xiety,
the proportion of rueful countenances being much greater than is usually
seen in similar places of resort in England; a sudden depression in the
market at the time might, however, account for much of this, although it
is well known that brokers and speculators on the American continent
engage in the pursuit with the avidity of professed gamblers.

Hundreds of Negroes were hurrying to and fro through the streets, these
were chiefly labourers, decently dressed, and employed either as draymen
or porters. They looked happier than labourers in England; and, being
bathed in a profuse perspiration from the heat of the weather, their
faces shone almost like black satin or patent leather.

After a few days' rest at my boarding-house, to which I was recommended
by a touter, and which was in Canal-street, and was kept by a "cute"
Down-easter, or native of the New England States, with whom I engaged
for bed and board for eight dollars per week, I sallied forth to make my
intended observations, preparatory to leaving for the west. Everything
wore a novel aspect. The number of foreigners seen in the thoroughfares,
the tawdry flimsily-built carriages, which strangely contrast with the
more substantial ones seen in England, and the dresses of the people,
all seemed strange to me. The habiliments of one or two in particular
rivetted my attention. The first was a Kentuckian, who was dressed in a
suit of grey home-spun cloth, and wore on his head a fantastical cap,
formed of a racoon-skin, beautifully striped, the ears projecting just
above his forehead on each side, while the forefeet of the animal,
decorated with red cloth, formed the ear-laps, and the tail depended
over his back like a quieu, producing a ludicrous effect. His appearance
as he passed along attracted little notice, such vagaries being common
in America. My attention was also arrested by a person who was arrayed
in a hunting suit of buck-skin, curiously wrought with strips of dyed
porcupine-quill, and who wore an otter-skin cap and Indian moccasins.
There, is, however, little novelty in this costume, which I frequently
saw afterwards. Caps of the description I have mentioned are commonly
worn in the interior. I subsequently donned one myself, and found it an
admirable adjunct to easy travelling.

During my stay at New York, I found the heat almost overpowering, the
Indian summer (as the period between autumn and winter is there termed)
having set in. An umbrella