re a man lying murdered, with a knife in his heart; there--a
suicide, hanging by the neck--skeletons lying about in all directions,
and some walking up and down in muslin shrouds. The machinery was very
perfect. At one side was the figure of a man sitting down, with a
horrible face; boar's tusks protruding from his mouth, his eyes rolling,
and horns on his head; I thought it was mechanism as well as the rest;
and was not a little surprised when it addressed me in a hollow voice:
"We've been waiting some time for you, captain." As I found he had a
tongue, I entered into conversation with him. The representation wound
up with showers of fire, rattling of bones, thunder, screams, and a
regular cascade of the d---d, pouring into the molten lake. When it was
first shewn, they had an electric battery communicating with the iron
railing; and whoever put his hand on it, or went too near, received a
smart electric shock. But the alarm created by this addition was found
to be attended with serious consequences, and it had been discontinued.

The love of excitement must of course produce a love of gambling, which
may be considered as one of the American amusements: it is, however,
carried on very quietly in the cities. In the South, and on the
Mississippi, it is as open as the noon day; and the gamblers may be said
to have there become a professional people. I have already mentioned
them, and the attempts which have been made to get rid of them. Indeed,
they are not only gamesters who practice on the unwary, but they combine
with gambling the professions of forgery, and uttering of base money.
If they lose, they only lose forged notes. There is no part of the
world where forgery is carried on to such an extent as it is in the
United States; chiefly in the Western country. The American banks are
particularly careful to guard against this evil, but the ingenuity of
these miscreants is surprising, and they will imitate so closely as
almost to escape detection at the banks themselves. Bank-note engraving
is certainly carried to the highest state of perfection in the United
States, but almost in vain. I have myself read a notice, posted up at
Boston, which may appear strange to us. "Bank notes made here to any
pattern." But the Eastern banks are seldom forged upon. Counterfeit
money is also very plentiful. When I was in the West, I had occasion to
pay a few dollars to a friend: when I saw him a day or two afterwards,
he