a
packet ship that left Liverpool four days after, arrived at New York
sixteen days before us.

We found the thermometer of incalculable service, both for ascertaining
when we got into the stream, and for disclosing our dangerous proximity to
icebergs. That we had approached near icebergs we discovered one evening
to be the case by the mercury falling, suddenly, below 40 deg., in foggy
weather. We notwithstanding held on our course, and fortunately escaped
accident. Many vessels which depart from port with gallant crews, and are
never heard of more, are lost, I am convinced, by fatal collision with
these floating islands. From the beginning of spring to the latter end of
summer, masses of brash ice are occasionally encountered in these
latitudes.

Towards the evening of the fiftieth day we entered the bay of New York:
the bay is really beautiful, and at this season (summer) perhaps appeared
to the greatest advantage. The numerous islands with which it is
interspersed, were covered to the water's edge with foliage and verdure,
and here and there studded with handsome villas. The city appeared to be
literally surrounded by a thick grove of masts, from which floated the
flags of many nations--the scene, thus gradually unfolding itself to the
eyes of one who had been for so long a time immured within a vessel, was
really fascinating.

While at New York, I staid at the "Pearl-street Boarding-house," and
experienced from Messrs. Haskell and Perry, the proprietors, the most
polite attention. Most Europeans are astonished at the rapidity with which
the Americans despatch their meals; but I, having admitted the
proposition, that there was "nothing new under the sun," had long
previously ceased to be _astonished_ at any thing. On the first day of my
dining at the table d'hote, one of those gentlemen told me, when we sat
down to dinner, that most of the persons at table were men of business,
who were in the habit of eating much quicker than he knew I was accustomed
to, and requested that that might not in the slightest interfere with my
habits, but that I should entirely suit my own comfort and convenience.
After that preface, I think I should have been most unreasonable to fall
into a passion with the New Yorkers, because they _bolted_ instead of
masticating.

New York is altogether a trading place, and different from any thing of
the same magnitude in Europe: scarcely a single street is exclusively
filled with private resid