f shipping, but chiefly at the south,
lie numberless steamboats of all sizes; and yet again, flanking these,
are fleets of those rude rafts and arks constructed by the dwellers on
the hundred waters of the far West; and thence pushed forth, freighted
with the produce of their farms, to find, after many days, a safe haven
and a sure market here.

Let it not be forgotten that many of the primitive-looking transports
lying at this point have performed a drift of three thousand miles.
Their cargoes discharged, they are immediately disposed of to be broken
up; their crews working their way back on board the steamers, to return
in the following year with a vessel and a freight, both of which are at
this time flourishing in full vegetation in field and in forest.

The interest with which I looked upon these far-travelled barks I dare
hardly trust myself to declare or to describe; they told me of men and
of their increase, who, only for the waters on which they live, would be
as little known and quite as uncivilized as the Indian whose land they
have redeemed from the wild beast or more savage hunter, to bid it teem
with abundance, and to be a refuge and a home for millions to rejoice
in.

The appearance of the Levee during this season is most animated. At the
quarter occupied by the great Western steamboats, the lading and
discharging cargoes seldom ceases during the busy months, when each hour
appears to be grudged if not devoted to toil. At night, fires mark the
spots where work is most brisk, and the warehouses along the line are
frequently illuminated from the street to the upper story: crowds of
labourers, sailors, bargemen, and draymen cheer, and order, and swear in
every language in use amongst this mixed population; and, above all, at
regular intervals, rises the wild chorus of the slaves labouring in
gangs, who, if miserable, are certainly the merriest miserables in
existence.

No scene is more likely to impress a stranger with a full knowledge of
the vast deal of trade transacted here in a few months than this
prolonged bustle at a time when the rest of the city sleeps; and, as he
pursues his way amongst tens of thousands of bales of cotton that
actually cover the Levee for miles, he will cease to doubt of the wealth
which he learns is on all hands accumulating with a rapidity almost
partaking of the marvellous.

I had heard in the North much said about the great danger incurred by a
night-stroll in New Orleans