leading topics of those they suspect, and if their end is subserved,
basely betray them, or, what is more usual, keep them under strict
surveillance, with a view to their being detected in disseminating
abolition doctrines amongst the slaves, when they are immediately made
amenable to the laws, and are fined or imprisoned.

On landing, I hired a sorry conveyance, driven by a creole and drawn by
a mule, and had my luggage taken to a house in the suburbs, where I had
been recommended to take up my residence during my stay, which, owing to
the presence of the yellow fever, that daily carried off numbers of
victims, I had determined, contrary to my original intention, should be
short.

The crowds of people on the levee, attracted by the constant arrival of
steam-boats, had a motley appearance; many of these were rough-looking
fellows, fit for any occupation, most of them being armed with bowie
knives, the silver hilts of which could often be seen peering
suspiciously from under the waistcoat, in the inner lining of which a
case or scabbard of leather is sewn for the reception of the weapon. The
vast proportion of blacks in the streets soon struck me. I should think
they were five to one of the white population. These, for the most part,
wore in wretched plight; many of them begged of the passers-by, which
practice I found afterwards to be very general, especially in the
suburbs of the city.

Amongst the passengers on our boat, was a person, apparently of the
better class, who was met at the levee by two black servants with a
carriage. I noticed particularly, that, although the negroes touched
their hats, and inquired how he was (by which I concluded he had been
absent for some time), he did not deign to answer their inquiries. From
their timidity, it was evident that he was an overbearing man, and the
imperial haughtiness manifested in giving them his orders, confirmed
this impression. This individual was one of those who condemned the
demonstration I have noticed, when the boat first approached the levee.

After a day's rest at my boarding-house, I walked through the city, and
afterwards visited the calaboose, which in New Orleans is a mart for
produce, as well as a place of detention and punishment for slaves. Here
those owners who are averse to correcting their slaves in a rigorous
manner at home, send them to be flogged. The brutal way in which this is
done at the calaboose, strikes terror into the negro mind, and