ur beds, began to clean our boots.
The Southerner pointed at the slave, and thus held forth:--"Well,
Kernel, I reckon you've got servants in your country, but not of that
colour. Now, sir, this is a real genu_i_ne African. He's as happy as the
day's long; and if he was on a sugar plantation he'd be dancing half the
night; but if you was to collect a thousand of them together, and fire
one bomb in amongst them, they'd all run like h----ll." The negro
grinned, and seemed quite flattered.

* * * * *

_1st May_ (Friday).--I called on General Scurry, and found him suffering
from severe ophthalmia. When I presented General Magruder's letter, he
insisted that I should come and live with him so long as I remained
here. He also telegraphed to Galveston for a steamer to take me there
and back.

We dined at 4 P.M.: the party consisted of Colonel and Judge Terrill (a
clever and agreeable man), Colonel Pyron, Captain Wharton,
Quartermaster-General, Major Watkins (a handsome fellow, and hero of the
Sabine Pass affair), and Colonel Cook, commanding the artillery at
Galveston (late of the U.S. navy, who enjoys the reputation of being a
zealous Methodist preacher and a daring officer). The latter told me he
could hardly understand how I could be an Englishman, as I pronounced my
h's all right. General Scurry himself is very amusing, and is an
admirable mimic. His numerous anecdotes of the war were very
interesting. In peace times he is a lawyer. He was a volunteer major in
the Mexican war, and distinguished himself very much in the late
campaigns in New Mexico and Arizona, and at the recapture of Galveston.

After dinner, the Queen's health was proposed; and the party expressed
the greatest admiration for Her Majesty, and respect for the British
Constitution. They all said that universal suffrage did not produce such
deplorable results in the South as in the North; because the population
in the South is so very scattered, and the whites being the superior
race, they form a sort of aristocracy.

They all wanted me to put off going to Galveston till Monday, in order
that some ladies might go; but I was inexorable, as it must now be my
object to cross the Mississippi without delay.

All these officers despised sabres, and considered double-barrelled
shot-guns and revolvers the best arms for cavalry.

* * * * *

_2d May_ (Saturday).--As the steamer had not arrived in the