ould
dwell most upon the first part of the trip, and Rollo upon the last
part.
The following is the account that Waldron wrote:--
"ACCOUNT OF OUR TRIP.
"First, there was a man standing by the plank, that asked us if we had
got our tickets. We told him no. Then he showed us where to go and get
them. It was at a little office on the pier. The price of the tickets
was a shilling.
"The steamboat was not very large. There was no saloon on deck, and no
awning, but only seats on deck, and many people sitting on them.
"There was a boy among them who had a kilt on. It was the first kilt I
ever saw.[C]
[C] It would have been better if Waldron had described the kilt; but I
suppose he thought he could not describe it very well. It is a garment
peculiar to the Scotch. It consists of a sort of sack or jacket, with a
skirt attached to it below, which comes down just below the knees. The
skirt is plaited upon the lower edge of the jacket, and hangs pretty
full.
"We soon began to go down the river. The sides of the river were walled
up, to form piers, all along, and there were a great many ships and
steamers moored to them. I saw several American vessels among them.
"By and by, when we got below the town, the river grew wider, and the
banks were sloping, but they were paved all the way with large stones.
This was to prevent their being washed away by the swell of the
steamers. There were a great many steamers going up and down, which kept
the water all the time a-swashing against the banks.
"I went up on the bridge where the captain stood. There were good steps
to go up, on the side of the paddle box. Rollo would not go. I had a
fine lookout from the bridge. The captain was there. He told me a good
many things about the river. He said that the river used to be only five
feet deep, and now it was almost twenty, all the way from the sea. They
dug it out with dredging machines.
"I asked him what they did with the mud. He said they hauled it away,
and spread it on the land in the country. They made a railroad, he said,
on purpose to take the mud away to where it was wanted.
"Presently we began to come to the ship yards. There was an immense
number of iron ships on the stocks, building. The workmen made a great
noise with their hammers, heading the rivets. There seemed to be
thousands of hammers going at a time.
"The steamers all sloped towards the water, and pointed down the stream.
I suppose that this
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