144 STEAMER SOCIETY. 



wild sunflowers which studded the grass of these plains 

 was bright and beautiful in the extreme. For the first 

 time in my life I also saw a flock of pelicans on the wing, 

 so that I began to think I was at last approaching the 

 longed-for haunts of the wild game, and that it could not 

 be very long now before I should shake myself free of 

 the habitations of men, emancipate my dogs from every 

 durance vile, and with them seek and share the blessings 

 of the boundless desert. 



The society on board the " Skylark " was not only very 

 extensive, but mixed and perpetually changing in short, 

 the steamer inclosed a little world within herself, and 

 gave full opportunity for the study of American character 

 in all its phases from the well-mannered gentleman down 

 to the Boh-hoy, card-sharper, and false lottery keeper. 

 From the latter personages I derived on this occasion 

 intense amusement. From the first moment of my set 

 ting my foot on board the steamer, and throughout the 

 voyage, numbers of men sought my acquaintance and 

 proffered their advice, and gave me some trouble, but 

 not much, to distinguish between the real gold (there was 

 a good deal of that) and the dross that attempted imita 

 tion. I have great facility in reading character, and 

 somehow or other there is always a spirit within me that 

 inclines me to the good man, however poor his exterior, 

 and gives me timely warning against the bad. Thus I 

 soon began to read my river acquaintances as if they 

 were books, and in doing so was immensely amused. I 

 had not been long on board before I discovered that cards 

 among a great many were a favourite occupation, and 

 that noisy groups engaged in them, who I thought laughed 

 a great deal more than was natural or necessary, and 

 therefore of course the idea suggested itself that they did 



