whooping, hollowing, cavilling, laughing, crying, cheating and
stealing, which are all in full blast. The screams of parrots, the
music of birds, the barking of dogs, the cries of oystermen, the
screams of children, the Dutch girl's organ, the French negro humming
a piece of the last opera--all are going it, increasing the novelty of
this novel place. The people engaged in building the tower of Babel,
whose language was confounded and confused for their presumptuous
undertaking, never made a worse jargon or inflicted a greater blow
upon harmonious sounds, than is to be found here. While looking around
at the various commodities exposed for sale, I saw scores of opossums,
coons, crawfish, eels, minks, and frogs, brought there to satiate the
fancy appetite of the French. But what was my astonishment on seeing
a basket of five fat _puppies_ about six weeks old, which the owner
informed me were for French gentlemen to eat! In charity for the
Frenchman's taste, I have sometimes thought the vender of these little
barkers was palming a quiz upon me. I hope so.

This is an unrivalled market. Every fish that swims in the Gulf, every
bird that flies in the air, or swims upon the wave, every quadruped
that scours the plains or skulks in dens, which are usually eaten
by men, can be had in great abundance. All kinds of grain and roots
raised in the up country, all the luxuries of the tropics, are here.
The elk of the Osage river, the buffalo of the Yellowstone, venison of
Louisiana, and the bear of Mississippi, fill the list, and contribute
in pandering to the appetites of luxurious citizens.

CHAPTER VII.

OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS.--THE FRENCH THEATRE.--THE CARNIVAL.--THE ST.
CHARLES, ETC.

I cannot undertake to describe the numerous public buildings which
adorn the city of Orleans. I will merely observe that the stranger
would be much entertained and instructed by visiting the Gas Works,
the Chapel of the Ursulines, St. Patrick's Church, the Cypress Grove
Cemetery, and other beautiful resting places of the dead; the Charity
Hospital, the Maison de Sante, the Marine Hospital, the Municipal
Hall, the Workhouses in the First and Second Municipalities, the
City Prisons, the City Hall, the Orleans Cotton Press, the Commercial
Exchange, the Merchants' Exchange, the Medical College, and many
others too numerous to mention.

A very great object of attraction at night is the Orleans Theatre, the
most conveniently arranged bui