212 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



board, and the polite attention of the commander, ren- 

 dered it very agreeable ; and I landed, in health and 

 merriment, in the stately capital of the New World. 



We will soon pen down a few remarks on this magni- 

 ficent city, but not just now. I want to venture into 

 the north-west country, and get to their great canal, 

 which the world talks so much about, though I fear it 

 will be hard work to make one's way through bugs, 

 bears, brutes, and buffaloes, which we Europeans imagine 

 are so frequent and ferocious in these never-ending 

 western wilds. 



I left New York on a fine morning in July, 



Leaves New . 



York for Ai- without one letter ot introduction, ior the 

 city of Albany, some hundred and eighty 

 miles up the celebrated Hudson. I seldom care about 

 letters of introduction, for I am one of those who depend 

 much upon an accidental acquaintance. Full many a 

 face do I see, as I go wandering up and down the world, 

 whose mild eye, and sweet and placid features, seem to 

 beckon to me, and say, as it were, " Speak but civilly 

 to me, and I will do what I can for you." Such a face 

 as this is worth more than a dozen letters of introduc- 

 tion ; and such a face, gentle reader, I found on board 

 the steam-boat from New York to the city of Albany. 



There was a great number of well-dressed ladies and 

 gentlemen in the vessel, all entire strangers to me. I 

 fancied I could see several, whose countenances invited 

 an unknown wanderer to come and take a seat beside 

 them ; but there was one who encouraged me more than 

 the rest. I saw clearly that he was an American, and 

 I judged by his manners and appearance that he had 

 not spent all his time upon his native soil. I was right 

 in this conjecture, for he afterwards told me that he had 



