riodically, without disturbing the
Governor's sleep or exciting the hopes of the malcontents. May we never
see the Great Empire States in such an undignified position again!

Here we are still in the "Cherokee;" she is calculated to hold some
hundreds of passengers. Thank God! there are only some sixty on board;
but I do not feel equally grateful for their allowing me to pay double
price for a cabin to myself when two-thirds of them are empty, not to
mention that the single fare is eight guineas. She is a regular old tub
of a boat; the cabins are profitably fitted with three beds in each, one
above the other; the consequence is, that if you wish to sneeze at
night, you must turn on your side, or you'll break your nose against the
bed above you in the little jerk that usually accompanies the
sternutatory process. The feeding on board is the worst I ever
saw--tough, cold, and greasy, the whole unpleasantly accompanied with
dirt.

Having parted from my travelling companion at New Orleans, one of my
first endeavours was, by the aid of physiognomy, to discover some
passenger on whom it might suit me to inflict my society. Casting my
eyes around, they soon lit upon a fair-haired youth with a countenance
to match, the expression thereof bespeaking kindness and intelligence;
and when, upon further examination, I saw the most indubitable and
agreeable evidence that his person and apparel were on the most
successful and intimate terms with soap and water, I pounced upon him
without delay, and soon found that he was a German gentleman travelling
with his brother-in-law, and they both had assumed an _incognito_, being
desirous of avoiding that curious observation which, had their real
position in life been known, they would most inevitably have been
subject to. Reader, be not you too curious, for I cannot withdraw the
veil they chose to travel under; suffice it to know, their society added
much to my enjoyment, both on the passage and at the Havana. The sailing
of the vessel is so ingeniously managed, that you arrive at the
harbour's mouth just after sunset, and are consequently allowed the
privilege of waiting outside all night, no vessels except men-of-war
being allowed to enter between sunset and daybreak. The hopes of the
morrow were our only consolation, until at early dawn we ran through the
narrow battery-girt entrance, and dropped anchor in the land-locked
harbour of Havana.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote T