans had erected 
 
 a large tent-hotel ; and now V 's mule showed signs of his 
 
 disagreeable temper, by quietly sitting down in one of these streams, 
 and thus intimating his resolution to proceed no further. Of course 
 this could not be allowed, and after a great deal of persuasion had 
 been apparently thrown away upon him, he suddenly bounded up 
 and banged himself against the trees with considerable violence. 
 It was, therefore, necessary he should be led, and as soon as we 
 arrived at the tent, it was decided he should be favored with a load 
 of baggage, and one of the pack mules saddled in his place, one of 
 these being remarkably docile, and only not ridden because his 
 superior strength rendered him peculiarly fitted for carrying the 
 trunks. This ill-tempered individual thus got well punished for 
 his impertinence and contumacy, by having to bear a heavier bur- 
 den than he had before. 
 
 Besides the male natives (who were almost all carrying heavy 
 loads), we met great numbers of the female inhabitants of the country, 
 generally on the backs of mules. We frequently wished them good 
 morning or afternoon in Spanish, and they returned these greetings 
 always most courteously and kindly, with a native grace that was 
 very pleasing. They often wished us a happy journey, and added 
 various compliments on our riding dresses, which they thought muy 
 bonito, O tan Itermosa, and so on. I think there can not well be a 
 more simple-hearted and kindly-dispositioned race ; and they seem 
 as thoroughly happy, too, as they are unsophisticated, though cer- 
 tainly their happiness is not of an elevated or intellectual kind. 
 
 They appear, I think, to dislike the Americans in general, and 
 the influx of the vast numbers of intruders, that have almost driven 
 them out of their own homes since the discovery of the California 
 gold mines, seems to be a subject of sore dissatisfaction with them. 
 I verily believe their chief reason for disliking the Americans is, 
 that the latter give them some trouble, which they abhor and 
 small blame to them, in their delicious do-nothing climate, where 
 Nature serves them as the slaves of the Lamp did Aladdin, in the 
 Arabian tale ! And then Los Yankees hurry them, and can not 
 endure those slow lingering ways, so little suited to their own ultra- 
 Anglo-Saxon habits of punctuality, dispatch, and business. When
 
 312 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the natives took us for Americans (as of course they did, till we 
 told them we were not so, hut Inglez) they would sometimes ad- 
 dress us, as they evidently thought and intended, very sarcastically, 
 mimicking people in a great hurry, and saying breathlessly, vamos, 
 go-ahead ! Iw ! poco tiempo, poco tiempo. 
 
 We were not sorry, after going up and down more ravines, and 
 gullies, and slippery and swampy passes, than I can recount (some- 
 times, that we might not tumble over their ears, leaning back till 
 we almost touched the tails of our mules), to reach the half-way 
 house, and stop at a canvas hotel built by an American speculator 
 in a small clearing where the sun burned with ferocious rays. 
 However, there were some splendid trees near, which afforded shel- 
 ter for the mules while they rested. 
 
 We got some very nice lemonade and orangeade here, and had 
 
 the satisfaction of learning that Mrs. H 's poor little boy had, 
 
 by a lucky accident, found his way hither after a long and weary 
 wandering in the forest ; and his mother had come to claim him, 
 having fortunately heard this fact as she was prosecuting her dis- 
 consolate search not far off. The poor little fellow fell fast asleep 
 as soon as they laid him on a rude couch here, and it was thus, 
 wrapped in slumber, she found him. The generous-hearted Ameri- 
 can who told rne the touching tale, could hardly repress his emo- 
 tion as he described the intense feeling of the poor mother, as she 
 clasped her recovered treasure to her heart. 
 
 But such is the American : while he will affront with the ut- 
 most carelessness all kinds of hardships, dangers, and privations, 
 and display under the most appalling circumstances the firmest 
 presence of mind as if, like Nelson in his boyhood, " he had never 
 seen fear," and could not understand what it meant his noble 
 feelings will thrill at a tale of the sorrow of others, and his heroism 
 fails him when some affecting incident appeals to his unselfish and 
 generous sympathies. If the true hero-nature lives any where it 
 is in the American : if the age of chivalry is not past though 
 Burke declared it was, in the Old World of Europe if, in short, 
 chivalry still exists on earth, it is in the great and mighty West. 
 I think I see a satirical smile on the reader's lips, although so 
 many thousands of miles divide us ; and I know if I were in a 
 London drawing-room what a chorus would be raised of " dollars 
 and cents !" &c., but I boldly write what I most conscientiously 
 believe : and how absurd it is to keep harping on one fault (and it 
 really seems almost their only one), as if either a nation or an in- 
 dividual could be absolutely perfect !
 
 AN ADVENTURE. 313 
 
 I heard another adventure of poor little George here. The pro- 
 prietor of the hotel apologized very courteously for not having a 
 wholly unoccupied room to show us into, as a poor sick gentleman, 
 was sitting down in his principal apartment ; and he proceeded to 
 
 tell me Mrs. H 's unlucky child had fallen into the Chagres, 
 
 having leaned over the boat and overbalanced himself, and that 
 this gentleman had plunged into the river, and at great risk and 
 with considerable difficulty, had saved him from perishing. But, 
 during his generous exertions he had become, by some accident, 
 jammed in between two canoes, and had had several ribs broken, 
 and was otherwise much injured. On arriving at Gorgona, how- 
 ever it appeared, contrary to advice his gallant spirit impelled 
 him to proceed, though in a very suffering state ; and assuring 
 
 Mrs. H , who was naturally anxious on his account, after his 
 
 noble exertions on behalf of her little son, that the hurts he had 
 sustained were very immaterial, he started for Panama, but be- 
 came so ill and exhausted before he arrived at the canvas posada, 
 that he found it indispensably necessary to remain till his recruited 
 strength should enable him to proceed. 
 
 He came to speak to us, and seemed anxious Mrs. H should 
 
 not be distressed or alarmed on his account, saying it was nothing, 
 and we must tell her, when we saw her, that in a day or two he 
 should be all right. But he looked exceedingly ill and haggard, 
 and seemed to be suffering much. He was, I believe, no acquaint- 
 ance of hers, but was accidentally passing by at the moment. 
 
 The guides and Mozos took a terribly long time here to unpack 
 and transfer the baggage of one of the pack mules to the one who 
 had such an " ugly" temper. At last we rejoiced to find it was 
 all ready, and, without further delay, we jumped into the saddles, 
 anxious to lose no more time than had already been unavoidably 
 sacrificed, in continuing our journey to the Pacific coast. Off we 
 went, and off nearly went all the boxes, provision-cases, and valises 
 that had been transferred to the unsafe keeping of that evil-disposed 
 mule. 
 
 There was a very steep hill to slide down almost directly after 
 leaving the half-way house, and it was an excessively narrow path. 
 We had barely got beyond the entrance to this, when the in- 
 furiated mule in the wildest rage at having these unwonted 
 burdens packed on his back, attempted to dart past us, and, in so 
 doing, nearly knocked one of the riders off' her saddle. Great was 
 the consternation among us : we contrived by some means or 
 other I have not the least idea how to make our mules clamber 
 
 C
 
 314 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 up the least steep precipice-like acclivities of the banks, which 
 rose on either side of the narrow pass, and we had a capital view 
 of the long-eared delinquent tearing down the steep hill like a 
 crazy thing, sending the other poor baggage-mules right and left 
 (who happily declined a kicking-sweepstakes), as if they were of 
 no more account to their unnatural brother than our despised 
 carpet-bags, which he was throwing about as a juggler does balls. 
 
 What a sight to us it was to see those two scornful heels send- 
 ing our innocent valises in all directions ; it was a frightful spec- 
 tacle, and alas ! the provisions ! Heels, in place of hands, present- 
 ing refreshments so awkwardly, backward, too it was unendur- 
 able. To see one's dinner a quarter of a mile up in the air, and 
 one's supper a quarter of a mile down in a swamp, was not 
 exhilarating. It would not have been surprising, as the kicking- 
 mule careered onward, had we been struck by Parthian drum- 
 sticks, or rained upon by portable soup (only there was none of 
 the last). At length this disreputable quadruped was caught, and 
 the packages were collected, and the whole process of packing had 
 to be gone through with again. There we sate, watching that 
 seemingly interminable arranging of boxes and bags, and wonder- 
 ing whether the cantankerous animal would play at ball with 
 them all again, or get up any other little extempore divertissement 
 for our amusement. 
 
 After waiting for an immense time, we were once more able to 
 proceed ; but the mules \vere no longer as brisk as they had been. 
 They had been out a long while, and had had very hard work ; and 
 while we were more anxious to hurry on to make up for lost time, 
 they were more desirous of loitering on their toilsome way. Poor 
 things ! one could not wonder at it ; but it was tiresome, and, 
 besides this, we had not got rid of all annoyance from the rebel. 
 It appeared quite out of place in its new situation, and was 
 avoided by common consent, being clearly not on speaking terms 
 with the baggage-mules, who considered it a mere interloper. It 
 was sent to Coventiy by the saddle-mules, too, whom it had dis- 
 graced. 
 
 Restless and irritable, I think it must have been a poet among 
 mules or genius of some kind : it would lag behind, and then 
 suddenly, probably driven on by the guides, rush forward like a 
 maniac, and half stab us with a sharp corner of a pormanteau, or 
 thump against us one of our own unconscious carpet-bags. We 
 found these visitations so unpleasant, that we resolved not to allow 
 the animal to play us such tricks any more. We therefore insisted
 
 HUMANE TRAVELER. 315 
 
 on his being kept in front, and the moment he showed symptoms 
 of delaying on his way, we set up with one accord the peculiar 
 sound the Mozos make to encourage or threaten the mules ; and 
 this vocal melody, which was assisted by the powerful arguments 
 and voices of the guides (who probably performed an obligate stick- 
 accompaniment to the chorus), had fortunately the desired effect. 
 But, no doubt, the creature, not accustomed to being a pack-mule, 
 became really fatigued, and paused frequently, not with evil inten- 
 tions, but to rest. However, such bugbears had our own tame 
 boxes become to us (and driven against you by a headstrong mule, 
 they are formidable weapons), that we continued to urge it to go 
 on before us by the cries we had learned from the guides, and our 
 voices had but little rest, any more than the foolish mule had. 
 
 It was almost constantly " stopping the way." We had no 
 sooner driven it on than it paused again : it was like one of those 
 great buzzing, teasing flies that, toward the end of summer, per- 
 fectly haunt you, and if expelled from your hand, are found on 
 your face, and so on. Now we found our friend sticking on a 
 bank, threatening to tumble down on us if we went on, like an 
 avalanche of mule and mangas ; and now just standing across our 
 path : and now again he would turn short round, as if to dare us 
 to single combat, and sometimes would play at bo-peep behind the 
 trees in short, he was the dread and horror of us all, and a cry 
 of " here he comes!" was sufficient to send us all helter-skelter. 
 
 A weary American trudging on alone under an accumulation of 
 afflictions, in the shape of blankets, bundles, cloaks, and knapsacks, 
 whom we overtook, had compassion on the poor naughty mule, 
 and humanely interfered in its behalf. " Indeed, ladies, I think 
 the creature's nigh tired out : better let him rest a little." But 
 we had lost so much precious time by these various unforeseen 
 misfortunes, that we could not stop, and we knew by experience 
 what allowing the four-footed culprit to loiter behind would bring 
 on us, and the horrible nudging of trunks and elbowing of boxes, to 
 which we should subject ourselves, probably to the demolition of 
 our ribs. So we declined this ; and the state of the case was ex- 
 plained to the humane traveler, and, as he looked almost fagged 
 to death beneath his mountain pile of luggage (and as a reward for 
 his humanity to our tired tormentor), I begged him to put part of 
 his heavy load on one of our lightly-laden mules, which he gladly 
 did. 
 
 We were now at a more open part of the road, but soon again 
 we plunged into a thick forest for a short time, and then arrived
 
 316 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 at a partial clearing. The daylight now was beginning to wane, 
 and I was surprised to see one of the leading mules taken by the 
 guides out of the road along a smooth path to the right. The rest 
 of course followed, and on inquiring what was the reason, the head 
 guide came and said, in consequence of the unfortunate delay it 
 would be safer to wait at an Indian village in the wood till 
 morning, as the road further on was very rough and bad, and the 
 forest so impenetrably thick that it would be very dark ; also, that 
 one of the guides with the baggage-mules had hurt his ankle very 
 badly in scrambling among some stumps and blocks of stone, and 
 that it was absolutely necessary he should rest. 
 
 After a little parleying and demurring, I consented to remain at 
 this Indian village till the moon rose (when, as it was full, it would 
 be a little lighter than most days in England) ; and wishing good- 
 night to the weary American traveler, who was " bound" to join 
 some of his companions at an American encampment a little way 
 beyond, and who did not seem much to like the prospect of thread- 
 ing the dark mazes of forest alone without the protection of our 
 escort, we pursued our way to the Indian village. 
 
 We found one or two of our mules already unpacked, and the 
 poor guide who had hurt his ankle, evidently in much pain. I 
 told the head man we were expected at Panama, and must posi- 
 tively start when the moon rose, and then we proceeded to examine 
 our quarters. But we found this hut by far the most horrible of 
 any we had yet seen any where. It was entirely full of a dense 
 suffocating smoke, and there were I do not know how many old 
 women and squalling children, and dogs, and rats, and toads, and 
 mice, and probably ducks, and pigs, and turkeys, and chickens, 
 besides, of course, an unlimited allowance of entomological curiosi- 
 ties. 
 
 "The chief old woman, who was very good-natured and kind, 
 compassionating the horror with which we regarded the accommo- 
 dations of this cane-caravansary (that seemed a Noah's Ark on dry 
 land), brought us out, at our request, a comfortable bench, and we 
 seated ourselves there, not feeling very sleepy or tired, arid exceed- 
 ingly interested by the spectacle of the tropical forest by starlight. 
 But such a noise as there was in that same forest ! It seemed a 
 perfect Babel of brutes, and birds, and insects, and reptiles : there 
 were roarings, and howlings, and barkings, and hissings, and yell- 
 ings, and jabberings. Whether a fashionable tiger-cat held a con- 
 versazione that evening, or some learned monkeys were imitating 
 the ways of rnan, and making interminable speeches in a congress
 
 JOURNEY TO PANAMA RESUMED. 317 
 
 or parliament of their own, I know not ; but it seemed to me there 
 never was such a collection of chatter-boxes got together before. 
 Poor dumb beasts, indeed ! it was a perfect " clatter versus patter," 
 which almost drowned the squalling of the children, and chiding 
 of the women inside the hut, and the growling remonstrances of an 
 old man who interposed his paternal authority every now and then, 
 and ordered them all to sleep immediately. 
 
 But not for long ! The clamor outside, it seemed, re-awoke 
 them ; and if the denizens of the forest seemed inclined to nod, the 
 din of the huts roused them again so they appeared to keep each 
 other always awake. 
 
 I wonder if any thing could have composed them to a nap. If 
 one had preached them a very long sermon, or recited to them an 
 extensive speech of Mr. Anstey's in our House of Commons, it 
 might have lulled them to sleep. Let this gentleman pardon me, 
 for I do not mention his as exceeding others in heaviness only in 
 length. As to which is the dullest among all the speeches delivered 
 there, the powers forbid that I should have to decide : for " in that 
 lowest deep, a lower deep," &c. 
 
 At length the moon rose in her glory, and a beautiful sight that 
 moon-rising was. I, vigilant and wakeful, without loss of time, 
 went round to the back of the hut, and called up the guides, who 
 after a proper quantity of dawdling, excuses, mule-losing (I think 
 they had left one unpicketed, on purpose), and sauntering, sat 
 down again composedly by a little fire of sticks they had kindled, 
 and said sleepily the mule would come (I make no doubt it was 
 our long-eared torment of the previous day) the mule would find 
 herself ; they must have a little breakfast. And they accordingly 
 breakfasted on a cigar each, and then began saunter the second. 
 At length, to our glee, the truant was found, the packing com- 
 pleted, and off we started for Panama.
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 The Journey to Panama resumed Beauty of the Moon-light The paved 
 Causeway First View of the Pacific The American's Opinion of the old 
 Spaniards And of the present Natives of the Isthmus Arrival at Panama 
 The City The Grand Plaza The Bay The Cathedral Jesuit Church 
 and College Ruinous Condition of Panama Americans in Panama bound 
 for California The Climate of Panama Breezes from the Pacific Gen- 
 eral M Insects and Reptiles in Panama The Fire-Beetle The 
 
 Family of Madame H A social Custom in Panama Half-starved 
 
 Horses and Mules Panama becoming Americanized The Carriages in 
 that City. 
 
 IT was moonlight when we resumed our journey ; and such a 
 moon earth, air, and sky were all swathed up like costly treas- 
 ures in glittering cloth of silver ! it was resplendent. We had 
 much admired, during the night, the glorious Southern Cross, and 
 another lovely constellation, also very much in the form of a cross : 
 all was so beautiful, that heaven and earth seemed almost con- 
 tending for the palm of loveliness. 
 
 We rode silently on, overwhelmed with admiration, and after 
 going for some time through the thick forest, which made the 
 moonlight appear like a soft illumination through an emerald-col- 
 ored glass or transparency, we suddenly emerged from the woods 
 on a clearing ; and so dazzling and glorious was the flood of light 
 
 that poured down upon us, that I exclaimed to V-;: , that we 
 
 must have been mistaken in the hour, as it was broad daylight. 
 But a glance overhead, where the triumphant suzerain of the 
 night was riding in her zenith, pouring, I may say snowing down 
 rays of intense white light on every side, undeceived me. It was 
 truly splendid : the air seemed all powdered crystal, or shivered 
 diamonds. The heavenly arch looked so high, and so clear, that 
 the eye seemed to see for a million of mites, up and up, and the 
 air appeared all One Star; verily, the glory sank and melted into 
 the very soul. 
 
 Some of our mules had become very lazy. I do not think they 
 had had enough food when we stopped, and our lame guide limp- 
 ing slowly on, caused our cavalcade to journey at a very gentle 
 pace. At length, the morning dawned, the sun rose, and we began 
 to look out with intense anxiety for the mighty Pacific ; but the 
 intervening hills still screened this king of oceans from our longing
 
 FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC. 319 
 
 / 
 
 gaze. The road was extremely bad and rough, but we were too 
 eager to mind that very much. 
 
 The mule in disgrace was almost forgiven, but the pas was still 
 scrupulously given to her no question of precedence was ever at- 
 tended to with more rigid etiquette. We did not at all agree with 
 Lady Macbeth, " Stand not upon the order of your going ;" our 
 very mules, so taught and trained by us the day before, seemed in- 
 clined when their treacherous comrade lagged a little, to make a 
 sidling courtesy, and wait till she resumed the lead. She was still 
 sent to Coventry ; and if it was she who was lost in the forest that 
 morning, it was doubtless owing to her going to have a chat with 
 some wildcat or monkey, who did not know what mauvaise odeur 
 the creature was in. 
 
 At last the rugged causeway seemed a trifle better, and we met 
 numerous groups on foot and horseback, and felt we were getting 
 near the coast. This paved causeway is said by some to have 
 been made by the buccaneers when they were in possession of 
 Panama ; by others, to be the remains of an excellent road left 
 by the old Spaniards. As to its state in some parts now like 
 that of the pack of hounds described by a boy some years ago, 
 as wanting nothing but new horses, new huntsmen, and new 
 hounds it only requires new stones, new paving, new workmen, 
 and a new road. 
 
 Soon after we had to cross a savanna, and we still kept our 
 eyes fixed on the horizon, forgetting even the kicking mule, who 
 took the opportunity of waiting behind, and coming up again with 
 one of her peculiar Chifney rushes, after which, she and the Pacific 
 contended for our anxious regards and attention, and they ran a 
 rather severe race, the majestic Pacific (a splendid bay) winning 
 at last only by a nose so nearly was it a dead heat. 
 
 And now our guides stopped at a hovel near the road, and dan- 
 dified themselves prodigiously. I suppose they have a depot of 
 sombreros there, and of handkerchiefs and various toggery. The 
 poor lame Mozo stopped at this place ; he could proceed no fur- 
 ther ; so, with a diminished escort, we prepared to enter into the 
 city. At last the glorious Pacific carne in sight, and magnificent 
 it looked ; but so long had I looked forward to this happy moment, 
 and dwelt in fancy on the pleasure of beholding this mighty ocean, 
 that it seemed more like hailing again an old friend, than meeting 
 a new one. 
 
 Somewhere near that part of the road, we crossed a handsome, 
 though rather dilapidated bridge, over a stream. An American
 
 320 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 was sitting down to rest there, and as I passed by, drew my at- 
 tention to it, saying it was almost the first mark of civilization, he 
 had seen in the country. 
 
 " And it was built by the old Spaniards," he said, "the natives 
 tell me, as every thing else was that they have that's worth show- 
 ing. The old Spaniards did nobly by the country ; but they 
 won't even keep their works in repair. Some are gone, and some 
 are going, and these niggers get more and more like savages." 
 
 The compliment to old Spain I fully agreed in, but not in his 
 sweeping censure on the natives of the Isthmus. Though idle 
 they certainly appear to be, I think their government may bear 
 great part of this blame. A republican form of government is not, 
 can not be suited to people so utterly unprepared for the onerous task 
 of self-government, unfitted by nature, and unaided by education. 
 
 It was not long before we were trampling along the streets of 
 the old picturesque city of Panama, among groups of natives, and 
 scarlet-garbed Americans, who, as we passed, asked us a question 
 that had been put to us frequently along the road, always with 
 the greatest civility. 
 
 " You're one of the ' Georgia's passengers, I think, ma'am ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Have you seen many parties still on the road ?" &c. 
 
 I was much struck by the first sight of Panama, ruined and 
 neglected as it appeared. The suburbs, however, were even less 
 imposing than such parts of a city usually are, consisting of tum- 
 ble-down Indian huts, squalid and poverty-stricken, some patches 
 of cultivated ground, and some antiquated rancfos. Afterward 
 we crossed the line of the old fortifications (strong walls and ram- 
 parts still surround the town) ; and we immediately came to some 
 noble edifices, proud and princely, though in a ruined state. 
 Their sad condition is almost vailed, and their decay beautified, 
 by the profuse and brilliant vegetation that has poured over them 
 as the sea closes, with its bright and flashing waters, above a 
 wreck. 
 
 We rode through the Grand Plaza, which was then thronged 
 with people, among whom were crowds of Americans ; and we 
 passed an extremely noble church, and an old convent of great 
 architectural beauty, ornamented with very handsome pillars, with 
 Corinthian capitals. 
 
 Panama is beautifully situated. The lovely bay has been often 
 compared to the famous harbor of Rio Janeiro. The city stands 
 upon a tongue of land that runs far out to sea, enHino- i'n > ^
 
 CHURCH OF SAN FELIPE. 3Q1 
 
 point that is partially overflowed at high tide. Its many decayed 
 but stately churches, its venerable dilipidated monasteries and 
 mouldering convents, boasting many architectural perfections, and 
 crowned with the picturesque vegetation of the Torrid Zone, 
 wherever time has made melancholy rents its noble stone build- 
 ings, terraced and balconied its ancient fortifications, and broad 
 plazas, and, in the vicinity, its numerous gardens and flourishing 
 orchards, villas, and ranches and haciendas, and grounds for pas- 
 turage, and groves of palms, all render it striking and highly inter- 
 esting. The longer I stay, the more I admire its situation, which 
 at the base of this range of beautiful hills, with the Pacific wash- 
 ing three sides of its tapering promontory, is very grand. 
 
 One broad and verdant mountain, deluged in vegetation, up- 
 rears its graceful crest close behind it ; and a chain of other 
 noble mountains, crowned with forests, beyond the southeastern 
 shore of the bay, appears perpetually enveloped in soft vapory 
 clouds, which make them, perhaps, seem higher than they are in 
 reality. 
 
 We had the other evening a delightful walk on the ramparts : 
 they command an enchanting view of the bay. and a series of 
 green and fertile islands, among which Taboga is the most beau- 
 tiful. The towers and churches of the fine old town, so pictur- 
 esque and touching in its decay (at the foot of those indestructible 
 hills, appareled in the undecaying pomp of tropical nature), nearly 
 a hundred miles of fruitful shores exposed to the vision, which 
 takes in the grand curve of the gulf, and the miniature bays and 
 creeks fringed profusely with the feathery palms, and those beau- 
 teous islands and forests, and the mountains afar, and the mighty 
 ocean rolling its foamy surf, with its solemn, measured march, high 
 up on the shore, all united to make the scene one of consummate 
 beauty and grandeur. 
 
 The venerable cathedral here is a very fine building ; and what 
 is left of the ancient Jesuit church of San Felipe is extremely 
 imposing. The magnificent arches spanning the nave are wreath- 
 ed and crowned by a forest of wild vines and luxuriant shrubbery 
 and these rich masses of foliage form here and there a partial 
 roof for the otherwise uncovered building. A stately college, 
 which had never been completed, looks on one of the plazas. Its 
 pillars and pilasters are splintered and decaying ; but Nature has 
 stepped in. and thrown her own mantle of glory around the fading 
 beauties of her sister, Art. There are some Franciscan and 
 Augustinian monasteries here in tolerable preservation ; but, alto- 
 
 o*
 
 322 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 gether, I certainly never beheld any thing like the desolation and 
 decay to be witnessed during a short walk in Panama. 
 
 In almost every street may be seen several ruins ; had I not 
 been prepared for the general state of dilapidation in which this 
 once prosperous city is now, I should have thought, on the first 
 glance, a succession of dreadful fires had lately taken place here, 
 from the dreary multitude of yawning chasms on all sides, where 
 edifices of different kinds have been. 
 
 Nay, at ihefonda where we first were staying, we needed not to 
 walk out to see ruins, for in front of the hotel was a gaping space, 
 lumbered with tottering, roofless walls, and overgrown by shrubs, 
 bananas, and a hanging wilderness of climbing plants. On the 
 old ramparts, with their massive, frowning battlements, may still 
 be seen some antique guns of Old Spain : they are said to be made 
 of the beautiful and costly bronze of Barcelona. 
 
 As a fortified town, Panama, notwithstanding its being girt by 
 strong and solid walls, can not be said to be placed in a favorable 
 position. It appears to be entirely commanded by the hill behind 
 it, which is easy of access, and planted on which, the artillery of 
 a foe might completely batter and destroy all its ruins ! 
 
 We live very quietly here, and I hear but little of California ; 
 but I was told the other day, there are about ten steamers lately 
 gone, or on the eve of going there, from hence. Still, vast num- 
 bers of Americans are detained here, unable to proceed to their 
 destination. A little while ago, they say, there were between 
 two and three thousand> here. Most of them encamp near the 
 town, and some, I am afraid, suffer many privations and hard- 
 ships from the delay they are exposed to. 
 
 I have just heard, since I wrote the above, that nearly a thou- 
 sand Americans started yesterday, in different steam vessels, for 
 California. They are generally a superior class of emigrants that 
 come this way, as it is an expensive route, and the " rough lots," 
 as they often term them, ordinarily go across the plains with their 
 wagons and tents, or by the tedious way of Cape Horn. Tickets 
 have been at a tremendous price, and it is said great impositions 
 have been sometimes practiced on the more inexperienced or easy 
 emigrants. 
 
 Yesterday I was suffering much from that odious hay asthma 
 again, which I had last spring. But for this, I might be return- 
 ing now, or very shortly, to catch the English steamer at Chagres ; 
 but I fear I shall not be able to do so just yet. It is at this time 
 of year, only, one is subject to these attacks, and if I were at sea
 
 MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS. 323 
 
 now, or in the heart of a city, or on a desert plain, I should no 
 doubt entirely escape this infliction ; but in the midst of the mu- 
 nificence and luxuriance of Nature here (for this seems a city and 
 garden, and forest in one), trailing her glorious masses of foliage 
 to the very shores of the Pacific, and flinging her living earthly 
 beauty clad in those royal robes almost into its majestic waves 
 (her grandest watery empire), I am thus victimized and torment- 
 ed. Were I seeking for poor Sir John Franklin now, amidst the 
 barren Arctic ice, probably this vile enemy would keep at a re- 
 spectful distance ; but here, where a mighty Pacific Ocean of 
 streaming flowers and foliage overflows into the sister Pacific of 
 pearls, and shells, and rolling billows, and flashing waves, it piti- 
 lessly assails me. 
 
 Not so, however, in equally beautiful Mexico ; but that is, I 
 think, a most peculiar and matchless climate, the Elysium of the 
 world ; bracing as England, beautiful as Italy nay, far more so 
 and blazing with the unutterable glory of the richest and rarest 
 tropical splendors. Mexico really seems hardly of the earth, and 
 the high-sounding name the Chinese claim so presumptuously for 
 their country, would scarcely appear to be a figure of speech, if 
 applied to lovely, matchless Mexico, " The Central Flowery 
 Land, the Celestial Empire." 
 
 Perhaps the people may not be quite worthy of it what people 
 on earth could be ? but they appreciate and love it, I think, 
 deeply ; and for a traveler they are just the population for it ! 
 They may want, to a certain extent, energy, enterprise, solidity, 
 habits of business, and even, in some respects, patriotism ; but 
 they are, I think, the most splendidly picturesque people (not ex- 
 cepting even the Greeks that is, the Albanian Greeks) in the 
 whole world. They dress their country well ! they become and 
 grace that beauteous land, and do its outward aspect justice, by 
 thus adorning it appropriately with their romantic-looking selves, 
 and their magnificent drapery-like serapes. 
 
 We had some splendid singing and playing here the other night 
 from a young French gentleman (partly of Spanish origin), M. do 
 M., who is on his way to Valparaiso and Buenos Ayres, from 
 
 Paris. He is staying with Monsieur Le C , the agreeable 
 
 and amiable French consul. He sang admirably, and his instru- 
 mental performances were extraordinarily fine (there is an excel- 
 lent piano-forte in the drawing-room here). M. de M.'s musical 
 memory appears to be prodigious: he seems to know almost all 
 the modern operas through by heart, and his singings out of the
 
 324 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 " Prophete," " Beatrice," &c., were magnificent. Miss P. sings 
 extremely well, and she accompanied him very charmingly in 
 some duets. 
 
 There is a delicious breeze blowing to-day through my wide- 
 open windows from the Pacific, and it almost carries away my 
 paper as I write. The breeze seems getting stronger (it is too 
 hot to shut the window), and my writing stands a considerable 
 chance of being wafted off to the " Grand Ocean," as they call 
 the mighty Pacific. 
 
 I went a little time ago to see my amiable acquaintance, Mrs. 
 
 H . I found her at home, and Mrs. also, who is at the 
 
 same hotel. I saw the poor little boy who had had such narrow 
 escapes ; he has hardly yet recovered his terrible and fatiguing 
 walk. His mother tells me, when she first saw him, he was 
 much, altered in appearance, and his throat was frightfully swollen 
 she thought from over-exertion and frequent exposure to the 
 sun ; but it appears to me probable, he may have eaten something 
 injurious during his weary march, that may have produced such 
 an effect. Poor little fellow ! his chief distress seems to have 
 been the anxiety and alarm that he was aware his mother must 
 
 be undergoing during his prolonged absence. Mrs. H hopes 
 
 to start for California in a steamer that goes in a few days, and 
 I trust she will arrive there without any further annoyances and 
 trials. 
 
 General M , formerly President of New Granada, dined 
 
 here last night. He seems a highly-informed person, who has 
 traveled much in Europe, and who would be extremely agreeable, 
 but from a painfully difficult articulation, in consequence of a 
 severe wound received in battle, in his mouth and jaw, which has 
 left a terrible scar. It is said the ball passed completely through 
 his mouth, cutting his tongue in twain in its passage. It was 
 impossible to avoid thinking of the self-same process (though by 
 the instrumentality of a different weapon), to which are subjected 
 magpies, or ravens, or both, in the Old World, to improve their 
 powers of pronunciation it certainly has the diametrically oppo- 
 site effect on the human biped. 
 
 General M appears to be a most public-spirited man, and 
 
 to have the good of his fine country much at heart. His atten- 
 tion is greatly occupied just- now by the contemplated railroad from 
 Chagres to this place, and he is said to be busily engaged in trans- 
 porting slave laborers from one of the States in the interior of New 
 Granada to work upon it. This is a free State.
 
 INSECTS AND REPTILES. 325 
 
 Insects and reptiles abound here. It is necessary to shake 
 one's gown well before putting it on, in case a scorpion may have 
 
 taken a fancy to the garment. Miss P 's maid shook one out 
 
 of hers the other day. A few evenings ago Mr. P had a 
 
 passage of arms with a gallant knight-errant, in the shape of a 
 chivalrous centipede that was boldly wandering over the wall 
 close to where some of us were sitting. The meandering reptile, 
 on being attacked by a huge paper-cutter, kept up for some time a 
 persevering running fight. The assailant brandished his weapon 
 of attack vigorously ; but when your foe has so many legs where- 
 with to run away, it is difficult to catch him " any how you fix it." 
 After sundry desperate stabs at the wall, which the centipede 
 with great celerity and dexterity avoided, the poor reptile was 
 partly caught, and his tail docked, but the rest of him ran off, 
 putting all his best legs foremost, and evaporated. Nothing was 
 left as a trophy of victory but the poor fellow's tail, and a select 
 few of its many legs. I was sorry for this denouement, as I can 
 not bear to think of the mutilation and pain of even a reptile ; a 
 prompt and speedy death is so far preferable ! However, I am not 
 sufficiently read in entomological history to know whether centi- 
 pedes, as some other reptiles are said to do, can laugh at such 
 mutilations, and grow together again ; if so, probably the follow- 
 ing morning he would return to look for the missing portion of 
 himself, and neatly patch himself up in no time. 
 
 A magnificent fire-beetle was caught in the sola last night ; 
 the illumination it cast was splendid. It shone with amazing 
 brightness through a cambric handkerchief that was used as a 
 temporary prison for it : one might almost have been afraid that 
 it would commit arson unintentionally, and burn its transparent 
 dungeon. Its incarceration did not seem to diminish its glorious 
 lustre at all. I was afraid it would be hurt, but it literally made 
 
 light of every thing. Miss P afterward held it to her ear, 
 
 and it is impossible to express the effect this beauteous living orna- 
 ment, this animated diamond produced : it would have made 
 jewels of the first water look dull and dim near it. It cast a 
 
 splendid glittering glow on Miss P 's beautiful dark hair and 
 
 delicate cheek it was really exquisite. It afterward flew up to 
 the loftiest part of the immensely high roof, and settled there : it 
 flung a lovely fairy-like light over the rafters, and seemed like a 
 star that was shining through the roof. 
 
 We have made acquaintance here with a very amiable and 
 accomplished family, one of the most distinguished in the place,
 
 326 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 that of Madame H . She is a delightful person herself, and 
 
 her daughters appear highly educated and exceedingly pleasing. 
 One of her sons is more like an Englishman than a cavalier of the 
 Spanish race, and so perfect are his accent and manner of speak- 
 ing our language, that I could with difficulty believe he was any 
 thingbut genuine Anglo-Saxon. They are-of pure Spanish descent. 
 
 They have in the rich native families here a charming custom, 
 especially for hot countries. After dinner, all the company rise and 
 adjourn to another apartment, fresh and cool, where the dessert is 
 set out, and the fruits are mingled with the loveliest flowers. Of 
 course, all odor of dinner is thus entirely left behind. I think it is 
 even more refined and pleasant than the Havana custom I have 
 spoken of before. 
 
 We escape under the consul's hospitable roof one source of great 
 annoyance to us, and that is, the sight of numerous poor half-starved 
 horses and mules, that we used to see from the hotel, and which 
 seem to make a practice of promenading the streets for food. 
 They eagerly ate any morsel of old crust thrown out to them, and 
 were evidently in a famishing state, trying with their poor noses 
 on the ground to pick up something, in vain. The fact is, I 
 believe, that some time ago, these then deserted streets were cov- 
 ered with grass, and it was the universal custom to turn animals 
 loose to graze there, as in a meadow. Now the busy trampling 
 feet of thousands of Americans have destroyed that formerly abund- 
 ant street-pasturage ; but the inhabitants, mostly averse to in- 
 novation, continue the practice, and the wretched creatures often 
 starve to death in the streets. Their carcasses are dragged down 
 to the beach and there they are left to poison the air ; and the 
 
 horrible odor is often plainly perceptible in Mr. P 's residence, 
 
 so that it is necessary occasionally to shut the windows, and almost 
 endure sufibcation from heat, in order to escape the sickening 
 effluvium. 
 
 The city in some respects seems becoming Americanized, but 
 not in important particulars, as the foregoing statements will suf- 
 ficiently prove. But when you take a little promenade in the 
 roughly-paved plazas or streets (walk you must, for there are no 
 carriages), you will hear " Oh, Susanna," on your right side, 
 " Uncle Ned," on your left, " Hail Columbia," from the balcony 
 over head, and the " Arkansas Hunters," from the shop at your 
 side. I make no doubt, from what I hear, that shandy-gaff, and 
 hail-storms, and mint-julep, are constantly kept in readiness for any 
 that require them.
 
 SCARCITY OF CARRIAGES. 327 
 
 But imagine what a change it must seem to us, not to see a 
 carriage of any description ever in the streets of Panama, having 
 so lately left the Havana, which certainly, if any place can be so, 
 is almost too full of rolling equipages in short, from the most over- 
 carriaged town in the world, we came straight to the most under- 
 carriaged one. I asked some one the other day, whether there was 
 not even a one-mule chaise in Panama. " No," was the reply ; 
 
 " but Senior has a cart" evidently that was thought to be a 
 
 great march of improvement. A single cart (for it is the only one) 
 in the chief town of a country, where soon a railroad is expected 
 to be laid down ! it will be a jump, indeed ! 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Monarchy and Democracy England's Treatment of her Colonies The 
 Greatness of America Her Tendency to Propagandism Anecdote of a 
 Paroquet The Pearl Fishery at Panama The Captain and his Crew 
 General Rosas Beautifully scented Woods in Panama The Rose Fever 
 Theatricals in Panama Hostility between Americans and the Natives of 
 Panama Fair Children in Panama The would-be Englishwoman. 
 
 NEW GRANADA, from accounts I have heard, would not object 
 much to giving up the Isthmus to the United States, but France 
 and England, from various reasons, no doubt would! Education, 
 and many other advantages, doubtless, would accrue to the people 
 under the enlightened rule of the Americans ; but, after all, it 
 seems a republican government is not suited to these South Ameri- 
 can nations : it becomes a tyranny or a nullity with them. The 
 genius, character, and habits of the people tend toward monarchi- 
 cal institutions in general. Old Spain has left her mark upon 
 them ; she trained all her colonies in her own spirit ; she deeply 
 imbued them with her own principles : this has grown with their 
 growth, and strengthened with their strength ; and though, when 
 they threw off her yoke, and asserted their national independence, 
 the example of the most flourishing and powerful nation in this 
 hemisphere was, as it were, instinctively followed (as if the mere 
 resemblance in the form of government, without any similarity in 
 character, traditions, or habits of thought, could effect equal re- 
 sults), yet the people, it would appear, have generally retained the 
 impressions that the mother country sought always consistently to 
 give them.
 
 328 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 In vain the letter is altered ; the spirit is still there. A mon- 
 archy herself, she educated and trained her colonies in monarchical 
 principles, as did Portugal also ; and the consequence is, that though 
 by the overwhelming influence of the example of the mightiest 
 people of the New World they mostly are republics in name, it is 
 in name only. Look at Mexico ; look at her eminently aristocrati- 
 cal church and army ; see how in society counts and marquises 
 retain their titles to this very day, and how in a thousand other 
 things the real tendencies of the people break forth. How differ- 
 ently does England treat her colonies with what care, apparently, 
 does she lead them, and teach them, and tutor them to be repub- 
 lics in time. -Monarchy is a sort of distant vision a myth to 
 them : they are seldom reminded of it ; it is a shadow and a name, 
 and democracy seems the substance. Monarchy is a rare and 
 holiday visitor ; democracy is their every-day comrade and friend : 
 it comes home to every man's bosom and business there ; it is with 
 him in the market-place, with him in the street, it is part of his 
 every-day life, it is with him in all his social intercourse ; and if 
 in the settlers from the old country, habits previously acquired and 
 sentiments originally instilled into them should retain some dominion 
 over them, fainter and fainter indeed, but still not wholly eradicated 
 in the next generation, when no such antecedents have left a 
 shadow behind, it is entirely annihilated. 
 
 It may be objected that, notwithstanding Spain through all her 
 widely extended colonies consistently and perse veringly carried out 
 the fundamental principles of her laws, and unvaryingly caused 
 them to participate freely and fully in all the spirit and forms of 
 her own institutions, yet these colonies were not deterred from 
 separating themselves from the mother-country. That they did so 
 true ; but the circumstances under which they asserted and won 
 their independence had nothing to do with their being monarchical, 
 or democratical in their internal policy. Other and more cogent 
 reasons determined them on their course ; and although the metro- 
 politan country acted wisely with regard to her dependencies in 
 particular instances, in a number of important matters she com- 
 mitted the most flagrant errors. Heaven knows we manage our 
 colonies ill enough in most matters, and we have ingeniously super- 
 added to our shortcomings and weaknesses the great fault of doing 
 all in our power to make them not only quite indifferent to us now, 
 but utterly different from ourselves in government and political 
 organization, whenever in the fullness of time (and that time is 
 probably not far distant, and will, we must undoubtedly feel, as-
 
 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. , 329 
 
 Buredly come) they sever themselves from us, as the dependencies 
 of Spain did from her, and establish themselves as independent 
 nations, for it will be doubtless as republics. 
 
 Then, instead of having the great tie of a close resemblance in 
 all political institutions, and that wide sympathy which must 
 spring from an identity of all the forms of constitutional adminis- 
 tration and of organization, we must take leave of them, and lose 
 them indeed ! for they will naturally and spontaneously cling to 
 those governments which have the greatest similarity to their own, 
 and feel that the same act which has disjoined them from a state 
 cf government so little analagous to their own selected one, has, as 
 it were, connected them with those that are formed on the same 
 model and established on the same foundations. 
 
 It is a great compliment to our mighty transatlantic brethren, 
 without doubt, that we should be moulding and forming all our 
 colonies to tread in their footsteps and follow their example ; but 
 it is a very bad compliment to our own institutions ; and in the 
 course of time will tend, if persevered in, I am persuaded, very 
 greatly to endanger them. Two great principles will divide the 
 world one day or the other : democracy and monarchy, and one or 
 the other will ultimately have the ascendency ; and as we should 
 not think it wise or prudent of our republican brethren to sow 
 every where, from the largest to the smallest of their states perhaps, 
 the seeds of absolutism, or of sovereignty, so neither can it be dis- 
 creet in us to sow broadcast over our own vast transmarine terri- 
 torial possessions, the seeds of republicanism and democracy. " Qui 
 se ressamble s'assemble ;" and we are actually training -and disci- 
 plining troops for the future political warfare of the world, that 
 must and will necessarily range themselves in hostility against 
 our professed and declared principles and sentiments. 
 
 It may be that our statesmen care not for the future apres 
 moi le deluge : it may be that they have a secret leaning toward 
 the wholly popular forms of government themselves ; but on this 
 I have nothing to say, neither am I arguing in the lea&f as to the 
 relative perfections of this or that form of government. I only 
 say, if we think our own constitution and institutions are good 
 are the best (and if\ve do not think so, certainly no time ought to 
 be lost in changing them, as far as reason and prudence will per- 
 mit), then we ought to do our duty, and consistently act, so as to 
 extend this system, and these advantages, to those over whom we 
 have so much influence for evil or for good. 
 
 Surely no one can doubt for a moment what Australia would
 
 330 .TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 *^ 
 become, if she established her independence now ; and every year 
 
 that passes over our heads adds more to the strength and vigor of 
 her popular principles. As year after year sees the older settlers 
 more alienated, by the state of things around them, from the once- 
 venerated traditions of their fathers and the character of their 
 ancient relations, associations, and prepossessions ; and as the ac- 
 cumulation of democratic elements naturally and necessarily (with- 
 out any antagonizing, or at least counteracting influences) continues 
 to increase, as hosts of humble emigrants, and few but humble 
 emigrants, pour down upon the shores of that grand and promising 
 colony how can it be otherwise ] Representatives of all our dif- 
 ferent classes and orders should be encouraged to go there, by all 
 legitimate means ; another spirit would be quickly infused ; and 
 instead of a gradual, but certain alienation from the forms, charac- 
 ter, and tone of our institutions, the reverse would be the case, and 
 the manners and all the usages of the society of the older world 
 would be insensibly introduced, adopted, and preferred ; and if we 
 aided the development of those inclinations by a strict adaptation, 
 to the colony of all the various agencies and accompaniments of a 
 form of government like ours those co-operating circumstances 
 that have proved so instrumental in our own country in the estab- 
 lishment of a monarchy, and in securing that monarchy's perma- 
 nency and consolidation there is no more reason that, in the event 
 of Australia becoming independent of England, she should frame a 
 republican constitution, than that Belgium should have done so 
 when separated from Holland. 
 
 We should have a peerage in all our colonies, whosQ honors 
 should be distributed with perfect impartiality and justice orders 
 of knighthood, rewards, distinctions, and every thing else that the 
 mother country herself has ; and it would soon be found not only 
 that the aristocratic element would be largely infused into the 
 plebeian, but also that a spirit beyond that of mere money-making 
 would be more generally and preponderatingly introduced. 
 
 It may be said, and very truly, that the people of the United 
 States are as enlightened, chivalrous, and noble a people as can 
 exist, notwithstanding that the love of money-making certainly 
 largely enters into their composition. Granted, and more than 
 granted ; for I have a most sincere admiration for the true nobility 
 of nature of the Americans in general ; but their past position was 
 widely different from that of our colonists at present. The history 
 and cherished traditions of their race, the examples of all the 
 mighty countries of the world, at tliat time, tended to inspire them
 
 AMERICAN PROPAGANDISTS. 331 
 
 with a deep respect for monarchical constitutions, and the time- 
 honored customs and ordinations belonging thereto ; and though 
 their own form of government, chiefly through the decision and 
 habits of thought of some of their principal men, and the local 
 tendency to republicanism that we had encouraged and established 
 among them, became after the separation a commonwealth ; yet 
 they instinctively turned for models of greatness and perfection, 
 glory and grandeur and success to the Old World absolutisms, or 
 constitutional sovereignties, and thus combined much chivalrous 
 sentiment and hero-magnanimity with other tendencies and char- 
 acteristics. 
 
 But it is a far other case with the inhabitants of our present 
 important and noble dependencies ; they have shining chiefly before 
 their eyes the material prosperity, and fast increasing power, and 
 stupendous greatness of their elder, but liberated brother. All that 
 can attract, dazzle, fascinate, and inspire with the deepest admira- 
 tion, is to be found in that magnificent and giant nation ; and to 
 follow in their footsteps well may be the ambition of every young 
 and independent state. But still Mammon there is too much wor- 
 shiped, and in that will their example probably be most faithfully 
 followed. 
 
 Do we, or do we not, wish to counteract the democratic tenden- 
 cies of our colonies ? If we do, no further time is to be wasted ; 
 and if we do not, we are certainly doing all we by possibility can, 
 short of giving those colonies the name as well as the nature of 
 republics, to promote the rapid establishment of such a system of 
 government in all of them. Surely according to the basis of our 
 own constitution so should the superstructure be throughout. 
 
 Forgive, reader, this digression. Many things I hear, many 
 circumstances that have transpired under my own eyes, have led 
 me to think much on these subjects ; subjects that may seem of 
 little consequence in the present moment, but which will prove of 
 such enormous importance in the future. The Americans are the 
 greatest political propagandists imaginable, and believing their 
 own singularly successful and admirably administered form of gov- 
 ernment to be the most perfect in the world, who can censure them 
 for being so] .They are too clear-sighted, and too desirous that 
 their own democracy should ultimately overshadow and control all 
 the nations of the earth, not to rejoice at the way in which we are 
 playing into their hands. 
 
 But let me now tell, by way of a little variety, a curious cir-
 
 332 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 cumstance relating to natural history that has lately occurred, 
 think I have mentioned a little cross-grained paroquet that V- 
 
 took under her especial protection soon after we arrived here. Not 
 being fascinated by its manners, and having an objection to being 
 sharply bitten whenever I approached too near the little wretch, I 
 declined as far as possible the honor of his acquaintance, and never 
 took the slightest notice of him, nor he of me, for he found I would 
 not submit to his biting attacks generally, and therefore he turned 
 his attention to others, who were either more afraid of him, or who 
 
 by such devotion as V 's won him over by constantly offering 
 
 him " dulces-" and fruit. 
 
 One afternoon I was very busily employed in writing or reading, 
 and it happened I was quite absorbed and wrapped up in my oc- 
 cupation, and hardly knew that my little cross-patch of a paroquet 
 had been left to amuse himself on the balcony, as was sometimes 
 the case. Presently he began making a tremendous and piercing 
 noise, screaming far louder than I had ever heard him do. I took 
 no notice at first, but the sound increased, and I thought was per- 
 tinaciously addressed to me I can not describe what a deafening 
 din the little animal contrived to make, evidently to attract my 
 attention. At last I looked up, and beheld it to my surprise post- 
 ing directly toward me, as fast as it could waddle, for its gait was 
 something like that of the Turkish or Tunis women, in their 
 tumble-off slippers. It had to cross a great part of the immense 
 drawing-room to get to me ; but with its eyes fixed on me in the 
 most supplicating manner, and almost starting out of its little 
 poked-forward head, it hurried on, making right for the place where 
 I was sitting. Surprised at its unusual conduct, and compassion- 
 ating the poor little creature's evident perturbation and uneasiness 
 though in what originating I knew not I put down my hand 
 for the bird to mount on the finger, as it commonly did ; it lost 
 not a quarter of a second in so doing, fluttering with anxiety, and 
 half-dead with terror. The moment I took it up, it hid itself, as 
 well as it could, in the folds of a shawl I had on. 
 
 I felt there must be some enemy at hand, but what, and where ? 
 I glanced round the room. In a corner near the balcony, which 
 was comparatively dark, I perceived a cat, who was all ready for 
 the fatal spring, but had possibly been arrested by trie same instinct 
 that had taught the sensible little bird to hurry and clamor so 
 loudly to me for protection. Puss was so grievously disappointed 
 at the loss of her anticipated repast, that she actually seemed 
 almost inclined to dispute with me the poor little trembling paro-
 
 PANAMA PEARL-FISHERY. 333 
 
 quet, who was, as nearly as a bird could be, in hysterics of fear. 
 He shook with terror, and seemed as if he would fall into a fit. 
 
 I drove the cat away ; and after a great deal of soothing and 
 encouraging, the poor little paroquet was restored to composure, 
 and after a long time, showed his convalescence and his gratitude 
 by hints that he began to feel himself in biting trim again. How- 
 ever, I think since this affair he has not bit me, when I have ven- 
 tured to approach, quite so savagely or so often as before. 
 
 To turn from this little ex-demon, to a totally different subject. 
 I was reading in my room the other day, when I was called to see 
 a pretty sight. On hurrying out of our suite of rooms, what should 
 I see but a little winged angel on the stairs ! This was a child 
 
 of Senora , who was dressed to perform her part in a religious 
 
 procession that was going to take place. The little creature looked 
 lovely, covered with resplendent diamonds and pearls, and furnished 
 with bright little silvery wings ; but it had a sad expression of 
 countenance, the effect of which was very touching. A sort of 
 star, of magnificent jewels, was gleaming on its bosom, and it 
 seemed almost oppressed by the weight of gems it had to carry. 
 
 This angel visitant was accompanied by a nurse, who appeared 
 very proud of the little glittering thing, and of the profusion of 
 costly jewels with which it was so superbly adorned. The pearls 
 were wonderfully splendid ; but this is a native land or rather 
 native water of pearls, for there is a regular pearl-fishery estab- 
 lished here. 
 
 These treasures of the deep are abundantly found around the 
 adjoining islands, and prove a profitable source of employment to a 
 considerable body of men, who follow the laborious occupation of 
 divers. It is said, that Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, some time 
 ago, paid down a sum of money for the right to monopolize the 
 trade, and they sent out from England a diving-bell, which it was 
 anticipated would materially tend to increase the supply of pearls 
 from these oyster-beds ; but the attempt was a vain one, in conse- 
 quence of the rocky nature of the bottom of the bay, together with 
 the very heavy ground-swell, which is so frequent here. The trade 
 was, therefore, again transferred to the natives, who sell all they 
 find to the resident merchants, for the jewel-cases of the fair Pana- 
 manians, as it is said not many are exported to the Old World. 
 
 The cook here (who, by the way, is an excellent one) sent up to 
 me, the other day, a number of lovely pearls, which he had pur- 
 chased, I believe, from the divers on speculation. They looked 
 tempting enough, as they rolled one by one out of the long tubular
 
 334 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 case in which they were deposited, shining with extraordinary 
 lustre so fresh from the great Pacific that all the snowy whiteness 
 of its eternal surf seemed sparkling on them ! 
 
 But I would not purchase any ; for, while traveling and 
 voyaging about, it is far preferable to have nothing that is valua- 
 ble, as far as it can be avoided. I had left every thing I brought 
 with me of any value in the British Consulate at the Havana, 
 Mr. Kennedy having given me permission so to do. 
 
 A day or two ago, I had a surprise, which was occasioned by a 
 very different being from the pretty winged angel, mailed in 
 jewels, and with a little halo of splendor around it. I was return- 
 ing in the afternoon from the drawing-room to my own apartment, 
 to arrive at which I had to traverse several rooms ; the first a 
 sort of sitting-room, which opened on one side to a chamber 
 generally appropriated by Madame Jenny (the French femme de 
 
 chambrc of Miss P ) for the safe-keeping of various stores ; and 
 
 on the other side there was a door, which conducted to the room 
 which H. and W. inhabited, who were then both out. When I 
 reached the large gate-like doors which led to the outer apartment, 
 I was much astonished to see them shut, and still more to see 
 them opened suddenly, and a man in a sailor-like garb rush out in 
 a horrible condition ! 
 
 He had evidently been subjected to shocking bad treatment ; his 
 head and face seemed a mass of bruises and wounds, and he ap- 
 peared considerably agitated, not to say alarmed. He informed 
 me, in a hurried manner, that he was the captain of a merchant- 
 vessel, then at Panama, and had had a mutiny among his men ; 
 had escaped with difficulty, was pursued by them, and dreadfully 
 ill-treated ; he had rushed into the Consulate for refuge and safety, 
 and was watched by the disaffected crew, who had stationed 
 themselves at the gates of the Consulate, not daring to penetrate 
 further, but intending to attack him, if he ventured to quit its 
 sheltering roof. 
 
 Mr. P was out at the time, but was momentarily expected 
 
 home. A chair was brought by Madame Jenny, and placed near 
 the office-door, where the poor man waited till the Consul arrived, 
 
 to tell his piteous tale. Mr. P told me afterward that such 
 
 cases are of very common occurrence here now. The crews, in 
 general, it appears, are all anxious to get to California (and when 
 there, to go to the mines) ; besides, they have constant opportuni- 
 ties of getting higher wages, and are continually in a state of 
 discontent.
 
 PARTY COLORS OF GENERAL ROSAS. 335 
 
 We have no Consul, I find, at San Francisco, which seems very 
 strange, when it is considered how many English merchant-ships 
 there are now at that port, and what an important place it has 
 become. 
 
 There is a family of distinction here, from Buenos Ayres, and 
 as it seems General Rosas makes all his followers, male and 
 female, wear his colors, red and all red : in whatever part of the 
 world they may be, they are forced, on the most broiling day, to 
 go about like land-lubberized and boiled lobsters. The great 
 Dictator, it is asserted, has spies in multitudes in all parts, and no 
 one dare infringe his rules, as they would certainly be detected. 
 Thus these Buenos-Ayrean travelers are condemned to this per- 
 petual blush of " celestial rosy red" from morning till night, and, 
 for aught I know to the contrary, from night till morning also, in 
 the shape of vermilion night-robes. 
 
 I believe they do not very often leave their habitation, but 
 whenever they do no matter how sultry or sunshiny the day, so 
 near the equator they are necessitated to make their appearance 
 like locomotive bonfires, or beef-eaters of private life, or demons 
 (amiable social ones, however), such as strutted formerly in the 
 hideous auto-da-fe processions, painted all over with crimson 
 flames or perambulating poppies, or peripatetic scarlet-beans, or 
 as if they were burning themselves in effigy (for red in this blazing 
 sunshine seems to roast one) ; in short, they were, as a French 
 friend of mine once designated a married lady and gentleman of 
 my acquaintance, who were remarkable for rubicund complexions, 
 a regular menage carotte. It would be awkward for them to 
 meet a vaquero driving a herd of bulls accidentally, for the fury 
 aroused in these animals by the sight of scarlet is well known. 
 
 General Rosas is said to be extremely civil and obliging just 
 now to the English. We have had a tremendous thunder-storm 
 here ; it was necessary to close all the windows, and the crashing 
 of the thunder was terrific. The rain came down like a temporary 
 deluge, but the air seemed very sweet and fresh after it, though I 
 do not think it was made much cooler. 
 
 Almost every evening we hear fandangoes going on, al fresco 
 among the natives, and mulattoes and negroes, who seem passion- 
 ately fond votaries of Terpsichore. The sound of their guitars, 
 drums and flageolets, with the accompaniment, 1 believe, of some 
 hollow gourds, in which they rattle a number of pebbles, is pleasant 
 enough at a distance, mingling with the chiming, solemn roll of 
 the ocean.
 
 336 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Madame H came to a little soiree here the other night. 
 
 She was sitting by me on the sofa, and as we were conversing 
 together, I was charmed by a perfume on her handkerchief, the 
 most exquisite it is possible to imagine. I could not resist asking 
 her the name of it, and if it was a Panamanian perfume. She 
 told me it was the scrapings of a highly-scented wood that grows in 
 the forests of the .Isthmus. These little shavings of wood, the 
 odor of which I think is incomparably delicious, are laid among 
 the handkerchiefs, and give them an intense fragrance. 
 
 Madame H was kind enough to say she would send me 
 
 some of these scrapings, as I admired the scent so much, and 
 accordingly a little packet arrived the following day, but of anoth- 
 er kind of wood, Madame H rinding her stock of the first was 
 
 exhausted. This is very sweet, but does not at all equal the wood 
 that had previously so much charmed me. 
 
 A French lady at the Havana, the wife of a medical gentleman 
 from Paris, begged me, when I came here, to ascertain whether 
 there was any opening for a French physician here, they having 
 been ruined by the French revolution (not because it improved 
 the general health, though). I consequently made inquiries, and 
 found there were at least two established here, who are much 
 liked. There are American doctors here too, and an English 
 one also. The latter has attended me ; he is a clever person, 
 most highly recommended, and has almost cured my hay-asthma. 
 By the way, this complaint is known in the United States, and 
 is called there, rose-fever. 
 
 I am strongly recommended, instead of returning at once across 
 the Isthmus, to proceed to Lima in one of the English steamers, 
 that regularly run from hence to Callao and Valparaiso every 
 month. The sea voyage would do me a great deal of good, and 
 drive away, probably, all remains of the indisposition ; and I think 
 Lima would, independently of that, be well worth a visit, now 
 that we are, comparatively speaking, so near it. I have almost 
 recovered from the attack, but I dare not venture out at 
 present. 
 
 Miss P went last evening to the theatre with Madame 
 
 H . I believe it is an enormous building, quite unfinished, 
 
 and not originally designed for the purpose it now serves, it is 
 without any roof whatever, so the spectators sit there a la belle 
 ktoile, happy indeed if the stars do shine, and no storm of rain, 
 such as we lately had, comes down to wash them out of their 
 seats. The performances are said to be very fair. " No toca a
 
 HOSTILITIES BETWEEN AMERICANS AND NATIVES. 337 
 
 la reina," from the French play, " Ne touchez pas a la reine," 
 was given the other night, and, I hear, very nicely acted. 
 
 The Americans, many of whom do not understand Spanish, got 
 up some opposition theatricals a day or two ago in one of the 
 hotels, the sula of which was fitted up as a theatre ; but this 
 failed, the company not meeting altogether with the approbation 
 of the audience at least so it was rumored. It happened that 
 the evening was oppressively hot, and I think the actors must 
 have found it hard work to please a large number of people, 
 crowded together in-doors, in a comparatively small room. la 
 such an atmosphere as must have prevailed there, they could not 
 have attempted much exertion themselves assuredly, unless they 
 had been salamanders, and applause too, so necessary to stimulate 
 actors, must have been wanting. Certainly the cooler roofless 
 theatre must, under these circumstances, bear away the palm and 
 win the palms, from the very fact of its being so. 
 
 A sort of riot took place here a little while ago, I believe in 
 consequence of some suspected robbery. One man supposed, 
 among others, to be implicated, was chased a good distance by the 
 
 aggrieved parties. Mr. P , returning from a ride he had 
 
 taken into the country, met this hunted man running near the 
 
 entrance to the town, and he rather coolly asked Mr. P to lend 
 
 him his horse, which proposition was respectfully declined. 
 
 It is said there is a great deal^of ill-feeling between the Ameri- 
 cans and the Panamanians : the former accuse the latter of thiev- 
 ing and cheating, and the natives indignantly retort. One reason, 
 I believe, why the Americans do not agree so well with the natives 
 as the English, is that they are accustomed to look upon all color- 
 ed people with great contempt. They call all the Indians and 
 half Indians by the general name of Niggers, and treat them as 
 such ; and that offends these people much, who, though good-tem- 
 pered and gentle, are very high-spirited. 
 
 Whatever pilfering goes on is laid to the natives by the Cali- 
 fornian emigrants ; and the natives say, " No, it is all among 
 yourselves." Then revolvers and knives are very apt to make 
 their appearance ; and as these articles are not exactly philosoph- 
 'ical pacificators, the fray is often begun in right earnest, and 
 sometimes ends in bloodshed. 
 
 We have tolerably fine weather here now, with only an occa- 
 sional deluge ; but we hear that in the interior of the country 
 the rainy season has rather earlier than usual almost regu- 
 larly commenced. A young lady who has lately arrived at Pana- 
 
 P
 
 338 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 ma from England to take the place of governess in the family 
 
 of Mr. L , the Vice-Consul here, said that. three times under 
 
 the most violently pouring rain her clothes had heen thoroughly 
 saturated with water in the course of a few hours, and as often en- 
 tirely dried again by the intensely powerful rays of the burning 
 sun. 
 
 Her little pupils are half South American and half English, as 
 
 Mr. L married a lady of New Granada. I saw a pretty 
 
 little boy of his the other evening ; he brought a message from his 
 father to the Consul. I spoke to him in English. 
 
 " No hablo Ingles," said the little fellow, with a half-apologetic 
 shrug of his pretty shoulder. 
 
 He looked like a little Anglo-Saxon, however, being exceedingly 
 fair, with a delicate blonde head. One of Madame Hurtado's 
 children is also very fair indeed, which is singular for a Spanish 
 South American ; but every now and then such rare instances are 
 seen, and generally are much admired ; as, for example, the famous 
 Mexican beauty of former days, " La Giiera" par excellence, the 
 admired of Humboldt La Giiera Rodriguez, who bewitched even 
 that paragon of philosophers. Would that her influence, or any 
 other influence, could have persuaded him to simplify their difficult 
 language of technicalities and names, and condescend to a little 
 unscientificalization of their terms ! not that the truly great Hum- 
 boldt, however, sins particularly in that respect. What a chatter- 
 ing there is in the outer room, as if an improvised tertulia were 
 taking place ; let us look in and see what is the matter. 
 
 An amusing scene ! A quantity of things are just brought in. 
 by the washerwomen, and two or three other native women have 
 lately come in on divers errands. A few of them are most grace- 
 fully reclined on the floor, being fatigued by their walk under the 
 burning suri. It is the height of picturesqueness, their coal-black 
 hair streaming around them, and their attitudes most sculpture-like. 
 They are all talking together, with that slightly metallic-sounding 
 voice which seems one of their characteristics. The principal 
 washerwoman claims me as a countrywoman, and with a patron- 
 izing inclination of her woolly head she is black as the blackest 
 raven informs me graciously she is an Englishwoman : 
 
 " I Ingles, tambien ; I 'long to England ; si." 
 
 England ! Did she come out of the Durham coal-mines, and 
 had she never used soap and water since ? She quickly solved 
 the mystery, by saying she was born in Jamaica.
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Intention to go to Lima Dinner to Ex-cannibals Theatricals in Panama 
 Taboga The French Tailoress The "Happy Ship" Roman Catholic 
 Procession on Good Friday A mischievous Trick California thoroughly 
 Americanized Californian Adventurers and the Steam-boat Agent The 
 dead Negro British Subjects buried in Panama Tone of American 
 Papers in Panama Spirit of Enterprise of the Americans Old Panama 
 Reptiles and Insects in Panama Morgan and his Buccaneers The 
 Pirates and the Spanish Fleet Wealth said to have been buried by the 
 Buccaneers American Love of intellectual Progress. 
 
 I HAVE decided on going to Lima. I find I shall thus have an 
 opportunity of seeing several other places besides that interesting 
 and famous city on the western coast of South America, and the 
 steamers are said to be tolerably comfortable. 
 
 Captain F , of H.M.S. "Daphne," dined here last night. 
 
 He is, I believe, just come from Realejo, and was before that at 
 the Fejee Islands. He told me he had invited the king of these 
 islands, a reclaimed cannibal, to dinner, with his entire court. 
 The invitation was accepted, and His Majesty and courtiers be- 
 haved very properly. It must be rather a nervous affair having 
 a party of ex-cannibals to dinner. Suppose your viands should 
 not be to their taste, and in consequence haply a sudden re-action 
 of old habits should take place, and the knife and fork should be 
 plunged into the hosts instead of into the mutton and turkey ! 
 
 Captain F tells me nothing has transpired that gives any 
 
 hopes of poor Sir John Franklin being found. 
 
 Mr. Catherwood, the eminent artist, who executed the splendid 
 drawings which illustrate Mr. Stephens's celebrated work on 
 Central America, is daily expected here ; but his non-appearance 
 for a length of time, during which he has been " due" at this place, 
 begins to create some slight uneasiness respecting his safety and 
 well-being. He is, I understand, surveying the country for the 
 American Railroad Company, I believe. 
 
 I have heard a very different account of the American theatri- 
 cals here since I last spoke of them, and begin to think my % inform- 
 ant was over-fastidious. The company are said to display a high 
 order of talent, and much experience in the histrionic art. It is 
 said they played " The Maid of Croissy," and " The Swiss Cot-
 
 340 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 tage," exceedingly well. Mrs. Thorne is reported to be a very 
 good actress. 
 
 Besides these theatricals, the detained Californians have to be- 
 guile their time a little with divers other public amusements ; 
 such as tight-rope dancers, and stilt-waltzers (or still-vaulters) 
 from Carthagena. What the last are I know not ; but they are 
 supposed to exhibit much skill and grace. 
 
 I am afraid I shall not see Taboga while I am here ; but we 
 shall pass close to it, I believe, in going to Buenaventura, the first 
 place we shall stop- at on our voyage to Peru. 
 
 A Mr. Frique, who lately kept a French hotel here, has just 
 opened a similar establishment in the island. He informs the 
 public, in an advertisement in one of the Panama-American papers 
 (of which there are several, " The Star" and " The Echo" very 
 good, and well conducted), that his new hotel is situated on the 
 Plaza ; and that, among other delectable treasures, it will have 
 " Cigars of the most recherche brands ;" but M. Frique will not 
 reign alone monarch of all that is to be surveyed and purveyed in. 
 that place. 
 
 A Captain Forbes intends to build a rival posada there, I see, 
 in the newspapers ; " a hotel which is now on its way round the 
 Horn." Perhaps they have made a little mistake, and it is on its 
 way across the Isthmus in that huge deal case we saw on an 
 Indian's back. 
 
 Taboga is said to be a charming place : the town consists of 
 about a hundred cabins, with a number of stone houses belonging 
 to the millionaires of the place ; and there is an extremely pic- 
 turesque old Spanish church. This town is built along a beauti- 
 ful beach, which is said to be half covered with the remains of 
 former buildings, and where a whole fleet of canoes may often 
 be seen laid up. A lovely mountain stream comes dashing and 
 sparkling down a gorge of the hills at the back of the settlement, 
 and crosses the middle of it, on its course to the bay. This clear 
 stream furnishes water to all the ships that visit Panama, in ad- 
 dition to supplying the wants of the residents. The Americans, 
 it seems, are going to build a great many houses at Taboga, in 
 the course of time ; " and," says " The Echo," " like New York, 
 Panama will then have a Staten Island and New Brighton." 
 
 I havp not mentioned the singular sight I saw the day when 
 I went to call on Mrs. H , to take leave of her before she- 
 went to California. Hard at work, in a tailor's shop, which of 
 course was wide open to admit all possible air, was an apparently
 
 THE FRENCH TAILORESS. 341 
 
 delicate-looking young Frenchman, stitching away at a coat. This 
 was a French demoiselle, or dame, who, for some reason, a little 
 time ago, perhaps at the mines of California, temporarily adopted 
 this costume, and has since continued it. She looked, I thought, 
 a quiet, gentle person, and was remarkahly industrious, stitching 
 away with most praiseworthy vehemence, though the thermome- 
 ter might be at 100. Her hair was cropped very short, an ad- 
 vantage in so oppressive a climate. 
 
 Europeans here complain of the climate ruining both their hair 
 and their, teeth. You hear sometimes quite young ladies say they 
 have lost almost all their teeth here, and have scarcely a solitary 
 ringlet left. The native women, however, seem to have a vast 
 abundance of the latter ornament. 
 
 Several of the servants here are natives, and I think they ap- 
 pear to make very good ones. (The head servants are French 
 and Italian.) One, a young Indian girl, rejoices in the soft name 
 of Ramona. She is, of course, excessively dark ; but is very pret- 
 ty, with delicate, regular features. She has a soft, low voice 
 " an excellent thing in woman," whether white, black, or brown. 
 
 An English gentleman has just arrived here from California, 
 
 the son of Sir . He went to San Francisco in a yacht, I 
 
 believe, the joint property of a number of friends ; but this long 
 ' voyage tried the tempers of these friends, it seems ; for, on relating 
 his maritime and other adventures, we were surprised to learn that 
 at almost every port they stopped at, a duel came off. "What a 
 miserable party you must have been ?" said a lady, who was list- 
 ening to the disastrous account. " Oh, no ; it was a very happy 
 ship." " How could that be ?" " Well, there certainly were a 
 great many duels fought, but it was a very happy ship, indeed !" 
 
 If this gentleman had ever made a voyage before, it must have 
 been in a floating Pandemonium ; so that this seemed felicitous by 
 contrast. 
 
 Monsieur le C has called, and brought me some letters for 
 
 Lima, one to M. de F , the French commodore, whose frigate 
 
 is supposed to be now at Lima. He is married to a young lady 
 of Irish descent, who is said to be a very charming person. 
 
 Would the reader like a brief account of a Catholic religious 
 procession in this city on Good Friday ? The skies were of tho 
 most cloudless azure ; the weather most glorious, and not insuffer- 
 ably hot ; and the moon poured a sea of silver light over every 
 thing. A large number of Americans were collected in different 
 groups, anxiously watching the proceedings. They appeared to gaze
 
 342 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 with deep and intelligent interest (not a mere empty curiosity a 
 far more intellectual feeling) on a solemn pageant so new to most 
 of them, and which was naturally associated, in their inquiring and 
 cultivated minds, with all the mystery, the religion, and the his- 
 tory of the past, and which appeared to their imaginations linked 
 with all the powerful memories of those dark, and mighty, and 
 wondrous ages, when the whole civilized globe trembled at the 
 awful thunders of the Vatican they thought of the time when 
 all the mightiest powers of Poetry, Harmony, Architecture, Ora- 
 tory, Sculpture, and Painting all that influences and impresses 
 the mind, all that quickens the sympathies, all that electrifies and 
 elevates the imagination were used with such overpowering ef- 
 fect by those who then swayed and directed at their will the whole 
 Christian World. That crowd of spectators formed in itself an 
 impressive and significant sight : it was the Young World gazing 
 on the Old. 
 
 The first part of the procession was composed of men and chil- 
 dren, carrying long and large candles, burning. These were fol- 
 lowed by penitential banners and a Cross. The procession moved 
 to the sound of sacred music ; and in due order came the civil and 
 military authorities, some of them in very magnificent uniforms, 
 and bearing the flag of New Granada. Then came a representa- 
 tion of the Holy Sepulchre : it consisted of a pyramidal structure* 
 of four floors, on each of which were placed large lighted candles, 
 in glass shades, ranged as nearly together as it was possible to be, 
 and all encircled and decorated with a profusion of brightly-colored 
 flowers and glittering ribbons. The effect was very brilliant, and 
 borne after this were several other splendidly-illuminated struc- 
 tures of less symbolical importance, but almost equally resplendent 
 and superb. Then followed a number of lovely senoritas, clad in 
 the deepest black, and each bearing a lighted taper in her hand. 
 In different parts of the procession were to be seen religious en- 
 thusiasts and devotees, both male and female, who were shrouded 
 in sable drapery ; the former of whom continually scourged them- 
 selves with great apparent earnestness and frightful severity. Ac- 
 companying these were priests, and chanters, and choristers, I 
 believe ; and as the loud sound of the musical instruments died 
 softly away, and the sweet melody of the chant, and the breath 
 of the incense charmed the sense, the scene seemed more imposing 
 and touching than before. 
 
 Ten magnificent tombs were erected in the ten principal churches 
 of the city ; some were decorated in a style of eastern splendor at
 
 A MISCHIEVOUS TRICK. 343 
 
 night, and made resplendent by myriads of candles. In front 
 of them, and on the altar, were illuminated vases, groves of artifi- 
 cial and natural flowers, &c. During all the evening, numbers 
 of men and women went from one church to the other, reciting 
 prayers for the heavenly welfare of the strangers in the city. 
 
 1 have taken a good deal of this account from one of the Ameri- 
 can papers, but am sorry to add that the writer, in the middle of 
 his narration, flies into uncontrollable raptures with the delicate 
 hands and fairy feet of the Panamanian Senoritas. It appears, 
 besides, that at the close of the grand procession, from the Church 
 de la Merced, a disagreeable incident arose. The spectators, and 
 all there, were alarmed and disturbed by a creature rushing among 
 them at a furious pace, and making what the Americans call a 
 regular stampede. Some mischievous person, it seemed, had 
 caught a donkey, and attached a dry bufiulo hide, with diabolical 
 ingenuity, to the elongation of his spinal process, and he conceived 
 he might rid himself of the inconvenient appendage, by making a 
 sudden and terrific descent upon the procession. 
 
 It accomplished this, and the speedy dispersion of the crowd at 
 the same time. The culprit was finally "comprehended as a 
 wagrant," and the procession again moved on. But it seemed the 
 prestige was gone after this unlucky donkey-as-trophe, and the de- 
 viser of this vile trick rejoiced in its full success. Was he an emis- 
 sary from Exeter Hall? 
 
 One of the sad consequences of carrying fire-arms always about 
 the person, occurred here a few days ago. A man named James 
 Parker died of a gun-shot wound inflicted by a companion of his ; 
 the poor man survived the wound more than a fortnight, most of 
 that time suffering great pain. So ended the golden dreams of 
 California for this unfortunate sufferer. 
 
 Glancing at the newspapers here, you might almost imagine you 
 were in one of the busy cities of the model republic. I see an an- 
 nouncement that the " New York Hotel is situated here in the 
 main street, in the very centre of trade." In anticipation of the 
 promised Railroad, I hear they are already about to erect a " llail- 
 road Hotel" at Gorgon a ; in short, wherever there is an Ameri- 
 can, there is America : he carries his country about with him, and 
 his unremitting industry and perseverance subjugate all around him. 
 
 California by all accounts, is almost thoroughly Americanized, 
 notwithstanding the large number of settlers from other parts of 
 the world. But in a California!! newspaper, it is very common to 
 see a strange mixture of American and Mexican terms " Ayunta-
 
 TRAVELS IX AMERICA. 
 
 mientos," and regulations about " the polls," " Independent tickets," 
 and " Pronunciamientos," " alcades," and "justices of the peace," 
 all mingled together. I hear there are now, notwithstanding the 
 late departures, three thousand Americans in Panama. However, 
 a great many are going off in sailing vessels, as well as in steamers. 
 
 A little time ago, a large number who had through tickets for 
 the " Tennessee," were awaiting that steamer here, and she did not 
 make her appearance till long after the time that she was due. 
 This caused, great inconvenience, and consequently immense dis- 
 satisfaction, although generally the Americans take contretemps 
 like this very philosophically but they suspected some Ibul play, 
 it seemed. Large meetings were held, and committees appointed 
 to wait on the agent of the Pacific mail line of steam-ships (Amer- 
 ican) here. The agent promised to do all he could ; but that 
 proved to be nothing, and the malcontents became more indignant 
 and more furious still. Some of these were for seizing the steam- 
 er "Panama" (which was lying at Taboga island), vi et armis, 
 and instantly proceeding to San Francisco ; others were for march- 
 ing on the agent's office, and taking possession of all the old ink- 
 stands, desks, books, and spy-glasses belonging to the company, and 
 " holding on to them" as collateral security, for the supposed dama- 
 ges sustained. 
 
 The whole town of Panama was in a state of uproar, and the 
 graphic chronicler of these events says : " And now the tide of in- 
 dignation began to swell and heave mountain-high, every stream 
 sent its torrent, every rivulet sent its rill, and lo ! the avalanche, 
 the grand climax of desperation, was at hand !" On Tuesday, 
 the disappointed passengers had a grand meeting in the Great Pla- 
 za. Gloom and wrath sate " in mirrored armor," says the poet- 
 ical narrator, "on the brows of the desponding." Every thing 
 looked threatening and angry, when suddenly a low rumbling 
 noise, increasing as it rolled on, till it was like the roar of a 
 " young earthquake," in long petticoats, bib and tucker, announced 
 the "Tennessee!" "Has she arrived?" "Well, she has." 
 " Thus they still repeated the reverberating sound, and on the 
 glad tidings flew like a streak of flogged lightning:" and soon 
 like a great leviathan of the Pacific, the noble ship came careering 
 along, toward the anchorage of the bay. As she neared the 
 place of mooring a deafening huzza shook the air, almost like a 
 broadside, and loudly arose the chorus of that spirited song : 
 
 "Away down in Tennessee, 
 A li, e li. o li, u li.''
 
 GRAVE-YARD IN PANAMA. 345 
 
 All then became calm and serene, and they went home, singing : 
 "Corn cob, twist your hair cart-wheel surround you," or some 
 such merry ditty. 
 
 The grave-yard of Panama is a melancholy place : it is sur- 
 rounded with Avails, in which the interments are made. These 
 walls have apertures in the shape of an oven to admit the corpse; 
 and when after decay the bones become dry, they are removed to 
 make room for new bodies. The tops of the walls of the gloomy 
 inclosure are constantly strewn with skull-bones, and the corners 
 of this melancholy burial ground are crowded with the relics of 
 mortality. 
 
 Also outside the gates are graves. An American editor says, 
 he saw there the other day a horrible sight the arm of a dead 
 negro protruding about ten or twelve, inches out of the ground in 
 a state of advanced decomposition. The writer says he could not 
 judge whether this was done designedly, or through carelessness, 
 or whether the poor wretched negro, recovering from some swoon, 
 came to life after he was buried, and weakly thrust his arm out 
 thus for help, to rescue him, from what the relater rather mildly 
 calls " his unpleasant situation !" It is said the arm has since 
 been covered over. 
 
 I suppose from this, the negroes here are not buried in con- 
 secrated ground, as the frightful spectacle was beyond the gates. 
 The burial ground where foreigners are interred is a short distance 
 removed from the native cemetery, and is a small inclosure walled 
 in, and shaded by some noble trees. There are several large 
 tombstones there. 
 
 The late British Consul, I believe, built this small square, and 
 occupies a place in it : a stone slab is erected to his memory. There 
 is a tombstone, with an inscription to the memory of " Leonard 
 Childers, one of the Secretaries to the British Legation at the 
 Congress of Panama, who died at this place of the yellow fever, 
 July 16th, 1826, aged 21 years ;" and another " Sacred to the 
 Memory of John James Le Mesurier," who came to Panama, also 
 as " Secretary to Mr. Dawkins, Commissioner from the King of 
 England to the Congress of Panama. He had not been here a 
 fortnight when he was seized with the fever of this country, and 
 died at the age of 18, on the 14th of June, 1826, cut down like the 
 promise of a flower half-blown, while others live to weep him." It 
 is said, three weeks after their arrival they fell ill and died. 
 
 The American editor of "The Echo" indulges in a very noble 
 strain of feeling in dwelling on this subject, and recapitulating
 
 346 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 these melancholy details. He says : " After reading the above, 
 though an American, we felt proud that we were the descendants 
 of British ancestors. Wherever she finds her subjects in foreign 
 climes, England throws over them the mantle of protection" (not 
 Protectionists' protection !) ; " to the living, she points to the lion 
 and the unicorn, and the Cross of St. George, as the shield of 
 defense ; and to the dead, whose memories deserve memento, she 
 erects tombs and monuments to perpetuate their deeds and worth. 
 The country which produced such a poet as Gray, knew well 
 when and where to erect a ' storied urn or animated bust' to the 
 memory of her departed sons. We honor the man who loves the 
 land of his birth, and we admire and respect the government which 
 cherishes the valor and renown of her warriors and her civilians. 
 
 " But to proceed. A little further on, we saw several newly- 
 made graves the final resting-places, doubtless, of some of our ad- 
 venturous countrymen. A number of them had no board to in- 
 dicate their name, or state from whence they came ! Those that 
 had an inscription on their headstones we give below." (Then 
 follow the names of a few of the writer's countrymen.) 
 
 To have a thoroughly good and most extensive view of the bay, 
 the ocean, the islands, the forests, and a hundred miles of shore, 
 the visitor to Panama should ascend the bold steep called the Cerro 
 Lancon. About five in the morning, before the intense heat com- 
 mences, is the best time. I have not been able to attempt it in 
 consequence of this "rose-asthma" I have had. 
 
 There was a robbery the other day at the Western Hotel (about 
 1200 dollars were stolen). A man was suspected, arid he, finding 
 himself about to be arrested, ran off, but was closely pursued, and 
 near " Theatre-lane," he threw a watch over the walls. He was 
 secured, and the watch was found, with the glass broken, of course : 
 it is said it was stolen from a passenger at the hotel about three 
 weeks ago. When charged with the robbery, he acknowledged 
 he had stolen the gold watch, but denied any knowledge of or par- 
 ticipation in the recent theft of the money. When it was made 
 apparent that he had stolen the watch, the crowd " were for Lynch- 
 ing hkn on the spot, and but for the intervention of Mr. Vinton," 
 says the journal, "would have accomplished their purpose." He 
 was committed to jail to await his trial. A reward of three 
 hundred dollars has been offered for the detection of the robber or 
 robbers and return of the money, or two hundred dollars for the 
 restoration of the money only. 
 
 Nothing can be better than the tone in general of the American
 
 AMERICAN PAPERS. 347 
 
 papers established here. They are the sworn enemies of all dis- 
 order and demoralization, and the consistent advocates and sup- 
 porters of justice and right. I see in the papers that Lynch law 
 is most uncompromisingly condemned. Earnestly do " we depre- 
 cate such a course of procedure ; it is subversive of all law and 
 the most sacred rights of the citizen ; it should be frowned down, 
 by all well-thinking men." 
 
 What a wonderful people the 'Americans are ! One finds one- 
 self continually repealing this mentally, when hearing of, or seeing 
 their indomitable determination and force of character. What a 
 wonderful people, individually and collectively ! Some time ago, 
 
 many left Panama, Mr. P informs me, in old whale-boats, in 
 
 the " dug-outs" of the natives, which they converted into a rough 
 land of schooner, and in iron boats. One of these iron boats was 
 dragged across the isthmus by fifty or sixty men, and went safely, 
 1 believe, to San Francisco ; but they put out to sea in many 
 wretched vessels, entirely unsea worthy. When Mr. Bayard 
 Taylor was here, he said many small companies of men started in 
 the miserable log-canoes of the natives for El Dorado, and after a 
 forty days' voyage, during which time they only reached the Island 
 of Quibo, at the mouth of the Gulf, the greater part returned : the 
 remainder had not been heard of. 
 
 Old Panama, built by the conqueror Pizarro, is at some dis- 
 tance from the comparatively modern town ; it is further up the 
 coast. The present city was built in 1070 ; but when I look at 
 its extraordinary state of decay and dilapidation, it is really diffi- 
 cult to believe it is not far older. In how much better repair is 
 Pompeii ! 
 
 There do not seem to be many pleasant walks or rides near the 
 city, by all accounts. When you have passed through the neigh- 
 boring orchards and gardens, begin the dense woods, through which 
 there are some narrow mule-paths, and of which the embowering, 
 entangled, and thickly-accumulated underwood is completely im- 
 penetrable to the outward air. There is a malaria, too, arising 
 from the always enormous quantity of decaying vegetable matter, 
 so you may stand a chance of being asphyxized or poisoned. 
 
 Then the reptiles and insects are too endless for me to attempt 
 any enumeration of them, beyond the more familiar names of 
 musquitoes, garrapatos, centipedes, scorpions, poisonous spiders, 
 tarantulas, snakes, ants, and jiggers. The ants, by the way, eat 
 away the houses here ; when once they have effected a lodgment, 
 the beams quickly crumble away under their virulent attacks.
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 There are others that destroy paper, and others, again, that make 
 it. There are great numbers of winged ants here such little 
 torments ! They seem to be constantly devising different ingenious 
 methods of worrying you, for they fly about your head and face, 
 and when you think you have succeeded in driving them away, 
 they suddenly drop their wings entirely, and follow this up by 
 dropping themselves on your book, and rapidly crawling all over 
 the open page. If you are drinking a glass of lemonade, you find 
 it suddenly covered with floating ants' wings, that stick in your 
 throat and half choke you. If the little wretches would consult 
 their looking-glasses, they would save vis that annoyance perhaps, 
 for they are tolerably well-favored insects with wings, and fright- 
 fully ugly little plagues without. 
 
 Here conies a shower of wings on my paper. Are the little 
 rogues turned poetical ? and do they mean figuratively to bid the 
 letter "haste, haste, post haste?" a sentence our good old fore- 
 fathers were wont to write on their scrolls ; they who did not 
 know what haste meant ! when very Time seemed to have 
 dropped his wings, like these identical ants, and to go limping 
 along with a crutch and a gouty shoe. Their world, indeed, stood 
 on a tortoise, as some of the eastern nations say. 
 
 The American population resident here, and in the neighbor- 
 hood, are talking of organizing a police of their own, to prevent 
 brawls, burglaries, and street-fights. All kinds of strange accounts 
 come in from California : among other things it is said a man was 
 actually starved to death in a place called the " Happy Valley." 
 He was found quite dead, after having literally gnawed and eaten 
 the flesh from his own arms in the desperate struggle with the 
 icy King of Terrors. There are a great many terrible stories of 
 suicide and madness, and horrors and misery of all kinds there. 
 
 I believe the settlers suffer a great deal in going there, very 
 
 often, too. Mr. P says some time since a small ship, or 
 
 rather boat, started, so crowded with emigrants to California, that 
 it bore the greatest possible resemblance to a human bee-hive, 
 and that literally the unfortunate, half-suffocated passengers might 
 be seen seated in a long row on the edge, with their legs and 
 feet dangling in the water, thus attempting to keep themselves 
 cool. 
 
 There are a good many shops here, but articles in general 
 seem very dear. House-rent appears to be enormously high, and 
 
 Mr. P pays as much or more for his house, unfurnished and 
 
 unfinished (for he had to do almost every thing to it short of build-
 
 MORGAN AND HIS PIRATES. 349 
 
 ing the walls), as is demanded for a first-rate house in one of the 
 most fashionable parts of London. 
 
 I have already mentioned that Old Panama was destroyed by 
 the buccaneers in 1670, under the noted Morgan. In 1685, a vast 
 number of Filibustieros, or Buccaneers, in three companies, came 
 from Mantanzas (in Cuba) and from the Caribbean Sea, and shaped 
 their course to this part of the continent, and after encountering 
 immense difficulties, and experiencing fearful hardships, they cross- 
 ed the land in about a fortnight, and arrived at the Pacific shore. 
 One of these companies was formed of one hundred and twenty 
 Englishmen ; the second of one hundred and seventy Frenchmen ; 
 the third of two hundred and sixty persons, who were also French. 
 
 They arrived at a bay called Bocachica, and there they found 
 two canoes, which had been s<?nt to meet them by the allied bucca- 
 neers, French and English, whose fleet was cruising in the vicin- 
 ity of this city. After a little repose they started for some islands 
 called the King's Islands, about ninety miles from Panama, where 
 they met the fleet, which was now composed of ten vessels two 
 frigates, four ships, three barques, and one brig. Out of the ten 
 commanders, eight were English, one French, and the other 
 Dutch ; this last was the Admiral, and he was called David. 
 The number of men in the vessels was eleven hundred. Most of 
 these vessels had been taken by some Englishmen under com- 
 mand of David, and brought through the Straits of Magellan to 
 the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The chief now resolved to attack the Spanish fleet, which at 
 that time of the year usually came from Lima to Panama ; the 
 first expedition they made, however, was to seize on the city of 
 Seppa, about twenty-one miles east of Panama : five hundred men 
 were engaged in this expedition, who embarked in about two-and- 
 twenty large war-canoes. Seppa was taken, but it contained 
 comparatively little treasure; so that the disappointed pirates 
 looked on this expedition as a serious loss of time, with very little 
 profit. In May they left Seppa, and returned to their ships, which 
 were waiting at a little distance from the town. 
 
 Then the fleet weighed anchor, and started to the westward, 
 along the coast toward Panama. They passed on the 8th of May 
 in sight of the ruins of Old Panama, which had been destroyed by 
 Morgan, and a great number of the very men who were then 
 actually in this fleet in the later expedition. They shortly after- 
 ward reached the present town of Panama, and went down to the 
 island of Taboga, which island, says the chronicler of these events,
 
 350 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 seemed to them a perfectly enchanted spot, so admirable was the 
 beauty of its vegetation, and so splendid the edifices constructed 
 there by the wealthy inhabitants of Panama. The pirates, on 
 the 9th and 10th of May, were anxiously employed in watching 
 for the appearance of the expected Spanisli fleet. 
 
 At last, on the 17th of that month, seven noble ships were seen 
 coming toward the buccaneers, with the royal Spanish flag nailed 
 to the mast-head. The fleet of the Filibustieros rejoiced heartily 
 at this sight, exclaiming that their hopes were about to be realized, 
 and that the great struggle was at hand. None but those who 
 have either gazed upon or participated in an ocean battle, can 
 paint to their imagination the tremendous scene which shortly 
 after was exhibited on the great Pacific, when those two hostile 
 fleets met " in concerted array," on the foam-crested billows. For 
 the desperate and lawless corsairs, it would either be a victory that 
 would place them almost at the summit of their proudest hopes, or 
 a complete annihilation of their powers arid their terrors. Like 
 the pirate-scourers and sea-bandits of the Gulf, their flag displayed 
 the ghastly death's head and bones, and they were doggedly re- 
 solved to a man, to sink or swim under their almost worshiped 
 piratical banner. The admirals of the two opposing fleets, with 
 their forces drawn up in the order of fight, were met to dispute 
 the sovereignty and supremacy of the great South Sea ; for, in- 
 deed, at that period few vessels, save those of the Filibustieros and 
 the Spaniards, cruised in the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The battle was long contested, and at one time the Spaniards 
 had the decided advantage over their opponents, and would have 
 had a most complete triumph ; but unfortunately for them they 
 lacked a skillful and experienced commander to direct their oper- 
 ations, and this proved, of course, a most serious drawback to tPieir 
 cause. The pirates had their vessels greatly injured, and found 
 themselves obliged to fly in all directions, and land on divers 
 points of the coast, to repair their armament. But although over- 
 come in the first skirmish they were not destroyed, and without 
 considering their material and numerical inferiority, they sailed 
 again on the 26th of June for Panama, recruited in spirits, confi- 
 dent in hope, and with all their vessels repaired. The Spaniards 
 in the interim had fortified the city, and with their vessels in good 
 order were waiting, thoroughly prepared to encounter their deadly 
 and relentless foe. 
 
 But the cunning Filibustierios, seeing they had no chance of 
 then overpowering their adversaries, or attacking them with the
 
 ATTACK ON PANAMA. 351 
 
 faintest prospect of victory, abandoned for a time the enterprise, 
 and went on smaller expeditions along the coast, assailing and 
 sacking cities, and plundering vessels wherever they could find any 
 treasure worthy their attention. 
 
 Among these lesser expeditions, one of the most important was 
 directed against the city of Realejo, 795 miles west of Panama. 
 Realejo was taken and hurnt down in October, together with a 
 considerable number of towns and villages in the vincinity. At 
 the beginning of the year 1686, the buccaneers with their fleets, 
 directed their course toward the city of Panama, and, as they had 
 previously done, made Taboga their head-quarters. After having 
 made their depot secure by strengthening and fortifying it as well 
 as they could, they resolved on losing no time in making au on- 
 slaught on the city; and they obliged the President of Panama 
 (as a preliminary measure to their operations) to surrender all the 
 prisoners the Spaniards had taken in the previous ferocious en- 
 gagements on these waters. They then seized all the provisions 
 in the place, to sustain them in their lawless career ; and after 
 that, they made a further demand on the President, insisting on 
 his paying six thousand dollars ; to which demand, backed by so 
 formidable a force, the President submitted. 
 
 Emboldened by their success, the freebooters, with their usual 
 audaciousness, again made a levy of ten thousand dollars on the 
 President, to which the Spanish chief magistrate, though with 
 reluctance and deep humiliation, was compelled by circumstances 
 to submit. The buccaneers, having extorted these sums of money, 
 returned, well pleased with their success ; and they proceeded up 
 the Bay of Panama. 
 
 The pirates during the years 16SG and 1687 haunted the sea- 
 coast of Central America, and successively seized on all the pros- 
 perous and flourishing cities which the Spaniards had built in that 
 part of t&e world. Realejo, Acapulco, and Tequilla were taken and 
 plundered by them. A party of the Filibustieros sailed in one of 
 their vessels, and went as far as California, where they found some 
 Spanish settlements and missions already established. But the El 
 Dorado of the present time was then not known to possess such 
 golden attractions; and as the promise of plunder and booty in 
 those regions appeared to be small, they resolved to abandon the 
 now far-famed land, as not presenting sufficient charms or guer- 
 dons for their bold exploits and intrepid achievements. It was 
 said of old, the inhabitants of the "Eureka State" were so poor, 
 they lived upon fried grasshoppers.
 
 352 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The buccaneers, wherever they presented themselves, were com- 
 monly successful : but at length the Spaniards, becoming more 
 accustomed to their peculiar mode of warfare, fortified their cities, 
 and increased their defenses ; while the pirates, from leading a 
 rough, roving, and irregular life, exposed to countless hardships 
 and privations, were being diminished day by day ; so that, toward 
 the termination of their wonderful career in the Pacific, a mere 
 skeleton of this once-powerful banded force of ocean brigands was 
 left as a small nucleus, around which to muster and rally their 
 marauding and piratical forces. Whenever there was a city de- 
 stroyed by these corsairs, the Spaniards immediately reconstruct- 
 ed it again, fortified it with the strongest-walled barriers, and fur- 
 nished it with guns of the heaviest calibre. 
 
 The buccaneers, having succeeded in accumulating immense 
 hoards of treasure, tired of their life of lawless enterprise, and with 
 their best leaders growing gray and superannuated, resolved at 
 length to abandon their pillaging and piracies of the Southern Seas 
 and the cities of the coast, and to return home, leaving their extra- 
 ordinary deeds and works behind them, for the wonder, the admira- 
 tion, or condemnation of after ages. 
 
 In the year 1688, they returned to the shores of the Atlantic, 
 directing their footsteps across the Isthmus of Panama, by the 
 same route they had taken in their unhallowed pilgrimage west- 
 ward. The terrible piratical flag of the death's head and bones 
 never more streamed in hideous ascendency over the mighty waters 
 of the Pacific, as if the King of Terrors himself were watching for 
 his prey, determined that the bright waves of the Southern Seas 
 should vie with the graves of Earth in concealing the mouldering 
 remains of mortality. 
 
 This is a brief sketch of the last famous voyage of the bucca- 
 neers in. the Pacific. It appears to be very commonly believed 
 that they did not carry with them (when they abandoned their 
 life of peril and plunder) all the vast, the almost unbounded riches 
 they had accumulated, by perpetually pillaging vessels, and sack- 
 ing flourishing and wealthy cities. 
 
 Many historians and narrators have thought (and it is said that 
 a great number of persons in Panama believe it) that they deposited 
 an enormous amount of wealth (specie and heaps of jewels) under- 
 ground, in some of the islands which were their usual places of 
 rendezvous, in the intervals of their daring expeditions, which 
 costly treasures they did not, from various reasons, dig up from 
 their hiding-places. These islands are situated between Panama
 
 THE AMERICAN PRESS. 353 
 
 and Realejo, all along the coast. In late times some exploring 
 parties have been organized to seek in these localities for the spots 
 where it is supposed some of these valuable treasures were hidden. 
 No satisfactory discoveries have been made as yet ; no precious 
 jewels, no heaps of gold, no chests of silver bullion, have shone 
 forth, to reward the treasure-hunter's toil. To this hour, it .appears, 
 the earth, to whose keeping the gathered spoils were confided, has 
 guarded the wealth in her secret recesses. 
 
 There are a great many difficulties in the way of the explorers ; 
 but, if the tale be true, I have no doubt that, sooner or later, the 
 indefatigable hands of Americans will succeed in disemboweling 
 the treasures, and giving back to the light of <lay the precious spoils 
 that rewarded the intrepid enterprises and fearless adventures of 
 the famous and powerful Filibustieros. There are, however, 
 nobler objects for the Americans to direct their minds toward ac- 
 complishing. 
 
 Bolivar, though doubtless he in some respects, revolutionized 
 the minds of the people, and made them friends of liberty, yet did 
 little more for their advancement or their enlightenment. He left 
 behind him nothing, here at least it would seem, that could con- 
 tribute either toward the intellectual elevation of their minds, or 
 to the enlargement of their stores of knowledge. It is said there 
 is an educational institution here, not much superior to an infant 
 school in England. The industrial pursuits of peace are but poorly 
 and scantily developed, and the Americans may, and I doubt not 
 will do much in time by their enlightened example and assistance 
 in awakening the dormant energies of the people, and improving 
 their intellectual condition generally. Wherever an American 
 goes, there springs up his free press the constant accompaniment 
 of his footsteps. 
 
 It is asserted that during the Mexican war the Americans had 
 newspapers constantly printed to amuse their anxious and weary 
 hours, animate and Hghten their labors, and reconcile them to 
 hardships and privations of all kinds. An American looks upon 
 his daily press and his daily bread as equally necessary to his ex- 
 istence.
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 The probable Future of Panama South American Railroads projected 
 Gold-seekers in Panama Large Importation of Fruit-trees into California 
 American Improvements in Panama Alleged lll-treatrr^nt of Emi- 
 grants by Ship-owners The Green Mountain Yankee The Indians and 
 the damp Gunpowder. The Government of New Granada Its recent 
 Policy. 
 
 WHAT will be the future of Panama, it is impossible with any 
 precision to say. Situated as it is about midway between Patago- 
 nia and the United States' possessions up to the confines of Oregon, 
 it is most favorably placed ; and its commercial facilities in this 
 central position, are almost unrivaled by any port on the western 
 side of this great continent nearer than Valparaiso in the south, or 
 San Francisco in the west. 
 
 If it ever has a railroad or a canal connecting the waters of the 
 two oceans, terminating at this point or in the vicinity, it would 
 be scarcely possible to exaggerate the enormous magnitude and 
 amount of the trade, which would follow the completion of either 
 of these means of transit and oceanic intercommunication. What 
 an immensity of traffic would necessarily centre here ! How would 
 this wretchedly dilapidated city spring up from ruin'and decay, and 
 more than regain its pristine splendor ! how would it extend its 
 dimensions ; recruit its impoverished finances, and probably become 
 at no very distant period the capital and the commercial metrop- 
 olis of a wealthy and wide-spread empire. 
 
 The products of China and Japan, and the innumerable fabrics 
 of eastern climes and lands, would assuredly seek this as the easiest 
 and most direct communication with the United States and with 
 Europe ; and the route of Cape Horn, so tedious and perilous, would 
 be entirely abandoned. How would the flags of all the nations of 
 the world be reflected on the waters of this beautiful bay ! 
 
 The government of New Granada appears to be a very liberal 
 government, on the whole ; and from all I can collect, it seems to 
 be nearly th 1 ? best of the South American republican governments 
 altogether. The President, in his message last month, was able 
 to say : " New Granada is at peace with all the neighboring re- 
 publics, arid%the great Powers of the North, and of Europe. While 
 the other republics of South America are still disturbed by internal
 
 RAILROADS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 355 
 
 troubles, New Granada presents the spectacle of peace and happi- 
 ness." 
 
 I believe the same steamer in which we are going to Lima will 
 convey to Callao in Peru and to Chili the engineers who are en- 
 gaged to superintend the formation of the first railroads ever con- 
 structed in South America. An American company is going to 
 commence a line in Chili from the port of Caldera, on the Pacific 
 Ocean, to Copiapo, in the mining district of that country, about 
 fifty-five miles from the sea-board. The chief and most active di- 
 rectors of this company are natives of the United States, who have 
 been for many years resident in Chili, and have justly acquired a 
 very considerable influence there by their character for enterprise, 
 their liberality, and public spirit. 
 
 Copiapo, in the province of Coquimbo, is above 500 miles north 
 of Valparaiso, in one of the most productive of the mining districts 
 of Chili. It is said to be about 1100 feet above the Pacific, and 
 the road will be 55 miles long, with descending grades from that 
 point to the coast, the grades not to exceed fifty feet to the mile in 
 any part. The engines are made by Messrs. Norris, of the United 
 States, and the cars, and turn-tables, and the entire equipment of 
 the road, are made in the United States. The iron for the rails, 
 I believe, came from England. The other line is much shorter, 
 being only from Callao to Lima, about eight miles. 
 
 These, the first two railroads in South America, are almost cer- 
 tain to be successful, and will introduce, under i'avorable auspices, 
 to this vast continent, one of the most prominent features of modern 
 civilization and prosperity. It is an era, indeed, for the people of 
 these regions. 
 
 Americans still keep pouring into Panama ; for steamers are 
 continually coming to Chagres, bringing large parties of emigrants. 
 We hear that several have lately lost their way in the dense for- 
 ests of the isthmus. It often becomes indispensably necessary to 
 lighten the ascending canoes (overloaded as they i'requently are) 
 about six miles below Gorgona, and the passengers are required to 
 find their own way as best they can to that place. They usually 
 try to take a path across the country ; but as it is exceedingly dif- 
 ficult to do this, they often miss their way, and many of them 
 acquire, unwillingly, a great deal of topographical knowledge from 
 having to pass a weary night among the woods and hills ; but it 
 sometimes ends seriously. 
 
 Mr. Montague, an American gentleman, told me the other day 
 he had heard some dead bodies had been found in the forest, which,
 
 356 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 there was too much reason to suppose, were the remains of some 
 of his unfortunate countrymen. 
 
 We begin to like much the style of living here, and especially 
 the cool, light architecture of the houses : the rooms are invariably 
 high, and the windows and doors very large. In these hot coun- 
 tries, in general, by the way, it seems the heights of the natives' 
 houses might serve as a kind of thermometer, to inform the traveler 
 of the average degrees of heat. It appears that the temperature 
 instinctively, to a certain extent, determines the elevation. Where 
 there is great heat, the habitations are enormously high, and where 
 the atmosphere is subject occasionally to chilly damps, or the place 
 is exposed to winds more or less violent, the roofs are proportionally 
 lower. They generally build their houses, in the native villages, 
 on a raised bank of earth. 
 
 In all the warm regions the invaluable bamboo furnishes " the 
 uprights" at the angles of the proposed edifice, and the jambs of the 
 doorways ; and when the heat is uninterrupted and uniform, mats 
 of the palm usually, and other easily-appropriated materials, form 
 the slight partitions within and without (in most of the houses 
 there are only the canes for walls). Every where the thatched or 
 tiled roof presents a spacious veranda, an open colonnade, which 
 surrounds the house (of enormous dimensions in some of the better 
 houses), which veranda is in fact a continuation of the sloping 
 line of the roof beyond the upright partitions, and either a length- 
 ening of the rafter-like timbers of the roof resting their termina- 
 tions on a line of perpendicular posts beyond the wall of the house, 
 or an addition made after the construction of the simple edifice. 
 
 I hear that for several days past a number of the detained Cal- 
 ifornians have been washing with bowls and tin pans the earth 
 and sand near the breaches in the ancient wall on the south side 
 of Panama. There were rumors that some sparkling dust had 
 been observed by persons accidentally wandering in that vicinity. 
 The eager emigrants (hoping they had detected a rival to the 
 mighty gold-dust-bin, California !) instantly began to dig out the 
 vast mass of rubbish scattered about in that neighborhood, think- 
 ing any thing that glittered on the Pacific coast must be gold ; but 
 on carefully testing the produce of their day's zealous labors, they 
 found they had got nothing but the scorious refuse from some 
 Spanish bell-casting or cannon-founding of olden times. 
 
 I mentioned that we had seen emerge from the cavernous hold 
 of the " Georgia" a small forest of trees, as if from that " oak levi- 
 athan" were sprouting numerous younger branches. It appears
 
 FRUIT-TREES FOR CALIFORNIA. 357 
 
 probable that they belonged to a Mr. Booth, of New Jersey, who 
 is taking with him to the El Dorado about thirty thousand fruit- 
 trees. What a benefactor is this orchard-planter to all the future 
 little school-boys of the Gold State ! Who does the most good, the 
 leader in wars and insurrections, or the public- spirited individual 
 who benevolently adopts means to provide posterity with the bless- 
 ings of pumpkin-pies, or seeks to lighten the labors of learning by 
 affording the cheering consolations of apple-dumplings ? Apples, 
 too, grown in such a soil ! Must not every pippin be a golden 
 pippin, and indeed every apple equal to the one for which three 
 goddesses disputed ] 
 
 The El Doradians are too good-natured to be angry with me for 
 a little Californian epitaph I made the other day : 
 
 Frienc's ! but let me for awhile in this auriferous soil remain, 
 
 Then, when changed to gold-dust, dig me up, and take me home again. 
 
 We are informed that American improvements are thronging fast 
 in upon the Panamanians. A genuine Yankee hand-cart has been 
 seen in the Plaza, the first vehicle of the kind ever witnessed here 
 at least within the memory of man. There is an ox-cart, 
 besides, just established for heavy goods, drawn by a solemn-look- 
 ing pair of oxen, particularly dilatory in their movements, who 
 are tugged along by a mozo, by means of a rope in their noses. 
 " Clear the track !" cry the Americans, who are charmed at these 
 signs of coming improvements, and hail the innovations heartily. 
 
 Several of the steamers over-due have not yet arrived, and much 
 discontent continues to prevail. Some of the poor passengers have 
 not hesitated to say they considered themselves swindled out of 
 their money ; others declare they have already submitted to cruel 
 hardships and impositions. I hear that many of them protest they 
 were shown a diagram of the ship (a most perfect model) they 
 were to take their passage in, and the exact position of their berth 
 was pointed out to them ; but they were soon lamentably un- 
 deceived : they were thrust, they say, into a different quarter from 
 that which had been shown to them, and instead of a berth, an 
 atrocious invention of the enemy called a " standee" (a miserable 
 thing, made to be just put up at night for the f/zs-accommodation 
 of the unlucky martyrs) was substituted. Yet they all look as 
 good-humored as ever, when by chance you see them sauntering 
 about, and trying to do nothing, which seems very difficult to them 
 a herculean task, indeed ! 
 
 I must give the reader, for his edification, an account of a eon
 
 358 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 of the Green Mountains, in the United States, during a storm at 
 sea : in the papers it is headed, characteristically, " It takes a 
 Yankee, it does !" During the last trip of the nohle steam-ship 
 " Ohio," from New York to Chagres, and while the terrific gale 
 which she encountered was raging at its very highest pitch, and 
 half the passengers were on their knees, expecting the vessel to go 
 to the bottom every moment, and the other half standing aghast, 
 and gazing horror-stricken at the awful abyss of foaming water 
 yawning hideously before them, a tall, Green Mountain Yankee, 
 from Vermont, with a white hat stuck knowingly (and how it 
 stuck on at all in that gale must ever remain a mystery !) on one 
 side of his head, was observed pacing the deck, deeply " calc'lat- 
 ing," and soon he was heard inquiring whether there were any 
 " Califbrny" tickets for sale he was willing to give one half and 
 would run all the risk ! The newspaper account thus ends : " That 
 chap is now in Panama, and sails hence lor San Francisco, in the 
 'Oregon.' We rather 'guess' he will find a prospect in Cali- 
 fornia !" 
 
 There are ten steamers now anxiously expected here that are 
 coming round the Horn, or through the Straits of Magellan, one 
 of which is a river steamer, called the " New World," intended 
 to run on the Sacramento River. This is the second river steamer 
 that has ever been sent round. 
 
 I must repeat a tough story that is now in circulation relative to 
 the natives and their unsophisticated simplicity. A number of 
 kegs of gunpowder, it is asserted, were placed upon the backs of 
 the " men-mules" (who would be, were it not for the opposition- 
 trains of their less numerous four-footed rivals, in almost the posi- 
 tion of the camel the ship of the desert), for transport across the 
 isthmus, with the strictest reiterated directions that they should be 
 kept perfectly dry ; but unfortunately a most violent shower of 
 rain overtook them before they got half-way across. The powder 
 they had much reason to fear, had become wetted by the super- 
 abundant fluid. 
 
 In this predicament they kindled a good fire, and an attempt 
 was instantaneously made to dry the combustible compound of 
 saltpetre and brimstone ; when, alack ! it ignited, exploded, and 
 went off like a tremendous sky-rocket, shaking the ground, and 
 blowing the unhappy Indians into the air, and shivering them into 
 twenty thousand pieces. 
 
 I have said that the Government of New Granada seems one 
 of a really liberal character ; and the news lately arrived from
 
 GOVERNMENT OF NEW GRANADA. 359 
 
 Bogota would seem to corroborate that statement. The Secretary 
 of State has just presented a law to establish immediately the 
 freedom of the press. The ministers, I see, have lately presented 
 a projected law for the decentralization of the financial adminis- 
 tration of the Granadian Republic. This seems a hazardous ex- 
 periment ; for if it receives the national sanction, it will doubtlessly 
 tend to weaken much the Federal System here. 
 
 If each of these provinces (as they are called) has the manage- 
 ment of its own financial affairs, the political power of the country 
 will most likely fall into anarchy. This country requires, I should 
 think, as much consolidation as possible ; and any thing that tends 
 to overthrow the unity of government would materially injure its 
 prosperity. 
 
 They have a Vice-President here, after the example of the 
 United States, and his election, by late accounts, was just about to 
 take place. General Obando is the new " Designado." If the 
 President and Vice-President both should die, the " Designado" at 
 once assumes the supreme power of the government, and is imme- 
 diately recognized as the head of the nation. In short, he is 
 another edition of the Vice-President, a second " en cas ;" so that 
 New Granadians would seem to be very careful not to have a 
 chance of being left without a supreme governor for a moment. 
 They must, I suppose, be aware that they are terribly flighty 
 mice, and sure to play when the cat is away, since they seem 
 so anxious to provide a number of " deputy-provisionary-vice-sub- 
 supernumeraries. ' '
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Arrival at Lima announced Embark on the " Bolivia" View of Panama 
 from the Sea Buenaventura The River and City of Guayaquil Horses' 
 Dread of Alligators Native Boats and their varied Freight Parrots, 
 Macaws, and Paroquets Ponchos The Guayaquil Ladies Grass Hats 
 The five Productions of Guayaquil Payta Its Population Its Salu- 
 brity Its Market Scarcity of Water at Payta Former Wealth of that 
 Place. 
 
 WE arrived at Lima in perfect safety a few days ago. I should 
 not at all repent of the resolution I had taken to come here, were 
 it not that I shall thus be longer without my English letters, which 
 will be awaiting me at Jamaica. 
 
 I must console myself by thinking I am on my way home, though 
 by a rather lengthened circumbendibus ! I was so afraid of miss- 
 ing my letters altogether, if I attempted to arrange for them to 
 follow me, that I preferred the chance of their accumulating, and 
 waiting for me at some given spot ; and besides, I originally cal- 
 culated on being at Jamaica long before this : it is very difficult 
 to arrange satisfactorily about letters at such a distance. 
 
 The sea voyage hither has done us an immensity of good, and 
 also the delicious climate of Lima. We suffered terribly from the 
 intense heat, however, during part of our voyage ; but I have 
 now got rid of the remains of that hay-asthma, which incapacitated 
 me so much from going about for nearly a fortnight at Panama. 
 
 We hear that the cholera, which is said never to have passed 
 the Equator, is now within three leagues of Bogota, and apparently 
 gradually creeping on. The people here say it will stop at the 
 Line nous verrons .' 
 
 The morning we left Panama was not very hot, fortunately for 
 us, for of course we had to walk to the beach (at about the hottest 
 time of the day, too), as it was the only way of getting there, un- 
 less we had ridden on rnules, which was not worth while, or gone 
 in the famous hand-cart. Behold us, then, on our sultry way, after 
 having taken leave of our lovely and amiable young hostess, escort- 
 ed by our thrice hospitable host, and with Pio (not " Nono," the 
 Pope, unless again in disguise, but that secular individual who 
 filled the office of head-mozo in the Consular establishment) super- 
 intending the safe conveyance of our luggage, carried by peons. 
 We were introduced to the captain of the " Bolivia" on the shore,
 
 VIEW OF PANAMA FROM THE SEA. 361 
 
 who subsequently very obligingly made every possible arrangement 
 for our comfort and accommodation on board the steamer, and we 
 were soon rapidly gliding along toward the vessel among the snow- 
 white pelicans. 
 
 When we got pretty near the English steamer, we saw a boat 
 alongside, from which people were, it seemed to us, ineffectually 
 attempting to raise some huge dark object into the steamer. This 
 was an immense bullock, which we for some time thought was 
 dead, but after awhile he showed that he was very alive, kicking 
 and struggling tremendously : he floundered about, half in the 
 water, it seemed, more like a young whale on four legs than a re- 
 spectable land animal, accustomed to the progress of civilization, 
 and the society of domesticated cattle, and about to be devoted to 
 the service of some of his cousins and namesakes. At last the 
 poor bull was hoisted into the vessel in safety. 
 
 The view of Panama from the sea is lovely. When we had 
 steamed along about an hour, we came to Taboga, after passing 
 several other hilly and volcanic-looking islands. Taboga is very 
 lovely. Down to the beach grow the rich groves of orange and of 
 tamarind. Besjde a clump of cocoa-nut palms is the town, shel- 
 tered and shaded ; and the hills rise, as they so often do in these 
 delightful regions, in a beauteous semicircular amphitheatre of 
 natural terraces, enriched with the most exquisite vegetation to 
 their summits. Some of them may be about one thousand feet 
 high. Various species of palm, and banana, and lemon, and orange, 
 and tamarind trees cover the ground in a thick mass, till, on the 
 beach, they almost dip into the water. 
 
 It is said I know not with what accuracy that this is the 
 only place between Cape Horn and San Francisco, where a dry 
 dock is practicable, and that here it would be very easy to construct 
 one. The Indian houses here seem to be thatched with grass, and 
 there is a curious fashion of arranging gourds on the roof, divided 
 in two, to preserve them from rain. 
 
 At dinner, we met Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, and a sister, I 
 think, of that lady's. Besides us the two latter "were the only 
 ladies on board. Mr. Campbell is the chief superintendent of the 
 American engineer corps for the projected Chilian railroad. He 
 was accompanied by two resident engineers, and several first-as- 
 sikants ; and there are a number, besides, of artisans and sub- 
 assistants. 
 
 The chief engineer of the Anglo- Peruvian railroad was also on 
 board, with a considerable band of associates and assistants. Tho 
 
 Q
 
 362 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 first place we stopped at was Buenaventura, which was a miser- 
 able-looking town. Whether it had ever seen better days in the 
 time of the Spanish dominion, and has become impoverished and 
 half depopulated since, I know not. The coast was rugged and 
 bold, but nobly wooded. 
 
 Buenaventura is the port of Bogota, on the Pacific. Those 
 who go by this route to the capital, generally follow the course of 
 the river Cauca to Cartago, from whence they ride along a dread- 
 ful road to Bogota. The time occupied altogether by this journey 
 is usually about three weeks. The country, we were told, is 
 splendid. The Atlantic and Pacific are thought to be connected 
 through a communication between the Cauca and the Magdelena. 
 
 From Buenaventura we proceeded to Guayaquil. Soon after 
 crossing the Line we found the heat intense, and so it continued 
 till we got near Callao. We were much amused by one of our 
 fellow-travelers in the morning rushing into the cabin to know 
 whether we would not go on deck to see the' Line, as we were 
 very near it. 
 
 Before entering the Guayaquil river M r e passed the singular 
 rock called by the English Dead Man's Island ; by the Equador- 
 ians, El Enamortajado (corpse). We thought it looked very 
 much like a gigantic fossilized Egyptian mummy ; a most colossal 
 corpse laid in state on its boundless ocean bed, with its face up- 
 turned to the everlasting sun and stars. Noble sepulchral lamps, 
 indeed ! 
 
 There is a story in reference to its sombre designation of terror, 
 of some men having been forgotten there and left to perish during 
 a Guayaquil Pronunciamiento ; but its extraordinary formation is 
 sufficient to account for its melancholy name. After that we 
 passed a large island called Puna. 
 
 The river of Guayaquil is a noble, deep, large stream. While 
 we were ascending it we felt almost sufibcated with the heat, 
 which was terribly oppressive. Guayaquil is eighty-five miles 
 from the mouth of the river. When the heat of the fcun moder- 
 ated, we went on deck. 
 
 I thought some of the scenery on the banks lovely ; in many 
 parts they appeared to rne to assume a particularly park-like 
 aspect, with charming openings between the groups of trees, that 
 made one long to land and explore a little there please the mus- 
 quitoes. 
 
 We tried in vain to catch a glimpse of grand old kingly Chim- 
 borazo and the great Cotopaxi. There was^a floating canopy of
 
 CITY OF GUAYAQUIL. 363 
 
 clouds to be seen, and that was all. Before we reached the river 
 there suddenly came on thousands of bright, beautiful flashes of 
 lightning, like winged suns darting about with bewildering rapid- 
 ity most exquisite meteorological pyrotechnics they were and 
 with their dazzling reflections they sometimes almost made the 
 Pacific one sheet of flame. The southern constellations and con- 
 spicuously beautiful and interesting among them the Cross look- 
 ed magnificent when the lightning partially ceased. 
 
 At length we arrived at the town of Guayaquil, the chief sea- 
 port of Ecuador. There has been a serious rebellion going on 
 (and that is strange, for one really wonders how they can go on 
 with their petty revoltings and revolutionizings without laughing), 
 and the city is actually in the hands of the wrong man, whoever 
 that may be. I heard his name but forget it, which is as well, 
 for he may very likely be the right ^man by this time. There 
 were no signs of any thing being altered or disordered in any way 
 by this pronunciamientical state of things. 
 
 These outbreaks seem a part of the constitutions of these new 
 Southern republics generally. " Sweet chasing sweet, joy over- 
 taking joy." I am told that in Peru, the election for the Presi- 
 dent regularly produces one, or rather is one. Law and order are 
 entirely set at defiance ; rebellions and massacres are then merely 
 pardonable ebullitions of enthusiasm and patriotism, and are quite 
 amicably committed, and, as the Frenchman said when he killed 
 his wife, innocently done in a petit moment de vivacite. In short, 
 revolution seems almost the normal state of things. No wonder 
 Guayaquil looked so gay and contented. 
 
 I know not whether there was any extra lighting of the town 
 to express their joy at being in such delightful circumstances ; but 
 I must say, I have seldom beheld a more magnificently-illumina- 
 ted city than Guayaquil. As you ascend the river the town is on 
 the left-hand side ; broad quays of immense length, and splendidly 
 lit-up at night, adorn the city greatly, besides being eminently 
 useful to the shipping ; for, when moored to the rings upon the 
 wharf, vessels of very considerable size may remain alongside of 
 them without touching the ground. 
 
 There are said to be immense numbers of very large alligators 
 some miles above the town. They occasionally overset acciden- 
 tally the slight and fragile canoes of the Indians, who bring in 
 these boats to the Guayaquil market fruit and vegetables (among 
 which are enormous numbers of splendid pine-apples) ; then woe 
 to the poor boatman ! for the moment the alligator sees him in
 
 3C4 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the water, he seizes upon him, and his repast is too soon an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 They say the horses and cattle are afraid of going to the river 
 to drink, and often make use of different stratagems to avoid this 
 ferocious enemy ; but, if they unsuspiciously come and stoop down 
 to drink, the alligator, till then concealed, or nearly so, darts at 
 the head of the poor animal, insultingly pulls his nose, and drags 
 him quickly down, depriving him of all power of motion by a blow 
 from his terrible tail. The common belief in the complete im- 
 penetrability of an alligator's natural coat of mail is now some- 
 times disputed ; though there is no doubt that he is provided with 
 very excellent armor. 
 
 Guayaquil appeared to me an exceedingly picturesque town. 
 The balconied and veranda-surrounded houses have a particular- 
 ly pretty effect, especially in the brilliant illumination that I have 
 described. Guayaquil looked all alive ; but we saw no symptoms 
 of anarchy ; numerous promenaders seemed enjoying the beauty of 
 the evening. 
 
 It is curious that here, within two degrees of the equator, the 
 ladies are remarkably fair, and, indeed, have almost Anglo-Saxon 
 complexions. They are celebrated for their beauty ; and former- 
 ly, I believe, in the Spanish days, there were many very distin- 
 guished families residing here, possessed of enormous wealth. 
 
 In the morning we beheld a very gay and busy scene : the 
 steamer was literally surrounded with native boats of all shapes 
 and sizes, some filled to overflowing with almost innumerable par- 
 rots, macaws, and paroquets ; pine apples and various tropical 
 fruits in others, piled in perfect pyramids and mounds ; and the 
 noise was nearly deafening. Every parrot strained its harsh voice 
 to the utmost, and seemed in the greatest possible rage and 
 fury. Was there a revolution among the ornithological population 
 of the republic, as well as among the human ? Was this a par- 
 rot-and-paroquet pronunciamiento ? No ; they were too sensible 
 they only objected, perhaps instinctively, to a sea-voyage. But 
 what a noise they made ! Talk of people being deafened by artil- 
 lery in a battle, indeed ! the sharp edge of these piercing sounds 
 seemed to cut through and through the tympanum like knives. 
 ' The little paroquets (some were lovely tiny creatures, with 
 white rings round their necks, and the most charming little tur- 
 quoise-blue heads conceivable) repeated incessantly, "Perroquito 
 chiquito, blanquito bonito ;" and the macaws reiterated, in their 
 hoarse, guttural manner, " Tocar la pata," or something like that,
 
 PONCHOS. 365 
 
 in the hubbub. /The poor birds seemed fit for Bedlam at last, for 
 none appeared to like to give in, and the clatter seemed to increase. 
 If the natives wished to find purchasers, surely they should have 
 gagged these ear-splitting creatures. 
 
 For a moment a terrible idea floated over my horror-stricken 
 imagination. Was it possible the living contents of these canoes 
 would be transferred to the good steamer "Bolivia?" But no; most 
 of the passengers must have had a surfeit of parrot-talking forever. 
 If there were any amiable English visitors on board, politically in- 
 clined, and ambitious of a seat in Britain's Parliament, I have 
 good reason to think that morning's trial and torment has caused 
 them to change their minds ; and if any of them should have been 
 elected (as I arn told a gentleman lately was) in their absence, 
 they will probably take an early opportunity of accepting the 
 Chiltern Hundreds. 
 
 Extraordinary as it may appear, a few of the shrieking chatter- 
 boxes were bought. One little blue-headed beauty became a great 
 
 favorite with V ; but whether, as some thought, the poor 
 
 little thing had been injured, or whether it never recovered its own 
 small share in the animated debate I have spoken of, I know not ; 
 but it died very soon. 
 
 The Captain sent me some splendid ponchos to look at, which 
 were of very brilliant colors, and exquisite materials. They were 
 made by the Indian women ; and they say these fine and beauti- 
 fully-finished ones take a great deal of time, and a considerable 
 amount of labor. They were fringed and embroidered, and ap- 
 peared to be of rich silk ; but I believe were formed entirely of 
 the wool of the Vicuna. 
 
 I am constrained to confess, Guayaquil is rather a candle-light 
 beauty ; not so, it seems, are the Guayaquilenas, with their deli- 
 cate complexions and masses of magnificent hair and miniatures 
 of feet Cinderella's glass-slipper would not have fitted many of 
 these South American ladies, for it would have been much too 
 large. The Guayaquil grass hats are very famous : they vary in 
 price from three to fifty dollars : they are extraordinarily durable, 
 and the best require great care and attention in choosing the 
 peculiar grass of which they are made, and subsequently in pre- 
 paring it ; which accounts for the apparently extravagant price 
 asked for those of superior manufacture. 
 
 Ecuador, in which this grass grows, I believe, prohibits its ex- 
 portation. The most delicate of these hats can only be worked 
 upon, it is said, in a particular state of the atmosphere, which re-
 
 366 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 stricts the hours of labor upon it (without any interference of our 
 benevolent Lord Ashley) to a limited number during the day, con- 
 sequently a very perfect and superfine hat occupies whole months 
 in preparation. Of course, the only genuine ones are made at the 
 place whence the hats take their name ; but large numbers of 
 a very tolerably successful imitation, though decidedly inferior, are 
 manufactured in the province of Piura in Peru, and exported 
 from Payta. 
 
 Gay and brilliant as revolutionized Guayaquil looked, we were 
 not sorry to leave it; for the heat and the musquitoes were alto- 
 gether almost insupportable. We bade farewell at last to the 
 town, and started, carrying off from those thick-thronging boats 
 full of pine-apples and paroquets, quite a mountain of the former, 
 which are certainly rnarvelously excellent at that place ; they are 
 very large and juicy, and of most exquisite flavor, and the inside 
 is of a snowy whiteness. 
 
 We had some Guayaquil beef at dinner, which was exceedingly 
 good ; so that five productions of Guayaquil seem to be superlative- 
 ly fine beef, hats, pine-apples, ladies, and paroquets. 
 
 How we longed, as we steamed down the river whose heated 
 banks seemed steaming in emulation to breathe the fresh air of 
 the ocean ! Still the pretty scenery of parts of the river kept us 
 at the cabin windows, though the closeness of the atmosphere did 
 not allow us to dream even that we were inhaling that luxury 
 called air. 
 
 At length we were once more on the glorious Pacific, on our 
 way to Payta. Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, were neither of them 
 visible ; but the ocean looked as beautiful as it possibly could, to 
 -console us a little for the disappointment. 
 
 Payta is an extraordinary place indeed a sterile, treeless, water- 
 less desert. It is the port of Piura, the chief town of the province ; 
 which large town is distant about forty miles in the interior, and 
 is the first city built by Pizarro, when he conquered the province. 
 It is said to contain about 12,000 inhabitants. The population, 
 of Payta amounts to about 4000. 
 
 The bay on which it is built, if I am correctly informed, affords 
 the only secure anchorage on this part of the coast. It is difficult 
 to imagine any thing more dreary, wild, and inhospitable-looking 
 than this bleak, arid place. 
 
 The houses, with their high, thatched roofs, stand under a bar- 
 ren range of yellow, bilious-looking sand-hills, that seem afflicted 
 with a perpetual jaundice : there is neither tuft nor sprig, nor
 
 SALUBRITY OF PAYTA. 367 
 
 leaf nor blade of vegetation visible. Most of the houses are con- 
 structed of the bamboo, either slightly filled in with clay, or inter- 
 mixed with a few strips and shreds of hide, and the principal ones 
 are coated with mud inside and outside, and whitewashed : the 
 habitations of the Indians, like those on the Isthmus, are mere 
 cages of cane. It is like dwelling in a Brobdignagian wicker-basket 
 turned topsy-turvy, and with an immense extinguisher-like thatched 
 roof, in place of the bottom of the basket. 
 
 Dreary and melancholy as its appearance is, the situation of 
 this town is said to be particularly salubrious : the Indians live to 
 an exceedingly advanced age here. The profession of the healing 
 art has a very bad chance at Payta : a barber and a painter are said 
 to have followed the medical line here, arid undertaken to attempt 
 to kill off a few of those long-lived individuals, but unsuccessfully: 
 draughts could not destroy them pills could not poison them. 
 
 Before the yoke of Spain was thrown off, there was a very con- 
 siderable overland commerce from the Atlantic coast to Panama, 
 on the Pacific : the richly-freighted argosies, heavy with gold and 
 treasure, always put into Payta, on their way to and from Callao 
 strange as it may seem for water, as well as provisions. Pro- 
 visions and water are brought from the interior, and the latter 
 from some distance, for there is not a single drop of fresh drinking 
 water within six leagues of the place : as a shower of rain only 
 falls about once in three or four years, the inhabitants are entirely 
 dependent upon a river six leagues off, for that essential necessary 
 of life. Regularly every morning come in, laden with water- 
 barrels, mules and donkeys, which also bring into the town abund- 
 ant supplies of vegetables and meat. 
 
 These two last are very reasonable in price, but the water is 
 extremely dear. The natives say, in Payta it is far more econom- 
 ical to drink wine ; therefore, no doubt they do whenever they 
 can get it. Let not Father Mathew, or any other preacher of 
 teetotalism come here, for Nature herself seems to oppose their 
 principle in this thirsty place. 
 
 The poor mules and donkeys who bring the precious liquid, and 
 the various articles of consumption to the town, are rarely allowed 
 to taste a drop of water until they return to the above-mentioned 
 river, and they are, under ordinary circumstances, driven back 
 into the interior the same night. The musquito, who, alas ! is 
 not a water-drinker (would that Father Mathew could make him 
 one !), and the common house-fly, are the only creatures of the 
 insect tribe to be found in this place : no reptile exists there.
 
 368 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The very dogs, during the oppressive heats, have been frequently 
 known to migrate to the banks of the " abounding river," that 
 they might satisfy their raging thirst in peace, thus deserting their 
 masters. 
 
 The market is very well supplied, on the whole, I am informed : 
 bananas, plantains, figs, pomegranates, cherimoyas, aguacates 
 (which fruit has several aliases, though it seems a respectable sort 
 of natural production enough they are sometimes called " avoca- 
 dos" and " alligator" pears ; the last is sufficiently absurd, for it 
 neither resembles a pear, nor an alligator),* tomatoes, sweet-pota- 
 toes, and other tropical fruits and vegetables, are plentiful and 
 excellent. Besides they have poultry, and beef, and mutton. 
 
 The Indian women who assemble in the morning in the market- 
 place to sell provisions, have not forsaken their old national cos- 
 tume, such as their ancestresses appeared in, in the days of " the 
 Children of the Sun" the Incas of Peru, for which I honor them 
 greatly. This costume is remarkably simple, consisting chiefly of 
 a large, flowing, black dress, with very wide, loose sleeves. 
 
 The exquisite transparency and clearness, as well as the dryness 
 of the atmosphere at Payta, are very remarkable ; but there are 
 no rich twining plants and flowers there to embroider the very air 
 with their high-fantastical, and delicate vagaries : all is sterile 
 and glaring. 
 
 But, however dreary and unfruitful the vicinity of Payta may 
 be, the province of Piura has the reputation of being eminently 
 fertile, and rich in many productions, animal, mineral, and vege- 
 table. Great quantities of cotton grown there are among the ex- 
 ports from Payta. It also exports silver, cattle, goat-skins, &c. 
 The cotton generally produces two crops in the year, and grows 
 to the size of a'tree. It is of an extremely good quality. 
 
 The town is the depot still, as it \vas under the Spanish rule, 
 of the extensive commerce of the interior of North Peru. The 
 best Peruvian bark is found in the valleys of Loxa in the northern 
 part of Peru, and in those of Hualaga in Bolivia. 
 
 Some little time ago Payta had actually been totally without 
 rain for ten years. If during three or four years the inhabitants 
 are blessed with a few precious showers, their wild, rugged hills 
 smile with delicate verdure, and it is even of vast pecuniary ad- 
 vantage to Payta. 
 
 There are the marks of former water-courses leading to the sea, 
 
 * In Jamaica, I hear, they are called "subaltern's butter."
 
 FORMER WEALTH OF PAYTA. 369 
 
 in the neighborhood, now completely dry ; but the traces of water 
 having once flowed there, are still, travelers say, perfectly plain 
 and visible in the beds of the now empty channels. It is supposed 
 and it seems with much reason that some ancient revolution 
 and convulsion of nature either diverted the course, or entirely dried 
 up the sources of these former torrents ; it appears no tradition ex- 
 ists of water ever having been heard of or seen much nearer to 
 Payta than now. 
 
 Some of the best houses at Payta have their patios covered over 
 with awnings, which is a charming plan while the sun is in his 
 full power ; but when his rays decrease, the more air in these hot 
 regions, I think, the better. But since they have no shade outside 
 their houses at this place, they appear determined to have all they 
 can within ! 
 
 In former days, I believe, the old Spanish Viceroys disembarked 
 at this port on their way to the capital of Peru ! which journey by 
 land might be accomplished in about a fortnight's time. 
 
 The riches of this placo were formerly proverbial, and often, 
 report says, tempted the cupidity of the old British navigators. 
 When navigation was not so finished a science as it is now, the 
 beating to windward from Payta and from Panama, to Callao and 
 to Valparaiso, was said to be inconceivably slow and difficult. 
 
 Near the coast the currents and winds add very greatly to the 
 length of the voyages. It is necessary to sail out to sea, to meet 
 the wind more to the westward ; under which circumstances, a 
 good sailer may perform the voyage from Payta to Lima in a fort- 
 night or twenty days. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVL 
 
 Cherimoyas Lambayeque The Balsa Its Use Numerous Reptiles and 
 Insects at Larabayeque Curious Mound-tombs Sepulchral Curiosities 
 found in them Alleged Imitation of them in Birmingham Huanchaco 
 The peremptory Lady Description of Callao Its Destruction a. Century 
 ago The frozen Apple. 
 
 JUST as we were starting from Payta, I received a splendid 
 basketful of cherimoyas from the British Consul. I was not, of 
 course, able to thank him lor his thoughtful courtesy, to rny great 
 regret, but we shall stop there again on our return. 
 
 These cherimoyas were exceedingly fine, and they are so popular 
 
 Q*
 
 370 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 a fruit and have so tempting an appearance, that I am quite pro- 
 voked with myself for not being able to like them ; but such is the 
 case, nevertheless. 
 
 Our next stoppage was at Lambayeque, where there seemed to 
 be neither port nor harbor : an apparently miserable assemblage 
 of huts and hovels, with a very few houses of higher pretensions, 
 stood on the beach : this is the landing-place for Lambayeque, the 
 town itself of that name being about seven miles in the interior. 
 
 The little village on the beach is exposed to the mighty swell 
 of the mile-long waves of the Pacific, that rise far away at sea 
 into huge rolling billows, and then tower into foamy-crested and 
 mountainous breakers, which plunge down on the trembling shore, 
 after a terrific sweep, in surges of long-resounding thunder. 
 
 Here, as well as at Payta, they make use of that singular and 
 useful contrivance, the balsa, which is a large pile of logs of some 
 light and suitable wood, crossing and re-crossing each other in 
 layers, and very strongly lashed together. These are secure even 
 in the midst of the mighty waves of the Pacific, when tremendous 
 billows and sweeping surges beat around them, and vast walls and 
 precipices of water threaten, as they roll on with fearful force, to 
 whelm and engulf them. If by any accident the lashing should 
 give way, they are instantaneously lost. Of course there are times 
 when not even the balsa can pass the formidable breakers. 
 
 Payta is warranted to be free from reptiles and insects, and from 
 all accounts, they must have transferred themselves and their 
 always large families to Lambayeque, which is said to swarm 
 with them. There is one creature, called the salamanchaca, the 
 bite of which is described as being extremely venomous and dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 Near Lambayeque, it is stated, there are several of those curious 
 mound-tombs of the ancient Peruvians, in which are ordinarily 
 found numbers of those variously-shaped hollow vases and vessels 
 denominated " huacos." These huacos are generally formed into 
 uncouth representations of human beings, animals and reptiles ; 
 and the acts and occupations of ancient Indian life are shadowed 
 forth quaintly on them very frequently. They were for the use of 
 the departed. 
 
 The greater part of them are constructed of a black earth ; but 
 some no doubt from the tombs of their chiefs are of silver, and 
 even of gold. Most of them have apertures, which, upon applying 
 the lips to them firmly, and blowing into them, produce a whistling 
 and very strange sound. It is also said, if you put them on the
 
 SEPULCHRAL CURIOSITIES. 371 
 
 fire, when they are thoroughly heated, they will send forth a sweet 
 and melodious tone ; but people do not like experimentalizing thus 
 on them, for fear the poor superannuated musical-boxes should 
 break. 
 
 It is necessary to be very careful of whom you purchase these 
 sepulchral curiosities, I am informed, as the eager demand among 
 travelers and visitors, and even among residents, especially those 
 from the United States and Europe, for these archaeological treas- 
 ures has been the cause of their being pretty successfully imitated, 
 it is rumored, in Birmingham, that toy-shop of two worlds ! (and 
 which appears anxious for the custom of the Elysian fields to boot). 
 If any one is anxious to procure the real article, he must pay a 
 visit to the old burial mounds, or depute some trustworthy friend 
 or acquaintance so to do. 
 
 In the inland town of Larnbayeque, the market is supplied, I 
 hear, with exquisite white grapes, as well as a variety of other 
 fruits. A curious currency appears by some late accounts to be in 
 use at Larnbayeque no other than eggs, which freely circulate as 
 small coin ; not a pleasant coin to put in your pockets, I should 
 think, however agreeable that operation may be in general. 
 
 There, as in other places in Peru, the inhabitants are fond of 
 quaffing a refreshing beverage, called chicha. They have other 
 contrivances, I believe, besides the balsa* for passing the tremen- 
 dous surf of the Pacific : at these places the inflated hides of 
 animals are used for this purpose frequently, and called " cavallos ;" 
 but I fancy this requires a person much experienced in the 
 practice. 
 
 We went from Larnbayeque to Huanchaco : the coast there 
 was very wild knd rocky, and scarcely a trace of man's habitation 
 or handiwork was to be seen in any direction. But among the 
 bold, rugged rocks, in face of the majesti?" Pacific Ocean, rose, 
 alone, apparently, shedding a heavenly halo over the great solitude, 
 a little Christian church ! This being elevated on a peak of rock, 
 was visible when the town or village it belonged to was hidden. 
 
 We proceeded from thence to Casma, which I thought very 
 charmingly situated ; and then, after a short delay, came on to 
 Callao. At one of the intermediate ports, I forget which, several 
 Peruvian ladies came on board, their diminutive feet cluiussed 
 with the prettiest little white satin boots imaginable, almost large 
 enough for an English doll ! Their toilet in general for the voy- 
 
 * Some of the balsas have a rough mast, supporting a square-sail.
 
 372 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 age was such as in London might be worn at a matinee mu&icale 
 or a very brilliant breakfast at Chiswick, or perhaps even at the 
 Opera, save the lovely mantilla, undulating so gracefully over their 
 luxuriant death-black locks. 
 
 I saw one lady who came in one of the native boats with a 
 great many rowers ; she was superbly dressed, and appeared to be 
 a person of great distinction there ; she was excessively indignant 
 at the difficulties that presented themselves in the way of her 
 getting on board the steamer : the unfortunate craft she was in 
 was plunged and tossed about like a shuttlecock in convulsions by 
 the restless waves ; but she scolded the boatmen in the most 
 stentorian of tones, and stamped her little Liliputian white satin 
 foot in a perfect fury. They seemed to be straining every nerve 
 to obey her reiterated and imperious directions, but in vain ; and 
 she grew more and more angry with them. She completely 
 ignored the sweeping Pacific, apparently resolved to consider the 
 stupidity of the boatmen the sole and single cause of her not reach- 
 ing the deck of the " Bolivia" immediately. Supported by two 
 retainers, for she chose to stand up, she continued to give her 
 commands more and more peremptorily : what a Lady of the Lake, 
 or the Ocean, was she ! They made a desperate attempt ; and 
 the bounding canoe shot up against us with terrific force. I ex- 
 pected with horror to see canoe, boatmen, and lady all struggling 
 in the waves ; but no the little white satin feet were at last seen 
 triumphantly rushing up the ladder as if they had been seven- 
 leagued boots, instead of those baby-shoes ! The old blood of 
 Castile and Leon must have stirred in that little form : she looked 
 as if she would have commanded the very elements. 
 
 We arrived at Callao at last, and one of the first sights that 
 struck onr eyes was an English man-of-war, the "Dredalus," the 
 ship from whence tHb supposed sea-serpent was seen, some time 
 
 ago. Since that she has been re-commissioned. Captain W 
 
 came on board the steamer, and was good enough to ofier to take 
 us on shore in his boat. 
 
 We accordingly proceeded to Callao with him in a beautiful 
 boat, shortly after. In the harbor were great numbers of mer- 
 chant-ships American, Peruvian, and English. I must not omit 
 to mention that the boats of the " Daedalus" are adorned with a 
 representation of the sea-serpent, in memory of that extraordinary 
 apparition. 
 
 Callao is the principal sea-port of Peru. On entering its harbor, 
 you have, on the right hand, to the south, the steepy island of San
 
 CALLAO. 373 
 
 _ . 
 
 Lorenzo, bare and rugged, without a leaf or blade on it. In front 
 are the white houses of Callao, and its mouldering, but noble 
 castles ; and beyond spreads the verdant plain, toward a crescent- 
 shaped range of bleak and frowning hills, which inclose this valley 
 of Lurigancho, through which runs the beautiful river Rimac. 
 
 Beyond this fertile and smiling valley, to the left of Callao, and 
 at the foot of the swelling mountains, rise the majestic spires and 
 domes of Lima, the City of the Kings, as it was called in past 
 times, " La Ciudad de los Reyes" (it is sometimes now designated 
 as " El Cielo de los Mugeres, el Purgatorio de los Hombres, y el 
 Infierno de los Burros"). Above all tower in their ineffable 
 sublimity, the summits of the stupendous Andes, whose cloud- 
 capped, snow-crested peak's are awfully magnificent. 
 
 Callao is about six or seven miles from Lima. It is a consider 
 able town in itself. Many foreign merchants reside there ; and 
 on all sides you see large flourishing-looking warehouses and stores. 
 At Callao the anchorage is very good, and the waters of the bay 
 are rarely visited by a stormy breeze. There is a very good land- 
 ing, at an extremely-handsome mole of stone, which is inclosed by 
 a substantial iron railing. All is life, bustle, and activity around 
 you. 
 
 Captain W drew my attention to many enormous heaps of 
 
 corn piled up in the open air, and told me they left them there 
 exposed always to the weather, during every change of the seasons ; 
 so dry is the climate, and so remarkable the absence of rain. 
 Great numbers of Liliputian donkeys were to be seen in all direc- 
 tions, engaged in transporting vast quantities of goods to the 
 various warehouses and stores. A great many rude carts and 
 drays, made of raw hides, also went busily to and fro, loaded 
 heavily with different articles of merchandise. 
 
 In addition to the heaps of corn and fine wheat from the flourish- 
 ing republic of Chili, there were large earthen, picturesque-shaped 
 jars, of an alcoholic spirit, called italia (manufactured at Pisco, a 
 little south of Callao, and said to be very popular here) ; blocks of 
 salt brought from the Sechura mines, and iron vessels of quick- 
 silver used in the mines for preparing the precious metals. The 
 scene was altogether novel, interesting, and very animated. 
 
 Nearly all the dwelling-houses at Callao are one-storied struc- 
 tures (the safest in case of earthquakes) : they are generally built 
 of adobes, and with flat roofs. The Old Town of Callao was 
 completely destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 174G. The 
 ocean, it is said, then receded to an extraordinary distance, and
 
 374 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 returned again, as if with increased force and fury, in three succes- 
 sive mountainous waves, which entirely overwhelmed the unfortu- 
 nate town. One man only, we are told, survived this frightful 
 destruction out of a population of three thousand. His escape was 
 almost miraculous. 
 
 He was in a protected situation, in a bastion of the fortress, 
 looking upon the ocean. From this isolated position, he beheld 
 the terrified inhabitants of tho town hurry from their endangered 
 houses with breathless precipitation, in the utmost agitation, dis- 
 order, and alarm ; but ere they could reach any place of greater 
 security, the howling waves of the infuriate ocean, which had pre- 
 viously retired in so extraordinary a manner, returned with the 
 terrific and awful violence I have described, and its tremendous 
 surges swalloAved up every inhabitant of Callao, except the trem- 
 bling wretch in the bastion of the fortress. 
 
 Though Callao is now, despite its size, a rather insignificant- 
 looking place, it is thought by some, that when the ancient Spanish 
 custom, of having the chief towns removed from the ports, shall 
 yield to modern notions of practical utility and convenience, the 
 population and the opulence of lama will gradually find their way 
 down to this port ; and already there are a good many very pretty 
 and well-built houses beginning to rear their loftier fronts among 
 the humble dwellings of the town. 
 
 Captain W was good enough to write and order a private 
 
 conveyance for us from Lima, instead of our going in the omnibus, 
 which was very full, as there were a good many passengers for the 
 "Kingly" City. We stood a moment at the door of the house 
 whence the omnibus starts, till we saw our luggage arrive safely, 
 part of which I wished to send on by that conveyance. 
 
 They were loading the omnibus, and an unfortunate negro who 
 was standing on the roof of the vehicle, pulling at a rope, to fasten 
 some luggage firmly on the top, lost his balance, or the rope gave 
 way, and he fell back down into the street with great violence. 
 He appeared insensible, and his head seemed much cut. He was 
 immediately taken up and carried, apparently with great care and 
 attention, into the house. 
 
 While we were waiting for our coclie, we were invited to stay 
 
 in the house of Mrs. M , the wife of an eminent English 
 
 merchant of the place, who resides at Callao. It was an exceed- 
 ingly pretty house ; and in that, and the house of the agent of the 
 British Mail Steamer Company, we saw carpets for the first time 
 for many months very handsome carpets they were too, from
 
 SITE OF OLD CALLAO. 375 
 
 England. Mrs. M invited us to have luncheon with her. 
 
 This consisted almost entirely of a great variety of exquisite fruits, 
 and a profusion of cakes. 
 
 Among other fruits, there was an extraordinary species of apple, 
 called here the frozen apple. On cutting it in half, the core, and 
 a circular portion of the fruit around it, are like a lump of ice ; 
 this is only to be found, we are told, in a particular kind of apple, 
 hut yet not all the fruits of this separate species are possessed of 
 this peculiarity. 
 
 Mrs. has some magnificent old inlaid cabinets, of admir- 
 able workmanship, that she bought at Lima, I believe. They 
 reminded me of some I saw at Sir William Parker's, at Malta, 
 which had been presented to him by the present Queen of Portu- 
 gal. In the market-place here, under temporary booths, we are 
 told, are stationed numerous venders of pina, or iced pine-apple 
 water, ice cream, &c., and of fruits almost endless. 
 
 At length our conveyance drew up to the entrance of Mrs. 
 
 M 's charming mansion ; and with much gratitude for her 
 
 kind hospitality, we took leave of her, and started for Lima. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIL 
 
 
 
 Site of old Callao The shouting Inquirer Approach to Lima Absence of 
 Rain at that City The graceful Peruvian Costume The Poncho Male 
 and Female Equestrians Arrival at Lima The Aspect of the City 
 Miradors Multitude of Asses in Lima London and Lima Costumes of 
 Lima Ladies The Bridge over the Riruac Venders of Cigars The 
 Cordilleras. 
 
 ON our road to Lima, we saw a monument placed to commem- 
 morate the spot where a Spanish vessel of war, a frigate, was de- 
 posited, at the time of the memorable earthquake of 1746, by the 
 receding ocean. It is about a mile from the sea-shore. By the 
 way, the present town of Callao is not built on the same spot that 
 the old town stood on before its total destruction. It is more re- 
 moved from the beach, probably to avoid, on any similar occasion, 
 the terrific billows that swept away all of the ancient town which 
 the frightful earthquake itself had spared. If I am correctly in- 
 formed, Old Callao, indeed, was about two miles to the south of 
 the new town. 
 
 There is a rather gentle inclination the whole way from Lima
 
 376 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 to tlie coast : a great many public carriages, as well as private 
 ones, are constantly running on this road, and I think there is no 
 doubt the railroad will answer here adtnirably ; and I can not but 
 believe, those who think Callao will take the place of Lima in the 
 future will be mistaken, as the railroad will so materially interfere 
 with such a prospect. 
 
 The wealthy merchants will have their magnificent mansions in 
 the city, and their houses of business at Callao : some, if not many, 
 follow this plan now, and with the additional facilities afforded by 
 the railroad, it will become the common custom. 
 
 We stopped a short time at a sort of half-way house to rest the 
 horses, of which we had four attached to the carriage ; there was 
 an omnibus pausing there likewise, which seemed to be filled with 
 black people and Indian women smoking. A man came to ask us 
 if we would alight from the carriage, and he roared and thundered 
 this inquiry (seeing we were foreigners from our wearing bonnets), 
 in a terribly loud voice, determined we should hear if we did not 
 understand Spanish, which reminded me of the favorite custom in 
 my own land, of trying to make an unfortunate foreigner under- 
 stand and learn our language, by the curious process of first de- 
 priving him of his hearing ; in short, by deafening him with a 
 perfect volley of shouts, as if he were still in his own distant coun- 
 try, and the speaker or shouter in his ; and by dint of hallooing, 
 this ^last hoped to make up for the space that separated them, 
 though it should be from England to Japan. A poor German 
 
 Prince was found one day in the hall at in a state bordering 
 
 on distraction, with a footman on each side of him hallooing in his 
 ears. 
 
 Not very far from here, I believe, there is a chapel, at which 
 the old and new Spanish Viceroys used formerly to meet when a 
 fresh one was appointed, and the successor arrived in Peru to assume 
 the functions of governor. 
 
 For the last few miles near Lima the road is delightful, with 
 beautiful gardens on either side of it. What a situation is that of 
 the City of Kings ! Surrounded with these luxuriant groves and 
 gardens, out of which tower so magnificently the domes, and cu- 
 polas, and steeples of its many noble churches and monasteries, 
 with the boundless Pacific heaving the majesty of its unfathomable 
 waves at the foot of the gracious and throne-like height on which 
 it is elevated, and above all, in every sense, the giant grandeur of 
 the awful Andes soaring behind it to the skies, crowned with eternal 
 snow, and really looking as if they almost overshadowed and over-
 
 ABSENCE OF RAIN AT LIMA. 377 
 
 hung the stately city, for they appear far closer than in reality they 
 are. What a situation it is ! 
 
 An extraordinary canopy of clouds generally envelops the highest 
 peaks and summits of these sublime mountains, as if their awful- 
 ness would be too overwhelming were they beheld uncovered, and 
 these clouds seem ever to threaten the beautiful Lima with some 
 unheard-of tempest. Is not Lima the King of Cities as well as 
 the City of Kings? I should unhesitatingly answer yes, had I 
 never seen Mexico and Constantinople. 
 
 Notwithstanding the appearance of the thick and sable clouds 
 that hover almost continually over the mighty peaks of the mount- 
 ains, it is said never to rain at Lima, and thunder and lightning 
 have not ever scared the inhabitants of the plains of Peru. In the 
 mountains, however, fall showers of rain, and occasionally there 
 arise furious hurricanes and tempests. A great deal of dew and 
 of mist in the winter, dropping in the valleys, makes up for the 
 absence of rain ; and it is not often the sun is seen, save through a 
 softening vail of vapor. But I can not corroborate the statements 
 of those who say the sun never shines in Lima, as I have seen it 
 already several times pouring forth its most brilliant beams, but 
 not for any length of time continuously and uninterruptedly. The 
 full glory of his tropical resplendence is in the morning (when he 
 does appear) : then gradually grows and gathers around him that 
 floating pavillion of clouds which casts a soft and delightful shadow 
 on the earth. 
 
 The approach to the city from the port of Callao is a very wide, 
 handsome road, that runs almost in a straight line ; and as you 
 draw near the suburbs of the capital, on each side are to be seen 
 numerous immense remains of fine haciendas, which have been 
 deserted during the troublous times of civil war and revolution, 
 and still-inhabited villas and cultivated grounds and gardens. 
 
 Olive-trees and aloes grow along the sides of the road. Where 
 there is an interspace between, the gardens and the distant fields 
 are to be seen divided by rude walls of adobes, and irrigated by 
 means of numerous acequias, or small canals, conducting the fer- 
 tilizing waters of the silvery Rimac. 
 
 Still advancing, you find the road alive with busy passengers, 
 and citizens and ladies of Lima, besides droves of beasts of burden, 
 conveying cargoes of merchandize almost continually to and fro. 
 When any specie is thus transported, the train of animals is usually 
 escorted by a small body of negro soldados, carrying lances with a 
 little bright scarlet flag at the end of each.
 
 378 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 It is sometimes stated that an enormous quantity of specie is 
 smuggled away from hence, but I know not whether this is true. 
 We saw a goodly number of equestrians and equestrianesses as we 
 passed along, the former accoutred in the brilliant and graceful 
 Peruvian costume. The poncho, or cloak, is always worn this I 
 have mentioned before : it has a circular opening for the head of 
 the wearer to pass through, and has generally a gay fringe round 
 the edges. It displays often a great brilliancy and variety of 
 colors ; occasionally it is very richly and fancifully embroidered, 
 and sometimes it is of a snowy white, but generally exhibits broad 
 and bright stripes orange, scarlet, blue, green, or rose-colored, or 
 variegated combinations of these, and at other times different pat- 
 terns, gayly intermixed and diversified. 
 
 The poncho hangs gracefully over the shoulders, and falls almost 
 down to the knees. It is certainly very picturesque and striking, 
 with the ordinary accompaniments of richly-carved stirrups (which 
 stirrups are usually triangular and rather massive-looking blocks 
 of wood, generally ornamented and tipped with burnished silver), 
 and glittering caparisons for the horse. 
 
 However, I do not think the poncho for a single moment can be 
 compared with the far more beautiful and more picturesque Mexi- 
 can serape ; and the Mexican costume altogether is, I think, very 
 much handsomer. The hats worn here, are commonly the white 
 Guayaquil grass sombreros, sometimes with very broad brims, and 
 at other times like small plates ; and the windmill-like spurs are 
 perfect masses of heavy metal, very frequently of silver, the enor- 
 mous rowel standing out four or five inches from the heel, and the 
 spikes being perhaps an inch and a half or more in length. 
 
 As for the horsewomen, the greater part of them are peasants 
 (Indian dames, or negresses), who usually ride in cavalier fashion, 
 with an ample balloon-like white muslin dress which sometimes 
 makes them look like the dome of St. Paul's on horseback or else 
 the same description of capacious garment in gaudy calico of many 
 colors ; a delicate silk stocking and beautifully fitting shoe on a 
 very little foot, which is furnished with a spur, a shawl or flutter- 
 ing scarf of the most florid designs, and of a hundred hues, an im- 
 mense Guayaquil hat with broad streaming variegated ribbons, and 
 coquettish bows on whichever they consider the "congregation side 
 of the head," and with the shining cascade of abundant coal-black 
 tresses, carefully divided on the dark forehead, and hanging down 
 the back in long braided streamers. They generally ride at a 
 quiet little jog-trot butter-and-egg-pace, while the gentleman eques-
 
 NEIGHBORHOOOD OF LIMA. 379 
 
 trians dash to and fro at a wild gallop, and make the dust fly 
 merrily. 
 
 The verdant and flourishing appearance of the neighborhood of 
 Lima is a matter of astonishment to the traveler, till the cause 
 of this is known. It is not only the vapors and dews that con- 
 tribute to this, but the circumstance, that in all the plains in Peru 
 that lie between the Great Cordillera and the Pacific Ocean, the 
 water is found invariably from three to four feet below the surface, 
 thus compensating for the absence of rain by the facilities afforded 
 to irrigation, a practice which was universally resorted to by the 
 ancient Peruvians, and adopted and continued by their Spanish 
 conquerors. The skill of the Indian inhabitants had literally in- 
 tersected all the cultivated country with the acequias, by which 
 the waters flowing from the mountains are divided and subdivided 
 into almost innumerable little channels for irrigation. 
 
 But now about a mile from the capital, our vehicle, rolling amid 
 thick clouds of dust, has arrived at the avenue, or Alameda ; and 
 the road runs between straight double rows of tall poplars and 
 willow-trees, with a handsome promenade on each side (furnished 
 with stone benches for all who wish to see omnibuses and donkeys, 
 and enjoy volumes of dust) to the city : from this broad, splendid 
 avenue we pass through an arched gateway into Lima : this gate- 
 way admits you within a lofty thick wall, which surrounds the 
 city entirely, and forms its sole defense. 
 
 We were in Lima, the capital of Peru ! Peru, whose very 
 name seems like a fairy tale, and to mean a world of gold and sil- 
 ver and precious stones. The land of the magnificent Children of 
 the -Sun, the stately Incas, who could offer a hall piled with gold 
 as a ransom ; whose Spanish Viceroys, in later days, on state oc- 
 casions, walked on pavements of solid silver ! Away we rattled 
 to the French hotel to which we had been recommended, but not 
 on silver pavements, nor very praiseworthy stone ones. 
 
 The houses in Lima are, I think, handsome. They frequently 
 consist only of one story (on account of repeated earthquake visita- 
 tions), though there are many exceedingly fine ones with two 
 stories ; but these have very often a deserted air, and are out of 
 repair and dilapidated, in consequence of having been abandoned 
 by their original owners, who took alarm at their loftiness and 
 supposed insecurity and they now are sometimes tenanted by 
 poorer families. There are, however, very many exceptions to this 
 rule. 
 
 The houses in general are surmounted with a flag- staff ; they
 
 380 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 have, I think, a remarkably Moorish air, and I was much struck 
 with the resemblance of their very peculiar balconies to those I 
 remember so well at Valetta, in Malta ; although these at Lima 
 are very much longer and larger altogether ; indeed, I have lately 
 seen some that form spacious apartments in themselves, beautifully 
 furnished, carpeted, and decorated. But I will briefly describe 
 them. 
 
 You must imagine long lines, all along the fronts of the houses, 
 of enormous verandas of wood, many projecting very far over the 
 foot-pavements, from the second stories of the houses (which are 
 called " altos" here). The lower part, probably to the height of 
 three feet, or thereabouts, is entirely closed up along the extended 
 front, and at different parts and at the two terminations this im- 
 mense, covered wooden balcony is supported on far projecting beams, 
 with sculptured and variously-shaped ends, while from the inclosed 
 portion to the roof are long, light shutters of lattice-work (or glass 
 windows), which are depended, and swung from hinges at the top : 
 if these are required to be open, there is, I think, a long, hooked 
 bar, by which they can be fastened, and kept wide open ; but, oc- 
 casionally the head is used by the fair Peruvians instead, who, with 
 their arms resting on the light, wooden wall of the lower part of 
 the balcony, keep back with that graceful mantilla'd head the 
 light shutters. If the head is pushed out far enough, of course, all 
 in the streets on all sides is visible ; but if the Senora objects to 
 this, and is tired of the front scene, she has only to walk to either 
 end, and take a complete side view. 
 
 Most of these "miradors" are furnished with glass windows, 
 now, but I believe this has only been done lately. These capa- 
 cious verandas are not very unlike gigantic and enormously 
 lengthened out opera-boxes, from which the spectator may observe 
 all that the street presents o'f a " spectacle ;" and the very large 
 and handsome ones, provided with delicate mats, or many-pat- v 
 terned carpets, and furnished with chairs and cushioned sofas, 
 form a kind of conservatory-balcony, where the bright human 
 flowers of beautiful Peru, guarded and shielded from wind and 
 mist-like dews, may smile (and sometimes smoke !) in all security 
 and in peace. 
 
 The houses in Lima have large court-yards ; those in the more 
 distinguished of them, are quite little plazas in themselves but I 
 will say more of them presently. 
 
 We rattled noisily up to the great double-gates of the large 
 French hotel, after passing through a number of busy, populous,
 
 BEAUTY OF LIMA. 381 
 
 looking streets, and soon after took possession of an apartment 
 which, rather to our disappointment, did not look on the street, so 
 that we found ourselves in a large saloon, verandaless and win- 
 dowless. When the great gate-like doors, that open on a very 
 broad and uncovered kind of semi-patio of stone, which has a stair- 
 case ascending from the lower court-yard (for this hotel has two 
 stories, and we are in the "alto"), are closed, we have no light 
 except from a small " claraboya," or skylight, which shuts or 
 opens by means of long ropes, hanging down into the room. The 
 bedrooms have small windows looking on the stone-paved corridor 
 and down upon the court-yard, which court-yard is a thorough- 
 fare. 
 
 The immense arched gateway that leads to it in front, opens 
 first into a broad covered passage-way, which in most houses is 
 decorated with some arabesques or with a gaudy painting on either 
 side, representing a variety of subjects, often scriptural, but occa- 
 sionally mythological. Ours is, pleasantly enough for us, occupied 
 on one side by the ample stall of a female fruit-vender, who has 
 always a most abundant provision of delicious fruits, and who sits 
 there from earliest dawn, I believe, to "dewy eve" very dewy 
 are generally the eves hi rainless Lima. 
 
 Without meaning any bad compliment to the inhabitants of this 
 grand old capital, I am constrained to say, I think T never saw or 
 heard so many asses as in Lima : their name is legion, and they 
 bray with a hundred-donkey power. We are anxious to see the 
 gentle Llamas, but it is said they very rarely come into the city. 
 There are hosts of convicts here, and very villainous-looking ones. 
 Notwithstanding dilapidation, donkeys, and convict gangs, how- 
 ever, Lima is a very charming place, on the whole ; not gay and 
 glittering as the Havana, nor beautiful and enchanting as Mexico, 
 but with a thousand peculiarities and glories of her own, besides her 
 majestically superb situation. Lima is like nothing but Lima, and 
 as unlike all our mostly commonplace, though wealthy, and utterly 
 civilized European cities as it is possible to imagine any thing to 
 be ! Herculaneum, hoisted above-ground, might in some few 
 particulars partially resemble it Yet no ; it would not ! Ideal 
 cities of half-destroyed chateaux d'Espagne would be most like it ! 
 
 I can not help smiling to think of good-humored Madame J , 
 
 at Panama, who knew but two great cities, London and Lima, 
 and was perpetually talking of the two together, as if they were the 
 Siamese twins of towns. " Ah, at London and Lima I used to go 
 to shops and buy so and so; there's none here;" and, "But at
 
 382 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 London and Lima they do this and that ;" or, " When one is at 
 Lima and London it is easy to find such and such things." And 
 the difference is so ludicrously vast they are such complete 
 architectural antipodes to each other, and such antipodes in every 
 thing else. 
 
 Lima, which, besides its stately title of the City of Kings, was 
 called proudly the City of a Thousand Towers and of a Hundred 
 Gates, as if it were a nobler Spanish Thebes, is certainly quite the 
 city of churches, steeples, domes, towers, palaces (in decay), ve- 
 randas, colonnades, piazzas, porticos, patios, corridors, balconies, 
 quadrangles, galleries, lattices, frescoes, arabesques, vestibules, 
 cowled priests, ponchoed cavaliers and saya-y-mantoed ladies. 
 
 I dare say the reader may have seen engravings of the latter ex- 
 traordinary costume of the Lima ladies, which is now very con- 
 siderably modified, and instead of looking as if they were walking 
 about in elastic, closely-fitting, upright coffins, which they must 
 formerly have had the appearance of doing, they look like very 
 graceful ladies, floating along in an atmosphere of encircling black 
 silk, and closely masked, only showing one bright black eye, as if 
 they were so many fair Cyclopesses. 
 
 I know not how it is, but something in the arrangement of this 
 cloaking vail always makes it appear to me as if the eye was in 
 
 the middle of the cheek. In coming back from Mrs. A 's, 
 
 the other day, we missed the turning into our street, and I asked 
 one of these " Tapadaes," as they are called, the way ; and while 
 she was courteously telling me, I tried to ascertain what it was 
 that gave it, to me at least, that peculiar appearance. Perhaps it 
 may be partly the extreme fullness of their flashing eyes, that 
 makes the size of the suppressed (and perhaps somewhat cowipressod) 
 nose seem less, and the exposed eye more prominent, and level with 
 that feature but I could not make it out satisfactorily at all. 
 
 The English minister, and Mrs. A , are particularly kind 
 
 and amiable to us. Mrs. A is a truly charming person. 
 
 How I envy the exceeding fluency and correctness with which 
 she talks Spanish. She took us out for a drive yesterday, and we 
 were perfectly enchanted with the views in the vicinity of Lima, 
 and with the town itself. 
 
 We crossed a very striking and picturesque stone bridge, thrown 
 across the sparkling Rimac, to go to one of the Alamedas. This 
 bridge is old, having been built in 1610. The carriages enter it 
 by a broad arch across the centre of the street, and there are two 
 lesser arches crossing the two side pavements. Lofty, handsome
 
 VENDERS OF CIGARS. 383 
 
 carved turrets and spires surmount these noble arches, and give 
 the bridge a very imposing effect. They say every stone in this 
 puente has been loosened by the dreadful earthquake. The river 
 Rimac dashes boldly and brightly along over a rocky and ragged bed. 
 
 This bridge joins the main portion of Lima to the suburb of 
 San Lazaro, which would' otherwise be separated from the prin- 
 cipal part of the city by the river : it appears a very busy and 
 animated thoroughfare. 
 
 There are recesses, semi-circ'ularly shaped, with stone benches, 
 that open from the wide promenades along the bridge, and where 
 often rests the visitor to Lima, gazing on the throngs that pass 
 ceaselessly by, characteristically attired, and intent on their vari- 
 ous errands of business or recreation. Beside him, perhaps, are 
 several fair Limanians, in saya-y-manto, or dandy citizens, star- 
 gazers on the one brilliant orb- that eye which is peeping out like 
 a planet from many sable clouds. 
 
 Near the entrance to this old, solid, yet fantastic bridge, are 
 stationed sometimes venders of cigars. An old man, I have heard, 
 sells here the cast-off stumps of these articles, arranged neatly on 
 a tray. 
 
 The view from this bridge is exceedingly lovely. If the eye 
 travels down the silvery road of the river, its left bank is beheld 
 richly embellished by the luxuriant gardens of magnificent old 
 convents, and of the splendid mansions of the Peruvian million- 
 aires. The view ends with the Pacific ! Then, if the glance is 
 turned in the opposite direction, we scan the broad, verdant avenues 
 of the lovely Alameda del Acho ; and beyond, the shadowy groves 
 and gardens of the valley, and the glistening turrets of the Pan- 
 theon ; the entire exquisite scene being bounded by that lower 
 range of mountains which incloses the charming green valley of 
 the Rimac. 
 
 But the view beyond this is sublime indeed : the higher range 
 of the glorious Cordilleras, when the clouds admit of that majestic 
 sight, are seen, with their indestructible diadems of perpetual snow, 
 towering on high, mountain behind mountain, summit above sum- 
 mit, crests gleaming between crests, and peaks soaring beyond 
 peaks ; an untrodden, undesecrated world between the earth and 
 the spotless skies, shooting up its myriads of rocky spires like 
 natural conductors of the lightning and storms, as if to interpose 
 that pure and higher part of creation, fresh as it came from the 
 most awful hand of Omnipotence betwixt the wrath of Heaven 
 and the now sullied, blighted lower Earth.
 
 384 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Vain fancies ! We have a securer shelter ; and where the 
 humblest church lifts up the lowliest spire (as some eloquent writer 
 once said), there is a better conductor of that awful lightning of 
 wrath from our wretched heads, and from our fallen world ! 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI.II. 
 
 The Great Plaza The Cathedral of Lima The Streets of that City The 
 Silversmiths The Bells of Lima Charitable Institutions Churches and 
 Convents Handsome Houses Palaces of the Past Grotesque Paintings 
 Well-appointed Carriages The Limanian Beggar-woman Particu- 
 larities of Lima Ladies' Dress Their Shoes M. and Madame B 
 
 Their Daughter. 
 
 THE Great Plaza, a principal public square in Lima, is ex- 
 tremely handsome. It has a large brazen fountain in the middle, 
 said to be about forty feet high, surmounted with a figure which 
 represents, I believe, the Goddess of Fame bearing aloft her 
 trumpet 
 
 The old palace of Pizarro once stood in this square on the 
 north side, I am told ; but now its place is filled up with a hand- 
 some colonnade, which has a great number of shops and stalls 
 under it. This colonnade forms one side of the Plaza. The first 
 stone of the famous old cathedral, on the other side, was laid by 
 Pizarro, and his bones are said to repose in a vault beneath the 
 sacred edifice. 
 
 Some people think the cathedral a huge and clumsy mass of 
 tasteless architecture ; but allowing that it has an abundance of 
 defects, architecturally speaking, still there is something about it 
 that is both pleasing and imposing. If you can fancy a gorgeous 
 and fantastic temple in the clouds, when sunset casts its fleeting 
 pomp over the skies, adorned with a thousand strange splendors, 
 you may a little paint it to your imagination. There is a profu- 
 sion of diversified rich coloring, and a mass of lavish tracery, arid 
 curious and quaint decorations on the front of the edifice. I intend 
 to visit the interior before I go from Lima. 
 
 There is an ecclesiastical building adjoining the cathedral. It 
 is the Archiepiscopal Palace. The Government House is on an- 
 other side of the square, and the covered colonnades or portales 
 occupy the remainder. Under the portales, which of course open 
 under their large and handsome arches to the Great Plaza, are
 
 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 385 
 
 numerous well-supplied fancy shops, and a great deal of exquisite 
 gold and silver embroidery may be seen there. There are excel- 
 lent "tiendas" (shops) also in the Calle Mercaderes, which is quite" 
 a French street, being almost entirely occupied by French shop- 
 keepers. They display a profusion of handsome and excellent 
 goods, of various kinds. 
 
 There is another street where the Peruvian silversmiths con- 
 gregate chiefly, but they do not make much exhibition of their 
 handiwork. The exquisite silver filagree work, however, is most 
 surprisingly beautiful, and most elaborately and delicately wrought ; 
 but the specimens of this highly finished workmanship mostly come 
 from the interior, and are made by the Indians. 
 
 I never heard any thing like the sublime tone of the bells of 
 Lima. It is the profoundest and most majestic sound imaginable, 
 and resounds through the air as if the deep vibrations would dwell 
 there, and brood, and never cease, lengthening and deepening on 
 and on the most unearthly yet most beautiful music I ever heard. 
 The reason given for this extraordinary and matchless magnificence 
 of tone, is the enormous quantity of silver in the bells. There was 
 a large proportion originally, and this was added to, I am told 
 here, during the casting of the bells, by devout persons throwing 
 in, as oblations and offerings, almost innumerable silver coins, of 
 divers weights and values. In short, the contents of half a mine 
 of the precious metal almost are suspended in the air. 
 
 The great cathedral bell is surpassingly glorious in its unfathom- 
 ably deep peal of tremulous silver thunder nay, it seems a thou- 
 sand thunders rolling afar ! But the other bells at Lima are also 
 very rich and harmonious in their sublime tones. 
 
 There are several eleemosynary establishments in this city, 
 among which the Foundling Hospital is said to be particularly 
 well-managed, and a lunatic one particularly ill. There are a 
 great many handsome churches and convents in Lima, and they 
 are the prominent features in all parts of the city. They are 
 mostly enormous structures, crowned by majestic domes, and tow- 
 ers, and steeples, and displaying on their extensive fronts a perfect 
 labyrinth of elaborate painting, complicated decorative designs, 
 statuary, and carving. 
 
 I hear that some of these immense churches and nunneries, in- 
 close within their widely-extended walls very spacious and superb 
 squares : the convents often have porticos, piazzas, and covered 
 colonnades, beautifully built and finished, and supported one above 
 another on highly-ornamented rows of splendid arches Their 
 
 R
 
 386 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 massive walls are wholly covered with richly-figured, glazed porce- 
 lain and fresco paintings, their roofs artistically adorned and carved, 
 and contiguous to them, or even within their vast encircling walls, 
 are exquisite gardens of the richest shrubs, and* plants, and flow- 
 ers, with gushing fountains arid shadowy walks, from which the 
 busy world is shut out, and where contemplation may dwell un- 
 disturbed. I hear that the orders in Lima are exceedingly strict, 
 and that generally no women even "are admitted into the principal 
 nunneries. 
 
 We have seen here very handsome streets, and some regal-look- 
 ing old houses. Some of the most splendid, we were informed, 
 are now subdivided and let to a number of families in indifferent 
 circumstances in fact, forming a little town in themselves. Still 
 as we drove by and caught a casual glimpse through their enor- 
 mous gateways their gigantic fountained court-yards, their su- 
 perb piazzas, and the remains of former gilding, and painting, and 
 elaborate carving, and various showy and costly, though moulder- 
 ing adornments, made those palaces of the past look like genii 
 structures of the Land of Faery and sorcery, under some evil en- 
 chanter's gloomy thrall and desolating spell. They are not in 
 what is now considered the fashionable part of Lima. In the 
 generality of houses here, beneath the covered verandas, there 
 usually is a broad and handsomely-paved entrance to the court- 
 yard, through massive and exceedingly high double gates (which 
 are thickly studded over with strong brazen knobs). 
 
 Around this ample court the house is built, and in those that 
 are constructed of two stories, the stables, apartments for domes- 
 tics, store-rooms and offices open on this court-yard, and are on 
 the same level with it. From thence ascends a flight of broad 
 stairs to the vast galleries above, leading to the different suites of 
 apartments occupied by the various members of the family, the 
 great salas, or reception-rooms, &c. 
 
 The entrance is frequently a little shorn of its grandeur and im- 
 posing effect by having shops built along it : but when it is not 
 thus disfigured, the line of the street is divided from the court- 
 yard by a thick, lofty wall. The immense gates open into a wide 
 covered passage-way of some length, which is adorned commonly 
 on both sides with frescoes. The window-sills in the court-yards 
 are usually gilt, in the houses of the wealthy, which, with the 
 bright-colored jalousies, gives them a gay appearance. 
 
 Occasionally, the handsomest and principal part of the stately 
 mansion crosses the court, exactly opposite to the entrance. The
 
 GROTESQUE PAINTINGS. 387 
 
 whole of this portion of the building is then adorned by a noble 
 portico, and the front of the mansion is decorated by elaborate iron 
 open-work, brilliantly gilt or bronzed over, and presenting a very 
 rich appearance. These house have ordinarily only one story, and 
 have rooms of very great height and vast size. At the back of 
 this principal or central portion of the house is another lesser court- 
 yard, called the "traspatio;" it is a sort of kitchen and servants' 
 court-yard. 
 
 On driving on the Alameda the other day, we observed a large 
 wall, built along one side of the tree-shaded promenade, and cover- 
 ed all over with grotesque-looking paintings, the color of which 
 seemed as fresh and bright as if just done. I did not examine it 
 closely enough to see accurately the subjects, as we dashed rapidly 
 
 on, drawn by Mrs. A 's beautiful and spirited horses ; but I 
 
 imagine it to be one of which 1 have read a description, and which 
 is called by the natives, " El mundo al.revez," where the system 
 of nature is entirely reversed, and dogs are hanging their masters ; 
 horses riding on men's backs ; and some of the finny tribe, repre- 
 sented standing a-tail-tip, with fishing-rods in their mouths, ang- 
 ling for ci-devant gentlemen-sportsmen who are seen nibbling at 
 the bait ! In short, all is almost in as great a state of confusion 
 and disorder, as if the whole world, instead of a part, had sudden- 
 ly become French or Irish, and were altering every thing to their 
 hearts' content ; for even themselves, must and do own, that 
 while among the noblest people on the earth, they are certainly 
 the fondest of change and excitement. 
 
 In driving through the streets here, we often meet handsome 
 and well-appointed carriages ; some remarkably so. We saw a 
 really splendid one the other day, with beautiful horses, that might 
 have been transported to Hyde Park, and admired there. The 
 ladies occupying it were all in Parisian bonnets. I thought they 
 were foreigners. Alas ! no ; they were Limanians : and they had 
 deserted thus the loveliest of all head-dresses their own matchless 
 mantillas. The saya-y-manto we see, by the way, worn almost 
 in its original quaintness and eccentricity, by an old beggar-wo- 
 man, who comes sometimes to the great gates of our sitting-room 
 while we are at breakfast, and asks for money, bread, milk, clothes, 
 any thing every thing. 
 
 She has never favored us with a sight of Tnore than her one eye, 
 
 holding her vail over her face with as much care (before only V 
 
 and me) as I once saw a Turkish beggar-woman bestow upon 
 her coarse yashmack, who when we offered her half a handful of
 
 388 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 small coins if she would drop her yashmack, indignantly refused, 
 and marched away with the step of an insulted queen. 
 
 We should not have guessed the mendicant "tapada" was old 
 but from her shriveled hands, and quavering, cracked voice, so 
 well disguised was she. We were told she had formerly been 
 tolerably rich, but had been reduced by different misfortunes. 
 Her once handsome saya-y-manto was not exactly tattered, but 
 the rich black satin had lost its lustre, and grown dingy with age. 
 The saya is a silken or satin petticoat, stitched neatly in very 
 narrow plaits, and thickly quilted and lined. This used to cling 
 like a web of wax around the form ; but now, fitting at the waist, 
 it hangs in full folds down, to the satin-slippered feet. 
 
 This petticoat, formerly, I believe, was almost uniformly black, 
 but in these days (though frequently it is still of sable hue) it is 
 very often blue or brown. 
 
 The manto is a black silk vail, of impenetrable thickness, drawn 
 up from under the waist of the silken saya, and gracefully gather- 
 ed over the shoulders and head as a sort of hood, very much resem- 
 bling the Maltese faldetta (and no doubt both have originated 
 from Moorish costume and customs), though so much more con- 
 cealing the face. All the upper part of the form is thus closely 
 covered and disguised, except the one eye. One hand is occupied 
 in holding this manto firmly across the masked face, and the 
 other from time to time may possibly be allowed to pass through 
 a little opening in the manto, more especially if its fair owner con- 
 siders it deserving of admiration, and if its small fingers are en- 
 riched with sparkling jewels. 
 
 The embroidered ends of a many-colored scarf or shawl are per- 
 mitted to pass through this same opening, generally fringed and 
 flowered. All wear satin shoes and silk stockings, even those in 
 the most tattered, wom-out habiliments. We are told, that the 
 extravagance formerly shown in this article of dress was very great. 
 If a more than usual quantity of dewy moisture had made the 
 streets of the capital as muddy as if a heavy shower of rain had 
 fallen (and this is not unfrequently the case), the ladies would im- 
 mediately eagerly hasten to make their appearance in the most 
 delicate new white satin shoes, which of course could never be 
 worn again ; hoping that by speedily "making hay while the sun 
 shone" (a very inappropriately quoted proverb !), in the morning 
 they might have the good fortune to spoil Entirely one exquisite 
 pair of zapatos de raso, in the afternoon they might possibly have 
 the superlative felicity (if the inexorable climate did not cruelly
 
 HEROISM OF A LADY. 38tf 
 
 disappoint them by drying up the moisture) of destroying another 
 pair, and in the evening even of severely damaging a third. 
 
 This refinement of luxury is now rather out of fashion, and the 
 Lima ladies are no longer such empresses of all the Russias, with 
 regard to their chaussure. The reader knows, perhaps, that tha 
 fair Czarina never wears a dress twice. 
 
 Mr. P , the English clergyman here, called to-day, with his 
 
 very amiable wife ; and also Mrs. B (the wife of one of the 
 
 English merchant-princes here,), who is extremely agreeable and 
 pleasing. The next apartments to ours are occupied by a French 
 
 lady and gentleman, M. and Madame du C . M. du C 
 
 had the misfortune to break his arm, by a fall from his mule, in 
 crossing the Isthmus of Panama, and he has never recovered it. 
 He is chief Secretary, I believe, to the French Legation here; 
 but as his right arm has suffered, and as the same arm was unfor- 
 tunately injured seriously, some time previously to this disaster, in a 
 duel, it is feared he will have to resign his situation, and return to 
 France. They have a little fair-haired, smiling daughter, who is 
 a wonderful contrast t%the dark-eyed natives, as they pass to and 
 fro. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Signal Instance of the Heroism of a Lady The Procession of the Orapion 
 A Lottery in the Grand Plaza How conducted Distinguished Visitors 
 Chorillos The Sale of " Almas," or Souls The Public Museum Por- 
 traits of the Spanish Viceroys Mummies of Peruvian Incas Beautiful 
 stuffed Birds Manco Capac Who where the first Incas? The Chil- 
 dren of the Sun Progress in Civilization of old Peru. 
 
 WE are still at Lima, waiting for the steamer. 
 
 The other day I had a visit from an English lady, residing here 
 now, who has exhibited such heroism and presence of mind as 
 perhaps hardly any one ever displayed before, under such peculiarly 
 trying circumstances. It appears that the ship she came out in was 
 commanded by a very incompetent, inexperienced, and weak-mind- 
 ed captain, quite unfit for the situation, and always intoxicated, 
 till at last he became wholly and utterly incapable of managing 
 
 the ship. Mrs. S was in deep mental affliction at the time, 
 
 but unhesitatingly (finding there was no one in the vessel who
 
 390 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 could take the command) assumed the responsibility of navigating 
 the ship herself. Every one knows how difficult the navigation 
 in going round Cape Horn is, yet this skillful and strong-minded 
 lady succeeded in bringing the ship safely to Lima, assisted only 
 by a very youthful nephew. 
 
 It might be imagined a person who could act thus would be 
 masculine, and rough, perhaps, in deportment and manner. No- 
 thing of the kind. This lady is eminently feminine, has a very 
 mild and sweet expression of countenance, and is particularly gen- 
 tle and pleasing. She never alludes to the subject herself; but I 
 could not resist one day asking her a little about it, though fearful 
 of awakening melancholy recollections in her mind. 
 
 She spoke with the utmost modesty of her own wonderful per- 
 formance ; and said, in speaking of her arrival at Lima (where 
 she came to rejoin her husband, who had left England previously), 
 that, though deeply grateful to a merciful Providence for having 
 so graciously protected her and her children, yet this was, perhaps, 
 the most painful moment of her life. 
 
 I mentioned that at the time she took lAe command of the ship 
 she was in deep grief: she had just lost an adored child, a little 
 daughter, who had gradually faded and sunk from the time of 
 their quitting the English shores. On their arrival at Callao, she 
 and her children were on deck, anxiously looking for the husband 
 and the father ; but she knew he would miss the one lost treasure ; 
 and when she saw him earnestly gazing with growing anxiety, 
 deepening fast into sorrow and terror, as he scanned the diminished 
 group, she felt her heart oppressed almost to breaking within her. 
 
 The sweet simplicity and tenderness with which she related 
 these touching circumstances were most winning most interest- 
 ing : how evident was it that that noble heart, undaunted amid 
 terrible dangers, was one of the softest and warmest that ever beat 
 in a woman's bosom ! This affecting tale has made a deep im- 
 pression in Lima. No wonder ! How often has conduct not half 
 as extraordinary and sublime been lauded to the skies! What 
 true courage was that she displayed in conduct which demanded 
 BO much energy, so much promptitude, decision, and self-reliance, 
 and self- forgetf ulness, too ! 
 
 As we sit in our claraboya'd drawing-room here, we hear fre- 
 quently a bell ringing in the court-yard just below, which is a 
 thoroughfare. It is the Host being carried to some sick person. 
 The sound of the bell is usually accompanied by a lugubrious and 
 rather monotonous chant. If in the evening, a number of attend-
 
 LOTTERY IN THE GRAND PLAZA. 391 
 
 ants (often Indians or negroes) generally carry lanterns, and walk 
 on either side of the procession. The priest, bearing his sacred 
 charge, walks between these rows of light ; a canopy is borne 
 over his head by four boys, and a crowd of people sometimes fol- 
 lows the procession. Every person remains uncovered while it 
 passes, and upon their knees. 
 
 There is one moment here, as in most of the South American 
 countries and cities, very impressive, fugitive as it is it is the 
 moment of the Oration, when the great cathedral bell turns all 
 the air to a most heavenly thunder-music. Then every hat is 
 reverentially lifted, and every lip seems to tremble with a whis- 
 pered word of prayer ; then the parent lays an affectionate hand 
 on the little child's bowed head ; and all seem, for one brief mo- 
 ment, raised from earth, its cares, and business, and interests. 
 Even the lottery-man, who was hallooing " Suerte, suerte !" stops 
 at the unfinished word, and suddenly pulls up his curveting voice 
 on its haunches ! Soon 'tis o'er ; and the bells ring again again 
 a joyous peal. But impressive as this looks to a stranger, there 
 is too much reason to fear it is a custom only mechanically fol- 
 lowed by those who have observed it continually. 
 
 We saw a curious sight to us at least the other evening, in 
 returning from a drive with Mrs. A . This was the lottery- 
 drawing, which is very formally conducted, and which takes place 
 in the Grand Plaza, exactly opposite the cathedral. A temporary 
 platform and apartment are erected there, which in front are 
 open to the public. lu the forepart of this stage are to be seen 
 several hollow wooden globes, of a large size, painted of a conspic- 
 uous yellow color, and turning on the stands which sustain them 
 by means of a crank. Into each ball opens a little door, and by 
 the side of each of the globes the different numbers that are to go 
 into it were exhibited on inclined planes, so as to be exposed to 
 the public view : these numbers were painted upon little flat, 
 circular counters. 
 
 Behind all this display and array sit three official-looking per- 
 sons, the judges, grave as an equal number of Lord Chancellors on 
 the wool-sack ; then three venerable old gentlemen are seen who 
 have to turn the aforesaid globes ; and there is a triad of little 
 boys (who, we were informed, are orphan children, usually from 
 the Foundling Hospital a curious education for them this teach- 
 ing the young idea how to gamble) ; and these complete the dra- 
 matis persona . 
 
 Generally, as the expected hour approaches, the Plaza becomes
 
 392 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 gradually filled. When we passed through, the crowd was gath- 
 ered densely around the place where the stage was erected. Armed 
 soldados, shovel-hatted and cassocked priests, friars barefooted, 
 mothers with their children, women in their curious incognita, 
 the saya-y-manto, cavaliers with rattling spurs, and ragged negroes 
 with glittering teeth ; and numbers of eager, staring individuals, 
 in all kind of dresses, and of many different colors and complexions, 
 stood around. 
 
 At the proper moment, the three old Fates who turn the globes, 
 cast the numbers into them, on the one side thousands, on the 
 other tens, and in the middle hundreds. These being rolled back- 
 ward and forward three or four times, the doors are opened at the 
 same moment, and each of the little fellows appointed to the office 
 takes out a number : he does not look at it, but holds it out with 
 outstretched hand to the crowd. Then the boys go up to the 
 table, and display the numbers to the judges, who record them ; 
 and having given the proper information to one of the old worthies 
 who turn the wooden globes, he chants it out, and announces the 
 possessor of the prize to the motley assemblage (who are awaiting 
 the decision of fortune) in a sonorous voice. 
 
 Then the numbers are put into the globes again, and the self- 
 same process is repeated, till the whole of the prizes have been 
 drawn and disposed of. Then the multitude disperses ; away flit 
 the sayas-y-mantos, perhaps with a tear of disappoinment clouding 
 the brilliancy of the one solitary eye ; away trot tatterdemalions 
 on teetotaller-like donkeys, who look as if they had abjured not 
 only drinking this or that, but eating and drinking altogether ; and 
 off march dingy soldiers, with a fringe of rags adorning their mul- 
 tiform uniform. 
 
 These lotteries belong to a society called the " Beneficencia," and 
 their profits are bestowed on charitable institutions and hospitals.* 
 The Beneficencia, I believe, farms the lottery out ; and in a single 
 year, the sale of the lottery tickets brought about forty-three thou- 
 sand dollars. So fond are the Limanians of this species of gam- 
 bling, that at the shops there are frequently little lotteries and raffles. 
 
 Ideas are said to be becoming very much liberalized ; arid I 
 have heard from good authority that some of the priests even 
 have lately shown a most tolerant and enlightened spirit, and 
 have written and preached in a strain that evinced an extraordi- 
 nary change in their once bigoted opinions. 
 
 * There may be educational establishments at Lima. but. I know of none.
 
 DISTINGUISHED VISITORS. 393 
 
 I had a visit to-day from Monsieur and Madame F , and 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. W . Monsieur F commands the French 
 
 squadron in the Pacific, and is at Callao in his fine frigate 
 " L'Algerie :" he is an exceedingly gentlemanlike and agreeable 
 
 person, and Madame F is very beautiful and pleasing : she is 
 
 of an Irish family and is the niece of the celebrated Marshal 
 Bugeaud. She was married at Algiers, and now in her husband's 
 noble frigate " L'Algerie," she intends to go round the world with 
 
 him. From hence Monsieur F seems to think they will 
 
 proceed to the Sandwich Islands, and afterwards to China. 
 
 We dined with Mr. and Mrs. A last night. A Peruvian 
 
 lady and her daughter-in-law came in to visit her ; they were 
 dressed much like two Parisians, and with many handsome jewels. 
 The ladies retain their own surname after marriage. They asked 
 many questions relative to Mexico, and were full of grace and 
 intelligence ; the younger one spoke French. 
 
 We had a charming drive yesterday. The streets seemed 
 fuller and gayer than usual. The Lima winter is now coming on, 
 and the weather is becoming very cool : the fashionable watering- 
 place, Chorillos, is quite deserted. When Lima and Callao 
 happen to be at war, which is not a very extraordinary circum- 
 stance, Chorillos is sometimes used by merchant-ships as a port, in 
 place of Callao. During the bathing season it is said a good deal 
 of gambling goes on there, and heaps of gold load the gambling- 
 tables, and large fortunes are risked and exchanged ; but Chorillos 
 is now only tenanted by negroes and native Indians, and Lima is 
 full. 
 
 Besides meeting numbers of handsome carriages, we were often 
 in danger of running against large droves of donkeys, who are so 
 loaded and covered with heaps of fire-wood, fagots, and immense 
 bundles of clover, that they look like self-moving stacks, and fill up 
 nearly the whole street. The foot-passengers have to hurry out 
 of their way at the cry of the negro-drivers, who shout " Ciudado," 
 as they drive on their little moving mountains of sticks and grass ; 
 then there are various salesmen and saleswomen, the milk-venders 
 and water carriers, and ail carrying their goods on. the backs of 
 donkeys. 
 
 At the corners of some of the streets may be seen certain pic- 
 torial devices, to hint to survivors and mourners their obligations, 
 to those who have gone before them to the grave, and are supposed 
 to be suffering the pains of purgatory. Representations of the 
 head and upper part of the human figure are exhibited, done to 
 
 K*
 
 394 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the life or death surrounded by flames of fire. They call these 
 mournful pictures " Almas," or souls, and they are intended to 
 display the actual state and position of the unassisted and un- 
 relieved departed friends of any of the passers-by who may have 
 neglected this duty. 
 
 These unpleasant fancy-portraits might produce lasting uncom- 
 fortable impressions if there were not means at hand by which the 
 situation of the persons represented could be ameliorated. Fortu- 
 nately all this has been considerately taken into account : a small 
 mysterious box stands near for the reception of any sum the sur- 
 vivors may like to introduce into it for the relief of the " Almas." 
 
 What crowds in the streets, and what many-colored crowds 
 too ! The Negroes, the Mestizos, the Indians, Zambos and Cho- 
 los, and some of the more humble of the olive-colored descend- 
 ants of the old proud race of Castile, all go peaceably donkeying 
 on together, and occasionally a fair North American or Anglo- 
 Saxon, like Mrs. P , with her blue eyes and light-colored hair, 
 
 goes vision-like by. Verily there is a great deal of variety on all 
 sides. 
 
 There are so many of our fair countrywomen, and of the lily- 
 browed American ladies to be seen from time to time at Lima, 
 that I think the makers and inserters of dolls' eyes may venture 
 boldly to send some blue-eyed ones to South America. I see the 
 " Morning Chronicle" tells us that none but black-eyed puppets 
 can be imported here, because the black orbs are universally the 
 wear in these regions ; so those with azure peepers would be looked 
 upon as unnatural monsters. 
 
 We have been to see the Public Museum, which we found 
 
 interesting. Madame F was there, accompanied by one or 
 
 two of the French officers. In the room you first enter, the eye 
 is struck by a large number of old portraits, the size of life ; these 
 are the likenesses of the forty-five Spanish Viceroys, beginning 
 with the far-famed Pizarro : his countenance was rather striking. 
 They show in the vaults beneath the cathedral, a mouldering 
 corpse, supposed to be that of the Great Conqueror of Peru ; but 
 it seems extremely doubtful whether it is so or no. 
 
 The Viceroys are dressed in different old Spanish costumes, 
 showing the rise, progress and change of fashions. From black 
 habiliments, with lofty, starched-up ruffs, they advance into rich 
 and flourished embroidery, thickening till it is almost a golden armor. 
 After a while the tide of this lustrous embroidery ebbs a little, and 
 only besprinkles lightly the extreme borders of the vestments.
 
 MUMMIES. STUFFED BIRDS. 395 
 
 But there is a more touching and melancholy sight than this to 
 be seen in the Museum. Under cases of glass are placed, in a 
 sitting or crouching posture, certain mummies, exactly as they 
 were taken from their ancient sepulchres. Their legs are crossed 
 and bent : their stiffened arms crossed over their lifeless breasts, 
 with the elbows placed as if resting upon the knees, and the 
 beardless chins are supported on the hands : their teeth though 
 some few, if I recollect rightly, are missing were splendid still 
 
 large superb rows of glittering ivory (just what Sir J. C 
 
 would have called a magnificent dinner-set), and a little fusty 
 straggling hair yet adhered to their scalps. 
 
 These mummies are asserted to be those of the ancient and 
 much civilized Incas of gorgeous Peru. Well may they grin with 
 that sardonic expression, after all they have witnessed ! Since 
 the overthrow of their own noble race, what change, what per- 
 plexity, what wars, what dissensions ! 
 
 But Peru is beginning to feel the vitality of the mighty spirit 
 of the age : and if she, and the other South American countries, 
 can learn in time the difference the vast difference between 
 real liberty and license, all may yet be well with them, and 
 Nature may not in vain have thrown all her choicest treasures at 
 the feet of these, her spoiled children. 
 
 There are a great number of hiiacos (or images) and earthen 
 vases, aboriginal antiquities, and other curiosities taken from the 
 old Indian graves, and some sepulchral vessels of solid gold and 
 silver, collected here. There is a library in the same edifice, con- 
 taining nearly thirty thousand volumes, among which are some 
 books of great value. They are exceedingly well arranged. 
 
 There were stuffed birds in another room of the museum, to go 
 to which we passed between two of the Indian mummies, who, 
 with their brilliant teeth exposed, seemed grinning with a sort of 
 cadaverous civility, and appeared like mournful guardians of the 
 display of some of the natural glories of their country. Stuffed 
 birds of the most dazzlingly splendid plumage are beautifully ar- 
 ranged here. All the most vivid hues of the rainbow strike the 
 eye, and a few colors, it seemed, over and above that. One bird 
 was quite preternaturally resplendent ; its wonderful blaze of 
 feathers seemed like concentrated essence of sapphires, diamonds, 
 carbuncles, and all kinds of precious stones. There were some 
 <r>lossal albatrosses. These enormous birds on the wing must look 
 a little like flying elephants dressed in white muslin. 
 
 After spending some time pleasantly in examining the different
 
 396 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 objects in that interesting room, we took leave of the sumptuous 
 birds and the preserved Incas, and went to pay one or two visits. 
 
 The first of the Incas of Peru we have some slight grounds for 
 claiming as a countryman ; and to him Peru owed its prosperity, 
 its remarkable advance in civilization, and the development of its 
 industrial energies. 
 
 Before the establishment of that religion, of which Manco Capac 
 was the founder, the Indian tribes of Peru were living in the same 
 state of savage barbarism as the other nations of this race. They 
 subsisted entirely on the products of the chase, and of their rude 
 fisheries : the vanquished, in their sanguinary combats, were torn 
 to pieces by their ferocious enemies when made prisoners. They 
 worshiped the most hideous and hateful animals, and also lightnings, 
 storms, gloomy caverns, and frightful precipices. Sometimes they 
 would kneel in abject adoration before the trunks of giant trees, and 
 at other times fling themselves down in terror-stricken superstition 
 to worship the burning volcanoes, whose raging fury was tearing up 
 the entrails of the earth, and demolishing their fragile altars and 
 false gods. 
 
 At length according to the story, about eight hundred years 
 ago a change took place, and a stranger, as they believed, came 
 to them from the sun but first let us see what the old Spanish 
 chroniclers say of the name of the country. It is pretended, though 
 it can not be known with what truth, that the first adventurers 
 having found a native fishing in a river, asked him what the 
 country was called. The terrified Indian, not rightly understand- 
 ing them, told them " Baru," and "Pelu," the first, it is supposed, 
 being his own name, and the latter the name of rivers in general : 
 the Spanish discoverers compounded these words into the present 
 name of Peru. 
 
 It was very difficult for the Spaniards to ascertain who the first 
 sun-worshiping Incas really were. You know that the old native 
 tradition makes the original Inca, Manco Capac, and his sister, 
 and spouse, Oella-huaco, the Children of the Sun. Historians and 
 philosophers, in attempting to discover for them a less supernatural 
 and more probable origin, have hesitated whether to pronounce 
 them natives of Europe or Asia. 
 
 Among conflicting opinions, some have believed them to be de- 
 scendants of the Scandinavians who first are supposed to have land- 
 ed on the American Continent in the eleventh century ; others 
 again declare them to have been Mongolians of the family of 
 Genghis Khan, brought to this coast by contrary winds and tempests.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE SUtf. 397 
 
 Among other stories, the following absurd one is related by 
 some : An Englishman, about eight hundred years ago, was 
 wrecked on the rich coast of Peru : the chief who was then reign- 
 ing over barbarous hordes of savages there, demanding who he 
 was, was told in answer by the shipwrecked islander that he was 
 an "Englishman." The Indians repeated the word with a very 
 natural mispronunciation (as the North American Indians are said 
 to have pronounced English " Yankish" whence Yankee), " Incas- 
 man," and they added to this very politely, Cocapac, or most beau- 
 tiful, and made altogether Inca-manco-capac. Probably the gen- 
 tleman who v/as so complimented by the copper-colored barbarians, 
 rejoiced in a profusion of sandy hair, unkempt and uncut after his 
 stormy voyage ; for his golden, glittering locks made them think he 
 was born of the sun's fire he was worshiped accordingly. 
 
 Other accounts, which favor the belief that a fair-haired English- 
 man and his wife were shipwrecked here, state that for a length of 
 time they hid themselves in the mountains, and after a number 
 of years came down to the astonished Indians with their children, 
 whose golden locks flowed luxuriantly down their backs, and pro- 
 claimed themselves Children of the Sun, sent by that considerate 
 luminary to reign over them, and teach them many useful arts. 
 They were hailed with reverential joy, and became supreme rulers 
 over the credulous people. 
 
 These enlightened chiefs established a firm and stable theocratic 
 autocracy, which bound every individual in the country in the 
 closest (yet not galling) chains ; and from whatever source they 
 sprang, there is no doubt that the princely Incas, adored as sacred 
 personages, and obeyed as temporal sovereigns, thoroughly under- 
 stood the people over whom they reigned, and conferred upon them 
 the inestimable blessings of peace and of civilization. No means 
 were neglected by the Incas which could secure their widely-spread 
 influence, strengthen their eminent position, and perpetuate their 
 power. Not only their own persons were reverenced, but all that 
 Avas in any way connected with the sovereign dignity, was held in 
 such religious veneration, that any individual having occasion to 
 visit the metropolitan and imperial city of Cuzco, was under the 
 necessity of making profound obeisances to all those whom he hap- 
 pened to meet coming from it. Notwithstanding that too many 
 highly interesting evidences of the progress the Peruvians made 
 under their energetic masters were ruined and destroyed by the 
 unscrupulous and ruthless invaders, yet enough has remained to 
 bear witness to the wonderful strides that wisely-governed people
 
 39S TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 made in agriculture and political science, iu arms, in arts, in archi- 
 tecture, and in manufacturing industry. 
 
 Defaced though their temples and other noble structures are, 
 still we are told they excite lively admiration, and awaken a pleased 
 astonishment. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Manco Capac and his Wife Their Instruction of the Peruvians Old Peru- 
 vian Roads Bull-fights at Lima Mode of conducting them Spectators 
 at them Limanian Ladies Beautiful Specimens of Peruvian Art and 
 Ingenuity Silver ornamented Fruits Lima Burial-places The Aman- 
 caes The Fiesta of St. John The Valley of Amancaes The Flower of 
 that Name The Streets of Lima after the Fiesta Concerts given by a 
 French Lady Fruits of Lima The Grenadilla " Italia" Custom of 
 washing Plates by the lower Orders in Lima The Gorgonian Servant 
 "Huacos" and other Curiosities found in Peruvian Sepulchres The " Se- 
 norita" A Garden in the Suburbs Its numerous Trees, Shrubs, and 
 Flowers Enervating Climate of Lima. 
 
 I SHOULD like much to go to Cuzco, but I fear it would be too 
 fatiguing a journey for my little girl. 
 
 Probably the most striking vestiges of the civilization of the an- 
 cient inhabitants of the country are to be found there. Manco 
 Capac, the first Inca, taught the Indians to plow, to sow, and 
 also to irrigate the fields, which so greatly contributed to the fer- 
 tility of the land. His thrifty Queen Consort, the fair Daughter 
 of the Sun, did not disdain to instruct the female part of the popu- 
 lation in the simple arts of spinning, carding wool, and making 
 clothes for themselves and their husbands and children ! The 
 rude altars erected to the savage beasts of the field in the forests 
 were demolished ; the chase, as a means of subsistence, was aban- 
 doned ; the earth was carefully cultivated, and peace and content 
 smiled over the now fruitful and happy land. The worship of the 
 sun was made the ruling spirit of all their institutions. 
 
 These people were ignorant of the art of writing, but they skill- 
 fully preserved the memory of particular events by bold paintings, 
 and by knotted cords of a variety of colors, in which latter art they 
 were singularly expert, and showed great ingenuity. They con- 
 structed remarkably fine roads : the route from Quito to Cuzco 
 was five hundred leagues in length, and there was another of
 
 OLD PERUVIAN ROADS. BULL-FIGHTS. 399 
 
 the same extent that traversed the lower country, nearer to the 
 ocean. 
 
 In addition to these were a great number of other roads, inter- 
 secting the empire of the Incas in all directions. These roads are 
 described to be of peculiar construction, and must have demanded 
 much labor. They were raised terraces of earth, generally about 
 forty feet broad, filling up the hollows of the valleys, and forming 
 a regular level way. At intervals along these superb roads were 
 to be seen stately temples, hospices and Peruvian caravansaries 
 (open at all times and seasons to wayfarers and travelers), arsenals, 
 fortresses, and villages. 
 
 It is imposssible not to feel indignant at reading the recital of 
 the barbarous conduct of the old Spaniards toward this noble, civ- 
 ilized and inoffensive people. A late Spanish writer has ingeniously 
 attempted (while acknowledging the melancholy facts, which he 
 candidly confesses are too clearly substantiated for him to dispute), 
 to prove that these black deeds were the crimes of the Age, and 
 not of the Spanish nation. There is undoubtedly some truth in 
 this, but not quite so much, it is to be feared, as the accomplished 
 author would fain himself evidently believe. 
 
 I should perhaps have been tempted for once to go to a bull-fight 
 here, but none have taken place since we have been sojourning at 
 Lima. They are said to very superior to those at Havana, which 
 are miserable, and only attended by the lowest of the populace ; 
 horses of the most wretched description, quite broken down, and 
 staggering from weakness, alone being used there, and the whole 
 spectacle painful and horrible. In Havana, the elite of society are 
 too fastidious and refined to tolerate bull-baiting ; here, on the con- 
 trary, it is generally allowed to be brilliant and well-appointed, 
 for all Lima attends it ; and for a few days before it actually takes 
 place, the excitement and state of joyous anticipation into which 
 the Peruvian capital is thrown, is described as being intense. 
 
 On the morning of the gala day, a gay procession parades all the 
 principal streets of Lima, exhibiting to the admiring gaze of the 
 multitude the splendid equipments by which the victims are to be 
 adorned when they make their appearance in the ring, and also 
 displaying, for the inspection of the curious, some of the ingenious 
 instruments by which the poor creatures are to be tormented. This 
 procession is accompanied by a band of music, ordinarily consisting 
 of some decrepit clarionets and valetudinarian flutes and flageolets, 
 in various states and stages of infirmity, and one or two superan- 
 nuated drums.
 
 400 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 After these, are borne, stretched out on ornamented frames, the 
 rich coverings of gaudy silk, all glittering with spangles, and foil 
 and tinsel, which are to be thrown on the backs of the bulls ; then 
 come, attached to poles, carried by boys, the short, sharp spikes 
 which are intended to be thrust into the bodies of the enraged 
 animals. Each of these is brilliantly decorated with fanciful fig- 
 ures of various kinds, cut out in gilt and bright-colored paper, 
 and ingeniously enveloped in light, airy, net-work balloons. Fol- 
 lowing these, come the most prominent objects of the procession 
 three or four figures of the size of life, or larger, which are carried 
 high above the heads of the gaping crowd. 
 
 These enormous puppets or images are hollow, and are formed 
 of reeds, with an outward covering of painted paper, and contain 
 a quantity of explosive fireworks. These figures are placed in the 
 arena, and of course are attacked by the bull, and by their explo- 
 sions, help to increase his rage and fury. Sometimes a negro or 
 mulatto is represented in an absurd attitude, and ridiculously ac- 
 coutred ; sometimes, an English cottage-girl, such as you see in old 
 prints, in the pretty costume of past days, with a gipsy bonnet on 
 her head, and a flower-basket on each arm ; and occasionally a 
 London or Parisian dandy is exhibited, preposterously caricatured. 
 They sometimes put dwarfs in little pits in the ring, with enormous 
 head-dresses of red and yellow feathers ; the feathers dip arid dis- 
 appear when the bull rushes at them, to his great surprise. 
 
 Thus are the people wound up to a proper pitch of enthusiastic 
 expectation ; and when the day cornes, all is animation and delight. 
 The vast uncovered amphitheatre where the bull-fights take place, 
 is at the farthest extremity of one of the Alamedas. It is sur- 
 rounded with a vast number of boxes and benches, and is capable of 
 accommodating, with comfort and security, many thousand persons. 
 
 la the middle of the arena there is a little inclosure of posts. 
 This inclosure is of a circular shape, and the posts are near enough 
 together to prevent the entrance of the bull ; while a man, if in 
 imminent danger, can with facility introduce himself between them, 
 and there remain in safety. 
 
 When the time approaches for the exhibition, the populace, in 
 dense multitudes, stream toward the amphitheatre, along the 
 beautiful " Alameda del Acho," beneath whose over-shadowing 
 trees the Indian female stall-keepers sell " picante," and " chicha," 
 and the native brandy, " pisco." 
 
 Ladies are seen rapidly dashing past in their handsome "ber- 
 linas," or " volantas ;" cavaliers go caracoling along on their fiery
 
 PERUVIAN INGENUITY. 401 
 
 steeds, which are decked out with silver-embossed and glittering 
 trappings ; and the huge amphitheatre is soon overflowingly crowd- 
 ed with spectators of all ages, sizes, classes and colors, and with a 
 fair sprinkling of inquisitive visitors from distant countries, too ; 
 and the boxes are resplendent with thousands of bright eyes, and 
 vividly-colored shawls, and with the rich gold-embroidered uniforms 
 of military officers. 
 
 Some saya-y-mantos appear among the lovely crowd of Senoras ; 
 the open benches are filled with Indians, negroes, soldiers, peasants, 
 zambos, cholos, &c. Three or four bulls are generally sacrificed, 
 and then the sport terminates ; and the crowd of course greatly 
 edified wend their way back again to their splendid mansions in 
 the capital, or their rustic " chacras" (Indian cottages) in the 
 neighboring hamlets. 
 
 We dined again with Mr. and Mrs. A , whose kind and 
 
 friendly attentions are unceasing. After dinner, a Limanian lady 
 came in, who seemed a highly refined and sensible person, and who 
 is considered one of the most accomplished and intellectual of the 
 ladies in this capital. Her complexion was extraordinarily dark ; 
 so that indeed I took her at first for an Indian. She is a person 
 of much distinction, and of pure Castilian descent, I believe. 
 
 We had several opportunities of seeing the ladies of the coun- 
 try at Mrs. A 's little soirees : they have generally glorious 
 
 eyes, and their skins are not darker than those of Spanish women. 
 On Sunday, after the service at the little English chapel of the 
 Legation, a number of mantilla'd Peruvian ladies came to pay 
 the fair mistress of the mansion a visit. Among them were two 
 Guayaquil ladies, both very handsome, with very delicate, and 
 exquisitely fair complexions, extremely regular features, and eyes 
 like black suns if such a simile may be allowed. Their manners 
 were as prepossessing as their appearance. 
 
 Mr. Yates, an English gentleman from Liverpool, who is ac- 
 quainted with one of my brothers, called the other day, and brought 
 a large number of beautiful specimens of Peruvian art and ingenu- 
 ity, to show us. Quantities of dried fruit were among the articles ; 
 these were most fantastically decorated and framed with sparkling 
 silver ; some so delicately done, that the still naturally-colored 
 fruit seemed to be embossed with glittering drops of the diamond- 
 dew of morning. Mr. Yates is going to send these curiosities to 
 his daughter in England : he is married to a Danish lady whom 
 he first met at Lima. He is here now on business of importance, 
 which is under the consideration of Congress at present.
 
 402 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The silver-ornamented fruits I have described, it is customary 
 for persons in society to present to one another on feast days, and 
 occasions of rejoicing, a pretty and graceful little attention. The 
 most elaborately-wrought specimens are usually made by the nuns. 
 Among other things, were some exquisitely-finished peacocks and 
 flowers, in whose construction the fair artists displayed extraordi- 
 nary skill. Mr. Yates and Mrs. S have presented us with 
 
 some of the silver-encased fruits, but I fear the silver will turn 
 black during our journey across the Isthmus, which is at this 
 time of year the reverse of Lima : here there is no rain, and there 
 it is all rain. 
 
 Mrs. S gave me a sad and sickening account of a visit to 
 
 one of the burying-places here ; it reminded me much of the hor- 
 rors of the Campo Santo at Naples. She said ,in one case, where 
 there was some obstruction to its free passage, the body of a child 
 was cut up, and thrown down into the vile receptacle for the 
 perishing remains of humanity in separate parcels, wrapped up in 
 the torn shroud or some old rags of linen : however, so long as we 
 continue our detestable system of intra-mural interments in our 
 own metropolis, an'd have fetid church-yards in its most crowded 
 haunts (so frequently desecrated when fresh candidates for admis- 
 sion are brought to the reeking soil), we should be indulgent on 
 such matters. 
 
 We have been to see the Amancaes, a famous place, and a 
 famous flower, and a famous fiesta. The place is a valley some 
 three or four miles from Lima, between wild and rugged mount- 
 ains, looking down upon the city and upon the Pacific, and with 
 the towering snow-capped Andes for its colossal back-ground. 
 The flower is a golden-colored species of lily ; and the fiesta that 
 of "St. John's Day ; a few days previously to which, and sometimes 
 on the very day, arises and'blossoms brightly to adorn the chosen 
 spot, this consecrated flower. It is popularly believed that, 
 although up to the day before " St. John's Day," or even on the 
 very eve of " St. John," not a single flower of the Yellow Aman- 
 caes may be discernible, yet on the hallowed morning, the flower 
 will punctually appear to gild these previously sterile regions. 
 
 The weather was very delightful, and the Andes gloriously 
 
 visible in all their majesty, the day that Mrs. A was kind 
 
 enough to take us there in her carriage. Mrs. W and her 
 
 sister also went. Madame F was with them in their hand- 
 some equipage, which Mr. W drove himself, and a small cav- 
 alcade of gentlemen joined in the excursion.
 
 THE VALLEY OF AMANCAES. 403 
 
 The feast being on the 24th of June, is fast approaching now, 
 but we shall perhaps be gone before it arrives. The scene is 
 described as being very singular, and characteristic of the manners 
 and customs of the people : thousands pour along the Alameda de 
 los Descalsos on the great day of jubilee. At the spot where the 
 road enters into the mouth of the valley, two chapels are tem- 
 porarily erected, covered with floating streamers arid banners, and 
 gay flaunting ribbons, and each is made for the time the habitation 
 of a saint, arrayed in refulgent robes. This is for the purpose of 
 collecting contributions from those whose hearts and hands are 
 expected to be expanded and open under the influence of the joy- 
 ous time, when the tide of excitement and exhilaration is flowing 
 high, and all is glad emotion and anticipation. 
 
 The pedestrians and equestrians, and those who are rolling in 
 their gay carriages to the selected spot, are eagerly surrounded by 
 noisy groups of men, women and children, thrusting little plates 
 toward them, and indefatigably importuning them for money. 
 The celebrated valley of Amancaes, gradually narrowing between 
 the mountainous walls, which are seen abutting irregularly upon 
 it, terminates almost in a point in the upper part. At this ex- 
 tremity, a mile distant or thereabouts, numerous clusters of booths 
 are placed (all decorated with flags and emblematical devices), 
 and these are but too abundantly supplied with the native brandy, 
 and chicha and italia. The lily grows in profusion among the 
 neighboring hills, as well as in the valley ; and eager groups of 
 people set out through the day on exploring parties and come back 
 laden with the golden-colored spoils of their adventures. 
 
 If none of the yellow lilies are actually growing on the ground, 
 still it is half-covered with bunches and garlands of them, brought 
 from any place where it has happened to spring up ; and the 
 flower-hunters are to be seen profusely adorned with the glistening 
 blossoms, while the prancing steeds of many of them are also sim- 
 ilarly decorated, and look like moving bowers, their superb capari- 
 sons being overlaid with these blooming, glowing gems. The 
 scene must be altogether a very striking one : hundreds of splendid 
 equipages are seen in all directions, filled with the fairest flowers 
 of Lima who are not by any means yellow lilies ; but on whose 
 dark and richly-braided locks the golden flowers show to great 
 reciprocal advantage. 
 
 The servants who attend these brilliant carriages are often 
 clothed in very handsome liveries, covered with gold and silver 
 lace, which might a little recall remembrances of the Queen's
 
 404 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 drawing-room days in London, and the state liveries that then 
 make their appearances in the thronged streets ; but the Lima 
 horsemen's saddles and bridles, enriched with real, and beautifully 
 wrought silver, attract more a stranger's unaccustomed eye. 
 
 Tapadas are said to be generally very numerous on these occa- 
 sions, their brilliant rainbowed scarfs, fluttering and gleaming in . 
 studied negligence, and the one-gun battery of the single exposed 
 eye, doing great execution. A wild national dance is usually per- 
 formed here, and a wilderness of guitars is continually tinkling, 
 and sounding cheerily and sweetly. 
 
 Hark ! Suddenly sounds the vesper bell : like bounding silver balls 
 from silver cannon, with thrilling awful power, come the mighty 
 tones from the peerless bell of the Lima Cathedral. The people 
 stream back through the willow- skirted walks and road of the 
 Alameda de los Descalsos, on either side of which lights are gayly 
 sparkling through the windows of the houses which look upon it 
 but the Feast of the Amancaes is over. The preparations for the cel- 
 ebration of this festival were perceptible on the day we drove there. 
 We remained for some time entranced with the extreme beauty 
 of the extensive view. I had not before seen Lima in its fullest 
 splendor. The day was brilliantly fine, and it looked like* an en- 
 chanted city dominating the ocean, and with a host of white-crest- 
 ed tributary mountains standing behind its throne. What a noble 
 sight it was : it almost appeared to be a city all of temples and 
 sacred edifices. So innumerable seemed its domes and steeples, 
 pinnacles, and spires, one could hardly believe such things go on 
 within its walls as bull-baits and cock-fights. 
 
 Then how glorious looked the blue, calm, unbounded Pacific at 
 its feet ! so still, as if it felt the hushing influence of these hallow- 
 ed temples : its smooth, shining surface looked like the vast floor 
 of a colossal cathedral, whose towers were the giant Andes, and 
 ^whose roof the purple heavens of the South. Even charming little 
 
 Gemma, Mrs. A 's sweet little girl, seemed impressed with 
 
 the awful beauty of the scene, and her lovely infantine countenance 
 looked grave and thoughtful. 
 
 With many a last admiring look at the sublime scene on one 
 side at the high-soaring peaks of the gigantic Cordillera, and on 
 the other at the almost innumerable towers and turrets and ter- 
 races, and spires and steeples, and cupolas and convents of the 
 city, partly embosomed in romantic and beautiful gardens and in 
 umbrageous sylvan groves, and at the ocean of oceans, the wide- 
 spreading Pacific that with
 
 CROWDED STEETS. 405 
 
 " Soft swelling waves, 
 A thousand bright islands eternally laves " 
 
 with many a feeling of regret we left that lovely valley of the 
 Amancaes, lovely not in its own self, without the flowery enrobing 
 of its famous golden lily, but for the consummate beauty of the 
 views it presents on all sides ; and we drove again through the wil- 
 lowy avenues of the Alarneda de los Descalsos, after passing many 
 flourishing groves, and fields, and plantations of the busy suburbs. 
 The streets looked very gay and animated as we drove back to 
 the French Hotel. We met hosts of ladies taking the air in their 
 carnages ; others were sitting in those broad piazzas, which have 
 such a pretty effect with their Oriental-looking jalousies ; and 
 crowds of pedestrians militars, civicos, and saya-y-mantos were 
 thronging the trottoirs. Undisturbed by the multitudes, some of 
 the gallianzos were comfortably perched along the sides of the riv- 
 ulets that flow through the streets of Lima. These birds are the 
 sopilotes of Peru, and they fly about the town unmolested, nay, 
 encouraged, perfectly tame and at home every where. 
 
 The running streams I have mentioned are conveyed by con- 
 duits from the river Rimac, and flow not only through all the 
 main arteries and chief thoroughfares of the city, but also through 
 nearly all the lesser streets. They must contribute very consider- 
 ably to the healthfulness and cleanliness of the town. As you 
 drive along the " calles," every niche and nook, and corner and 
 crevice, seem to be occupied by some petty trader, busily disposing 
 of his and her small wares. 
 
 Before the bull-fights take place, it is the fashion here, on the 
 day previous to the sport, to suspend immense and conspicuous 
 signs containing programmes of the spectacle, at the entrance of 
 the portales, or arcades ; these flourished advertisements are gene- 
 rally painted on linen or muslin, stretched over frames of light 
 wood ; and sometimes the approaching cock-fight is announced bj 
 pictured placards of equally portentous appearance and dimensions. 
 Boys also are sent round with printed and illustrated hand-bills, 
 and cards of the coming sport ; and it is frequently pompously an- 
 nounced that the judge will be the chief-intend ant of the police. 
 The watchmen recite a long history here in crying the hour thus 
 it runs : " Ave Maria Santissirna, las doce (or whatever hour it 
 may be) han dado : Vira Peru, y Sereno." 
 
 A few evenings ago at Mrs. A 's, the conversation happened 
 to turn upon the debate in our Parliament on the bill for legaliz- 
 ing marriages between brothers and sisters-in-law. A Peruvian
 
 406 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 gentleman who was there asked, apparently in much astonish- 
 ment, if that was forbidden in England : he was told it was. 
 " Hombre !" he exclaimed, " es posible V and proceeded to tell us 
 a friend of his had married three sisters in succession. They must 
 have procured dispensations from the Pope, of course. 
 
 There have been concerts lately given here by a French lady, 
 who has been starring it in India and China, I believe ! The place 
 where the concerts are given is so near our hotel that we can hear 
 a little of the strains of the songstress and her assistants, without 
 moving from our chairs : they have failed here, I am told. The 
 opera season has not yet begun in Lima. They have frequently 
 a very good company, I believe, and the " palcos" are thronged 
 with ladies superbly attired, and sometimes glittering with a per- 
 fect armor and panoply of jewels, if report speaks truth. 
 
 I sent down some days ago to our fruitseller, under the great 
 gateway, for some of those frozen apples we saw at Callao. She 
 sent up a number of apples, that to outward appearance were pre- 
 cisely the same ; but on cutting them in two, we found they had 
 either thawed, or had never been frozen at all ! We have been 
 told since, that while only one species of apple ever presents this 
 appearance, yet you can never be sure that these will do so till 
 you have opened them : it perhaps depends on the different stages 
 of ripeness in the fruit. The vegetables and fruit here are mostly 
 excellent ; the aguacates are exquisite ; we have them constantly 
 at breakfast : they seem to hold a place between a vegetable and 
 a fruit. Then we have pine-apples, melons, oranges, cherimoyas, 
 grenadillas, pears, and hundreds of other delicious fruits. (Near- 
 ly all the tropical fruits however, --except aguacates, I confess 
 with deep penitence, I. think detestable too rich usually for hot 
 countries.) 
 
 Among the vegetables, are cabbages, yuccas, potatoes (sweet ; 
 ^nd Irish, as they call our common potato), tomatoes, pumpkins, 
 radishes, beans, and peas, and numerous others. The cherimoya 
 is a very great favorite here, and I believe I am in a minority of 
 one in not liking it : it is called the queen of fruits. In size and 
 shape it bears outwardly some resemblance to a very large pear ; 
 the rind is rather rugged, and of a color between brown and green. 
 It is supposed that this queenly fruit is pre-eminently excellent at 
 Lima : it is commonly eaten with a spoon ; the rich pulp is white 
 and saccharine, and not unlike an aromatic and creamy custard. 
 The more I tried to like them the more I abominated them I 
 can't exactly say why.
 
 WASHING PLATES. 407 
 
 The cherimoya is the " Doctor Fell" of fruits for me. Perhaps 
 one reason may be, it has so much pretension about it, that if you 
 are disposed not to approve, your dislike becomes hatred. The 
 grenadilla is better, selon moi, and more refreshing ; the inside is 
 like a large heap of the ripest interiors of gooseberries. They have 
 raisins brought here from Pisco, as well as " italia," which raisins 
 are excellent, by the way. 
 
 Italia is not like the common drink, called "pisco." The italia 
 derives its name from the circumstance of its being made from an 
 exquisite grape imported originally from Italy, and extremely im- 
 proved by the climate of the new country, or probably by some 
 difference in the cultivation. 
 
 The present President of Peru is a Cholo. He was reproached 
 at the time of his election with so being : he is, by all accounts, a 
 firm, strong-minded man, not at all disposed to yield to popular 
 clamor, and brave as a lion. During one of the Pronunciamientos 
 here, he made his appearance in the public square, exposing him- 
 self with the utmost confidence to the infuriated people, something 
 a la Empereur Nicholas, and he so charmed and awed them by 
 his gallant and dauntless bearing, that not a finger was lifted 
 against him. 
 
 "We dined a few days ago with Mr. and Mrs. P . They 
 
 have a very pretty and good-sized house in the Calle de Guadaloupe, 
 an immense distance from our hotel ; but our obliging host sent for 
 a carriage (a hired one) for us, and we gladly mounted this lofty 
 vehicle, which was gayly decorated with yellow silk lining in the 
 interior, and proceeded at a most funereal pace to the abode of our 
 friend. Whether our driver had a particular fancy for crossing 
 and recrossing the little rivulets in the middle of the streets or 
 whether this carriage was in itself rough, I knew not precisely, 
 but there was certainly a great deal of jolting and jarring per- 
 haps the driver thought a little exercise before dinner was good 
 for our healths. 
 
 Some of the humbler orders of Lima Senoras have a curious 
 little unsophisticated custom of their own, which is decidedly 
 original : it is washing the plates, and glasses, and dishes from 
 their dinner-tables in the gutters of the streets. Now, although 
 the waters of the Rimac are as clear as crystal when dashing over 
 their pebbly bed, they are doomed to experience in their peregri- 
 nations through the Lima calles the truth of the proverb that says, 
 " Evil communications corrupt good manners ;" and these con- 
 taminated currents most abundantly testify to this fact. I should
 
 408 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 therefore think the flavor of the " caldo," or of their favorite fiery 
 red-pepper sauce itself, can not be much improved by their contact 
 with these gutter-washed platters. 
 
 It is quite affecting to hear the ladies in Lima (I mean in gen- 
 eral our own country-women) lamenting over the difficulty of 
 keeping any maid-servants here now, as they all go to California, 
 the male emigrants being anxious to provide themselves with'emi- 
 grantesses : in short, hard-working wives, to cook, and wash, and 
 take care of their homes. Some of the ladies pathetically dilated 
 on their misfortunes, and one told me she had taken care to en- 
 gage a most undeniable Gorgon, and she expatiated on the poor 
 woman's ugliness, as an admirer might do on the charms of his 
 fair one : 
 
 " So exquisitely and deliciously hideous she was ! such blubber 
 lips ! such goggle, boiled-mackerel eyes ! such a squat nose, with 
 such wide, horrible nostrils" (something like the prompter's box 
 at the opera, by her description) ! " and such a villainous complex- 
 ion, and old as the Andes nearly !" And this chosen and selected 
 star and wonder disappeared sooner than the rest. 
 
 A handsome young carpenter persuaded the goggle-eyed dame 
 to visit El Dorado as his spouse ; and the astonishment and indig- 
 nation of the bereaved lady knew no bounds. It seems that the 
 emigrants do not care quite so much for looking at pretty faces, in. 
 their new distant homes, as having hard-working, industrious, 
 managing wives ; good housewives, who will cook and wash, and 
 drudge, and keep their houses tidy and comfortable. 
 
 If the lady had tried to find a beauty instead, she would perhaps 
 have acted more wisely, for the belle would have been far more 
 difficile, to begin with ; and would have looked with horror at the 
 prospects of the hardships and drudgery which the wives of miners 
 and adventurers in California have constantly to undergo. It 
 was a mistake, decidedly. I dare say, too, that goggle-eyed Gorgon 
 thought more of her appearance, and was more conceited than a 
 beauty would have been ; it is so often the case. 
 
 Mrs. S , whom we went to see a little while ago, has given 
 
 us some charming old " huacos," which are warranted to be really 
 from the sepulchres of the ancient Sun-worshipers. One of them 
 has strange marks and hieroglyphics on it, and a curious monkey- 
 like little monster on the handle. She also kindly gave me some 
 of the pieces of cloth found in those old tombs, remnants belonging 
 to the shrouds or dresses in which the mummies were found 
 wrapped,
 
 CURIOSITIES. 409 
 
 The ancient places of interment were generally vaults, built of 
 adobes. With the bodies are frequently found gold ornaments, 
 and other treasures : the wrappings and draperies of the mummies 
 are found occasionally most splendidly dyed and embroidered, and 
 often exhibit considerable artistical taste and manufacturing skill. 
 There are belts, with balls and tassels, mats, sacks, and other 
 articles, usually scattered about the vaults in great abundance. 
 
 I have read a description of one fragment that appears to be an 
 allegorical design. It was the representation of a beautiful butter- 
 fly, with its rich wings outstretched, as if flying, or about to fly. 
 The colors were light red, and azure, and white, and a glowing, 
 golden brown, and . apparently carefully imitated from nature. 
 This butterfly was displayed on a deep ground of crimson. Sure- 
 ly it was meant to represent the enfranchised soul, in the manner 
 of the classical ancients. 
 
 It is said there are some small bags found in numbers in the 
 vaults, that are made of cotton, hair, or wool. Sometimes they 
 are fringed, and otherwise decorated ; they are generally sewn up, 
 and inclose often tufts of hair, dark-colored pebbles, and little 
 bunches of parti-colored feathers. The fragment of cloth Mrs. 
 S so oblingly gave me, was quite recently taken from a mum- 
 my ; the colors are still clear ; they are brown, figured over with red ; 
 the figures are not very unlike some of those hieroglyphics on the 
 earthern vessels I have mentioned. The material is of immense 
 thickness, almost equal to that of a carpet ; it is in excellent pres- 
 ervation. There is a curious war-sling, given to me by the same 
 kind friend, which is still in use among the wild Indians in the 
 interior of Peru ; it is very strongly and neatly made. 
 
 Mrs. S has an exceedingly handsome house ; a two-storied 
 
 one, with immense galleries, and covered balconies. These balco- 
 nies are magnificent ; they are furnished and carpeted. They 
 afford such an excellent view, that during " dias de fiesta," they 
 are crowded by the friends and acquaintances of the amiable mis- 
 tress of the mansion. I have received a kind invitation to come 
 here to witness some of the great religious processions which will 
 shortly take place, and shall certainly avail myself of it, if 1 am 
 still in the Peruvian capital. In this earthquaking city of Lima 
 this is almost the only two-storied house whose inhabitants I know. 
 There are a profusion of interesting curiosities in the large and 
 lofty rooms here : huacos of all kinds and shapes, formed into 
 various sorts of monstrosities, some very elaborately finished : and 
 there are quantities of beautiful inlaid cabinets such an "em- 
 
 S
 
 410 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 barras des ri chesses" in that line, indeed, that the children have 
 some magnificent ones, in which to put their toys and books. 
 
 Others are used for stores of Berlin- wool and canvas (Mrs. S 's 
 
 sister works very beautifully) ; and, in short, costly and exquisite 
 as they are, they are obliged to make themselves generally useful 
 here. 
 
 I think I have not mentioned that the room in which Francisco 
 Pizarro was assassinated is still shown at Lima, and the balcony 
 from whence the unpitying, infuriated Almagros afterward threw 
 his body ; but I doubt its being the true one. 
 
 "L'Algerie" is shortly to leave Callao ; for Payta first, and 
 then probably for the Sandwich Islands. We went to take leave 
 of Madame F yesterday. She and Monsieur F are stay- 
 ing at the French Minister's. Madame F seems to look for- 
 ward with great pleasure to her extended tour and voyage round 
 the world, and not to regret Paris in the least. She expects to be 
 much interested in China : it is altogether a very spirited under- 
 taking for this young and beautiful lady. 
 
 We also went to see Mrs. B . Her house is remarkably 
 
 pretty, with a garden like a vision of enchantment. Such flowers ! 
 among others, that lovely " variable," the chameleon of flowers, 
 which changes its color three times a day. It is, I believe, pure 
 white in the morning, a soft rose-color in the afternoon, and in the 
 evening a deep glowing crimson. The Peruvians somewhat im- 
 pertinently call it the " Senorita." 
 
 My bird-fancying companion went with Mrs. B 's little 
 
 adopted daughter to see two splendid feathered monsters. By her 
 description, I think they must be huacamayas, a rare and huge 
 species of parrot. She says they were of enormous size, and of the 
 most dazzling colors conceivable, but very savage indeed. They 
 were formerly kept in the garden ; but the distracting noise they 
 made caused them to be banished to a more distant place of abode. 
 
 The garden here is in the patio, and the delicious odors with 
 which it floods the drawing- rooms are charming. Still the luxuri- 
 ance of Lima gardens can not strictly be compared with that of 
 those of the Havana. I must give a list of the plants and flowers 
 in one small garden there belonging to a villa in the suburbs. 
 First and foremost, the villa itself (which was more like a kiosk 
 at Constantinople than a house, all balconies and galleries) was 
 smothered in the most lavish growth of creepers and climbing 
 plants ; and it was most magnificently over-shadowed by a princely 
 bamboo, whose huge giant branches rose to a great height above
 
 ENERVATING CLIMATE. 411 
 
 it to fall in mighty mammoth plumes, such as might have sur- 
 mounted the head of a Titanic birthday beauty, two miles high, 
 in the land of giants and ogres. It was also like a vast high- 
 soaring fountain of transparent emerald, tossing skyward its fairy 
 columns, and falling in graceful cascades of feathery, far-spreading, 
 and foamy lightness. 
 
 The garden was certainly too crowded with its wild botanical 
 treasures ; yet entangled and heaped together as they were in the 
 richest profusion, they all appeared in the most flourishing condition, 
 and those that could find no space below for their exuberant glories 
 and fanciful vagaries shot up above, and hung their enchanted 
 bowers, and spread their mosaiced and rainbowed parterres, in the 
 air, at least so they seemed to do. There were jessamines, hibis- 
 cus (called here " mar pacifico"), mignonnette trees, pomegranates, 
 floripondias, verbenas, dahlias, "conchitas azules," marivillas of 
 three colors, orange trees, bananas, papayos (papaws), silk sugar- 
 cane (a particular kind of sugar-cane), guanabana, aloes, tobacco 
 plant, espuelas, Peregrina trees, madamas ; quantities of different 
 kinds of roses, Alamo trees, diamela, Almendras (almond trees), 
 Almizcle (musk), Tuna (a peculiar sort of cactus), fig-trees, Jupite 
 or astronomia, grape-vines, azucenas (white lilies), Itamo real 
 (tree), Albahaca fina (a kind of sweet basil), yerba Luisa, romero 
 (rosemary), malva real, cafia de azucar, violets, mejorana, aguin- 
 aldos blancos, cundiamor, Indio trepador, the fine flor del zapota, 
 claveles rosedans, murallas (trees), the cana brava (bamboo), and 
 others whose names I could not ascertain. Remember, this is 
 quite a common-place and very little garden, with hardly any care 
 whatever bestowed upon it. 
 
 Delightful as this cool and rainless climate of Lima is, there must, 
 I think, be something peculiarly enervating about it. Notwith- 
 standing the untropical freshness of the air, Europeans complain 
 that they can not take exercise here as in their own countries ; 
 and what is strange, the eyes seem often affected with weakness. 
 The complete absence of sun and glare in general ought, one 
 would imagine, to be favorable to the visual organs. I can not 
 say that we find walking fatigues us more here than at other 
 places, but we constantly hear complaints to that effect. To be 
 sure, we have been here but a short time as yet. 
 
 I heard the other day two English ladies, who had been out 
 shopping together the previous day, inquiring after their mutual 
 healths, and one said : " I really felt as if I should die when I 
 arrived at home ; I lay down on the sofa, and could not move
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 hand nor foot for hours." And the other, " I felt quite ill after the 
 fatigue of going to those shops. I have not recovered it. I have 
 felt so tired and wearied out ever since." From curiosity, I made 
 inquiries as to the amount of exertion they had undergone, and 
 found it was what would be considered a mere nothing in London. 
 We are going to see some of the churches. The magnificent 
 church and convent of San Francisco I fear we shall not be allow- 
 ed to enter. 
 
 CHAPTER LI 
 
 About to leave Lima The Cathedral Fragile but enduring Buildings in 
 Lima The Reason why they are the latter The Tower of San Domingo 
 The Chorister of the Cathedral The Shrine of Santa Rosa The Inqui- 
 sition at Lima The Cemetery Cemeteries in the United States Lima 
 Mode of Sepulture Remains of the Temple of the Sun Peruvian Poli- 
 tics Disheartening News from California Verses on Happiness Earth- 
 quakes at Lima The Shoes of the Ladies. 
 
 WE are still at Lima ; but -an American steamer has lately 
 arrived, and if it is possible to manage it comfortably, I think of 
 taking a passage in her to Panama, as the sooner we cross the 
 Isthmus on our way to Jamaica now (before the roads are utterly 
 turned to swamps and morasses) the better. The rainy season has 
 doubtless set in, but in the beginning it is comparatively easy to 
 effect the transit. 
 
 This American vessel is a river steamer. She has come here 
 from New York, through the straits of Magellan, after losing al- 
 most her whole crew at Rio Janeiro of yellow fever : fifteen men 
 belonging to the steamer died there, and the captain is still ill 
 from the effects of the severe attack he had of that dreadful dis- 
 order. In some instances, it is stated, merchant vessels were left 
 without a single man on board. It began among the shipping, 
 and for a long time did not make its appearance on shore ; but at 
 length it burst forth there also, and spread with awful violence. 
 
 Mr. Yates has most obligingly volunteered to arrange about our 
 passage to Panama, if the accommodations on board the " New 
 World" are sufficiently comfortable. I have consulted an eminent 
 English Medical gentleman here as to there being any danger of 
 infection on board the steamer, and he positively assures me there 
 is not the smallest cause for any apprehension. 
 
 Mr. Yates escorted us to see the cathedral and two other fine
 
 FRAGILE BUILDINGS. 413 
 
 churches this morning, as well as the building where the Congress 
 assembles. This is not very imposing, but we could not gain ad- 
 mittance to the finest part. A ragged soldier piloted us about : 
 he had lost a limb in one of the revolutionary battles here. As 
 he led us along a handsome hall, I saw at the extreme end, where 
 immense doors opened on a kind of patio, what I thought was a 
 beautiful garden, and the distant hills and mountains behind it. 
 
 This was a spirited, well-executed fresco, on a high wall oppo- 
 site, so arranged as to fill up the whole space in front of the opened 
 doors : when seen from the hall it has the appearance of being a 
 natural landscape and garden. The court-yards were like open-air 
 panoramas. The people seem to have a perfect passion for fresco- 
 paintings and arabesques. 
 
 If the truth is to be told, Lima itself, the regal and the aspiring, 
 is very near being one huge colossal opera-scene. A great number 
 of the princely-looking edifices that rear their haughty fronts as if 
 they would defy the terrible temblor itself, are only built of stones 
 and bricks (or often of gigantic adobes) up to the height of the bel- 
 fries ; above this all is lath and plaster, paste-board and rushes, 
 reeds and stucco ; a vast accumulation of architecturally arranged 
 whips, and wicker work, and whim-whams, and walking-sticks ; 
 but the effect is as splendid as if all was built of granite and ada- 
 mant. Who would dream, when looking at this city from the 
 Amancaes, that these glorious domes and steeples, so thickly 
 crowding together that one might almost think the inhabitants of 
 Lima all dwelt in churches, or in convents at least, and that no sec- 
 ular habitation intervened who would dream, I say, that these 
 apparently massive structures were closely akin to a child's house 
 of cards, or the back-ground scenes of a ballet in London or 
 Paris? But Lima is justified in placing her faith on a reed, and 
 in thinking stability, or rather solidity, of construction not literally 
 worth a rush here. 
 
 These light and fragile fabrics are the only edifices of any ele- 
 vation that can withstand the shocks of the devastating earth- 
 quake. The reader will remember, I dare say, the account of the 
 earthquake in New Zealand, when all the strongly-built stone 
 houses suffered and sank, and became piles of ruins, and those with 
 slender wooden walls stood uninjured. No lofty structure could 
 survive the assaults of frequent earthquakes, except those of such 
 " leather and prunella," papery composition : they bend and quiver 
 like a storm-shaken pine of the forest, but regain and recover their 
 perpendicular position unimpaired.
 
 414 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 * 
 
 There is one very high tower, that of San Domingo, where 
 they say the ringing of the bells causes an extreme vibration, like 
 that in the leaning tower of Pisa, yet it is considered safe. As to 
 the private dwelling houses, they are generally, of course, of the 
 same materials ; but as rain is unknown here, and wind does not 
 visit the " face" of the fair city ever " too roughly," you might 
 live in a tent of silken tafietta, if so minded, without injury from 
 the elements. 
 
 The cathedral has two aisles inside, supported by a vast num- 
 ber of pillars. There is in the interior some very beautifully carv- 
 ed wood ; but while we were admiring this, a ragged- looking boy, 
 who had been previously chattering with some urchins of comrades, 
 rushed toward us, gesticulating and vociferating amazingly, and 
 said on no account could the ladies be permitted to remain. Cap- 
 tain W , who had joined our party, with Mr. Yates, tried to 
 
 pacify him, and persuade him to allow us to stay. 
 
 Suddenly he darted away, and with remarkable rapidity ap- 
 peared before us again in a change of costume, that had been 
 effected with such celerity, that we should have been disposed to 
 think it was a twin brother of our youthful persecutor, had not our 
 eyes followed his agile movements. He was now a chorister in 
 flowing robes, and with much dignity of deportment he ordered us 
 away: it was "quite impossible that ladies should come there;" 
 but this our presence practically contradicted, so we replied not. 
 He frowned and fulmined at us ; probably threatened us with the 
 vengeance of the Pope and the whole College of Cardinals, and 
 sweet Santa Rosa of Lima if we did not depart. 
 
 His rage and eagerness prevented his speaking very clearly, and 
 we were really much taken up in looking at the beautiful wood 
 carvings; but we soon told him we would go, and his countenance 
 lighted up a little. He behaved civilly enough when he saw us 
 departing, merely looking as if he would like particularly to have 
 the exterminating of us quietly, without any torturing whatsoever. 
 
 We had hoped to have avoided any unpleasant rencontre of this 
 kind ; for hearing they were very particular about the head-dress 
 here, we had doffed our already-excommunicated bonnets, and put 
 a " manto" of the moment on our heads, formed of black scarfs; 
 but this young gentleman quickly discovered we were heretics, and 
 treated us accordingly. The shrine of the patroness of Lima, 
 Saint Rosa, was brilliantly decorated. In the fine Murillo at 
 Belvoir Castle, this saint appears. The cathedral formerly was 
 enriched by vast quantities of solid silver, which have gradually
 
 THE INQUISITION. 415 
 
 melted away, under the unscrupulous attacks of the many differ- 
 ent revolutionists and pseudo-regenerators of this fine land. 
 
 We afterward went to see the ancient Inquisition : it is now 
 used chiefly as a prison for the meanest criminals. In a large 
 hall we saw a truly beautiful carved ceiling ; it was perfectly ex- 
 quisite, but is quite lost where it is. We were told by a Peruvian 
 gentleman there, that it has long been contemplated to remove it 
 to some more conspicuous and suitable situation. We looked into 
 one of the old dungeons of the Inquisition. Horrible ! When 
 the accused was brought from his cell, he did not enter the hall of 
 judgment, or whatever this great gloomy chamber was called, but 
 was led up to a small grated opening in the wall, to hear the sen- 
 tence. 
 
 We were shown the place where an immense crucifix had been 
 formerly attached to the wall at the upper end of the room, above 
 the place where sat the solemn arbiters of life and death. Behind 
 this figure was arranged machinery, by which it was made to nod 
 and shake the head, when appealed to, before the irrevocable 
 decision was pronounced. The Peruvian gentleman enlarged upon 
 the horrors of those olden days in a strain of glowing indignation, 
 till that gloomy old hall of the Inquisition resounded with his 
 eager eloquence. 
 
 Mr. Yates, who had most obligingly undertaken to pay a visit 
 to the American steamer, and let us know whether she had suffi- 
 cient accommodation, has brought us word that the captain will 
 make all necessary arrangements, and that he fully intends to stop 
 at Panama on his way to San Francisco. He says the vessel is 
 beautifully clean, and that we shall have it almost all to ourselves, 
 as there are only three passengers in her now for California. Wheu 
 she gets to Panama, she will probably find crowds anxious to take 
 their.passage in her. 
 
 I have just returned from a charming drive with our kind friend 
 
 Mrs. A , after going to take leave of Mrs. S and her 
 
 sister, and the pretty children, with their flowing English-looking 
 golden ringlets. We drove to the cemetery, a little distance from 
 Lima : we found the great gates locked, and could only look 
 through them. After seeing the most magnificent and beautiful 
 cemeteries in the world those of the United States all others 
 look dreary and poor in comparison. Even those glittering, much- 
 adorned church-yards, which I remember admiring once in Ba- 
 varia, would, from their petty size, look inferior indeed. 
 
 Then in the United States they generally choose a natural
 
 416 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 situation of the greatest beauty ; and Nature and Art strive 
 together to perform, as it were, everlastingly the noblest funeral 
 obsequies around the tombs of the departed. Statues of angels 
 and weeping mourners stand by the graves among flowers and 
 trees ; the air thrills with perpetual hymns of singing birds ; silent 
 sermons are preached from changing foliage and varying blooms. 
 All is touching, and beautiful, and hallowed, in that place, which 
 the imaginative Germans so poetically call " God's Acre." And 
 BO it should be. 
 
 The Old Romans were the wisest of mankind, it is my humble 
 opinion, in their way of disposing finally of their dead ; and next 
 to them are the Young Americans ! Death is not made unneces- 
 sarily and improperly gloomy and repulsive. The pale angel is 
 still an angel, and regarded as the one who, in opening the gates 
 of the grave, throws wide the portals of immortality. 
 
 It is the custom in Lima for a large clumsy hearse, drawn by 
 mules, and driven by a postillion, to go round in the morning, aitd 
 collect the bodies of those who have died in the preceding night. 
 The hearse, called the car of the Pantheon, brings them to the 
 cathedral, to receive the latest offices of the Church. Sometimes 
 the corpses are brought in coffins, and sometimes not. When the 
 latter is the case, a public receptacle is used during the perform- 
 ance of the funeral ceremony, which is made to fit all comers. 
 
 On returning from the cemetery, which is inclosed by high adobe 
 walls, we found it quite cold, and were glad to put on additional 
 cloaks. Our hands were extremely chilled. There must be some 
 great difference in the climate or the construction of the houses in 
 Mexico and Lima. We have never found it cold in the houses 
 here (without fires, of course), while in Mexico in the mornings 
 particularly we often found it so. In Mexico, on the contrary, 
 I never found it cold out of doors ; whereas here, several times 
 we have found it imperatively necessary to put on warm, thick 
 shawls on going out. 
 
 I am sorry to leave Lima before the religious fetes take place, 
 for the city, from its many peculiarities, must present a very strik- 
 ing scene on those occasions. From all its nearly innumerable 
 churches and convents are floating then myriads of consecrated 
 banners, and from the houses, too, tens of thousands of " banderas" 
 are streaming with their gaudy hues on the flushed air. 
 
 The insides of the churches are adorned with a forest of artificial 
 flowers, and miles of festooning ribbons, and are besides decorated 
 with other ornaments, in almost endless profusion. Processions go
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN. 417 
 
 through the streets, and music awakens the echoes, while incense 
 from censers of silver thickly ascends in odoriferous clouds, and a 
 hundred splendid pageants appear on all sides. 
 
 Just now, serious reflections on such subjects I will not enter 
 into. The spectacle itself, however much there is to be deplored 
 in such exhibitions, must be fine, amid all the picturesque adjuncts 
 of the capital of Peru, where the old Sun-worshipers whilom knelt 
 in rude idolatry. 
 
 Speaking of them, I should have very much liked to visit the 
 remains of the ancient Temple of the Sun, about twenty miles 
 from this city. This old edifice is said to have been about three 
 hundred and thirty feet high ; some writers state that it was at 
 least six hundred feet above the level of the sea, raised on an 
 elevation which was in part artificial. The ruins are scattered 
 over three grand terraces, rising in regular gradations one over the 
 other. The remains of an ancient and stately town lie moulder- 
 ing around the fallen temple of Pachacamac, the life-bestowing deity. 
 
 The scenery around is reported to be very splendid ; the gigantic 
 mountain-views contrasting strikingly with the smiling groves of 
 orange, and the fruitful gardens and fields of the lovely valley of 
 Lurin quiet hamlets, with their painted churches and soaring 
 steeples ; the Pacific tossing its foam in sparkling garlands on the 
 shore, and fading away in the blue horizon ; the wild-whirling 
 clouds on the distant lofty peaks ; the haciendas hidden in thickets 
 of fruit trees ; old earthquake-ruined bridges, and Indian chacras, 
 dotted here and there. 
 
 Altogether, by all accounts, it must form a very interesting 
 scene, and assuredly must be well worth going to see ; but we 
 found various difficulties in the way ; and not thinking of going so 
 soon, I put it off; and that most arrant thief and vagabond, Pro- 
 crastination, has robbed me of this. Is not that same Procrastina- 
 tion the chief pavior of Pluto, where good intentions were used 
 instead of stone or wood ? 
 
 I will not enter into any Peruvian politics, my sole intention 
 being to tell the reader what we actually see around us. It 
 would only be the gossip of politics that 1 could give in these 
 hastily written pages, and would neither amuse nor edify. I will, 
 therefore, merely say, there seems a growing jealousy between civil- 
 ians and the military. The South American armies, as far as I have 
 seen, seem to be maintained generally not for the purpose so much 
 of fighting the country's battles with foreign foes, as for settling end- 
 less disputes among the belligerent factions at home.
 
 418 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Far be it from me to say that the sole movement here has been 
 a " progressive retrogression ;" but I am disposed to think, in 
 educational matters, and other things indispensable to successful 
 self-government, there has been displayed a remarkable supineness 
 in high quarters ; which " masterly inactivity," in those who 
 desire to lead and autocratize over the people, renders the govern- 
 ment, popularized though it is, more a military despotism than a 
 constitutional democracy. 
 
 Physical force, I believe, embodies pretty strongly the ruling 
 idea in their vexed politics. If the citizen is jealous of the soldier, 
 let him himself erect the school-house (which acts so great a part 
 in the prosperity of the United States) in opposition to the bar- 
 racks ; and in time, though we may have many a phase of various 
 aspects to witness first, we shall see real improvement and positive 
 progress here ; especially if moral training keep pace with intellect- 
 ual for the one without the other is a dangerous mistake. Chili, 
 from what I hear on all sides, is the most flourishing of all these 
 South American republics : the people are steady, industrious, en- 
 terprising, and temperate ; and, it seems, moderately enlightened. 
 
 There is an English book-club established here, and they have 
 a number of interesting works sent out from England. I have 
 just read one of them, Layard's "Nineveh." I have not yet 
 mentioned that the steamer we are going in is a river steamer, the 
 second that has been sent round Cape Horn. She is going to run 
 on the Sacramento River, in California. 
 
 I have lately heard my English friends here lamenting over 
 some melancholy accounts that have come from that "Eureka" 
 State. A young American gentleman, who apparently was ex- 
 ceedingly popular here, has attempted to commit self-destruction, 
 after a melancholy series of misfortunes. He had not very long 
 ago lost a beloved wife, who was killed by a fall from her horse in 
 California. He was slowly recovering from this dreadful blow, 
 which it is said he most profoundly felt (so deeply, indeed, that his 
 reason, it was believed, was slightly unsettled by the shock), when 
 by some unforeseen calamity the great fire, I believe his newly- 
 made fortune was entirely shattered, and he fell at once from 
 affluence into destitution. He attempted to shoot himself, but 
 blew off nearly half his face, and yet remained alive. 
 
 The story is a very sad one ; but many almost equally heart- 
 rendering occurrences, it is to be feared, have taken place in the 
 golden land since the great emigration commenced. One man 
 went mad from sudden success, and killed himself in a paroxysm
 
 EARTHQUAKES. 419 
 
 of delirium. In short. I have heard so many mournful histories 
 with regard to successful and unsuccessful speculators, that I am 
 reminded of some verses of my own, in a poem written long ago. 
 Here is some of it : 
 
 Oh, Happiness ! where is thy home ? 
 
 Say, where dost thon linger and dwell? 
 Stars and seraphs sing "f/jj's side the tomb"- 
 
 Dear, impossible Blessing, farewell ! 
 
 n. 
 Hence no more oh, no more never more, 
 
 Come in shadows or seeming near me; 
 I might dream thou wert clasped to the core, 
 
 And but wake to find grief, and not thee ! 
 
 in. 
 Did I think I could seize thee when borne 
 
 On the whirlwinds of passion and pride, 
 All my spirit on fire with its scorn 
 
 All my heart like a storm-troubled tide ? 
 
 Say oh ! Happiness, where is thy sphere ? 
 
 Where, where dost thou linger and dwell? 
 All still seek thee afar and anear, 
 
 But, impossible Blessing farewell ! 
 
 After seeing the fragility of the materials used here generally in 
 the construction of buildings, I am no longer surprised at what the 
 residents tell me ; namely, that if a heavy pattering shower of 
 rain came down, Lima might melt away like a huge heap of 
 Brobdignagian bonbons, or like a confectionary-metropolis a vast 
 collection of mammoth barley-sugar temples or else it might be 
 swept away altogether into the Pacific. But in this earthquaking 
 land, it is imperatively necessary it should be so. 
 
 Here they pray continually to be protected from earthquakes ; 
 the word "famine," in our Church Service, is left out, and "earth- 
 quake" substituted. Compensation is Nature's favorite rule, and 
 one she scarcely ever (if ever) infringes. 
 
 The charming little child of Monsieur and Madame du C , 
 
 has just paid us a visit. V was playing with some paroquets, 
 
 which attracted her into the drawing-roorn, for of course the bal- 
 cony doors were wide open. Little Bertha is one of the most sen- 
 sible children I ever met with : she gave an account of their pas-
 
 420 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 sage across the Isthmus, and her poor papa's unfortunate fall, in the 
 most touching and pretty language, in a perfectly simple and art- 
 less yet animated manner, and then reverted to her chere France, 
 where she was so happy, and had so many playfellows and pleas- 
 ures, and her " pauvre papa" was quite well. Though the little 
 darling seemed contented and happy enough at Lima ; and it 
 would have been sad, indeed, if at five or six years of age she had 
 begun to grieve for " days lang syne," for they seemed "lang syne" 
 to her. 
 
 But the Captain of the "New World" has sent us word he 
 shall be ready to start in the evening. I have got to send back 
 books that have been kindly lent to me from the English Book 
 
 Club, to write a note of leave-taking and thanks to Mrs. B , 
 
 who has sent us a beautiful plant, and to do all the innumerable 
 necessary nothings people find to do before leaving a place ; and 
 then farewell to beautiful, dilapidated Lima, mighty in fragility, 
 and refulgent in decay ; the most splendid city that the Spaniards 
 ever built in South America, and the capital of the richest of its 
 countries superb Peru ! 
 
 Mariquita, our Peruvian female attendant, has just been to 
 take leave of us, and her sister to boot, bringing with them one of 
 
 the loveliest little dogs you can imagine. Mrs. B told me 
 
 the other day, that in this neighborhood people are occasionally 
 subject to a shortness of breathing, which is very distressing. It 
 is something like asthma, but not exactly : keeping the chest warm 
 is recommended by the faculty, and these little dogs, with their soft, 
 satin-like fur, are used as living mufis or cushions (as in England 
 those silken breast-plates called comforters are used) ; and in 
 almost all cases these animated canine cuirasses are found to be 
 perfectly efficacious. 
 
 Independently of their being employed in this remedial service, 
 these tiny creatures are often seen nestling in the folds of their 
 mistress's gowns, more like doves than dogs. They are wonder- 
 fully small, and their wee feet emulate in delicacy those of their 
 fair owners. 
 
 One of ihefemmes de cJiambre went the other day to order some 
 walking shoes, and told me when she entered the shop, she fancied 
 at first it must be a place for babies and children's shoes only, so 
 marvelously small were those satin " zapatos," but they were found 
 to be all ladies' shoes. The only thing that spoils their feet is, 
 they wear their shoes too short even for their diminutive feet, 
 which makes them look (as they are inclined to be the least soupfon
 
 VOYAGE FROM PERU TO PANAMA. 421 
 
 too broad for their length) a little a very little disproportionately 
 short ; but in the most refined classes this defect almost entirely 
 disappears. 
 
 To return to the canine subject : I hear that at Chihuahua, in 
 Mexico, is a breed of the most extraordinary little dogs imaginable, 
 much smaller even than these, and yet excessively fierce. They 
 make the best and most vigilant guards and watch-dogs possible, 
 dwarfs though they are. 
 
 With regard to educational establishments, I believe I have 
 done Lima a little injustice. I have been informed lately there 
 are several. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 The Voyage from Peru to Panama Farewell to Lima Guanacos The 
 Rio Lady in the Omnibus The Railroad begun Arrival at Callao 
 
 Rodil's defense of Callao described Polite Attention of Captain W 
 
 The Harbor of Callao The Beauty of the Pacific Handsome Appoint- 
 ments of the Steamer The musical Stewards Mr. Beebe, the Hatter, for 
 California Arrival at Payta The British Consul there Description of 
 Payta Treatment of Peru by the Spanish Conquerors Insurrection of 
 Tupac Amaru The Indians beyond Peru. 
 
 I WRITE this chapter at Jamaica. Our return voyage from 
 Peru to Panama was most successfully performed. 1 have for- 
 merly mentioned how much we suffered on our first voyage, ther- 
 mometrically speaking ; but we experienced scarcely any oppressive 
 heat whatsoever on our way back. 
 
 We left the city of the land of the Incas in that unromantic 
 conveyance called an omnibus ; for we feared we were late, and 
 thought that we should save time by so doing. Mr. Yates was 
 good enough to arrange all for us, and we found the omnibus just 
 starting. The administrador recommended dispatch. We clam- 
 bered in hastily, and weak mortals we thought, when we got 
 in, it was full ; but another passenger appeared an Indian woman, 
 with a little chocolate-colored baby, who looked round with great 
 sang-froid on the crammed vehicle, most philosophically indifferent. 
 These Indian infants seem the most stoical little dingy Diogeneses 
 on earth. 
 
 At last the omnibus overflowed. A few arms, and heads, and 
 shoulders, and such insignificant portions of the human frame were
 
 422 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 squeezed out at the rows of open windows, and then, arre ! On 
 we go, through the Morisco-Spanish streets of the noble old city, 
 on, till we dash through the great gate. 
 
 Magnificent Lima, farewell ! Like so many Sister Annes, we 
 can soon see nothing but clouds of dust. Would we could have 
 seen flocks not of sheep, but of the gentle llama, those singular 
 animals which, if they are over-loaded or ill-used, shed tears, look 
 up pathetically and half reproachfully, and then in despair, if not 
 relieved or soothed, lie down and die. I am assured this is a fact ; 
 but I will say no more of them, as they are so well known, nor of 
 the vicunas and alpacas. 
 
 By the way, the guanacos are by some supposed to be a smaller 
 kind of the large animal, on which the Patagonians were said to 
 have ridden, bearing a resemblance to the mule, and also to the 
 stag or elk. They are not, I believe, used as beasts of draught or 
 burden by the South Americans, though some authors state they 
 are capable of drawing more weight than two horses. 
 
 The first day Mrs. A landed in Peru, she was lucky enough 
 
 to see a long string of the interesting llamas, but has not seen one 
 in Lima since. 
 
 For the dust, we could but just glimpse the noble trees of the 
 great avenue leading from the town. A young Peruvian gentle- 
 man in the carriage, whose poncho was lying like a lady's shawl 
 carelessly on his arm, to save his casaca from the polvo, quick as 
 thought doffed his sombrero, and popped his head through the 
 poncho, without apparently discomposing a single hair. 
 
 A lady seated opposite to me was very communicative. She 
 told me she had only lately arrived from Rio Janeiro, and she re- 
 gretted exceedingly the imperial magnificence and the court gay- 
 eties of that capital. She was a thorough-going monarchist. It 
 was delightful to see the cortege of the Emperor and Empress 
 when they went out. At the opera their box looked so splendid ; 
 the Imperial Court gave such life and brilliancy to every thing. 
 Lima seemed so dull in comparison. The President indeed ! what 
 was that ! Nothing at all ! " Oh que differencia, que lastima, 
 que disgracia," that there should be no great court here ! Rio 
 was infinitely preferable, she thought, arid every thing so very 
 flourishing there. 
 
 And now, thanks to an intermission of dust, we caught sight of 
 the many-towered capital, leaning, in its haughty beauty, against 
 the everlasting Andes. " Que maravilla !" " Ah ! Lima was 
 very well," but the fair Brazilian reverted to Rio. " Pero Rio !
 
 THE RAILROAD BEGUN. 423 
 
 Eso es superior todo elogio, hechicero ! admirable." " The cli- 
 mate here, however, must be pleasanter by all accounts. " Pero 
 esta V. Equivocado." " It is charming at Rio, a little hot cer- 
 tainly, but it is cooler in the evening ; and then there are such 
 diamonds, and all seem so happy there." 
 
 The omnibus stopped, and a Peruvian caballero, who was one 
 of the passengers, soon saw a friend of his on horseback, near the 
 door of the " fonda ;" wishing to speak to him, he attempted to 
 reach the " portazuela ;" but seeing this would incommode us, 
 managed to get out of one "of the front windows, really like a very 
 graceful monkey, and climbed in again with equal agility. 
 
 As we drove along, some splendidly dressed caballeros galloped 
 past us with their magnificently caparisoned horses caracoling very 
 prettily : but on thundered our great lumbering vehicle, " ciuda- 
 do ! caballeros," for our ebony coachman has had a little tiny 
 taste, it seems, of " pisco." But the beautiful horses were every 
 now and then to be seen through the dust, dancing a pretty little 
 ballet along the gently descending road. 
 
 The railroad is already begun ! we caught a glimpse of the 
 works as we passed by. An unfortunate accident had just hap- 
 pened, the day before we left, I think. A man was killed, it was 
 said, and others injured : and some of the natives began to shake 
 their heads, and said it was ominous, and the railroad constructed 
 by heretics would not answer, and so on. Last year, I believe, the 
 attempt was made ; but the superintendent, a young man of tal- 
 ent, went mad from over-anxiety, and subsequently died here. 
 There appears, however, no doubt now of its succeeding. 
 
 We arrived at Callao in excellent time, and by Mrs. M 's 
 
 kind invitation went straight to her house. We heard that the 
 American steamer would not start for the present, and Captain 
 
 W had obligingly left us a message to say, he would come 
 
 at the right time to take us on board in his boat. 
 
 I was anxious to take a poncho with me to England, and had 
 
 not had time to get it at Lima that morning. Mrs. M sent 
 
 for one from a Callao shop, which I bought. Mr. B , who 
 
 amiably came to see us off, on looking at my purchase, told me 
 very likely it had been imported from England, where they make 
 them now, to undersell the market here. So my poor poncho was 
 partly disenchanted in my eyes manufactured at Leeds instead 
 of in the interior of Peru ! but I don't quite believe it is the case. 
 I think my poncho has a very Peruvian and anti-Leeds air ; so I 
 shall try and console myself.
 
 424 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Callao does not look to advantage after Lima, notwithstanding 
 
 it boasts some very pretty mansions, like Mr. and Mrs. M '&, 
 
 for example. It is said that in some of the by-streets there you 
 will see English signs hung up, such as " The Lively Pig," &c. ; 
 but Valparaiso is said to be still more Anglicized in its nomen- 
 clature. 
 
 I was sorry not to be able to go to see the old castle of Callao, 
 which, under Rodil, during the War of Independence, stood a 
 siege of two years. Rodil defended the fortress most gallantly and 
 resolutely. . The blockade was so strict, that the garrison was re- 
 duced to severe extremities, horseflesh being sold for a gold ounce 
 per pound, and chickens for their weight in gold. In addition to 
 this, he had treachery and insubordination to contend with con- 
 stantly within the walls ; and he was compelled to maintain his 
 legitimate authority as commander by many terrible examples of 
 severity. 
 
 Thus attacked, and hemmed in on all sides by land and by 
 water, with treason close at hand, and war, hatred and rage with- 
 out, a thousand hardships and privations increasing upon them 
 day by day, and hopelessness casting slowly its heavy shadow over 
 their outworn spirits, Rodil, with a few faithful adherents, " preux 
 chevaliers, sans peur et sans reproche," still were true to their 
 posts, and devoted to their duty, their king, and their country, till 
 a frightful famine forced them to surrender. Here, where the 
 Royalists made their last stand in the country, was the royal flag 
 of Leon and of Castile furled for ever ; but Rodil has left a glo- 
 rious name behind him, which even his enemies must respect. 
 
 The round turrets of the dilapidated castle are flanked on each 
 side by lengthened lines of fortifications, by curtains, and bastions, 
 and batteries, and walls, and embrasures. Inclosed within pro- 
 digiously thick and casemated walls, are extensive barracks (which 
 at present are turned into useful warehouses for the peaceful cus- 
 toms), magazines, &c. It is thought by some that a very insig- 
 nificant army, numerically speaking, properly commanded, and 
 well found in siege materiel, might have taken the place in two 
 weeks, or perhaps one, instead of two years. This fortress had, 
 however, a proud reputation of yore in Peru. 
 
 Shortly after Captain W arrived, we took leave of Mrs. 
 
 M , and walked to the mole, where we found the boat in 
 
 readiness to convey us to the American steamer. So, wishing 
 
 Mr. B good-by, who had walked with us to the boat, we 
 
 were handed in by Captain W : . and soon found ourselves
 
 ON BOARD. 426 
 
 alongside of the vessel. She reminded us of the Mississippi steam- 
 ers in her appearance. When we arrived alongside we had only 
 one little step to make into the steamer from the boat. 
 
 The Captain had not yet come on board, and after looking at 
 our cabins, which were most charmingly arranged and most com- 
 fortable, and which were, indeed, beautifully furnished, we paid a 
 flying visit to the " Daedalus," and admired the perfect and admira- 
 ble order which was perceptible at every step saw in the chief 
 cabin two splendid engravings of Napoleon and the Duke of Wel- 
 lington (the latter, uncle of Captain W ), and returned to the 
 
 "New World" just at the right time, for very soon after we left 
 the harbor. It was smooth as a polished mirror, so protected is it 
 from the southerly winds that generally blow here, by sandy San 
 Lorenzo, and by a slender tongue of land that projects consider- 
 ably, and by Fronton. 
 
 In the harbor were many vessels, chiefly merchant ships, not 
 laden with gold and silver, but guano ; not to be despised in this 
 age of utilitarianism, and bringing plenty of gold and silver in its 
 unsavory train. But we quickly lost sight of them, and of the 
 town and fortifications ; and adios to the beauteous " Ciudad de 
 los Reyes :" if there was any truth in the old proverb, " El que 
 bebe de las pilas, se queda en Lima," we teetotallers as we are 
 should have staid longer. 
 
 I may mention that I was told that Cailao is sufficiently Ameri- 
 canized to have, in deference to Yankee tastes and prejudices, be- 
 sides its own italia and pisco, timber-doodle, mint-julep, and such 
 concoctions. Ice is extremely plentiful. It is ordinarily frozen 
 snow from those giant mountains, which are so " convenient" for 
 the purpose. 
 
 Again we were on the vast Pacific, and once more under the 
 glorious stars and stripes, which I so deeply reverence, honor, and 
 love. The evening was most delightfully calm, and we were per- 
 fectly enchanted with our spacious and beautiful cabins, one of 
 which had eight large windows, and all wide open, with the tran- 
 quil ocean lying like a great cloudless sky close to us. Looking 
 on that mighty world of waters of the Pacific, I always feel as if I 
 saw further much further than on any other sea. Its lovely 
 smoothness, and the sometimes brilliant transparency of the atmos- 
 phere, make it seem as if, over its softly-heaving surface, one look- 
 ed into very Immensity and* Eternity. I marvel not that some of 
 the tribes of the ancient Indians imagined, that beyond that ceru- 
 lean-looking ocean was placed the everlasting heaven-land to which
 
 426 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 their enfranchised spirits sailed after death. On this account a 
 small canoe was often buried with them, in which they might em- 
 bark without delay, with a sufficiency of provisions laid in for the 
 voyage. They believed it was a submarine navigation they had 
 to perform. 
 
 Of course, I felt this sublime vast effect was always assisted and 
 partly produced by the imagination, and the consciousness that one 
 might look from Lima, for instance, on and on, if physically em- , 
 powered, to New Zealand in a slanting direction, without encoun- 
 tering a single island of any size or significance between, while 
 from there again it is all ocean-! 
 
 We had a charming dining, and sitting cabin besides, assigned 
 to us, which had four windows. This was like a beautiful satin 
 tent : the large, long cabin also was draperied with bright-colored 
 satin along its whole extent, and in both there were white marble 
 tables with a profusion of gilding, suberb vases, and other decora- 
 tions; and the prettiest possible light curtains to all the windows 
 of white muslin, embroidered with a thousand vivid colors (which 
 curtains, I believe came from Germany) ; and in addition to all 
 this, we had most comfortable berths. You see, on the Sacramen- 
 to, in far California, they will glide along in a vessel almost as 
 luxurious as Cleopatra's barque of old. 
 
 The Captain had thoughtfully ordered a milch goat to be brought 
 on board, which supplied us with excellent milk, which I always 
 think one of the greatest of luxuries on board ship. A charming, 
 little, playful kid accompanied its revered parent, which often paid 
 us a welcome visit in our cabin ! We had plenty of books, many 
 of which belonged to the Captain, mostly interesting voyages and 
 travels, which I think interest one more when one is actually trav- 
 eling than at any other time. 
 
 In the evening, when sitting in our own quiet cabin, looking 
 from our eight windows on the Pacific often itself like a huge 
 melted gold and crimson sun, so dyed with the glories of the de- 
 parting orb we heard skillful guitar-playing and excellent singing 
 in or near the neighboring saloon. They were two musical stew- 
 ards, one particularly so, who sang almost every evening a great 
 variety of South American and Spanish airs. One was a Bra- 
 zilian I believe from Rio who not only played the guitar, but 
 the castanets admirably ; the other a German. 
 
 One of the passengers was a son, I understand, of the famous 
 hatter, Mr. Beebe, of New York, who had crossed the Atlantic 
 with us from Liverpool in the "Canada" steamer. He was going
 
 BRITISH CONSUL AT PAYTA. 427 
 
 out to California, I believe for the second or third time, on a great 
 hat speculation. I fancy thousands of those useful articles were 
 on their way to the golden land, so well selected to please all 
 tastes and suit all fashions, that if I am rightly informed, he has 
 reason to hope when he arrives all will take off their hats to him, 
 and put his on. 
 
 After a pleasant voyage we arrived at Payta, and there we 
 saw the French frigate " L'Algerie" at anchor. Presently Mon- 
 sieur F , the Commodore, was good enough to come and pay us 
 
 a visit, and invite us to go on board the frigate. He proposed our first 
 landing to see Payta, which we had not done satisfactorily before. 
 We were soon ready, and took our places in the beautiful French 
 man-of-war's boat. The men were a very fine sailor-like set, and 
 seemed as thorough Jack-tars as even our own John Bulls (or 
 rather Jack Bulls) ; they looked as clean and healthy as possible. 
 
 We glided rapidly along, and soon landed on that most barren 
 
 of shores. M. F pointed out to us a number of balsas that 
 
 were hard by. A young French gentleman was lately drowned 
 there, but I do not accurately remember the circumstances ; it 
 was, however, in landing at this place. 
 
 I was anxious to go and thank in person the British Consul for 
 the fine cherimoyas he had the goodness to send me when we were 
 here before. I was truly sorry that, as I was not sure the "New 
 World" would stop at Payta, I had brought no fruit or other 
 offering from Lima in return for his thoughtful attention. 
 
 We walked through rather a curious-looking street, and before 
 long, after visiting the market-place, found ourselves near Mr. Hig- 
 genson's house, who came out to meet us, and we crossed a hand- 
 some court, and soon found ourselves in a cool, airy room. It was 
 very early in the morning, and Mr. Higgenson's daughter was not 
 yet up. I am told she is a very handsome and accomplished per- 
 son, uniting Anglo-Saxon with Peruvian charms ; for Mrs. Hig- 
 genson was a lady of Payta. 
 
 The consul was a little severe on our steamer, for he likened its 
 appearance (he had never seen one of that peculiar construction 
 before) to that of a great dead whale floating helplessly along. 
 After sitting a little while, we took leave of the hospitable consul, 
 who wished us to stay to breakfast there : but we declined, for we 
 had but little time. 
 
 Walking a short distance through the town, we saw a great 
 number of animals laden with provisions and water* that had just 
 come in from the country. I can not describe to you the singular
 
 428 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 appearance of this town, with a desert round it sterile as the Great 
 Zahara ; but the inhabitants are, as I before informed you, ex- 
 tremely well supplied with all the necessaries, and even luxuries 
 of life. My pet aversion, the ambrosial cherimoya, with its com- 
 prehensive flavor (according to its admirers) of strawberries, papaus, 
 nectarines, cream and custard, in this neighborhood has arrived at 
 the very climax of perfection. Numbers of Indians from the 
 country were to be seen, attired in their own peculiar costume ; 
 the women with long, glossy, black plaits of hair, streaming from 
 under their Guayaquil hats, and sometimes with immense black 
 ponchos hanging considerably below their knees. 
 
 How cruelly was this race treated of old by the Spanish con- 
 querors, and after the conquest by those placed in authority over 
 them. Arid yet the Spanish nation, truly generous and chivalrous, 
 and the Spanish kings were not to blame ; but that terrible arid 
 devouring thirst for gold, which seized on all the early colonists, 
 and hardened them, as cupidity and the worship of Mammon only 
 can, till their hearts were petrified, and their natural feelings of 
 mercy and justice obliterated. 
 
 It is said that various humane edicts and ordinances, which is- 
 sued from the throne, were practically set entirely at naught in the 
 colonies. " Los repartimientos," a most unjust system of taxation 
 was established, and pushed to the utmost. In nearly ajl the dis- 
 tricts, the corregidors from Spain had scarcely any settled salary, 
 and lived on what they wrung from the wretched natives. 
 
 As far as the Indians were concerned, these functionaries were 
 monopolists of the sale of all the necessaries and all the comforts 
 of existence. The corregidor, when he went his round of visita- 
 tion to the different hamlets in the part of the country under his 
 jurisdiction, carried with him all such articles, bought at extrava- 
 gant prices from the Lima merchants, arid the Indians were al- 
 lowed neither to choose nor to remonstrate. These beardless abo- 
 rigines were compelled to purchase razors ; their wives, who de- 
 sired no vail but their own abundant long hair, which streamed 
 over their shoulders and down their backs, had mantillas forced 
 upon them, and so forth ; and the unfortunate people were obliged 
 to perform a certain amount of work (according to the sum owed) 
 to pay the corregidor whatever price he chose to set on his often 
 utterly useless wares, and a tax for the Crown besides. 
 
 The time within which this task was to be completed, depended 
 on the tyrannical fancies or necessities of the corregidors ; and it 
 frequently happened that, wholly unable to comply with the hard
 
 TUPAC AMARU. 429 
 
 conditions imposed upon them, and to fulfill the unmerciful tasks 
 their despotic masters sought to exact from their unequal strength 
 and impoverished energies, they sent deputations to the Spanish 
 Viceroy, entreating him to have compassion on them, and to pro- 
 tect them from their unfeeling oppressors. But long ere their 
 humble plaints could reach the Viceroy's ears, the crafty corregi- 
 dors had contrived to tell their own tale, in their own way ; to 
 exaggerate the non-compliance of the poor natives, and to plead 
 right and custom, and the most imperative necessity, for their un- 
 justifiable extortions. In short, they continually not only escaped 
 all censure and punishment themselves, but artfully managed to 
 have the wretched aborigines severely chastised for presumed in- 
 subordination and rebellion. 
 
 In 1780 the Indians, driven to desperation by continued despot- 
 ism and oppression, and seeing no other chance of deliverance from 
 the hateful system that was grinding them to the dust, openly re- 
 belled. Their chief was named Tupac Amaru. The first act of 
 their insurrectionary violence was the indiscriminate slaughter of 
 the justly unpopular corregidors, together with other colonists, 
 whenever and wherever they could accomplish their destruction. 
 
 The troops of Peru and of Buenos Ayres were united together 
 to put an end to this unexpected rebellion. A savage war deso- 
 lated the entire country for three years, during which gloomy 
 period, horrible barbarities, calling forth fearful retaliations, were 
 but too often practiced ; and all was fury, rapine, hatred and re- 
 venge. 
 
 At length Tupac Amaru was taken prisoner, and condemned to 
 suffer death. The fallen warrior was ignominiously dragged to 
 the place where he was sentenced to be executed ; and before his 
 horror-stricken eyes, the miserable man was forced to see his wife 
 and children pitilessly butchered. He was then subjected to shame- 
 ful and inhuman tortures, and finally torn into quarters by four 
 horses. 
 
 There was another unjust institution called the Mita, but its 
 operation was chiefly confined to Potosi. Every able-bodied male 
 was forced to labor for the space of a year in the mines, and at the 
 farms the females, in the same manner, were obliged to work to 
 acquire for their masters a certain specified and agreed-upon profit 
 within the assigned period, beyond the sum required for their own 
 subsistence ; but, as it too often happened that their strength 
 originally was not equal to comply exactly with the terms of their 
 contract, or that they became enfeebled and incapacitated from
 
 430 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 severe drudgery, they frequently could not work out the stipulated 
 sum in time, and thus incurred a debt to their master, and were 
 forced to labor on as slaves to liquidate it. 
 
 Instead of diminishing, this debt very often was enlarged, and 
 the poor wretches then remained positive slaves for the rest of their 
 natural lives ; and if death set them free, the wives and children 
 they left behind them were mercilessly seized, and obliged to go on 
 with the task which they had failed to finish. 
 
 The food of these unhappy beings was bad and scanty, more 
 especially in the manufactories; and the over-worked sufferers were 
 locked up from dawn till night, and cruelly flogged if their inhuman 
 task-masters were not satisfied with the amount of the work done, 
 or detected any carelessness in the execution of it. 
 
 It is really terrible to reflect on such scenes of merciless tyranny 
 on the one side, and of pitiable degradation on the other : but such 
 was the gentle Mita, and its operation and results. It is easy to 
 imagine that the greater part of those to whose fate it fell to labor 
 thus severely, suffered deeply in health, and in countless, cases their 
 strength was utterly worn out, and their constitutions irremedia- 
 bly shattered, by the time their terrible tasks were accomplished, 
 so that probably scarcely one in a dozen survived to return to their 
 humble homes. 
 
 The aboriginal population of Peru, at the time of the conquest, 
 was stated to be about six millions. In 1796 a census was taken, 
 and the number was then 608,899. Since then, till the War of 
 Independence, and the Emancipation, the pure Indian population, 
 it appears, gradually continued to diminish. 
 
 Those Indians who live beyond Peru, to the eastward of the 
 mountains, are said not yet to be civilized or reclaimed, although 
 in particular places they submitted to the Missionaries and Jes- 
 uits ; and most of the tribes within the vast empire of the Brazils, 
 with the exception of a small number on the banks of the giant 
 Amazon river, are as wild and thoroughly uncultivated as on the 
 day when Columbus first discovered the Western World. 
 
 But I am prosing sadly about the poor Indians. Will the 
 reader forgive me, and even let me have a few last words about 
 fair, beautiful, and far-famed Peru?"
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 Peru Her internal Communication Her Forts and Coast Peruvian Ag- 
 riculture Manufactures of inland Peru Commerce of Peru Her Com- 
 modities Her Trade Her Government Her Religion Peruvian Fer- 
 tility Mineral Resources Animals Cattle The Face of the Country 
 The Andes Rivers and Lakes of Peru Her Coasts. 
 
 PERU labors under very considerable disadvantages, with regard 
 to inland communication. 
 
 The elevated plateaux and table-lands, separated by deeply- 
 embosomed valleys, and the gigantic mountains that intervene 
 between the coast and the table-land, render traveling tedious and 
 difficult. Roads and bridges, in many parts, are entirely wanting ; 
 and in places where rude and scarcely-distinguishable paths are 
 found, they lie along the perilous edges of overhanging and rugged 
 precipices, perpendicularly steep ; and these tracks, moreover, are 
 almost always so dangerously narrow, that the sure-footed mule 
 can alone tread them with any security. 
 
 Those travelers who can afford it are usually carried on the 
 backs of Indians : they are borne along in this way often for a 
 fortnight or three weeks together, over paths that lead zig-zagging 
 along, among rocks and steeps to all appearance inaccessible, and 
 through uninhabited wildernesses and unbroken forests. 
 
 The means of necessary internal communication, however, are 
 more carefully attended to, in regions that lie lower ; and I am 
 informed that the Government are giving their attention please 
 Revolutionists and Pronunciados to a general system of road- 
 making. Perhaps, in time as engineering difficulties are despised 
 and defied in these days, and as the first railroad has already been 
 commenced under Government auspices in the country the Peru- 
 vians will connect their chief cities by means of railroads, and join, 
 in the mighty march of the royal progress of nations. 
 
 A few rather strong forts protect the commerce of Peru on the 
 seaboard, and perhaps a couple of small war-steamers complete the 
 defensive powers of the nation. As for the standing army, it is 
 generally asserted, by persons of more experience than myself on 
 such matters, to be formed of such materials, and so inferior in
 
 432 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 discipline,. &c., as to be useless in case of foreign invasion, and 
 perhaps worse than useless in case of domestic dissension.* 
 
 However ill-provided the Peruvians may be with artificial 
 means of defense against foreign foes, their coast presents powerful 
 natural features for protecting the country. Huge rocky walls, 
 almost perpendicular, -and towering cliffs, there stand like Na- 
 ture's fortresses. All the powers of the earth might be defied 
 with proper management and method. Were the Peruvians in 
 general like the Swiss, they might perhaps keep the world at bay ; 
 but where so many of them are composed of the indolent, passive 
 Indian tribes, they are not likely ever to imitate the independent 
 example of these sturdy and hardy mountaineers. 
 
 Agriculture in Peru, by all accounts, is still almost in its in- 
 fancy ; and in general the implements used in husbandry are of 
 rude and simple construction. Their system of farming is com- 
 monly altogether primitive and unmethodical. They drive their 
 corn and sugar mills generally by means of oxen, overlooking the 
 advantages of wind and water. 
 
 The natives of Peru have a good deal of quickness and ingenu- 
 ity, though their arts and manufactures, speaking in general, are 
 susceptible of very great improvement. There are beautiful 
 ponchos of extraordinary fineness made in the district of Tarma ; 
 thick and excellent blankets on the table-lands, as well as other 
 articles. In the valleys, cow-hides are made into traveling-cases, 
 for hammocks, or for beds and bedding ; and goat-skins into what 
 are called cordovans ; mats used for carpeting are manufactured 
 from rushes, and packing-cords from a native plant. 
 
 Inland Peru is celebrated for its exquisite silver filigree-work : 
 this is chiefly made at Huamanca, and is perhaps unparalleled for 
 beauty, delicacy, and durability ; but in a general way, the United 
 States and Europe, in the principal towns, supersede with their 
 manufactures, to a great extent, the less-finished productions of 
 the natives ; and in exchange for gold and silver or raw material 
 these are plentifully supplied to Peru. 
 
 The commerce of the country has lately materially increased, 
 during a temporarily lull of foreign and domestic disturbance. Of 
 
 * We left all of our friends at Lima very apprehensive of the riots and 
 excesses of the next presidential election, which is now beginning to be 
 much thought of. They tell me, they generally, on such occasions, have 
 their houses barricaded and closed, and are obliged to imprison themselves 
 strictly the whole time. Robberies, massacres, and violences are said to be 
 of continual occurrence there. I only repeat what I was told, and would 
 gladly believe such statements exaggerated.
 
 PERUVIAN COMMODITIES. 433 
 
 the export trade the principal articles are the precious metals, 
 copper, quicksilver, and tin, and other metals. While Mexico 
 was under the necessity of sending to Europe for mercury, Peru 
 boasted of a good supply of her own at the mines of Huanca- 
 Velica, one portion of which for two centuries produced yearly 
 three thousand quintals ; but such was the state of affairs in Peru 
 in the years '37 and '38, that the quicksilver sold at two hundred 
 to two hundred and twenty dollars per quintal, while in London, 
 at the same period, it was sold at sixty-five dollars. The working 
 of the mines was then naturally suspended ; but now the mining 
 operations have been revived by private companies, and thus some 
 of the richest quicksilver mines in the known world are as pro- 
 ductive again as ever. 
 
 The ancient Peruvians formerly used vermilion or red lead ia 
 their colored delineations, but I know not if it is still found there. 
 Peruvian bark and various kinds of plants for medicinal purposes 
 are also exported ; drugs, precious woods, and gums of different 
 descriptions ; hides, tallow, &c. ; seal, chincilli, and other skins ; 
 cotton and wool, and other articles of less value. 
 
 Peruvian wool is considered to be equal to English, but it is 
 customary to export it iu a very dirty condition,'which occasions it 
 to be sold at a reduced price. South Peru supplies the largest 
 quantity, but the vicuna and alpaca are reckoned the best. Cot- 
 ton is exported from Payta, Islay, and Arica, but the annual 
 quantity is said not to be above thirty thousand quintals. 
 
 Of late, saltpetre has become an article of considerable trade. 
 It is said that each successive year now manifests a rather large 
 increase in the amount of exports. The imports into the republic 
 are of great variety, and are chiefly from the United States and 
 Great Britain ; France and Germany have, however, of late 
 introduced a greatly increased number of their respective wares. 
 
 Probably Peru for some length of time will continue to receive 
 vast quantities of foreign-manufactured goods, more particularly 
 those of the more delicate and finished descriptions, while the differ- 
 ent exporting nations in exchange for these will be not disadvan- 
 tageously repaid through the resources of the enormous mineral 
 wealth of that highly-favored country.* 
 
 In the year 1847 the trade between the United States and 
 Peru amounted to the following numbers : exports from the United 
 States to Peru, 192,978 dollars; exports from Peru received in 
 
 * The total imports in 1840 amounted to 10,100,000 dollars, the total ex- 
 ports to 9,741,733 dollars. 
 
 T
 
 434 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 the United States, 396,223 dollars. But enough of commercial 
 statistics. 
 
 The Peruvian Constitution, established finally in 1839, recognizes 
 distinctly executive, legislative, and judicial functions, which are 
 thoroughly independent of, and separate from each other. The 
 government, as you know, is founded on popular supremacy and 
 democratic principles. The President's term of service is for six 
 years, and to him the executive power is delegated by Congress. 
 
 There is not, as in the United States, a Vice-President ; but the 
 president of the executive council succeeds to the presidency in the 
 event of death or dismissal from office. This council consists of 
 the ministers and of members of the senate. In a senate and 
 assembly chosen from the people through electoral colleges, resides 
 the legislative power. The representatives are thus apportioned ; 
 one for every twenty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Judges are appointed by the executive, and are irremovable 
 except for ill conduct. The Constitution provides for the several 
 subjudiciaries, and nominates justices having separate qualifications 
 for the departments, the districts, towns, and parishes. The oper- 
 ations of the courts are said to be carried on with impartiality and 
 honor. But among the indispensable qualifications of a Peruvian 
 judge, knowledge of the law is said not to rank ; and through the 
 want of the necessary learning on the part of the lawyers and the 
 arbitrator, the most grave injuries are not unfrequently inflicted 
 unintentionally on the unlucky applicant* 
 
 The established religion is Roman Catholic, and none besides is 
 tolerated. An Archbishop and several suffragans preside over the 
 church. The archiepiscopalian residence is at Lima. The church 
 is stated to be enormously wealthy, and to have amassed vast 
 amounts of property from devout donors. 
 
 Literature is generally believed to be in a state of steady, but 
 slowly-progressive development. Enlightened and superior educa- 
 tion is limited to a certain number of the whites : the Indians and 
 negroes seldom learn any thing more than the business of their 
 confined and simple transactions demands. 
 
 As to the fertility of Peru independently of its fine and tropical 
 climate, which allows it to be fruitful in nearly all the vegetable 
 productions of the East and of the West Indies the elevation of 
 its various mountains, as in Mexico, causes the plants and the 
 fruits of all climes and latitudes to grow to perfection within its 
 extensive limits. Rice, sugar, tobacco, cocoa, yams, sweet pota- 
 toes, &c., are cultivated in the warmer situations ; while in the
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES. CATTLE. 435 
 
 colder, are wheat, the vine and quinoa (chenopodium quinoa). 
 The grapes are good, but the wine made from them is indifferent. 
 
 Maize is cultivated, and forms the common diet of the popu- 
 lation. The dried leaf of the erythroxylon coca is much used by 
 Peruvians for chewing, as the betel is in the East. A kind of 
 melancholy madness, Poppig says, is brought on by its use ; but 
 other authorities are of opinion that it produces no deleterious 
 effects. The chinchona, or Peruvian bark, is indigenous and in 
 great abundance : it grows at the elevation often or twelve thou- 
 sand feet and abounds mostly in the provinces of the north. 
 
 Like those of Mexico, the mineral resources of Peru are univers- 
 ally believed to be inexhaustible. The entire country is one mighty 
 mound of incalculable mineral wealth ; the rivers, and streams, 
 and mountains are glittering and sparkling with gold, with silver, 
 and with precious stones. It is stated that the greater part of the 
 mines actually being worked at present, are situated in the Cerro 
 de Pisco in the Junin department ; but I hear their amount of 
 produce has considerably fallen off since the last revolutionary 
 troubles, which left behind them so much anarchy, and such a 
 depressing sense of doubt and insecurity. M'Culloch is inclined to 
 estimate the average annual value of the mines of gold and silver 
 of Peru at from seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty thousand 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 Peruvian animals do not differ much from those of other parts 
 of South America. The American lion or puma ; the uturuncu (a 
 kind of tiger) ; a black bear that inhabits the mountains ; the 
 skunk; a number of varieties of deer, armadillos, bears, &c., are 
 among the catalogue of Peruvian wild animals, and are hunted 
 by the natives. The llama, vicuna, alpaca, and guanaco, and 
 many others, are either used as beasts of burden, or are prized for 
 their skin and wool. In the rivers are alligators. Reptiles are 
 not so abundant or troublesome as nearer the Equator. 
 
 The cattle of Peru are not particularly large, but yet are on an 
 equality with the generality of those in Great Britain and Bel- 
 gium. The meat is generally tender, well-flavored, and juicy, es- 
 pecially when fed on Lucerne grass. The bones are very small. 
 In the mountains, black cattle thrive well ; but rapidly pine, fall 
 away, and die on the low lands of the coast. Mules and horses 
 are usually of an ordinary size, but goats, swine, &c., grow very 
 large in Peru, and are reckoned of a superior sort. 
 
 Sheep, of all foreign animals acclimated in Peru, seem to some 
 to have succeeded the best. At an elevation of twelve or fourteen
 
 436 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, on the vast commons and 
 pasture grounds of the Andes, they have increased to an extraor- 
 dinary degree. On the coast but few sheep are bred, but during 
 particular months, vast flocks are driven from the interior, and 
 fattened for the market of Lima. A usual bargain between the 
 drovers and the farmers is to give the lambs for pasturage, the 
 latter calculating on receiving one hundred arid fifty lambs from 
 every hundred ewes. 
 
 In addition to this increase, which surpasses that in England, 
 there are lambs twice a year, commonly in June and December. 
 Hitherto little care has been taken by the breeders to improve the 
 wool, but this is fast becoming here an increased article of export. 
 More attention, without doubt, will be speedily drawn to the subject. 
 
 This fertile country has on the north the republic of the Ecua- 
 dor; on the south arid southeast it is bounded by Bolivia, and on 
 the east by the vast empire of the Brazils, the Pacific being on the 
 west. Its greatest length from S.S.E. to N.N.W. is calculated 
 to be about fifteen hundred miles, and its breadth varies much ; 
 at some parts it is six hundred miles. Its estimated area is five 
 hundred thousand square miles. 
 
 The whole of the country is traversed by the Cordilleras of the 
 Andes. The eastern range of these mountains approaches to 
 within from thirty to a hundred miles of the Pacific coast. The 
 country is naturally divided into three separate regions ; consisting 
 firstly, of the slope between the Andes and the coast ; secondly, the 
 mountain regions of the Andes themselves ; thirdly, that part lying 
 east of the Cordilleras, forming part of the great basin of the 
 Amazon. 
 
 These divisions are all very dissimiliar in character. Between 
 the Tumbez river and the Leche, the coast region is almost a 
 desert that is to say, where it is not traversed by streams, or is 
 not susceptible of artificial irrigation : in such parts it is principal- 
 ly composed of arid, sandy, and sterile wastes, and is barren and 
 desolate. Immediately upon the coast lie all the principal settle- 
 ments made by the Spaniards. 
 
 The Andes in Peru consist of two main chains or Cordilleras, 
 in different parts connected by intersecting ranges, and inclosing 
 various extensive and splendid valleys. A mighty cluster of 
 mountains rear their lofty crests around Cuzco, occupying probably 
 three times the extent of Switzerland. Around Pasco (in latitude 
 13 south) is another knot that surrounds the plain of Bornbon, 
 thirteen thousand five hundred feet above the level of the ocean,
 
 THE CORDILLERAS. 437 
 
 and in which are found the productive and valuable silver mines of 
 the Cerro Pasco. 
 
 The loftiest summits of the Peruvian Andes are toward the 
 south, where the Nevada da Chuquibamba reaches to twenty-one 
 thousand feet in height. Several others, surrounding the noble 
 valley of Desaguadero, may also approach nearly to this elevation, 
 indeed some may equal or transcend it. In Peru, the west Cor- 
 dillera is the loftiest at the mountain knot of Pasco, the Andes 
 separating into three collateral chains, which proceeding northward, 
 divide the basins of the Maranon, Huallaga, and Ucayale. The 
 last range of the Andes to the east, in Peru, extends between the 
 sixth and fifteenth parallels, to a distance varying from two to four 
 hundred miles from the Pacific, and divides the basin of the 
 Ucayale from those of the Yavari, Beni, and other affluxes to the 
 mighty Amazon. 
 
 The space called the Sierra, which is inclosed between the 
 colossal ridges of the Western and Eastern Cordilleras, is in some 
 parts occupied by mountains and sterile rocks ; in others, by table- 
 lands, on which grows a short fine grass, and by a considerable 
 tract of hilly pasture-ground ; and in other parts, again, by fertile 
 and extensive valleys, that formerly supported a large population. 
 
 The country east of the Cordilleras, the third region, is still 
 comparatively unknown. It is almost buried in forests, all but 
 impenetrable, and apparently interminable, and can hardly with 
 justice be said to be a part of Peru, being occupied solely by a few 
 devoted missionaries and by tribes of independent Indians. 
 
 In the great Peruvian Andes, the mightiest and largest rivers 
 in the world have their source. The Tunguragua, regarded in 
 general as the proper source of that sublime river the Amazon, 
 and its vast and majestic confluents, Huallaga and Ucayale, the 
 latter of which is formed by the junction of the Pare river with 
 the Apurimac, have their sources on the eastern Bide of the west- 
 ern chain of the Cordilleras, and flow through, with many tortu- 
 ous windings, in a northerly direction, until they pass the bounda- 
 ries of the country. 
 
 These mighty rivers are mostly navigable, and with the desira- 
 ble assistance of steam navigation, without doubt, ere a lengthened 
 period has elapsed, they will carry the wealth of this distant region 
 across the continent to the ports of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Peru has but few lakes, but boasts that of Titicaca, which is 
 the largest and most elevated lake in the whole of South America. 
 This, however, is partly in the neighboring country of Bolivia,
 
 438 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 being inclosed by the Cordilleras, south of the table-land of Cuzco. 
 It is remarkably irregular in its outline : a number of head-lands 
 divide it into a main body of oblong shape, and several subsidiary 
 portions. Its height above the sea is about 12,795 feet, and its 
 area 4000 square miles, and in many places it is reported to be 
 500 feet deep. Many small mountainous islands are contained 
 in it, and the lake takes its name, which signifies the " Leaden 
 Mountain," from the largest. On this island, which is generally 
 uncultivated, though extremely fertile, tradition places the first ap- 
 pearance of Manco Capac. 
 
 The "remaining lakes in Peru are small, comparatively speaking ; 
 but are the sources from whence all the noble rivers that pursue 
 an eastward course take their beginning. As to the rivers of the 
 coast, they are of little account, being, shallow, small, and incap- 
 able of navigation. 
 
 The coasts are lofty and bold throughout. Some miles of a 
 loose sandy desert intervene in the northern provinces, between 
 the high lands and the Pacific ; but generally the lofty cliffs 
 approach close to the shore, which perhaps, in an extent of one 
 thousand six hundred miles, has not a dozen really secure harbors. 
 Of these the best are Callao, Payta, Salina, Sechura, Pisco, Islay, 
 and some few others. Lambayeque and Truxillo have merely 
 open roadsteads. Vessels are obliged to go within a quarter of a 
 mile before they can anchor, and the terrific swell that rolls with 
 unbroken force from the vast Pacific, causes a prodigious and 
 perilous surf. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 Departure from Peru On board the "New World" The nautical Ladies 
 Chimborazo and Cotopaxi The Volcanoes of the Cordillera Crater of 
 Cotopaxi A narrow Escape Arrival at Panama An Amateur Concert 
 Departure from Panama Scene occasioned by a dead Mule Badness 
 of the Road Arrival at Cruces. 
 
 ONCE more we are in the French man-of-war's boat, taking our 
 leave of balsas, cherimoyas, and the shores of Peru. 
 
 Before we started we met a gentleman who informed us the 
 American steamer was going almost immediately ; so we gave up 
 visiting ' L'Algerie ;' but we went close to her, and beautiful she 
 looked and in perfect order ; and then we hastened to our dis- 
 paraged and maligned steamer, which reminded us, instead of a
 
 NAUTICAL LADIES. 439 
 
 dead whale, of the river-palaces of the Mississippi, full of life and 
 power. 
 
 With much regret we took leave of Monsieur F , and sent 
 
 by him a message to say, how sorry we were not to see again his 
 charming wife. I can never forget their amiability and cordial 
 kindness. Indeed having met them will ever be among the most 
 pleasant recollections of my travel. 
 
 On going on board the " New World," we found we were going 
 to take a little turn for an hour or two, to give some nautical 
 recreation to two or three Paytian ladies, who were friends of the 
 American Consul's family. Had we known this, we might have 
 
 staid and visited Madame F and " L'Algerie." They all 
 
 came on board in high glee ; but we had not proceeded far ere we 
 heard many dolorous plaints from these inexperienced voyagers : 
 their heads ached with the motion of the ship : they were giddy : 
 " Se marea Vm., Senoritas." " Es el primer viaje, Caballero!" 
 Soon after they were obliged to confess they did not feel superla- 
 tively well, and seemed to wish the Captain to land them at once, 
 though it was not easy, in the middle of the water. "Despachese 
 V. vamos !" to the Captain. This, however, was also difficult. 
 The steamer had coals on board to serve her as far as San Fran- 
 cisco (Captain W said he had never seen a vessel so deep in 
 
 the water), and her movements thereby were not accelerated. 
 
 Finding they must take it philosophically, the ladies of Payta 
 behaved like heroines, rallied one another on their bad sailorship, and 
 laughed away their discomfort. " Que tertulia tan.alegre !" " Si, 
 pero a fe rnia me mareo." " Vaya, vaya, una idea, Conchita !" 
 The Captain, too, assures them it is only fancy they are quite 
 mistaken. Ah! the "Norte Americanos" are so funny! and they 
 laugh how they laugh ! in a pretty, silvery-sounding chorus, 
 and then stop to ask the captain if a storm has not come on (it is 
 as smooth as a mirror). But great is the delight when they near 
 Payta again ! Then they suddenly feel overwhelmed with the 
 charms and pleasures of their little voyage, though it was so "bor- 
 rascoso Ah ! habia peligro de naufragar." They don't feel quite 
 sure they have not been down to the bottom and back again ; the 
 " Capitan" tells them they are perfect sailors ; he would ask no 
 better wife than the Sefiorita Conchita, born to be a " skipperina." 
 Ah, Capitan ! our voyage has been charming " a las mil mara- 
 villas ! pero que prodigio !" They never saw Payta look half so 
 beautiful before : the land looked lovely, quite so ! paradisiacally 
 charming, positively ! (such an Arabia Petrea as it was !)
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 At last they trip, with their white-satined little feet, into the 
 boat, and I doubt not laughed right merrily during their happy 
 disembarkation. But perhaps after this first trial they will take 
 courage to make a voyage to Guayaquil next time, especially as 
 they so nobly braved such awful terrors and sea-sickness. 
 
 And now indeed farewell to Peru. Does the reader remember 
 the curious island I mentioned, not far from Guayaquil, bearing 
 resemblance to a corpse ? We were not to stop at Guayaquil, 
 and I had no idea we should go near the land ; but by chance 
 looking out of my cabin- window it was quite early in the morn- 
 ing I beheld that singular isle not far of, and knew it again in- 
 stantaneously. 
 
 We were then near Guayaquil. Bright and lovely grew the 
 morning, as we sped on ; extraordinarily clear grew the air ; and, 
 oh ! delight ! there were the giant mountains. There stood 
 glorious old Chimborazo, once supposed to be the highest mountain 
 in the world, but now a dethroned king, yet very monarch-like 
 still ; shining with its never-melted snows, as if, like Shelley's 
 Moon, it was " with white fire laden" and those white fires 
 seemed to brighten the very daylight around. 
 
 I imagine another mighty mountain I saw, that seemed tower- 
 ing almost as high, was Cotopaxi ; I have been told, at least, 
 since, that they were both visible that morning. Chimborazo is 
 supposed by some authors, to be an extinguished volcano ; if so, 
 perhaps some day the Moon of Sno\V that crowns its gigantic 
 peak, will be melted by the terrific fires that are pent up in its un- 
 fathomable arid awful caverns, and the huge mountain will return 
 to its dangerous activity, and recover from its long-continued trance 
 of" suspended animation." 
 
 As to their geological structure, the great thickness and extent 
 of the porphyritic and schistose rock, are said to be the only phe- 
 nomena by which the Andes are distinguished from the mountains 
 of Europe. The crest of the Andes is universally covered with 
 basalts, porphyries, green-stone, and clink-stone. Divided into 
 columns, these rocks look at a distance like vast assemblages of 
 dilapidated and pinnacled towers. Without any admixture, the 
 porphyries of Chimborazo are eleven thousand four hundred feet 
 in thickness ; and the pure quartz to the west of Caxamarca is 
 nine thousand feet, and the sandstone of the neighborhood of 
 Cuenca, four thousand eight hundred feet ; while granite and 
 primitive limestone in Europe, I believe, constitute the summits of 
 mountain chains.
 
 THE CRATER OF COTOPAXI. 441 
 
 Some of the volcanoes of the Cordillera throw out scorified 
 rocks, or water, and often clay, with a mixture of carbon and 
 sulphur. The most elevated of the mountains of the Andes from 
 which in late years there have been eruptions, is Cotopaxi. Its 
 height is 18,890 feet. This volcano in 1758, shot its formidable 
 flames to a height of 2700 feet above the edge of the crater. la 
 the eruption of 1744, its roaring was heard in Honda at a distance 
 of two hundred leagues. 
 
 The eruption of 1803 was preceded by an awful phenomenon. 
 The snows covering the mountain suddenly melted. For above 
 twenty years no distinguishable vapor or cloud of smoke had risen 
 from the crater ; but in one night the subterranean fire had so 
 rapidly done its work, that the outward walls of the cone were 
 heated till they had become bare, and exhibited the black color 
 that belongs to vitrified scoriae. Humboldt heard at the port of 
 Guayaquil, fifty- two leagues from the edge of the crater, the 
 roaring of Cotopaxi day and night, like almost continual dis- 
 charges of artillery. 
 
 By degrees we began to advance a little quicker, as our coal 
 somewhat diminished. We fell in with the English steamer, and 
 the Captain tried to speak her, but in vain. It was in the even- 
 ing, and at first we thought we saw lights on shore, and fancied 
 that we must be near the coast, but we soon observed that those 
 lights changed their bearings, and saw that it must be a ship. 
 
 Soon after, the Captain sent us down word that it was the 
 English mail steamer. Cosmopolite as I am, to a certain extent 
 I felt that that steamer looked like a little bit of our " father- 
 land," sailing as we were on the great Pacific in an American 
 ship though under the shadow of the stars and stripes I always 
 feel at home, " un poco mas o menos," as the Mexicans so often 
 say. 
 
 One morning a huge shark, that had been pertinaciously follow- 
 ing our vessel, was caught, but the floundering monster got loose 
 again. We saw a great number of whales another day, spouting 
 up splendid fountains of water : it was a beautiful sight. 
 
 We had an alarm, which did not, however, last long, one night. 
 We had been watching the beautiful phosphorescence on the 
 cloven waters, when, on a sudden, the bell was rung sharply and 
 violently, and almost immediately the engine stopped. Soon, very 
 soon after, we saw from the cabin windows an enormous black 
 object drifting by, so close that we fancied it must touch the side 
 of the steamer. It was a ship. She had crossed our track, and a 
 
 T*
 
 442 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 collision was avoided by a mere hair's breadth. I think I have 
 not yet spoken of the extraordinary fog-'foanks we saw on our 
 previous voyage. Really we could hardly believe that it was not 
 land, an immense island, that we were looking at. 
 
 On our voyage we saw one or two huge merchant ships, walk- 
 ing the waters gloriously indeed ; one especially of great size, with 
 all her sails set, that looked like a perfect castle of canvas. Then 
 we had glorious Pacific sunsets and sun-risings, and splendid 
 weather almost the whole way. 
 
 At length we found ourselves once more in the Bay of Panama. 
 We felt quite sorry to leave our beautiful and comfortable cabin ; 
 and I shall always feel grateful to the Captain of the " New 
 World," for his obliging civilities and attentions toward us. We 
 stopped only a day or two at Panama, where, according to a 
 previous invitation, we remained under the hospitable roof of the 
 English Consul. 
 
 I was very anxious to get our muling and canoeing over, as 
 the rainy season was becoming worse and worse. I also longed to 
 reach Jamaica, to possess myself of the dear home-letters I ex- 
 pected to find there. Mules were quickly secured ; and first 
 Monday, but afterward, from some unavoidable delay, Tuesday 
 was appointed for our transit across the Isthmus. 
 
 A pleasant little amateur concert took place at Mr. P 's, 
 
 the second evening we were there. We met again our amiable 
 
 French friends. Some English ladies, and Mrs. L , a lady of 
 
 New Granada, married to the English Vice-Consul, were there 
 
 too ; Mrs. L , with a nice little girl, one of her numerous 
 
 children, who seemed hardly to understand English. The child 
 appeared passionately fond of music, and remained as if glued to 
 
 the piano-forte. Madame H o most kindly lent us side-saddles 
 
 for our ride, which materially contributed to our comfort. 
 
 The morning we were to start, the pre-payment for the mules 
 occupied some little time no slight affair when you have to pay 
 eighty or ninety dollars in French franc pieces, which we had to 
 do at Panama. After this was satisfactorily concluded (the price, 
 however, having been raised on account of the dreadful state of 
 
 the roads), we were preparing to start, when Mr. P , who 
 
 with his daughter was kindly intending to ride a few miles with 
 us, was hastily summoned to give his advice with respect to a 
 poor sailor, who had just broken his leg in an English ship in the 
 harbor. He was sent, without any unnecessary delay, to the 
 hospital. Poor fellow ! perhaps he had gone unharmed through
 
 DEPARTURE FROM PANAMA. 443 
 
 many a savage tempest to meet with so serious a misfortune in 
 the peaceful harbor. 
 
 At last we started, and rode gently through the streets and 
 plazas of Panama, which reminded me, among other ruined places, 
 of beautiful Messina, which we saw almost directly after it had 
 suffered from a third bombardment during the last revolutionary 
 troubles of Sicily. Yet was Panama lovely, as if dilapidation be- 
 came it. We had quite a gay cavalcade : Mr. P on a beau- 
 tiful horse, Miss P ditto, young M. H o, who amiably 
 
 came also to accompany us a little way out of the city, and M. 
 Santa Maria, to whom the mules belonged, who was to go with 
 us himself the whole way to Cruces. 
 
 M. H o (by his friends always called Pepe, the diminutive, as I 
 
 am informed, of Jose) was on a fiery steed, which he was trying, I 
 believe, for the first time. We were all gently cantering on, having 
 just left the suburbs of the city behind us, when his horse became 
 restive, and played all sorts of curious antics ; waltzing round 
 without partner or music, and performing many other eccentricities. 
 He was obliged to leave us, which took much from the pictur- 
 esqueness of our cavalcade, for his wild-looking, plunging, prancing- 
 about courser, that " caracoieared " so finely, and his gay poncho 
 streaming from his shoulders, and all the handsome Panamanian 
 accoutrements, that made him look so South American, or rather 
 so like a Spanish caballero merely a little South Americanized 
 were not a sight to be seen every day. 
 
 We were already at a good distance from Panama, and soon 
 
 after our kind friends, Mr. and Miss P , said good-by to us ; 
 
 and on we journeyed, finding the sun terrifically hot, and glad to 
 see some prospect of shade ahead, and wondering whether this was 
 really a rainy season (soon we were convinced) ! A miserable 
 looking man, on a miserable looking mule, was following the same 
 
 road we were (to Cruces), Mr. P had entered into a little 
 
 conversation with him, and the poor emaciated being told him he 
 had just come from California, from the mines, where he suffered 
 greatly from exposure, and from standing up to his waist in water 
 often, till it brought on a particular kind of paralysis that is said to 
 be very common at the California mines, and incurable. 
 
 We had stopped for ten minutes or so, to take leave of our 
 friends, and the poor, wretched object on a mule, that looked as if 
 it also had been disappointed in California, and was returning in 
 starvation and disgust, with its long-eared head almost bowed to 
 the ground, had got the start of us. Not very long afterward, at
 
 444 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 a very narrow part of the road, where it ran between two walls of 
 slippery cliffs, this very mule, dead, and obstructing the path, was 
 displayed to the horror-struck eyes of his quadruped relations. 
 " Arre," shrieked the rnozos. There was scarcely any room for 
 them to step on one side, and the banks were too steep for the 
 laden mules to climb ; but they refused to pass over their fallen 
 fellow-creature. They would not trample on their brother, laid 
 low in the dust O ! mule, mule, how unlike art thou to man ! 
 
 Then ensued a scene that baffles all powers of description. We 
 were first alarmed by the leading baggage-mule charging back 
 upon us, with his eyes starting out of his head, and looking per 
 fectly mad with terror and horror. Then the others caught sight 
 of the dreaded object, and were equally horrified with the fugleman 
 of their party. Again and again the yelling muleteers and mozoa 
 strove to drive them over the obstruction ; shrieks, blows, shouts, 
 gesticulations, thrusts, threats, all were in vain. Such a melee of 
 men and mules, legs, arms, sticks, tails, trunks, heels, long ears, 
 shoes, sombreros, and portmanteaus 1 never beheld, and the scene 
 and the noise were appalling. 
 
 All seemed in vain. I don't know which appeared the maddest, 
 the mules or the men ; the worst of all, perhaps, was poor Senoi 
 Santa Maria the mozos drove (or tried to drive) the mules, and 
 he drove the mozos. As to the mules, the poor, insane creatures, 
 snorting, trembling, plunging, and half jumping one over the other, 
 seemed as if they could not overcome their terror, and their intense 
 aversion to touch the body of their lifeless companion. The men 
 tried to drag the dead mule up the steep banks, but they could not 
 manage it, so the battle recommenced. 
 
 At the beginning of the fray, with the most extraordinary in- 
 trepidity, I had run away. Now if the reader thinks this para- 
 doxical, let me inform him that it required some courage, not being 
 a fly, to clamber up the sides of a perpendicular precipice of glass, 
 for such pretty nearly was the wall of rock on either side of us. T 
 was not alone in this act of glorious valor. We all, by common 
 consent, slipped from our saddles at the same moment, and scram- 
 bled up that horrible bank ; it would have been perishing very 
 ignominiously to be squeezed flat between two of our own trunks, 
 and kicked out of the world by refractory mules. 
 
 As for the mules, they submitted at last : probably, however, 
 they had so lost their mulish senses in the confusion, that they did 
 not know which way they were going. 1 saw some of them taking 
 a mad flying leap over their poor fallen fellow-brute, and the others
 
 BADNESS OF THE ROAD. 445 
 
 instinctively followed. Senior Santa Maria informed us afterward, 
 not a single mule touched the body of the dead one, not even the 
 heaviest laden. There is something very touching, I think, in the 
 respect shown by the poor animals for their fellow-comrade, and 
 for death, s 
 
 "We passed afterward many other dead mules, but none that had 
 died, poor fellows, so inconveniently as that one. It was just in, 
 the most narrow and difficult pass of the route. Poor things ! that 
 horribly bad road tries their strength so dreadfully ! They are 
 generally dragged on one side of the pathway ; and, except from 
 the shocking stench, they caused us no annoyance. What became 
 of the unfortunate paralytic Californian we never knew. 
 
 At one place where we stopped to let the mules drink a very 
 wild, romantic-looking spot there were a number of natives 
 crouched under the trees, talking and laughing. One, who was 
 huddled up all of a heap, appeared as if he had no particular feat- 
 ures or form of his own, looking, as uncouth people do sometimes, 
 as if he was merely a ibrtuitous concourse of atoms ; he bore evi- 
 dently a strong dislike to the Americans. " Ah ! Yankis ! ah ! 
 Yankis ! Go-head! Aha! Go! come! ho! head-ago!" he kept 
 calling out, and repeatedly mimicking and caricaturing some one 
 pushing impatiently along. I remember almost the same thing 
 happened on our first visit to the Isthmus. 
 
 The road was execrable. Imagine the great wall of China 
 pulled down over it, and scattered in huge blocks and rugged frag- 
 ments along it, in all possible irregularity and confusion ; and oc- 
 casionally rushing streams swollen by the rain, dashing and roaring 
 across the rocky road, through which the careful mules half-waded, 
 half-swam. At times you have to clamber up and down a curious 
 kind of steep staircase or rocky ladder, half-natural and half-arti- 
 ficial, some short, some long, but all prodigiously nigged and rough, 
 and startling us with their apparent impracticability. 
 
 We progressed tediously along from one " pantano" (marsh, or 
 pool) to another. My mule, though a very good one, fell and 
 scrambled up again three limes ; luckily for me, I kept on the 
 saddle. I generally went first, and thus had to experimentalize 
 and choose the road. The patience and prudence of the mules are 
 extreme. They will stand sometimes in a brown study, pondering 
 over the path, and then seem to feel their way as if their hoots 
 were hands. 
 
 We suddenly encountered at a narrow turn in the road, some 
 extraordinary looking affairs ; some like gibbets, others like fittings
 
 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 for a theatre, benches, lumber, railings, posts, &c. ; and the men- 
 mules, jwho were carrying them, seemed sorely fatigued. We saw 
 afterward other parts of the same huge nondescript laid by the side 
 of the path ; I suppose temporarily, till the peons had rested. 
 These belonged to a traveling circus of an American (Colonel 
 Somebody, whose name I forget), en route to Panama. 
 
 As to tRe rain, I can not give any idea of it : it found its cata- 
 ract-like way through the thick-woven boughs of the forest, and 
 almost washed us from our rnules where it was more open. Do 
 not be afraid of having any long descriptions of the beauty of 
 scenery on the way to Cruces ; through that curtain and wall of 
 water, nothing was to be seen. It is like going behind the falling 
 sheet of Niagara, I think, only there you are comparatively dry. 
 What a procession of mermaids on horseback I mean muleback 
 we were. The holes our poor mules plunged in and out of, are 
 frightful to think of even at this distance ! Mine came down into 
 them several times, but extricated himself and regained his legs 
 again. These were not the regular serious tumbles, but only little 
 extra variations and pastimes, pour passer le temps. 
 
 It was partly a subterraneous ride, such caverns and chasms did 
 we go groping among. Scrambling in and out of these places 
 made us about twice as long as we should have been under other 
 circumstances. Indeed, it pretty nearly doubled the distance ; and 
 by the time we arrived at Cruces, it had been dusk about half an 
 hour. Our mules had proved excellent ones ; and in taking leave 
 of their civil master, we complimented him much on his animals. 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 The Hotel at Cruces A felonious Cat The New Granadian Gentlemen 
 Progress toward Chagres Lightning, Thunder, and Rain Arrival at 
 Chagres The dead American Quarrels between Americans and the 
 Natives of Panama Humboldt's Estimate of the Indians Incredulity of 
 Calitbrriian Emigrants Melancholy Case of two returned Californians 
 A beautiful Sunset Arrival at Jamaica Kingston Descent of General 
 Lopez on Cuba Strange Eifect of it Reverses of Jamaica Planters The 
 Glories of Nature Creation's Praise, a Poem. 
 
 CRUCES is overflowing with Americans. Look at that one with 
 (as is often the case) a paroquet on his hat, a monkey on his right 
 shoulder, and a squirrel on his left surely not all the riches he is 
 going to take back to " the States" who can doubt his being a
 
 A FELONIOUS CAT. 447 
 
 true Connecticut Yankee, one of those who have occasionally 
 manufactured " oak pumpkin-seeds, so nateral that they actilly 
 sprouted ?" These gentry almost invariably ask us, as we pass, 
 what State we are from. 
 
 The little American hotel at Cruces was quite full, so we passed 
 the night in a native house. The master was very obliging, and 
 so were his family and servants ; but the poor old man had become 
 half crazy since his wife's death, which had occurred a short time 
 previously. He swung in his hammock in the state room of the 
 cane lodge incessantly not that that, however, is any proof of 
 madness, or the white population of South America would all need 
 strait waistcoats ; but his speech and manners were incoherent and 
 wandering, though he tried to be civil and hospitable. 
 
 The cabin consisted of two rooms, I believe ; one, the front room, 
 which served as parlor, dining-room : dormitory, and kitchen, and 
 one which was given up to us. We all passed a pretty good 
 night, though a disastrous adventure happened. We had a cold 
 chicken, which with biscuits and chocolate, was to be the next 
 morning's repast. Soon after we retired to rest a scuffling noise 
 was heard ; a plunge and a rattling of paper, in which the ines- 
 timable chicken was wrapped, and a confused scramble. Alas ! 
 the cat had entered, and carried off at one fell swoop our intended 
 breakfast. Jeremiads were useless. We forgot our misfortunes in 
 sleep, and in the morning got something to supply the place of our 
 lost chicken, which make-shift, though not so good, yet answered 
 pretty well. 
 
 No time was to be lost. At a very early hour in the morning 
 I sent to engage a boat, and some owners of canoes, who I learned 
 were very respectable people, came and agreed to take us to 
 Chagres for what appeared to me a reasonable consideration. 
 They promised to be at Chagres that evening, to put up a good 
 awning, and to prepare their boat as soon as possible ; J, therefore, 
 engaged their canoe ; and, as is customary in the Isthmus, paid 
 down the money. 
 
 We waited a good while, and I thought it would be better to 
 go down to the shore, and hurry them a little by personally super- 
 intending the preparations. I found them dawdling most industri- 
 ously ; but by entreaties and good words, and patient, though 
 earnest exhortations to them to bestir themselves, I accomplished 
 my object, and soon all was ready. The awning was a far superior 
 one to the vile trap we had before in our Isthmus canoe, and all 
 promised well.
 
 448 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Just before we started, two Granadian gentlemen came running 
 down the bank with some light baggage, to hold a parley with 
 the head-boatman, who presently afterward came to me, and be- 
 seechingly and deprecatingly begged me to allow him to set these 
 caballeros down at a village he named, not far down the river : 
 without my permission, of course, he said he told them it was im- 
 possible ; but they had been disappointed, I think, of a boat they 
 had tried to get, and were anxious to avail themselves of this 
 favorable opportunity. 
 
 Would not this much retard us, by loading the canoe so much 
 more, I wished to know ? He assured me we should not be a mo- 
 ment longer on account of it, and it would particularly oblige them 
 and the caballeros if I would give my consent. I granted their 
 request, of course as a great indulgence, and off we started, under 
 a broiling sun at first (but that was soon changed for deluges of 
 rain) ; indeed, while I stood on the shore, superintending the con- 
 struction of the awning, I thought my bonnet would almost have 
 been burnt on my head by the intense rays of the sun. 
 
 The New Granadians soon arrived at their destination, paid 
 the boatmen, and thanked me very gratefully and gracefully for 
 the permission I had accorded ; and lifting their light sombreros, 
 and murmuring a profusion of acknowledgments, away they ran 
 up the bank, and away we sped along the winding river. 
 
 Our boatmen hurried on in the highest good-humor, and appa- 
 rently determined I should have no occasion to regret this simple 
 act of complaisance. The rain was terrific. 
 
 I said our ride was a sort of subterranean grope through such 
 holes we burrowed along ; and really our little voyage seemed a 
 kind of submarine navigation, pleasingly diversified, however, by 
 several awful storms of thunder and lightning ; but, alas ! by no 
 coral bowers, no pearly grots we saw, felt, heard, and were aware 
 of nothing but rain ! rain ! rain ! Umbrellas were a mockery and 
 a snare. They seemed to act like positive conductors of the rain- 
 lightnings ! The very awning, which at first sheltered us, became 
 a practical joke ; water-proof cloaks, tarpaulin, &c., were mere 
 straws for the drowning to catch at. 
 
 We felt unresuscitable by all the Humane Societies on earth. 
 They may recover people half or three-quarters drowned ; but the 
 utterly melted away how could they ever restore them to sub- 
 stance and life ? Water-proof! why, it seemed to rain into the 
 very brain ! Nothing but watery images suggested themselves 
 Niagaras and whirlpools, twirled mops and twisting maelstroms,
 
 A STORM. 449 
 
 Scotch mists and English pic-nics, doctors' strengthening draughts, 
 St. S within and London milk (yclept sky-blue), soup at a French 
 auberge, Whig measures, and every thing wishy-washy in the 
 world, till the great globe itself appeared to be one vast moist 
 sponge. 
 
 It is, I believe, a fact that a man chemically speaking, is forty- 
 five pounds of carbon and nitrogen diffused through five and a half 
 pailfuls of water, under ordinary circumstances; but travelers in 
 the isthmus, during the rainy season, turn to twenty pailfuls of 
 water, minus the nitrogen and carbon at least so I should say 
 from appearances. Such wretched, washed-out individuals no 
 fancy can picture. Nature had need to work in fast colors indeed, 
 when she exposes her living handiwork to such pitiless pouriags. 
 
 On we went, feeling past all drowning, dazzled by the terrific 
 flashes of lightning, and half deafened by the roaring peals of long- 
 reverberating thunder, like a thousand boomings of artillery. Was 
 it not all a mistake ] Had we sunk to the bottom of the Pacific, 
 which we were so lately careering over in smiling sunshine, and 
 was a naval battle raging over our heads ? Whether the glorious 
 orchideous flowers were in bloom, of course, we knew not, or the 
 other myriads of trailers and climbers. Whether there were as 
 many decayed trees floating in the river as on our first expedition 
 we knew not : but if so our skillful boatmen avoided them 
 cleverly. 
 
 The only serious stoppage we had was coming in collision with 
 a large boat full of returning Americans; our canoe was all but 
 overturned. The Americans and the boatmen called for us to sit 
 perfectly still, which we did. Perhaps at that moment, we 
 thought to be more drowned was almost an impracticability. 
 People ought to traverse the Isthmus during the deluge in a div- 
 ing-bell. I wonder Messrs. Rundell and Bridge's diving-appara- 
 tus was not kept for that purpose. Well ! we went on as before. 
 However, presently we began to entertain a sort of insane idea 
 that we might be more drowned still, for we found the boat was 
 frightfully full of water, and sinking fast. We shrieked to the 
 boatmen, and pointed out the danger ; they seized enormous cala- 
 bashes, and began bailing out as fast as possible. We were so 
 deep that the water of the river seemed all but pouring over the 
 edge of the boat. After that, constant bailing was resorted to, and 
 in due course of time we arrived safely at Chagres. 
 
 I had much difficulty in persuading the boatmen to go to what 
 is called the American Town ; they declared it was dangerous, as
 
 450 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 it was already dark. They seemed afraid of the boat upsetting 
 at the mouth of the river. However, on reconnoitering as well as 
 I could, I did not agree with them, and assured them it was quite 
 " precise" that we should go to the American hotel. After a long 
 argument they consented, and in perfect safety, thank Heaven ! 
 we arrived, and found the master of the hotel standing on the 
 bank with a lantern, looking out for boats, as the " Crescent City" 
 was to start the next morning, and passengers were still arriving . 
 to go by her. 
 
 He promised to do what he possibly could for our accommo- 
 dation, and finally we were quartered in a very comfortable 
 room, which an American medical gentleman was obliging enough 
 to vacate on our account. We felt almost bound to have the 
 Chagres fever in return for such compassionate disinterestedness 
 but we really had not time. The room was very nicely furnished, 
 and its four female occupants slept most soundly till it was time 
 to rise and make preparations for going on board the steamer. 
 
 When we arrived the evening before, one of the first questions 
 the master of the American hotel, and one or two other Ameri- 
 cans, who came to ask for news, put to us was : " Did you see a 
 dead body, tied to a raft, floating down the stream 1 I said we 
 had observed nothing of the kind indeed the rain prevented one 
 from seeing any thing. He told me it was the dead body of an 
 American, who had been stabbed in a quarrel with the natives, 
 who refused to bury it, or allow it to be buried where the affray 
 had taken place, but had fastened it to a slight raft, and sent it 
 drifting down the stream. " It will be here at eight o'clock to- 
 morrow morning, we expect," he added, coolly ; " and you must 
 have passed it on the road." I felt rather glad we had not seen 
 the ghastly object. 
 
 Some Americans, who had lately arrived at Chagres, had 
 brought the tidings, and they passed it, I believe, floating steadily 
 down the river. These quarrels, unfortunately, too often occur ; 
 and as the Americans are generally armed to the teeth, with 
 bowie-knives .and revolvers, and the natives have always at hand 
 the most formidable knives conceivable, about as long as a man's 
 arm, with which they cut their dinner or their foes in pieces, 
 lamentable results frequently take place. 
 
 Just before we returned to Panama from Peru, a kind of battle 
 had occurred between the Californian emigrants and the Pana- 
 manians. After a little time the natives, who are intrepid to the 
 last degree when ouce thoroughly aroused, cared no more for the
 
 QUARRELS BETWEEN AMERICANS AND NATIVES. 451 
 
 revolvers than if they had been "cigaritos," they watched their 
 opportunities, rushed boldly and rapidly up to their opponents (all 
 with fire-arms in their hands), and plunged their long knives in 
 their breasts. Four Americans, I was told, were left dead, and 
 others grievously wounded. This was very melancholy, but I 
 believe the Americans themselves say it was, in the first instance, 
 the fault of their countrymen. They despise the Indians, and 
 look on all colored people as " Niggers ;" as they call all Euro- 
 peans, save English and French, Dutch (the Swiss, Italians, 
 Portuguese, Danes, are all named alike, with one exception only 
 and that is, the Dutch themselves ! They call them, Hollanders). 
 I was mentioning a Dutchman once in the United States, and 
 called him so : I was corrected " No ! he's a Hollander." 
 
 I think there is much that is interesting in the character of 
 these Indians. Idle, dilatory, and careless, unquestionably they 
 are ; but they appear thoroughly hospitable, full of frank, generous 
 susceptibilities and gratitude toward those who treat them with 
 conciliator}' gentleness and consideration. Contented and peace- 
 ful, but the bravest of the brave when their blood is once up : it 
 would seem the elements of a right noble character are there. I 
 say this from the few opportunities of observation that I have 
 had, not from any prepossession for such " children of Nature" in 
 general. 
 
 I think it is in Guiana that Humboldt mentions (in talking of 
 the fancied primitive perfection of human nature) that it is cus- 
 tomary, if a child is sickly, to kill it to avoid the trouble of taking 
 care of it, and to prevent its being any impediment to hurried 
 excursibns and removals ; also, he says of twins, one is regularly 
 destroyed (as it is considered infra dig. to be the parents of twins 
 and something "like rats and opossums.") " Such," exclaims 
 Humboldt, highly indignant, " such is that simplicity of manners, 
 such that boasted happiness of mankind in the natural state. A 
 man kills his son to escape a little ridicule, or to avoid traveling 
 more slowly in fact, to get rid of a trifling inconvenience." 
 
 We had accomplished our journey across the Isthmus in two 
 days, and that in the rainy season ; and we received many com- 
 pliments from the Americans on the rapidity with which we had 
 
 made the passage. V was charmed with her ride from 
 
 Panama to Cruces perhaps the only person that ever was or 
 ever will be. 
 
 The Americans are so astonished at our not having been to 
 California, they positively can not believe it, it appears to them
 
 452 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 such a pitch of preternatural stupidity. To some it was useless 
 protesting we had not keen, and had not intended to go. I con- 
 vinced one at last ; and he said he supposed then we really had 
 not been ; we must have got frightened, or " sick," at Panama, 
 and that made us turn back. Another, who civilly refrained from 
 contradicting, soon after asked : " And pray, ma'am, did you bring 
 much gold dust ? or perhaps you didn't stay long enough in Cali- 
 fornia." 
 
 We found it pretty rough getting to the steamer, on the morn- 
 ing of our departure from Chagres, and with considerable difficulty 
 got on board. A yellowish-brown long line of demarkation shows 
 where the Chagres is lost in the clear waters of the Carribbean 
 Sea. We had delightful cabins, with a sitting-room, sofas, tables, 
 every thing charmingly commodious and comlbrtable. The Cap- 
 tain, who was as obliging as possible, sent us word we should not 
 start till night, as he had learned many other passengers were on 
 their way down the river. 
 
 In the evening after it was dark, there was a sudden alarm. 
 We heard a great scuffling, running, and shouting on deck ; and 
 presently, in extreme haste, a boat was lowered and pushed oft'. 
 We remained watching in much anxiety, fearing that some boat, 
 in attempting to reach the steamer through the heavy surf, had 
 been upset. After some time we were much relieved to learn 
 that no lives had been lost. A canoe coming out to the " Cres- 
 cent City" had been in the greatest danger of being carried out to 
 the open sea, from the boatmen having unfortunately broken their 
 oars, and the boat thereby becoming unmanageable, and at the 
 mercy of the waves. Had not their cries for assistance (which 
 was so promptly rendered) been heard, they must doubtless have 
 perished. 
 
 There were a number of returned Californians on board. From 
 the glimpses I had of them, I should say none looked particularly 
 happy or thoroughly satisfied with their expedition ; one can not 
 always judge from outward appearances. There were two very 
 melancholy cases on board. An elderly gentleman, who had gone 
 mad, after losing nearly all he possessed through some ill-fated 
 speculation in California. His nephew was accompanying him 
 home, and taking care of him as well as he could ; but from exposure, 
 I believe, and over severe labor in the mines, he was in the last 
 stage of consumption, and reduced almost to a skeleton. In this 
 miserable condition of hopeless suffering, he was doomed to have 
 his last days embittered by the melancholy spectacle of his afflict-
 
 BEAUTIFUL SUNSET. 433 
 
 ed relative's malady, and forced to listen to his wild ravings and 
 jabberings, a^d to have the wearying charge and responsibility of 
 attending on him. 
 
 We had a capital stewardess on board the " Crescent City," and 
 I hope it will not be thought I am speaking any treason against 
 British maritime supremacy, when I say I think in general the 
 American steamers have better stewardesses than the English ! 
 On board the " Georgia" we had a charming one too, a Welsh 
 woman, rejoicing in the pretty name of Annie Morgan. 
 
 We had two very agreeable fellow-passengers on board the 
 " Crescent City," in the shape of a Califbruian squirrel and a 
 Chagres monkey ; two amusing little personages they were. (They 
 belonged to some gentleman just returned from El Dorado). The 
 squirrel, tame as a kitten, was chiefly composed of two great black 
 eyes and a splendid bushy tail. Jacko was the only pretty monkey 
 I ever saw, and not at all mischievous. The little squirrel was 
 extraordinarily fond of warmth : though the weather was almost 
 insupportably hot, it would coil itself round into the very heart of 
 shawls and cloaks (thrown on the sofas or camp-stools) whenever 
 it wished to sleep. 
 
 We saw a most singularly beautiful sunset one evening on our 
 passage hither. The sea became of a wonderfully rich color, neither 
 exactly purple, nor lilac, nor crimson, nor violet, nor rose-color, but 
 an extraordinary mixture of all these, a most regal and exquisite 
 hue, which I think must most nearly resemble the Tyrian purple 
 of old. I never saw such a color but once or twice before, I think, 
 in my life. It continued some time without variation, and then, 
 softly died away in beautifully fine gradations.* 
 
 It was charming, watching this and other lovely effects of morning 
 and evening light, reminding us of our delightful Pacific days and 
 evenings (though this sea was not so smooth or grand). Looking 
 on such fair sights, with the many sea-noises and sea-changes 
 
 * We afterward saw at Kingston, Jamaica, when driving one day with 
 our truly kind friends Dr. and Mrs. Stewart, a far more magnificent sunset; 
 one so awfully grand, that I feel it is hopeless to attempt to convey any im- 
 pression of it. It was after a terrific thunder-storm. Behind the clouds, 
 which were piled in mountainous masses one above the other (and still as 
 if on and on, forever, showing a higher stratum of others between height 
 above height, glimpse beyond glimpse, vista behind vista), a thousand color- 
 ed suns of glory seemed flashing, beaming through those wondrous and 
 gorgeous transparencies. Ml hues were there, from the most vivid scarlet 
 and burning crimson and purple, to the softest azure and palest green ; 
 every shade of gold and orange, and every tint conceivable and inconceivable.
 
 454 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 around, what dreams, what visions, what phantasies visit the 
 soothed yet awakened mind 1 what a world of wonders is around 
 us ! how full seems all of meaning, beauty, mystery, and eloquence 
 how full indeed ! Ay, and if man could suddenly be endowed 
 with a hundred additional senses beside his small allowance of 
 five, he would doubtless find an endless multiplicity of objects 
 around, fitted for their perception only and delight, that he has 
 been unconscious of, as the blind of beauty and the deaf and dumb 
 of music and sweet speech In this life mortals are prisoners in 
 very narrow cells, which are furnished with very few chinks. 
 But I must not even in this trifling degree, ramble from my pur- 
 pose of keeping strictly to plain narrative and a matter-of-fact 
 relation. 
 
 When we arrived at Jamaica I was much struck by its noble 
 outline of mountains. The entrance to the harbor of Kingston is 
 exceedingly fine. The Blue Mountains rise in some places to about 
 eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and run longitudin- 
 ally through the island from east to west. 
 
 We have as yet seen hardly any thing of Jamaica. It seems to 
 possess lovely and greatly-diversified scenery. The mountains so 
 amphitheatrically encircling the fertile plains on which Kingston 
 is built, we see from our windows. Our old African friend, the 
 date palm, seems to flourish here. There is a fine one in one of 
 the streets close to an hotel, called from it " Date-tree House ;" 
 but I have seen no dates. It is probably not the season. Man- 
 goes (of which the best is a sort called commonly ' ' N umber Eleven' ' ) 
 abound, and are very good. There seem to be various lovely 
 acacias on all sides, calabash-trees, and the pretty lignum vitse, 
 with its countless heaps of little azure blossoms ; the allspice, or 
 Jamaica pepper- tree, and numbers of our Isthmus vegetable friends. 
 But I must wait to see more before I give any description. 
 
 When we first landed, I was sorry to learn from the courteous 
 agent of the American Steam Company here, that the Bishop has 
 lately left the island, and that his daughter is very ill. 
 
 They seem to have delicious breezes almost constantly blowing 
 here, but lately it has been very dry. Last evening it rained 
 heavily, and as about a hundred windows were open in all direc- 
 tions, in rushed a number of colored damsels in turbans, armed 
 with divers mops, and contrivances of the kind, to wipe up purling 
 rivulets that were meandering prettily about the floor (for the 
 windows had defied our efforts to close them ; and, besides, it was 
 suffocatingly hot) and they fastened down some of the windows,
 
 KINGSTON. 455 
 
 but the rain trickled abundantly through, notwithstanding. To 
 our astonishment (who felt something like a party of antediluvians 
 running away from the pursuing Flood ; or I should say perhaps, 
 like a set of feminine Noahs, or Noah's doves, or any other inhab- 
 itants of the ark, gladly escaping to the dry land), they burst out 
 into joyful exclamations about the rain, congratulating themselves 
 and us (on rain !) and the goats and pigs, and ducks, too, methinks, 
 as they looked out of the windows and snuffed it up as something 
 rare and precious. 
 
 One very black, smiling maiden, showing her glittering teeth 
 from ear to ear, could not rejoice enough or wish us joy enough 
 of this rain (stupendous insult !) working away very hard all the 
 time to wipe away the little brooks and streamlets. " Berry nice, 
 oh, berry, dis good rain." Now that is a disinterested philan- 
 thropic, patriotic mortal. The more she had to labor, the more 
 she liked it, for it was for the good of her country and her fellow- 
 mortals ! She rubbed and scrubbed, and laughed and smiled, and 
 chuckled and crowed and quacked and chattered, all glee and 
 good-humor, a perfect duck of a woman in two senses. Really 
 the Isthmus St. Swithin had better come here to be made much of. 
 I have received a most courteous and hospitable invitation from 
 Sir Charles Grey, to remain at the King's House, during my stay 
 in Jamaica. We shall avail ourselves of his kindness, and go there 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Kingston does not at all give me the idea of an unwholesome 
 climate. I hear the cholera is committing frightful ravages at the 
 Havana. Here, they say, they are not alarmed at all, as it has 
 never been here, though it has before been in Cuba. I advise them 
 not to be too siye yet. The cholera is said never to have passed 
 the Equator, but this year it has crept very near to it, and may 
 have crossed the line by this time. The last we heard of it, it 
 was near Bogota, and creeping onward, it was said. 
 f I found a very interesting letter here from Havana, giving me 
 the particulars of the late American invasion of the island of Cuba, 
 One singular fact is mentioned in it. I do not know that it has 
 been remarked upon in any of the newspapers, so I repeat it. I 
 am assured that it is quite correct. As soon as the alarm was 
 given in Havana of the landing of General Lopez and his follow- 
 ers, the cholera, which had been raging there with terrible violence, 
 stopped as if by rnagic. The streets had been crowded with fune- 
 rals ; not one was to be seen. A counter-panic chased away this 
 dreadful visitor for a short space of time. After a few days, when
 
 456 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 all the alarm had entirely subsided, and no further apprehensions 
 were entertained when, in short, the island and the city returned 
 to their propriety, the cholera again resumed its interrupted sway. 
 It might have been only a coincidence, but I think there is but 
 little if any doubt that the interregnum \ras occasioned by that 
 mental counter-irritation : the mind and imagination have so much 
 to do in predisposing persons to take such disorders. 
 
 There are numerous coolies here, male and female. These 
 Hindoos are very striking and picturesque-looking people. 
 
 Kingston looks as if it ought to be a magnificent place, and had 
 once been so, but has the appearance of being not only dilapidated 
 but depopulated and deserted. The chief streets are still very 
 handsome, with villa-like houses, veranda'd and terraced, running 
 back from the road, and with gateways and gardens generally. 
 The people who knew Kingston formerly mourn over it, and say : 
 " In past times, before our ruin, this main street was the gayest 
 of the gay, the busiest of the busy : an incessant roll of carriages 
 and sugar-laden carts resounded through it." 
 
 The last terrible blow at the prosperity of Jamaica was the vile 
 Slave-grown Sugar Bill, which combined in so remarkable a degree 
 the iniquitous with the ridiculous. Poor Jamaica ! how deeply 
 she has suffered ! I hear that many once rich planters have gone 
 to spend their last days in obscure corners, to starve unknown, and 
 die incognito. Alas ! with perhaps a curse on. their lips for the 
 unnatural mother-country, who has cut away the last prop and 
 support from under them. If the reader wishes to know where 
 the deepest hatred can be felt against England, let him go to her 
 own ill-used colonies. I sincerely hope something may yet be done 
 for this lovely, unhappy island. How we must misgovern how 
 we must have a very genius for perverting Fortune's best gifts, 
 and for mismanaging those splendid possessions we acquire with so 
 much labor and glory, to injure and destroy (as far as we can), 
 with so much shame. When shall we, for their sake and our 
 own, change our' most detestable policy, or rather impolicy ? But 
 I will try and turn to the beauties of nature, and not the follies of 
 man, who so often defaces her noblest loveliness. 
 
 Ever glorious is Nature ! What wonders have we lately be- 
 held of her lavish luxury of profusion, her inexhaustible treasury 
 of glories and enchantments, her array of stately triumphs ! What 
 gratitude should glow in the heart and spirit of man when looking 
 on all the consummate works of Heaven, scattered with such gra-
 
 CREATIONS PRAISE. 
 
 cious liberality at his feet, to bless his eyes, to cheer his thoughts, 
 to elevate his mind, and array his path to immortality with that 
 glory which seems worthy of an immortal, making the world like 
 the vestibule of heaven for those whose thoughts draw beauty from 
 beauty, and add majesty to majesty. 
 
 But how often, when the mighty mother most appealingly calls 
 on him does he turn away. Mountains and forests, lakes, savan- 
 nas, clouds, flowers, stars, valleys, lightnings, seas all mirror 
 one great truth, all breathe one eternal hymn ! Nature is a per- 
 petual oratorio ! 
 
 CREATION'S PRAISE. 
 
 Immemorial gray mountains ! up-towering and free, 
 Like the hierarchs of Nature still seem they to be ; 
 Ah ! no Atlases bearing one Earth's pretty weight, 
 All the Firmament's pride seem their burden and freight. 
 
 All its Earths ! all its Heav'ns ! its vast galaxied field, 
 
 Where crowned splendors on splendors shine thronged and revealed. 
 
 Soar aloft, kingly mountains ! ay. fearless they soar, 
 
 And sustaining that glory's dread burden, adore ! 
 
 Yea, they prdise Thee, O Lord of those Firmaments ! King 
 Of the fair worlds around, like fresh fountains that spring ; 
 Their pure crests seem to praise Thee, and each hallowed air. 
 That awakes, like a breath fresh from Paradise, there. 
 
 Ocean ! glassing those heavens, and thus bringing them down 
 As to blend with oar world nearer Glory and Crown ! 
 Dost thou lift not thy thousand-toned voice evermore, 
 In strong orisons, Ocean ! from shore pealed to shore ! 
 
 Not a murmur, a moan, but where heaven-music dwells, 
 Haunting thet, as thy memory, thine own rainbow'd shells ; 
 Not a wave but hath mirrored the deep-glancing scene, 
 Where the shadows of Hosts of Immortals have been ! 
 
 And ye, Stars ! do ye breathe not in light and in fire 
 (As though each were some angel-bard r s far-beaming lyre), 
 That bright order, and beauty, and harmony move. 
 For aye, in the steps of the Source of all Love.
 
 458 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 And thou MAN ! dost t hou praise Him by acts and by words ? 
 Dost thou thrill to thy being's own innermost chords ? 
 Doth thy soul to those long " Hallelujahs" reply, 
 Rolled in thunder and flame through all Earth and all Sky ? 
 
 Man ! too oft while great Nature seems proffering her shrine 
 For the pomp of full spirit-oblations divine; 
 From her voice, and thine own 1 holiest happiness here, 
 Thou turn'st back with weak scorn, self-unjust and severe. 
 
 While the darkly-magnificent heavens 01 the night 
 While the morning star, heralding joyaunce and light- 
 While the storms while the seas while the deserts and plains, 
 Proclaim with eternal Hosannas, " He reigns !" "** 
 
 The One silent, deaf, senseless, 'midst things He hath made, 
 Still seems Man ! who like monarch of all He arrayed, 
 O'er whose head He stretched roofs, hung with suns and with flame, 
 At whose feet such a world, his heart's homage to claim ! 
 
 Shall the universe one glorious unison be, 
 
 All uniting in rapture of worship, save thee? 
 
 Shall far worlds severed spaces strange elements join 
 
 In one deep diapason of homage divine ? 
 
 And shalt thou dwell apart, and thy worship retain, 
 Perchance for those Works that His voice did ordain, 
 Perchance for thyself, and the pomps, shows, and joys 
 Of the swift, arrowy life which a moment destroys. 
 
 For those Works that are Worships themselves ! that point still 
 Upward heavenward the children of His mighty will ! 
 Works that cease not by day and by night to proclaim, 
 E'en out-thundering all thunder, His praise and His Name! 
 
 xiv. 
 
 And thyself! while eSch power that thou vauntest is given 
 Direct from the o'erflovving rich treasuries of heaven, 
 And thy fast-fleeting life is but lent thee to lead 
 To the life everlasting the true life, indeed !
 
 4 
 
 CREATION'S PRAISE. 458 
 
 xv. 
 
 Immemorial proud mountains ! stoop lower your crest , 
 Be ashamed for the Earth and its vile human guest 1 
 Billowy Ocean ! be silent ! roll onward in peace ! 
 Bid your stormy, august "Hallelujahs" to cease! 
 
 Stoop ! thou Mountain ! but not for the weight or the might 
 
 Of the far-stretching firmaments height piled on height ! 
 
 Stoop ! since cv'n, from earth's floor to heaven's blue glistering roof, 
 
 Thou still hurl'st 'gainst mankind thine all-righteous reproof ! 
 
 Hush ! thou Ocean ! but not that the songs of the spheres 
 That the strains of the blest pierce through time's rushing years ! 
 Hush ! since each lightest murmur of homage from thee 
 Seems reproach to thy scornful clay-rulers to be. 
 
 Be the contrast less striking th' upbraidings less stern I- 
 Pale ye great crowning Fires of the Firmaments ! burn, 
 Pale and faint ! so be all things less grandly sublime 
 Thus thy consciousness, Nature, shall crown not our crime! 
 
 Stars ! ye heavens in the heavens ! all of joy, love, and light- 
 Hide your sovereign, sublime tribulations from sight ! 
 Dare we gaze on your spheres, stirred all over with love, 
 While ourselves and our brethren thus gracelessly move ? 
 
 Thunder, Whirlwind, and Earthquake ! ye too lords of doom !- 
 Shout the march of His might, midst your grandeur of gloom ! 
 Ye too lift up your voices of terror to cry, 
 "Hail to Him who above all the highest is high !" 
 
 Old war-chanots of Storm and the Whirlwinds ! delay I- 
 Or bear up thousand hopes of man's soul on your way. 
 Not a wind on its course of rejoicing but sings 
 Of Immortal, Transcendent, Omnipotent things I 
 
 And on trifles and toys still we wander intent, 
 And few tones with those thousand high tones have we blent ! 
 And we hoard in our hearts, ashy treasures and things, 
 That drag earthward our souls from the joy of their wings.
 
 460 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Mighty Forests ! what strength of devotion is there ! 
 Lo ! their countless leaves thrill as with passionate prayer, 
 While the shadows, the silence, the depths are o'erspread, 
 With an hundred Great Presences, sacred and dread. 
 
 Peace let w* only listen, and fling earth's dull cares, 
 Away from our minds till they tremble to prayers ; 
 And the far-sounding chorus shall evermore ring, 
 Raised in honor profound of Their King, and Our King ! 
 
 Joy Creation's grand hymn hath ne'er ceased to be sung, 
 'Tis resounded repeated no harp is unstrung ; 
 In yon hollow-voiced thunder it lives and it rolls ; 
 Joy ! if ice will but listen, 'twill peal to our souls. 
 
 Morning hymn of creation ! each cadence and word 
 
 By the quick ear of Faith is still thrillingly heard, 
 
 And new Birth-hymns of later Creations beside, 
 
 That we dream not and glimpse not swell the outpouring tide. 
 
 Hark! 'tis "Holy!" still "Holy!" and "Holy!" again; 
 Worlds commence worlds take up the Majestical Strain 
 Worlds commence worlds continue the Wonderful Hymn, 
 Till the skies and their orbs are all perished and dim ! 
 
 XX VIII. 
 
 The Great Truth that shone out with the rays of young light. 
 It shines out still as clear, with as searching a might ; 
 And can we e'er be blind to its splendors intense ? 
 When if we will but look, oh ! 'twill blaze to our sense. 
 
 xxix. 
 
 Watch the eagle and lark on their proud sunward flight, 
 Their blue pathways all strewn o'er with gold-bloom and light ; 
 Think ye they bear the freight of their own joy alone ? 
 With earth's deep soul of prayer and of praise they have flown ! 
 
 From her hills from her rocks from her hoarse-sounding woods, 
 From her free trackless wilds, and her loud torrent-floods ; 
 Fervent breathings of strong adoration are borne, 
 To ruffle the orient pavilions of morn !
 
 CREATION'S PRAISE. 
 
 Soaring messengers ! harrying on high to convey 
 Quick jubilant hints to the blue realms of Day, 
 Oh ! how dead are their hearts who no fair greetings send, 
 With the punctual, plumed courier's high service to blend. 
 
 And not only the Morn and the Noon seem to bear, 
 A rich, deep weight of worship that halloweth the air ; 
 But the dusk, regal Night, in her mystical sway, 
 A proud rivalry boasteth and challengeth Day. 
 
 Yea ! dark, gorgeous, magnificent heavens of Old Night, 
 Where Time's self seems Eternity, shown us aright j 
 Jill thy Suns have their Uriels, and breathe far around 
 Lofty tidings for souls not in death-trance profound. 
 
 To the Sabaoth of Systems in awful array, 
 Beleaguering our dull sense enlightniog our way ; 
 Shall Indifference dare still her base weapons oppose, 
 And confront the confederate Creations as foes ? 
 
 Glorious Nature ! too oft man deals death on his soul 
 Thought and mind wrenched from thy solemn, life-full control; 
 With dim ashes strewn o'er them vile taints, chains and tears, 
 Through that dark vale of shadows, where glide our vain years. 
 
 From thy shrine, mightiest mother, they turn, and forsake 
 All thy haunts all thy hoards thy great compact they break. 
 Hollow sepulchres then of themselves e'en they seem 
 Ah ! no temple of Thee, and no palace of Dream ! 
 
 Then high visions forsake them, and splendors of thought, 
 With immortal delights and rich promises fraught ; 
 Queen 1 thy kingdoms, illustrious with treasure ! no more 
 Then imparadise life wkh their fresh, boundless store. 
 
 The Immemorial Gray Mountains are dust in their sight, 
 And discrowned Constellations seem emptied of light; 
 Dead lies Ocean ! for them Heaven is furled as a scroll, 
 Nature ! know thine Unbuilder ! a world-stricken Soul 1
 
 462 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Where should be thy throne is thy sepulchre cold, 
 And not there spread thy banners and pageants unrolled 
 But a deep funeral darkness, or vapory display, 
 Of the gauds of a moment the pomps of a day 1 
 
 And the Mountains still point to the Firmaments far 
 And those Firmaments tremble with star linked to star; 
 And still Deep cries to Deep, and the Clouds and the Storms, 
 All repeat awful tidings reflect mystic forms. 
 
 And ten thousand great scnemes and vast systems around 
 In one broad Act of Homage incessant, are bound ; 
 " Dust to dust !" ever darkens our brief earthly day- 
 Worlds on Worlds ever beckon us upward a way ! 
 
 Wake ! Man ! Populations and nations, awake ! 
 Your glad part in the unbounded, dread chorus to take ; 
 They have ages to breathe Adoration's high strain 
 Ye have hours and thus dare ye unquickened remain ? 
 
 Join the iiymn ! swell the unbounded, undying acclaim : 
 Glory, honor, and praise to the One glorious Name : 
 While all majesties, powers, thrones, existences tend 
 To Truth's bright consummation still world without end. 
 
 While on universe universe heaped and amassed, 
 Burst and bound to proud being and birth, free and fast 
 That yet all, the grand anthem of all, thus may join, 
 And exalt their great Maker's dread honors divine ! 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Ay ! on universe universe gathered and heaped 
 
 To their life of stupendous transcendence have leaped ; 
 
 Till (while each lauds His glory, with powers more supreme), 
 
 Some New Chaos of very Creations they seem. 
 
 Even a Chaos of very Creations ! so blent 
 In unknown complications, through th' endless extent. 
 Lord of Lords ! Oh ! thou God of all Gods ! they can be 
 But the veriest faint shade of a shadow of Thee !
 
 CREATION'S PRAISE. 469 
 
 Ah ! as far as our frail, iettered senses allow, 
 
 Let us gaze on the scenes of their wonders e'en now, 
 
 Where the heavens burn with stars maze thick crowded on maze, 
 
 Till All Space to One Sun seems to brighten and blaze. 
 
 Oratorio of Nature ! Oh, strike our dull ears ! 
 
 With our souls let us list to your anthems, ye spheres ; 
 
 Let your sun-blazoned oriflammes lead us on on, 
 
 Till Earth's conflict is o'er, and Heaven's victory is won ! 
 
 Is't enough ? Oh, if not, look, thou mortal, within, 
 
 Through those deep mists of doubt through the dark clouds of sin; 
 
 And behold the vast scene of thine own awful soul, 
 
 To the ken of a hushed contemplation unroll I 
 
 THE END
 
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