WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 281 



I could see very few dogs, still fewer cats, and 

 but a very small proportion of fat women in the 

 streets of New York. The climate was the only 

 thing that I had really to find fault with ; and as 

 the autumn was now approaching, I began to 

 think of preparing for warmer regions. 



Strangers are apt to get violent cold, on ac- 

 count of the sudden change of the atmosphere. 

 The noon would often be as warm as tropical 

 weather, and the close of day cold and chilly. 

 This must sometimes act with severity upon the 

 newly-arrived stranger; and it requires more 

 care and circumspection than 1 am master of to 

 guard against it. I contracted a bad and obsti- 

 nate cough, which did not quite leave me till I 

 had got under the regular heat of the sun, near 

 the equator. 



I may be asked, was it all good fellowship and 

 civility during my stay in the United States? 

 Did no forward person cause offence, was there 

 no exhibition of drunkenness, or swearing, or 

 rudeness; or display of conduct which disgraces 

 civilized man in other countries'? I answer, very 

 few indeed : scarce any worth remembering, and 

 none worth noticing. These are a gentle and a 

 civil people. Should a 'traveller, now and then in 

 the long run, witness a few of the scenes alluded 

 to, he ought not, on his return home, to adduce 

 a solitary instance or two, as the custom of the 

 country. In roving through the wilds of Guiana, 

 I have sometimes seen a tree hollow at heart, 

 shattered and leafless; but I did not on that ac- 

 count condemn its vigorous neighbours, and put 

 down a memorandum that the woods were bad; 



