rps of New York pilots lie under the ban of condemnation in your
minds as long as they did in mine. It turned out that the pert little
youth was not an authorized pilot, but merely schooling for it; and
that, when the steamer hove in sight, the true pilots were asleep, and
he would not allow them to be called, but quietly slipped away in the
boat, and came on board of us to try his 'prentice hand; the pilots of
New York are, I believe, a most able and efficient body of men.

Here I am, reader, at New York, a new country, a new hemisphere, and
pitch dark, save the lights reflected in the water from the town on
either side. All of a sudden a single toll of a bell, then another, and
from the lights in the windows you discover a large wooden house is
adrift. On inquiry, you ascertain it is merely one of their mammoth
ferry-boats; that is something to think of, so you go to bed at
midnight, and dream what it will really look like in the morning.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote C: I believe another lighthouse is to be erected on the proper
headland.]

CHAPTER II.

_The Land of Stars and Stripes._

The sun had aired the opening day before I appeared on deck. What a
scene! There was scarce a zephyr to ripple the noble Hudson, or the
glorious bay; the latter, land-locked save where lost in the distant
ocean; the former skirted by the great Babylon of America on one side,
and the lovely wooded banks of Hoboken on the other. The lofty western
hills formed a sharp yet graceful bend in the stream, round which a
fleet of small craft, with rakish hulls and snowy sails, were stealing
quietly and softly, like black swans with white wings; the stillness and
repose were only broken by the occasional trumpet blast of some giant
high-pressure steamer, as she dashed past them with lightning speed.
Suddenly a floating island appeared in the bend of the river; closer
examination proved it to be a steamer, with from twenty to twenty-five
large boats secured alongside, many of them laden at Buffalo, and coming
by the Erie Canal to the ocean. Around me was shipping of every kind and
clime; enormous ferry-boats radiating in all directions; forests of
masts along the wharves; flags of every colour and nation flying; the
dingy old storehouses of the wealthy Wall-street neighbourhood, and the
lofty buildings of the newer parts of the town; everything had something
novel in its character, but all was stamped with go-aheadism. This
glorious pan