stranger, which is much to be
deprecated, and too often leads, as I afterwards found, to disastrous
results. Business with these men is in general quite a "go-a-head" sort
of affair, and not being accompanied with method, in many cases leads to
an embarrassed state of circumstances. Thus it frequently happens, that
on investigation, the assets of a merchant who has stopped payment and
is a supposed bankrupt, realize more than enough to pay the creditors,
and the party finds to his agreeable surprise, that his position is not
so bad after all.

The churches and other places of public worship in New York have a
temporary appearance, the steeples of the former being, when I visited
the city, chiefly of painted-wood. This, I believe, is partly the reason
why bells are not used, although a friend in whose presence I noticed
this, stated that contempt for so English a custom had much to do with
their disuse. If so, the prejudice is not confined to New York alone,
for I was not cheered by the inspiriting sound of a peal in any other
part of the Union I visited, although I think I have heard they are in
use in Philadelphia and some of the eastern cities.

The time I had allotted to remain in New York having expired, and being
anxious to proceed on my route before the close of navigation, I
reluctantly bade adieu to my kind friends in that city, and made
preparations to pursue my way to the more western part of the Union,
hoping to reach the Mississippi country before the season when the
rivers and canals leading to it would be locked up in ice.

CHAPTER II.

"See how yon flaming herald treads
The ridged and rolling waves,
As, crashing o'er their crested heads,
She bows her surly slaves;
With foam before and fire behind,
She rends the clinging sea,
That flies before the roaring wind,
Beneath her hissing lea."
HOLMES--_The Steam Boat_.

My first stage, in proceeding to the interior of the country, was to
Albany, 160 miles north of New York. To effect this, I took passage, on
board a splendidly-equipped steamer, called the _Narraganset_, and
esteemed at the time the swiftest boat on the Hudson River. I must
confess I was rather timid when I did so, for the reckless manner in
which the crack boats are run, in order to maintain their character for
celerity, is proverbial, and, as may be supposed, is little consonant
with safe travelling. The almost constant recurrence of ste