, we found the six o'clock train had just
departed; we were afforded therefore half an hour to look about us. Here
is a very large hotel, during the summer much frequented by the citizens
of New Orleans, the offices connected with the railroad depot, three or
four little stores, together with a small range of dirty huts, including
two or three cut-throat-looking sheds, bearing inscribed over the
entrance, in large, ill-assorted characters, the word _Tire_; which
immediately under is translated, for the benefit of country gentlemen,
into "_Shutting Galery_." These little indications serve to remind the
stranger that he is now in the land of the "_duello_," where each
"captain of compliments" is reputed for "the very butcher of a silk
button," and "fights as you sing prick-song,--rests me his minim rest,
one, two, and the third in your bosom."

In little more than half an hour the cars returned from the city, and in
about thirty minutes we were whirled under the covered depot, where I
was fortunate enough to get a hackney-coach, in which I proceeded at
once to Mr. H----n's house in _Rue Bourgogne_, where I was received by
his nephews with a heartiness of welcome that made me in one moment feel
that I was at home.

The whole of this day was cloudy and cold; a good deal of rain had
fallen during the night, and consequently the streets were nearly
impassable for carriages: the side-walks were, however, very well kept;
and I took a short stroll about the American quarter, finding on my
return that already, with the prompt courtesy which distinguishes this
country, several gentlemen had left cards of compliment and invitation.

_Sunday, 4th._--A lovely day. Mr. B----e having planned a ride as far as
the lake, I saw after breakfast three or four good-looking horses
arrive, caparisoned with showy, coloured, housings and _demi-pique_
Spanish saddles: shortly after, their masters appeared, and off we
pushed through mud knee-deep; we soon gained the shell road however, and
found it as good as the streets of Mobile, hard, smooth, and binding as
lime. It is a pity, as this material is to be procured in abundance,
that it is not more generally applied: paving the streets with heavy
stones, which soon sink deep in the alluvial soil, is, I fear, likely,
without vast outlay, to prove labour lost; besides that these have to be
imported from the North or from England, not a pebble existing here over
the whole surface of the country.

A