bliged to wait
till breakfast-time. We breakfasted, driver and all, in the one common
room. It was papered with newspapers, and was as rough a place as need
be. At half-past seven we started again, and we reached Sandusky at six
o'clock yesterday afternoon. It is on Lake Erie, twenty-four hours'
journey by steamboat from Buffalo. We found no boat here, nor has there
been one, since. We are waiting, with every thing packed up, ready to
start on the shortest notice; and are anxiously looking out for smoke in
the distance.

"There was an old gentleman in the log inn at Lower Sandusky who treats
with the Indians on the part of the American government, and has just
concluded a treaty with the Wyandot Indians at that place to remove next
year to some land provided for them west of the Mississippi, a little
way beyond St. Louis. He described his negotiation to me, and their
reluctance to go, exceedingly well. They are a fine people, but degraded
and broken down. If you could see any of their men and women on a
race-course in England, you would not know them from gipsies.

"We are in a small house here, but a very comfortable one, and the
people are exceedingly obliging. Their demeanor in these country parts
is invariably morose, sullen, clownish, and repulsive. I should think
there is not, on the face of the earth, a people so entirely destitute
of humor, vivacity, or the capacity of enjoyment. It is most remarkable.
I am quite serious when I say that I have not heard a hearty laugh these
six weeks, except my own; nor have I seen a merry face on any shoulders
but a black man's. Lounging listlessly about; idling in bar-rooms;
smoking; spitting; and lolling on the pavement in rocking-chairs,
outside the shop-doors; are the only recreations. I don't think the
national shrewdness extends beyond the Yankees; that is, the Eastern
men. The rest are heavy, dull, and ignorant. Our landlord here is from
the East. He is a handsome, obliging, civil fellow. He comes into the
room with his hat on; spits in the fireplace as he talks; sits down on
the sofa with his hat on; pulls out his newspaper, and reads; but to all
this I am accustomed. He is anxious to please--and that is enough.

"We are wishing very much for a boat; for we hope to find our letters at
Buffalo. It is half-past one; and, as there is no boat in sight, we are
fain (sorely against our wills) to order an early dinner.

"_Tuesday, April Twenty