Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

better looking after her cows and her butter, and keeping her lasses at their wark, than with all this garavitching and grandeur. "Ah!” added Mrs. Glibbans," she's now a testifyer to the truth --she's now a testifyer; happy it will be for her if she's enabled to make a sanctified use of the dispensation."

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

ART. III.-Letters from an Englishman in the United States to his friend in Great Britain.

MY DEAR SIR, A year having now elapsed since the period of my arrival in this country, I shall, agreeably to my engagement, give you some account of a country, which, in this age of emigration, cannot be too well known. Many things on which you may wish for information, I shall probably altogether omit; and of many others, speak but very imperfectly. Should I fail in my endeavours to instruct or amuse you, I hope you will take the will for the deed.

I arrived in New York, after a passage of thirty-two days, without experiencing any thing like a storm, at which I did not feel grievously disappointed. But as you know nothing of my adventures since I bade you, and our snow-wreathed hills adieu, and as you requested every information that might be useful or interesting to yourself, or your friends who may wish to follow me to the wildernesses of America, I will suppose myself once more. on the banks of the Mersey, and preparing for a voyage across the Atlan

tic.

The first thing necessary for me to do in Liverpool was to find a vessel, which was easily accomplished, as scarcely a week passes without the sailing of ships for American ports. Vessels bound to New York or Philadelphia are in the greatest demand; Boston being too far East; and Baltimore, Norfolk, and Charleston, too far South. A friend of mine recommended the Hector of New York, commanded by Captain J. Gillender. Like most American vessels of the same class depending more on passengers than freight, her accommodations were excellent. Her captain is a man of amiable manners and disposition, which materially contributed towards the comfort of our voyage.

Persons emigrating to America have to pass at the Custom-house, and it is well to be provided with a certificate signed by the minister and church wardens of their parish; but this is not necessary if they have a friend who is an householder in the port from which they clear out, who can testify to their trade, profession, &c. Families emigrating, ought to dispose of every thing ponderous or bulky, previous to their embarkation. Beds and bedding, household linen, and many small, portable necessaries, ought to be brought out; but furniture, of all descriptions, can be purchased in the United States nearly as cheap as in the "Old Country," as Great Britain is emphatically denominated; and some articles even cheaper. In every ship there are two prices, or rates of passage; the cabin and the steerage price. Cabin passengers have every thing provided by the captain of the vessel, and live extremely well, having plenty of fresh pork, mutton, and poultry, during the voyage, with wines and spirits whenever they choose. The passage money is from thirty to forty guineas. Steerage passengers provide every thing for themselves, have ship room, fire and water, and that is all. The passage money in the steerage is from six to twelve pounds; children much lower. When many ships are about to sail near the same time, the captains are obliged to make the best bargains they can, and, like opposition coaches, sail at reduced fares.

The duration of the voyage is uncertain, but may generally be calculated upon at from twenty-five to forty days-sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. However, provisions for seven or eight weeks ought al ays to be provided, for landsmen would make but a poor shift to subsist on sea weed and salt water, should the voyage out-last their stores. As the generality of persons are sea-sick for two or three days it is very well to be provided with cold meat and pastry, in order to avoid the necessity of cooking. Hams are well calculated for sea voyages; but the captain is always the most proper person to apply to for advice in the laying in of provisions. A few simple medicines should be procured, which any apothecary or druggist can supply. When a family emigrates it is customary to contract for the whole, rather than for each separate individual, whereby something considerable is saved.

Having bade farewell to my Liverpool friends, I went on board the Hector, on the morning of the 13th of April, where I was introduced to seven other cabin passengers. In the steerage there were fourteen. We fell down the river with the tide, but the wind being light, the vessel was not able to make the channel off Black Rock, before the tide was out; so that we were obliged to let go our anchor, having scarcely made good three miles of our thirty-five hundred miles' voyage. We remained at anchor till the following day at noon, when a breeze sprung up, and we were quickly wafted from the lessening shores.

Fourteen days from our departure we made the eastern edge of Newfoundland great bank, when a northwest wind sprung up, and continued blowing for five days, at the end of which we found that we had been driven back about one degree. In passing the banks we saw many icebergs, or islands of ice, some of which we estimated at an hundred, or an hundred and fifty feet high. Others that we supposed aground in forty or fifty fathoms water, arose like silvery spires above the watery deep. Had it been foggy we should have been in considerable danger of running foul of the frozen wanderers; but the weather was serene and clear, which is not often the case on the banks of Newfoundland. On the morning of our twenty-eighth day we saw land, which proved to be the eastern shore of Long Island; and, had the wind been favourable, we should have breakfasted in New York the next day; whereas we were obliged to beat about for four days more, when we took a pilot on board, and arrived at the end of our voyage on the evening of the fourteenth of May,-having been at sea thirty two days.

LETTER II.

The entrance of the narrows, and passage up to New York, is interesting and inviting to a foreigner; particularly if he delights in rural scenery. The river or bay, at that part called the narrows, where it is a little more than a mile wide, is strongly fortified. On the left stands, what is denominated the Castle, (but my ideas of a castle could draw no line of comparison) and on the posite side the Diamond Battery. The latter is a large fort, recently built, mounting a vast number of cannon, many of which I was assured were one hundred pounders. I made an unfortunate mistake respecting this said battery, for when we first came in sight of it,

op

at two or three miles distance, I very innocently inquired of the captain of the ship if the building I saw on the right was a cotton manufactory; for to me it certainly had such an appearance. My ignorance quite shocked honest Gillender, and it was with some difficulty I convinced him of the perfect simplicity of my mistake; and that it was not made with the malicious intention of bringing the Diamond Battery into disrepute.

In sailing up the bay, the city, with its numerous shipping, has a striking appearance, as has the adjacent country. On the right is Long Island, with its gently sloping green fields and painted cottages, and on the left is New Jersey, with its bolder uplands, fertile corn fields, and genteel looking country residences; with the quarantine ground, and other public buildings, immediately on the margin of the bay. In the foreground are two or three islands, on one of which (Governor's Island) is a fort which commands the town, as well as the entrance to the North and East rivers. Beyond these islands you discover the city, through a forest of masts, and the streaming pennants of various nations. Towering above these are seen the tall spires of the churches and other lofty buildings, tending altogether, to produce an imposing effect.

The first persons that came on board, before we dropt anchor, were half a dozen news-men, sallow in their complexions, but otherwise very much resembling shabby, genteel Frenchmen in their dress and personal appearance. They were ravenously clamorous for English papers, and the captain being unable to supply them all with regular files, from words they almost came to blows.* * Miss Wright's description of this class of news-mongers, is, like many other things in her book, quite ludicrous.

"While our ship slowly moved through the still waters, pointing her course to the city,numberless little boats, well manned with active rowers, darted from the different shores, &c. severally mooring along-side our lazy vessel, with the cry of All well? A dialogue ensued, commencing with friendly congratulations, between the crews of the boats and the various inhabitants of the ship. On one side, queries respecting the length of the voyage, the weather, the winds, and the latest news from Europe; on the other, the health of the city, the nature of the season, of the harvest, the arrival and departure of vessels, and a thousand nameless trifles interesting to men returning from a distance to their native shores. At the close of the dialogue, one or other of the boatmen would carelessly ask if any of

Next came a custom house officer, and to the credit of this country be it said, not such an harpy as would have boarded an English ship, in an English port. Some of the passengers were allowed to carry away small packages, without any questions being asked by the officer, and on the following day, when any luggage was taken on shore, no rummaging or ransacking took place.

The first peculiarity that forcibly struck me was, the great number of persons to be met with in every street, smoking segars. passing along you are assailed by those fragrant perfumers, for this being a free country, they puff and spit, to the right and left, to the great annoyance of those who may happen to have no taste for delicacies of this description. Those nuisances, however, are confined to the low and the vulgar, and children of from ten to twelve years of age, who are allowed to do just as they please, for it would be cruel, where all are free, to lay them under any re

straint.

We arrived at our hotel about nine o'clock in the evening, and found preparations making for supper, which is always on the table at that hour. But one gentleman was present, although knives and forks indicated the expectation of at least a score. He was tolerably polite, and seeing that we were strangers, answered all our inquiries, which were not a few, although as we thought somewhat oddly. Among other things we asked him by whom the house was kept what was its character,-whether there was a good table

the passengers wished to be landed; but the request was always made in a manner which expressed a willingness to render a civility rather than a desire to obtain employment. These boats had something picturesque as well as foreign in their appearance. Built unusually long and sharp in the keel, they shot through the bright waters with a celerity that almost startled the eye. Their rowers, tall and slender, but of uncommon nerve and agility, were all cleanly dressed in the light cloathing suited to a warm climate, their large white shirt-collars unbuttoned and thrown back on their shoulders, and light hats of straw or cane, with broad brims, shading their sun-burnt faces. These faces were uncommonly intelligent. Piercing gray eyes, glancing from beneath even and projecting brows, features generally regular, and complexions, which, burnt to a deep brown, were somewhat strangely contrasted with the delicate whiteness of the clothing." Views of Society, &c. p. 7.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »