268 PASSENGERS DETAILS OF THE VOYAGE. 



slightest enquiry into each other s birth, parentage, or past 

 and present pursuits in life.- On leaving St Louis, I observed 

 him reading several books which he took from his portmanteau, 

 and left exposed on his berth, as if to court others to read 

 them. My only companion of this kind at the time was a small 

 volume, entitled, &quot; a View of the Valley of the Mississippi,&quot; 

 which I often referred to, and found useful, and which Mr 

 Gemble asked me to allow him to look at, although travellers 

 in American steam-boats generally seize on every book within 

 reach, without obtaining the consent of the owner to peruse 

 it. I had thus an opportunity of asking a return of the civi 

 lity of Mr Gemble, which he readily granted, adding, &quot; I 

 would be happy to allow every person on board to read my 

 volumes.&quot; The first that I opened was one of small dimen 

 sions, entitled, &quot; The Times of Christ&quot; which the preface 

 stated to be from the pen of the gifted Harriet Martineau, 

 which appeared in England as the u Traditions of Palestine,&quot; 

 and had been reprinted with a more suitable title, and the 

 omission of some matter which the publisher did not consider 

 in good taste with the rest of the work. The other volumes 

 were of a religious nature, which might have led me to sup 

 pose Mr Gemble a spiritual teacher ; but there was nothing 

 in his conversation or deportment marking or violating this 

 character. He was a tall, thin gentlemanly-looking person, 

 well informed, and apparently possessing as much real philan 

 thropy as any individual I ever met. 



The other passengers consisted of both sexes, of all ages, 

 and of different professions. The ladies were never seen but 

 at meals, keeping their own cabin at other times. The gen 

 tlemen w r ere well dressed, and invariably civil to each other, 



General A being the least polished in manners and 



appearance of any of the company. The captain was an un 

 assuming person, whose voice \vas seldom heard, and never in 

 connexion with an oath, either in the cabin or amongst the 

 crew. There was only one cabin passenger addicted to swear 

 ing, who had formerly been captain of a steam-boat on the 

 Mississippi, and was now engaged in trade at St Louis. The 

 officers of the army, and one or two others, passed part of the 

 evenings in playing cards, at a game which I did not under 



