, as they pass, their filthy fingers into the negro girls'
baskets, and hiccuping forth some inquiry, to be repulsed by a
monosyllable or a look of contempt and anger, the sight of which excites
sorrow that any creature wearing the form of humanity should be fallen
so low as to be subject to it. The squaws are never seen in this brutal
condition; they crawl about with a load of light wood at their backs,
or, having disposed of their venture, may be seen seated on their heels,
telling their beads, or pulling their fingers through their thick black
hair, that, if kept clean, would be beautiful, or in some other way
tricking forth their charms to all advantage; for, though generally as
ugly as sin, they are as full of coquetry as any _belle_ of May-fair,
and as vain of admiration; of the which, to say truth, they appear to
come in for more than a share from our tars, two or three of whom may
usually be seen lounging alongside the youngest of the native group,
looking things they know not how to utter.

In this market of the Levee there is also an abundant display of fish,
flesh, and fowl, with as varied a store of earth's fruits as any one
place can produce. In the month of February we had here peas, lettuces,
beans of several kinds, kale, celery, pine-apples, bananas, oranges,
limes, lemons, with sweet potatoes and edibles of various other kinds
whose names were strange to me.

The beef here is, in appearance, inferior to that of the North, although
fed on the finest pastures in nature,--those of the Ohio and Kentucky,
but injured by the neglect and ill feeding consequent upon a voyage of
ten or twelve hundred miles in a crowded steam-boat.

The creole mutton, I should say, is equal to the best in this country,
being small-boned, sweet, and very fat. The great disadvantage the
_artiste_ labours under is the not being able to keep the meat long
enough to become quite tender; such is this climate that decomposition
follows quickly on death, and here the man is buried or the mutton eaten
without waiting until either becomes cold.

The _Place d'Armes_, near this market, is a large square, having an area
enclosed with rails in the centre: here the Indians usually congregate,
and within this a curious-looking group or two may commonly be found. To
see the tribe at toilet is not a little amusing: some hair-hunting,
catching and cracking this game, with a keen sporting look and an
obvious relish of the pursuit quite _varmint_;