rom eight to thirteen shillings, increasing
as you descend the river.]

[Footnote Q: A committee of the United States calculated that, in 1846,
the losses on the Mississippi amounted to 500,000l.; and as commerce has
increased enormously, while precautions have remained all but stagnant,
I think it may be fairly estimated, that the annual losses at the
present day amount to at least 750,000l.]

[Footnote R: _Vide_ chapter on "Watery Highways."]

[Footnote S: Since writing the above, some more stringent regulations as
to inspection have appeared, similar to those advocated in the text; but
they contain nothing respecting loading, steering, &c. In fact, they are
general laws, having 110 especial bearing on Western waters.]

CHAPTER XI.

_New Orleans_.

New Orleans is a surprising evidence of what men will endure, when
cheered by the hopes of an ever-flowing tide of all-mighty dollars and
cents. It is situated on a marsh, and bounded by the river on one side,
and on the other by a continuation of the marsh on which it is built,
beyond which extends a forest swamp. All sewerage and drainage is
superficial--more generally covered in, but in very many places dragging
its sluggish stream, under the broad light of day, along the edges of
the footway. The chief business is, of course, in those streets skirting
the river; and at this season--December--when the cotton and sugar mania
is at its height, the bustle and activity is marvellous. Streets are
piled in every direction with mounds of cotton, which rise as high as
the roofs; storehouses are bursting with bales; steam and hydraulic
presses hiss in your ear at every tenth step, and beneath their power
the downy fibre is compressed into a substance as hard as Aberdeen
granite, which semi-nude negroes bind, roll, and wheel in all
directions, the exertion keeping them in perpetual self-supplying animal
steam-baths. Gigantic mules arrive incessantly, dragging fresh freight
for pressure; while others as incessantly depart, bearing freight for
embarkation to Europe. If a pair of cotton socks could be made vocal,
what a tale of sorrow and labour their history would reveal, from the
nigger who picked with a sigh to the maiden who donned with a smile.

Some idea may be formed of the extent of this branch of trade, from the
statistical fact that last year the export amounted to 1,435,815
bales[T]--or, in round numbers, one and a half millions--which was an
increase of ha