FREEDOM OF OUR BLACKS. 147 



but my opinion is, that had the dogs been left to them 

 selves, their entire safety would have been insured by the 

 vigilance of Brutus and Druid. The day before we 

 reached Kansas a free black made very free with the 

 head of as sable a shipmate, and nearly cut it off. It 

 was in this voyage that I made*the agreeable acquaintance 

 of Mr W. L. Harper, to whom I promised to send out 

 from England a couple of fox-hounds. 



The panorama of the voyage, in some places, was in 

 teresting and pretty, for whenever we approached a town 

 or village the band on board the ship struck up a lively 

 air, and then the people were seen running from their 

 houses to meet us. At one lonely hovel, where we took 

 in fuel wood being in such plenty, and costing nothing, 

 it did the duty of coal we (myself and many of the pas 

 sengers) went on shore and gathered the "pau-pau" 

 fruit from the shrubs on which it grows. I found it de 

 licious, but my companions assured me that it was thought 

 very little of in the United States, and they told me, with 

 some naivete, that " pigs would not eat it." I ate it, 

 however, and enjoyed it very much so much, that I 

 brought some of the seed home with me, and, with some 

 other seeds, sent them to the gardener at Taymouth Cas 

 tle to see what they will do in that soil. On the banks of 

 the Missouri there are several settlements exclusively 

 German, and in all these is grown the grape that makes 

 the "Catawba" wine the wine I allude to is so pro 

 nounced, but I am not sure if I spell it correctly. If made 

 from a good vintage it is excellent, and to my mind, 

 when good, of a finer flavour than champagne. The 

 best I tasted was at the Planter's House at St Louis ; it 

 was slightly up when uncorked, and when properly iced 

 that sample of the wine was delicious, and my opinion is 



