On landing, I hired a sorry conveyance, driven by a creole and drawn by
a mule, and had my luggage taken to a house in the suburbs, where I had
been recommended to take up my residence during my stay, which, owing to
the presence of the yellow fever, that daily carried off numbers of
victims, I had determined, contrary to my original intention, should be
short.
The crowds of people on the levee, attracted by the constant arrival of
steam-boats, had a motley appearance; many of these were rough-looking
fellows, fit for any occupation, most of them being armed with bowie
knives, the silver hilts of which could often be seen peering
suspiciously from under the waistcoat, in the inner lining of which a
case or scabbard of leather is sewn for the reception of the weapon. The
vast proportion of blacks in the streets soon struck me. I should think
they were five to one of the white population. These, for the most part,
wore in wretched plight; many of them begged of the passers-by, which
practice I found afterwards to be very general, especially in the
suburbs of the city.
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