friend," remarked Styles gravely to the middie, as we tucked
the insensible Spring Chicken into his berth--"If you want to gamble,
you'll do it--so I don't advise you. But these amphibious beasts are
dangerous; so in future play with gentlemen and let them alone."

"And, my boy," said the colonel, enunciating _his_ moral lesson--"gambling
is bad enough, egad! but any man is lost--yes, sir, lost!--who will drink
mint--_after dinner!_"

With which great moral axioms we retired and slept until our steamer
reached the "Queen City of the South."

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW ORLEANS, THE CRESCENT CITY.

At a first glimpse, New Orleans of those days was anything but a
picturesque city. Built upon marshy flats, below the level of the river
and protected from inundation by the Levee, her antique and weathered
houses seemed to cower and cluster together as though in fear.

But for a long time, "The Crescent City" had been at the head of
commercial importance--and the desideratum of direct trade had been
more nearly filled by her enterprising merchants than all others in the
South. The very great majority of the wealthy population was either
Creole, or French; and their connection with European houses may
account in some measure for that fact. The coasting trade at the war
was heavy all along the Gulf shore; the trade with the islands a source
of large revenue, and there were lines and frequent private enterprises
across the ocean.

For many reasons, it was then believed New Orleans could never become a
great port. Foremost, the conformation of the Delta, at the mouth of
the river, prevented vessels drawing over fifteen feet--at most
favorable tides--from crossing either of the three bars; and the most
practical and scientific engineers, both of civil life and the army,
had long tried in vain to remedy the defect for longer than a few
weeks. Numerous causes have been assigned for the rapid reformation of
these bars; the chemical action of the salt upon the vegetable matter
in the river water; the rapid deposit of alluvium as the current
slackens; and a churning effect produced by the meeting of the channel
with the waves of the Gulf. They could not be successfully removed,
however, and were a great drawback to the trade of the city; which its
location at the mouth of the great water avenue of the whole West,
makes more advantageous than any other point in the South.

The river business in cotton, sugar and syrup was, at th