d to those who embark in the steamers to
load and unload at the different stations on the river. Every day is
a working day; and as, by the law, the slave has his Sunday to himself
to earn what he can, the master who hires him out on the river is
supposed to give him one-seventh of the wages earned; but I believe they
only receive one-seventh of the ordinary wages--i.e., 1l. per month.

[Illustration: THE NEW ST. CHARLES HOTEL, NEW ORLEANS.]

Let us now turn from the shipping to the town. In the old, or French
part, the streets are generally very narrow; but in the American, or the
La Fayette quarter, they are very broad, and, whether from indolence or
some other reason, badly paved and worse cleansed; nevertheless, if the
streets are dirty and muddy, the houses have the advantage of being
airy. There are no buildings of any importance except the new
Custom-house, and, of course, the hotels. The St. Louis is at present
the largest; but the St. Charles, which is being rebuilt, was, and will
again be, the hotel pride of New Orleans.[U] They are both enormous
establishments, well arranged, and, with the locomotive propensities of
the people, sure to be well filled during the winter months, at which
period only they are open. When I arrived at the St. Louis, it was so
full that the only room I could get was like a large Newfoundland dog's
kennel, with but little light and less air. The hotel was originally
built for an Exchange, and the rotundo in the centre is one of the
finest pieces of architecture in the States. It is a lofty, vaulted
hall, eighty feet in diameter, with an aisle running all round,
supported by a row of fine pillars fifty feet in height; the dome rises
nearly as many-feet more, and has a large skylight in the centre; the
sides thereof are ornamented by well-executed works in _chiaroscuro_,
representing various successful actions gained during the struggle for
independence, and several of the leading men who figured during that
eventful period. A great portion of the aisle is occupied by the
all-important bar, where drinks flow as freely as the river outside; but
there is another feature in the aisles which contrasts strangely with
the pictorial ornaments round the dome above--a succession of platforms
are to be seen, on which human flesh and blood is exposed to public
auction, and the champions of the equal rights of man are thus made to
endorse, as it were, the sale of their fellow-creatures.

I had o