om should be kept open for
borrowings and loans, but that all dealings should be suspended. One
result of this complication was that gold had no fixed value. It could
be bought at one house for 133 and at other offices sold for 139. The
Board thus proved its utility at the very juncture when least in favor."

XVI. THE FERRIES.

Including the Harlem, Staten Island, and Elizabethport routes, there are
about twenty-five lines of ferries plying between New York and the
adjacent shores. Ten of these lines are to Brooklyn, two to Hunter's
Point, two to Green Point, one to Mott Haven, and one to Harlem, all in
the East River; and five to Jersey City, one to Weehawken, one to Fort
Lee, two to Staten Island, and one to Elizabethport, all in the North
River. Thus there are sixteen lines in the East River, and ten in the
North River. The boats are large side-wheel vessels, capable of carrying
pedestrians, horses and vehicles. The fare to the Jersey shore is three
cents, to Brooklyn two, and to Harlem and Staten Island ten cents. On
some of the lines the boats ply every five minutes; on others the
intervals are longer. The Staten Island and Harlem boats start every
hour.

The boats are generally handsome, as well as large. Nearly all are
lighted with gas, and at least a score of them are to be seen in the
stream at any time. At night, with their many colored lamps, they give
to the river quite a gala appearance. The Fulton, Barclay, and
Courtlandt street lines run their boats all night. The others run from 4
A.M. until midnight. The travel on the various lines is immense. The
aggregate is said, by reliable authority, to be upwards of 200,000
persons per day, or about 75,000,000 per annum. Many of the boats carry
from 800 to 1000 passengers at a single trip.

During the summer it is pleasant enough to cross either of the rivers
which encircle the island, but in the winter such travelling is very
dangerous. Storms of snow, fogs, and floating ice interfere very greatly
with the running of the boats, and render accidents imminent. Collisions
are frequent during rough or thick weather, and the ice sometimes sweeps
the boats for miles out of their course. The East River is always more
or less crowded with vessels of all kinds, either in motion or at anchor,
and even in fair weather it requires the greatest skill on the part of
the pilot to avoid collisions.

Tens of thousands of people enter and leave the