Everything
wore a novel aspect. The number of foreigners seen in the thoroughfares,
the tawdry flimsily-built carriages, which strangely contrast with the
more substantial ones seen in England, and the dresses of the people,
all seemed strange to me. The habiliments of one or two in particular
rivetted my attention. The first was a Kentuckian, who was dressed in a
suit of grey home-spun cloth, and wore on his head a fantastical cap,
formed of a racoon-skin, beautifully striped, the ears projecting just
above his forehead on each side, while the forefeet of the animal,
decorated with red cloth, formed the ear-laps, and the tail depended
over his back like a quieu, producing a ludicrous effect. His appearance
as he passed along attracted little notice, such vagaries being common
in America. My attention was also arrested by a person who was arrayed
in a hunting suit of buck-skin, curiously wrought with strips of dyed
porcupine-quill, and who wore an otter-skin cap and Indian moccasins.
There, is, however, little novelty in this costume, which I frequently
saw afterwards.
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