piece of beef, some with a limb of the
turkey. Some, I noticed, beginning with fowl, then taking roast beef,
then boiled mutton, then fish, and then some pastry,--all on the same
plate, and--faugh!--portions of most of them there at the same time! No
change of plate,--that would have been extravagant, and would have
savoured of aristocracy. Freedom, it seemed, allowed every one to help
himself; and that with his own knife and fork, which he had before used
for all sorts of purposes. Such luxuries as salt-spoons and
mustard-spoons are very rare south of the Ohio. My wife asked the lady
of the house for a small slice of the ham she had before her, when the
latter very politely begged Mrs. Davies to lend her her knife to cut it
with! This was good society in New Orleans. Things improved as we
advanced towards the North; but in most places, though the Americans
provide bountifully, the cooking is not good, and they make a strange
jumble of things at table. They have the appearance of a people
suddenly raised in the world, and able to afford themselves nice
things, but very ignorant and awkward in the use of them. With so much
hurry to begin, the time occupied in eating by our company was very
short. We Britishers had scarcely begun, when one and another got up
from table, finishing his dinner as he walked away. They cannot bear to
sit at table a moment longer than is absolutely necessary. While we
remained seated, they passed before us on their way out,--one eating,
one picking his teeth, one scraping his throat, one spitting on the
floor. Of course, we seldom made a hearty meal under such
circumstances.

LETTER XI.

Farewell to New Orleans--Revolting Bargain--"The Anglo Saxon"
Steam-boat--Moderate Fare--Steam Navigation of the Mississippi--Steam
boat and Railway Literature--Parting View of the "Crescent City"--Slave
Advertisements--Baton Rouge--A Sugar Estate--Fellow-Passengers--The
Ladies' Cabin--A Baptist Minister--A Reverend Slave-holder.

Preparing to leave New Orleans, on the evening of the 8th of February,
we called for our bill, and found, for the nine days of our stay, a
charge of eight dollars more than we had agreed for. Unwilling to be
imposed upon, I remonstrated; and we split the difference with our
"smart" landlady. We turned our backs upon the city, with a hearty
wish that we might never see it again. It is a horrid place. Bowie
knives, revolving pistols, and other deadly weapons, are exposed fo