HIS DISLIKE TO NEIGHBOURS.

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breathe freely, but suffered in his imaginary dungeon, and felt the weight of supposed fetters he grumbled at encroachments and illegalities, and determined to cross the stream with a view of regaining liberty in States situated in a more westerly direction. "I have no elbow-room," answered he, offended at my endeavours to dissuade him from the idea of removing to regions totally unknown to him. "I cannot move about without seeing the nose of my neighbour sticking out between the trees. Thou dost not understand, stranger, what liberty is: don't meddle with it. I cannot bear a close confined town-air, and laugh at the fool who submits to wear chains, though he may be free if he chooses. Art thou, man, one of those who wear fetters ?"

From this monologue, during which the appellation stranger and man, two epithets very common in the West in speaking to unknown persons, were often used, the conversation turned upon the politics of the country. He apeared well versed in the form of government of his own State, expressed himself firmly and energetically on the good and bad parts of the Constitution, concluding his remarks by a glowing panegyric on Henry Clay. I heard him with surprise: it was

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POLITICAL INFORMATION OF AMERICANS.

strange to meet with a politician in the shape of a poor Kentuckian, on the banks of the Mississippi, who had wandered all his life from place to place, and passed his time with his family in absolute solitude in the woods. But this is a characteristic feature in Americans. They are, from infancy, accustomed to speak freely of the acts of Government, of the Constitution, and the influential men in the country. Newspapers, circulating in infinite numbers in all parts, and published in the smallest town in the Western forests, keep alive opinions thus early inculcated, and confirm their minds in prejudices, originating in partyspirit. No consideration can silence their tongues: they express themselves unreservedly on the measures of Government, for they conceive that the country belongs as much to them as to any citizen of the Northern States; and they are as anxious for the welfare of the Union as the individual who advocates its cause before Congress. During the whole course of my journey, I never met with an American, however poor, who was deficient in knowledge as to the form of government of his own State, or that of the Union; and, more than once, on board the steamboat, Louisiana, did I listen with the

ONE OF THE CREW DROWNED.

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greatest delight to political discussions among persons of the lower class, on topics connected with the prosperity of the Union. How different is the state of information among similar classes in Europe!

The fire-wood was now already taken on board, and the sound of a great bell recalled the scattered passengers to the steamer. I left my new acquaintance in great haste, in the midst of a violent attack on some, in his opinion, unwise measures of the Federal Government; wishing him a pleasant journey and more elbow-room in the States west of Mississippi. Our sportsmen came running in every direction from the wood, carrying on their shoulders a variety of birds, among which parrots were the most conspicuous, on account of the beauty of their plumes. Hardly were we on board, before the wheels began to move, and in a minute the steamboat darted forward with the rapidity of an arrow.

The same evening, after dark, we had the misfortune to lose one of our crew, who accidentally fell overboard. The machinery was immediately stopped, as soon as his cries for assistance were heard, and a boat lowered to pick him up; but the current was so rapid that he was carried away several hundred

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yards before any aid could be afforded. I heard him for at least two minutes calling out for assistance, his voice growing weaker and weaker; and at last all was silent. Darkness

rendered it impossible to save him. The boat returned, after having at great risk vainly tried to rescue him. The Mississippi would not surrender its victim. He was drowned, leaving in Ohio a widow with several children in indigent circumstances. A subscription

was raised on board for the benefit of the unfortunate survivors; but how little could it compensate for the loss of a husband and a father!

Sixth Day.-The territory of Arkansas was now on my left. The banks continued low and woody as before. A number of islands* lay scattered in the river, formed partly by floating trunks of trees, collected among heaps of sand and mud, partly by inundations, which have cut off pieces of land, and thus converted them into islands. In the course of this day's trip, we passed the mouth of the Arkansas, a river two thousand one hundred and seventy miles in length, giving

* There are not fewer than one hundred and twenty-five islands in the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulph of Mexico.

A SOLITARY INDIAN.

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name to the territory through which it runs. Little Rock, the capital, is situated on its banks, in the centre of the State, about three hundred and fifty miles from the Mississippi. There is a constant communication between this town and New Orleans by means of steamboats.

Seventh Day.-This was the first time I saw an Indian since I left New Orleans; he was standing on shore, with a gun on his shoulders, leaning against a tree, his attitude and looks showing that he was absorbed in deep contemplation. Perhaps he was mourning the degradation of his race; perhaps recalling to memory the happy times when his ancestors ruled over these regions, when the Mississippi was his, and no white man dared to navigate its waters. Alone on the soil whence civilization has driven him, and to which native inclinations and habits could no longer attach him, he contemplated, probably for the last time, with feelings of bitter sorrow, the country he could no longer call his own. The remnant of the race to which he belonged had, in obedience to the mandates from Washington, long ago evacuated the country, and removed westward of the Mississippi: he was perhaps the only one who still lingered on his native