and the book vendors thrust yellow
covers into your face--"Reading for the voyage, sir--five hundred pages,
close print!" And that being rejected, they reverse the process of the
Sibyl--with "Here's another, sir, one thousand pages, double columns."
The great beam of the engine moves slowly up and down, and the black
hull sways at its fasts. A motley group are the passengers. Shivering
Cubans, exotics that have taken slight root in the hothouses of the
Fifth Avenue, are to brave a few days of sleet and cold at sea, for the
palm trees and mangoes, the cocoas and orange trees, they will be
sitting under in six days, at farthest. There are Yankee shipmasters
going out to join their "cotton wagons" at New Orleans and Mobile,
merchants pursuing a commerce that knows no rest and no locality;
confirmed invalids advised to go to Cuba to die under mosquito nets and
be buried in a Potter's Field; and other invalids wisely enough avoiding
our March winds; and here and there a mere vacationmaker, like myself.

Captain Bullock is sure to sail at the hour; and at the hour he is on
the paddle-box, the fasts are loosed, the warp run out, the crew pull in
on the warp on the port quarter, and the head swings off. No word is
spoken, but all is done by signs; or, if a word is necessary, a low
clear tone carries it to the listener. There is no tearing and rending
escape of steam, deafening and distracting all, and giving a kind of
terror to a peaceful scene; but our ship swings off, gathers way, and
enters upon her voyage, in a quiet like that of a bank or counting-room,
almost under a spell of silence.

The state-rooms of the "Cahawba," like those of most American sea-going
steamers, are built so high above the water that the windows may be open
in all but the worst of weather, and good ventilation be ensured. I have
a very nice fellow for my room-mate, in the berth under me; but, in a
state-room, no room-mate is better than the best; so I change my
quarters to a state-room further forward, nearer "the eyes of her,"
which the passengers generally shun, and get one to myself, free from
the rattle of the steering gear, while the delightful rise and fall of
the bows, and leisurely weather roll and lee roll, cradle and nurse one
to sleep.

The routine of the ship, as regards passengers, is this: a cup of
coffee, if you desire it, when you turn out; breakfast at eight, lunch
at twelve, dinner at three, tea at seven, and lights put out at ten