QUARANTINE STATION.

59

and fat for many yards around, the unfortunate whale turned upon his back, and ere he had floated past the stern of the ship, was perfectly dead. We had no tackle on board proper for heaving him up, and the evening being too far advanced to permit the captain to lower his boats, no advantage could be derived from this accidental shot, which might otherwise have furnished us with several barrels of oil. I had, on several other occasions, struck the whales and black fish which played round the ship, with balls from the same rifle, but without any other apparent effect than making them lash the water with their tail and go down for a few seconds, after which they appeared again on the surface, pursuing their pastime as if nothing had occurred to disturb it.

On the 26th of July, having been at sea six weeks, dieted for the last ten days upon mouldy biscuit, salt junk, and a very short allowance of very foul offensive water, we hailed with no little satisfaction, the cry of " land a-head." This first point of the American continent which met our view, proved to be the high land of New Jersey; and on the following morning, we came to anchor off Sandy Hook.

On the morning of the 26th we beat up the Narrows to the quarantine station on Staten Island, where our ship was subjected to two days' quarantine. There being no sickness on board, the cabin passengers were allowed by a medical

60

VIEW IN THE NARROWS.

certificate to go on shore; but this permission was not extended to any of the steerage passengers or to the baggage.

The view on sailing up the Narrows is very beautiful. The coast of Staten Island on one side and Long Island on the other, is undulating and well wooded. The bay stretching across from the station to New York, is extensive and admirably adapted to shipping. I was particularly struck by the cleanly and graceful rigging of the various vessels which were crossing it in all directions. Here was to be seen the majestic China-man floating gently down under a crowd of canvass before the light breeze. There the Baltimore clipping brig with her sharp bows, her low hull, and raking masts. Nearer to the shore might be seen "creeping like snail" the coasting timber-craft, and in mid-channel the gorgeous steamer with her painted bulwarks and crowded decks, passing her lazy competitors with insulting speed. Amidst all these, news' boats, and pilot-boats, and other light shallops, were darting about from ship to ship to "welcome the coming and speed the parting friend."

All this gave life and animation to the scene, enhancing its natural beauty; but in spite of all these advantages and of its incomparable superiority in space and magnificence as a harbour, I cannot help thinking that the descriptions given of this bay by some travellers, have been too highly coloured; for there is nothing bold or striking on either

NEW YORK.-ICED PUNCH,

61

shore, and the eye feels the absence of a distant outline on which it may rest, such as is formed by the Alpine and irregular chain of mountains which fill the back ground of the landscape, in sailing up the Firth of Clyde. The quarantine hospitals are lofty and spacious buildings, situated on a sloping bank overlooking the bay, and sheltered by a wood. They are whitewashed; and all the windows being furnished with green Venetian blinds, give an appearance of comfort and cleanliness, which is well maintained by their admirable internal arrange

ments.

On

My first desire on landing was to procure a glass of fresh water, a luxury so long unknown. applying for some cool draught, a glass of excellent iced punch was put into my hands. Two goblets of this delicious beverage did I quaff, when the intense heat of the weather, and the quarantine hospital immediately opposite to me, conjured up before my eyes the spectre of cholera, and a call for the third died upon my lips.

In forty minutes we had crossed the bay, and landed at New York, near the battery; a sort of round wooden building, with an adjacent garden, which appears to answer the purpose of a kind of Marine Vauxhall. Here we hired a hack, (for so is a New York hackney coach denominated,) and drove to the American hotel, a distance of about three quarters of a mile. On arriving we inquired the coachman's charge, and found that

62

STREET PLUNDERERS.

here, as elsewhere, a stranger runs considerable risk of submitting to an operation which passes in England by the various names of " being done," "screwed," "taken in," " sold," "fleeced," &c. In America the appropriate phrase is "shaved;" and the fare due being three shillings, our Jehu modestly required only three dollars. After some dispute we gave him two and a half; and as he went away, one would have thought, from the expression of his face, that we had cheated him, although the fellow had received more than five shillings above his fare.

In justice to America I must subjoin two observations; first, that this class of street-plunderer is common to every city in Europe; and, secondly, that the individual in question was evidently from that "first gem of the sea" whose sons perform the greater portion of laborious and domestic service throughout the Transatlantic cities.

At five o'clock I dined for the first time at an American table d'hôte, and I certainly never saw, at any hotel in Europe, a dinner for so large a party served in better style, or with less confusion. The dishes were very numerous, and the cookery respectable. I observed also that the knives, glasses, plates, &c. were remarkably clean, the table-cloth of the finest quality, and that ice was applied in a profusion not less unexpected than agreeable to the water, salad, cucumber, butter, &c.

In answer to my inquiries, I learnt from one of

AMERICAN TABLE D'HÔTE.

63

my neighbours that this was called the ladies' ordinary, being attended by the families resident in the house, and that the usual public table d'hôte was daily at two o'clock, so that if I chose to attend it, I should witness a very different scene from the well-conducted table now before me. I certainly remarked that there was less conversation than at a German table d'hôte, perhaps even less than at an English public table; and although the dinner was a ceremony quickly despatched, there was neither haste nor scrambling, such as travellers are led to expect.*

The heat of the weather was intense to a degree of which I had never formed any idea. In

* It must not be supposed that the foregoing account is intended to impugn the accuracy of the statements which have been so often laid before the public, of the greedy haste and confusion which are usually observable at American tavern dinners: on the contrary, these are deserving of all the strong animadversions which have been bestowed upon them. I should probably be accused of entertaining the prejudices universally attributed to British travellers in the United States, if I were to express myself in terms only half as strong as those contained in the subjoined extract from the National Intelligencer, published at Washington, Nov. 20, 1836.-" Several persons have died in New York lately, by being choked with edibles, at their meals. This is the result of the bolting system, which is so generally adopted among our people. We wonder that disasters of this kind are not more frequent than they are. A practice so pernicious and so detrimental to health as quick eating-to say nothing of its positive danger-does not exist in the country. At the table d'hôte of an inn, where great numbers convene together, the process of bolting would seem to be done by steam, and those who perform it jaw-moving automata.